# The Fugitive's Swan Dive. (spoilers, but beside the point) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 11, 2007, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578 "2007-06-11T16:39:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578/21 "2017-12-15T12:35:48Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > the train engine that crashed into the bus is still sitting there on the bank of the Tuckaseegee river outside Dillsboro NC It can now be revealed: that was the train that Stranger on a Train was the stranger on! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578/22 "2017-12-15T12:47:20Z")
> [@Fazsha](#): > > It can now be revealed; I was the one who jumped down the dam. While in college, I was visiting the set at the invitation of one of the crew, and when it came time to film the jump, the stuntman backed out. While they were discussing what to do, I asked how much they were paying for the jump and they said $32,000. I quickly volunteered, and they set up the shot. When I got to the edge I almost backed out myself, but there was a lot of pressure on me to follow through. The key is to take a deep breath and keep your legs together when entering the water, because you could be underwater 20-30 seconds. After I successfully made the jump everyone was freaking out and congratulating me, except the stunt man who chickened out. I partied with the cast the rest of the shoot, and near the end, Sela Ward said she was strangely attracted to me. I wasn’t about to get involved in a relationship with an actress just because she was interested in me superficially as a man who did not know fear and not about me as a person, so we left it there. Good memories. I wouldn’t do it again, though - I didn’t bring a change of clothes, and the jump ripped my shirt. [‘The Fugitive’: 25 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About the Harrison Ford Movie](https://www.moviefone.com/2013/08/07/the-fugitive-25-things-you-didnt-know/) > [@](#): > > 1. Six dummies, at a cost of $12,000 each, took that impossible plunge from the dam. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578/23 "2017-12-15T13:13:05Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > [‘The Fugitive’: 25 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About the Harrison Ford Movie](https://www.moviefone.com/2013/08/07/the-fugitive-25-things-you-didnt-know/) I like his story better, though. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578/24 "2017-12-15T13:15:05Z")
Clearly that site is wrong. It was one dummy, at a cost of $32K. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578/25 "2017-12-15T13:37:29Z")
Is there a clip of that jump online somewhere for those of us who’ve never seen the movie? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578/26 "2017-12-15T13:40:47Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Is there a clip of that jump online somewhere for those of us who’ve never seen the movie? [Here ya go.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4sjEAX4iymo) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578/27 "2017-12-15T13:47:58Z")
I see no reason to believe that a middle-aged out-of-training physician couldn’t have survived that dive in fine shape. The best thing about that movie for me was Harrison Ford trying to outrun the derailing locomotive…the stuff of nightmares. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578/28 "2017-12-15T13:57:20Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Is there a clip of that jump online somewhere for those of us who’ve never seen the movie? don’t watch the clip: watch the entire movie! it’s a great one. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578/29 "2017-12-15T14:10:52Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > [Here ya go.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4sjEAX4iymo) Thanks. Yowza. Not much doubt in my mind that was a plastic dummy, not the flesh and blood dummy up-thread. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578/30 "2017-12-15T15:37:57Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Thanks. Yowza. Not much doubt in my mind that was a plastic dummy, not the flesh and blood dummy up-thread. I agree. That’s quite obviously a dummy from the way the legs move. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578/31 "2017-12-15T15:45:58Z")
> [@Staggerlee](#): > > I want a water park with a ‘flume’ terminating at 300ft, with a bit of freefall into a special, huge and churning pool. I’ll get right on with designing that. We’ll call it, “The Blender”. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578/32 "2017-12-15T16:21:34Z")
> [@Fazsha](#): > > It can now be revealed; I was the one who jumped down the dam. While in college, I was visiting the set at the invitation of one of the crew, and when it came time to film the jump, the stuntman backed out. While they were discussing what to do, I asked how much they were paying for the jump and they said $32,000. I quickly volunteered, and they set up the shot. When I got to the edge I almost backed out myself, but there was a lot of pressure on me to follow through. The key is to take a deep breath and keep your legs together when entering the water, because you could be underwater 20-30 seconds. After I successfully made the jump everyone was freaking out and congratulating me, except the stunt man who chickened out. I partied with the cast the rest of the shoot, and near the end, Sela Ward said she was strangely attracted to me. I wasn’t about to get involved in a relationship with an actress just because she was interested in me superficially as a man who did not know fear and not about me as a person, so we left it there. Good memories. I wouldn’t do it again, though - I didn’t bring a change of clothes, and the jump ripped my shirt. **Moderator Note** **Fazsha** , General Questions is for posting factual answers to questions. Posting obviously fabricated answers is trolling and grounds for immediate banning. No warning issued, because you may have intended this as a joke, but do not do this again. Colibri General Questions Moderator Given the question was correctly answered a decade ago, I’m going to close this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fugitives-swan-dive-spoilers-but-beside-the-point/407578.md?page=1)