Plot: A champion marathoner leads a double life as a serial bank robber, sprinting between fixes (and away from police cavalcades) as many as three times a day.

KBZ’s Take: This is a German film with many exhilarating heist scenes but is primarily a character study of marathon runner and bank robber Johan Kastenberger. The film examines how a man who was a successful runner couldn’t break his addiction to a life of crime.

While the film starts slow, it does build up to numerous bank heists in the second act and a just as thrilling third act with Kastenberger on the run. It’s a subgenre film that has an almost perfect balance between Heist Film and Fugitive Film sequences all centered around a man who has nothing to gain but everything to lose for his adrenaline rush.

Additional Lists: Top Heist Films You Haven’t Seen 2010 – 2014 #5

Where to Stream / Buy: https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/The-Robber/248038

Plot: While conveying a Porsche from Boston to Atlantic City, student Charlie has to make a stop due to engine trouble. Mistaken as rich, he’s invited to a big poker game — and wins big time. However, Denny Halloran, son of a mighty mobster, is a bad loser and starts a fight. But he’s also a bad fighter: he falls on his head and is dead. Now Charlie’s in trouble; after he flees Halloran’s father puts a reward on his head. Even the police won’t help him against the mighty man… so Charlie has to run for his life.

KBZ’s Take: This little-seen gem from the early 1990’s is one of the best films of the Chase Films subgenre. Starring Patrick Dempsey and Kelly Preston, the film has a somewhat dubious plot but also has some of the most exciting ‘fugitive on the run’ chase sequences on film. It’s also a non-stop thrill ride as Dempsey is pursued not only by the mob but also by dirty cops. Highly recommended film for fans of the subgenre.

Additional Lists: Top Films About Fugitives You Haven’t Seen – 1990’s #1, Top Chase Films You Haven’t Seen #2

Where to Stream / Buy: https://youtu.be/kwZ53WHDOFc

Plot: A young woman stumbles into a nightmare land of hijacking and humiliation while driving cross-country from California to New York.

KBZ’s Take: This is a B-movie film that’s developed a cult following and it’s easy to see why after watching. Produced by Roger Corman, you might expect this to be similar to the many other exploitation flicks from the 70’s. However, Jackson County Jail rises above typical exploitation fare for a great fugitives on the run film.

The film can essentially be broken into two parts. The first focuses on Dinah (Yvette Mimieux) and her eventual descent into rural country hell and jail. This is the portion of the film that is hard to watch as she struggles within the environment she is now a part of.

The second portion of the film is more “on the run” based as she meets Coley (Tommy Lee Jones) and they quickly become fugitives. It’s their dynamic together and the constant pursuit by police that make this one of the best films of the subgenre.

Additional Lists: Top Films About Fugitives You Haven’t Seen – 1970’s #1

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3KHhdMD

Plot: Slim and Queen’s first date takes an unexpected turn when a policeman pulls them over for a minor traffic violation. When the situation escalates, Slim takes the officer’s gun and shoots him in self-defense. Now labelled cop killers in the media, Slim and Queen feel that they have no choice but to go on the run and evade the law. When a video of the incident goes viral, the unwitting outlaws soon become a symbol of trauma, terror, grief and pain for people all across the country.

KBZ’s Take: Having looked at the previous four decades of Fugitive films, we have noted the themes that have emerged during different periods of time. The 70’s involved anti-establishment and counterculture themes, the 80’s featured the media’s fascination and exploitation of fugitives and the 90’s had violent yet likable fugitives. Queen & Slim is a subgenre film that incorporates many of these past themes but lives in the here and now with many of the pressing societal and political issues of the day.

Queen & Slim is a snapshot in time for future generations to look back on as police brutality took center stage in the nation during the George Floyd protests in 2020. When the film came out a year prior, it was prescient in highlighting many of the issues at the heart of the protests. Many past films in the subgenre have highlighted political issues of their day and Queen & Slim is no exception.

At its core, the film is much more a love story between two individuals that are suddenly thrust together and on the run. Like other great films of the subgenre, the characters and their development over time are at the forefront of the story. And that ultimately is what makes Queen & Slim one of the best subgenre films – the relationship between Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) and their growing recognition of the role they’re playing in societal change.

Additional Lists: Top Films About Fugitives You Haven’t Seen – 2000’s – 2010’s #1

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/402KK8f

Plot: Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and psychopathic serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.

KBZ’s Take: The subgenre’s trend of the media’s exploitation of fugitives in lieu of ratings was first established in the 1980’s by films like The Legend of Billie Jean (1985) and Wisdom (1986). Natural Born Killers satirizes this exploitative theme and cranks it to 11 with the ultraviolent killers and fugitives Mickey Knox (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory Knox (Juliette Lewis).

While Harrelson and Lewis are the stars of the film, it’s Robert Downey Jr. as the tabloid journalist Wayne Gary who steals the show. His portrayal in the film encapsulates various criticisms of the media at the time in real life events such as the O.J. Simpson trial and the Menendez Brothers’ murders.

The controversial film was bashed by media outlets upon its release which seemed overly reactionary by the exact targets of the film’s satire. It is a very violent film and some of the scenes are hard to watch, but the film was also putting a mirror up to the media – and it’s apparent at the time they didn’t like what was staring back at them.

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/44Ol81w

Plot: While on a short weekend getaway, Louise shoots a man who had tried to rape Thelma. Due to the incriminating circumstances, they make a run for it and thus a cross country chase ensues for the two fugitives. Along the way, both women rediscover the strength of their friendship and surprising aspects of their personalities and self-strengths in the trying times.

KBZ’s Take: Thelma and Louise is one of the subgenre films that flips back and forth between light-hearted road trip moments and dark subject matter. It’s also one of the best that explores the strengthened bond between women on the run as their situation becomes increasingly dire.

Though the film did receive some backlash upon it’s release for its feminist themes and broad caricatures of males, those aren’t necessarily valid criticisms of the film as the film’s entire point was about two women escaping their mundane lives for adventure but encounter a situation that changes the trajectories in their lives.

Nevertheless, Thelma & Louise is still an action-packed film and one of the best of the subgenre with some excellent performances from Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon, Harvey Keitel and Michael Madsen.

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3QgMGIr

Plot: A dramatization of the Starkweather-Fugate killing spree of the 1950s, in which a teenage girl and her twenty-something boyfriend slaughtered her entire family and several others in the Dakota badlands.

KBZ’s Take: Badlands is the most popular Fugitive Film from the 1970’s and for a good reason – it was Terence Malick’s first major film and still one of his best.

While Badlands is ultimately about fugitive lovers on the run, the heart of the film lies in the coming-of-age story of Holly (Sissy Spacek) and her relationship with Kit (Martin Sheen). It makes the film that much more impactful as Kit gets more violent and self-destructive during their murderous spree. If you haven’t seen this film yet, it’s highly recommended and one of the best of the entire subgenre.

Additional Lists: Top Films About Fugitives You Haven’t Seen – 1970’s #2

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3Y0SHcq

Plot: When an alien takes the form of a young widow’s husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona, the government tries to stop them.

KBZ’s Take: Starman had unfortunate timing as it was released during the Christmas season of 1984 with other sci-fi films 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), Dune (1984), 1984 (1984) and Runaway (1984). As a result, the film bombed but has become a cult classic over time.

Though the film has a similar plot to E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982) with a benevolent alien trying to get home, it’s more of a road trip romance with Fugitive Film elements. It’s one of Jeff Bridges best performances as the alien (Scott) who is trying to understand the human world. There isn’t a more emotional scene in the subgenre when Scott encounters a dead deer.

John Carpenter is mostly well-known for horror films (and has quite a few films ranked high on KBZ subgenre lists) and like his innovation in different horror subgenres, Carpenter was able to transform a standard fugitive on the run film into an emotional and exciting journey.

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3QqkCCB

Plot: Clarence marries hooker Alabama, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood, while the owners of the coke try to reclaim it.

KBZ’s Take: The Tony Scott directed and Quentin Tarantino scripted True Romance is one of our favorite films of all-time and of the subgenre. Though it has Tarantino’s trademark violence and dialogue, it also has arguably the best cast of characters in any Fugitive Film. Who can ever forget Gary Oldman as the dreadlocked drug dealer Drexl or Christopher Walken’s gangster Vincenzo or even Val Kilmer’s brief appearance as Elvis?

At the center of all these eclectic band of characters are Clarence (Christian Slater) and Alabama (Patricia Arquette). This is their film and journey as newlyweds that soon find themselves on the run, in love and in over their heads with gangsters, drug dealers and the police.

True Romance initially bombed at the box office, but like other great films that took time to find the right audience, it has become a cult classic, one of the best films of all-time and one of the best film of this subgenre.

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/457xl0T

Plot: Wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and sentenced to death, Richard Kimble escapes from the law in an attempt to find the real killer and clear his name.

KBZ’s Take: As much as we love True Romance, we couldn’t in good conscience put it higher than the one film that is arguably the most well-known Fugitive Film and one that redefined the entire subgenre. You can often look at how much one film impacted a subgenre by the amount of Parody Films that are created in its wake. The Wrong Guy (1997) and Wrongfully Accused (1998) are subgenre parodies that take a comedic look at some of the subgenre film tropes that The Fugitive established.

From a subgenre perspective, it has all the elements of the best Fugitive Films. There’s the initial mystery of who killed Kimble’s wife, his shock at being wrongfully accused and convicted, his escape and his eventual search for the real killer. But those are all secondary to the cat and mouse game continually played throughout the film by Kimble (Harrison Ford) and U.S. Marshal Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones). These were two actors in their prime and their interactions in the film elevated the film above its standard (though exciting) on the run narrative.

If you’re going to start with one film of the subgenre, it has to be The Fugitive. Even 30 years later, it’s still considered the best film about fugitives and will be for quite a while.

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/44L24kA