In a career spanning six decades,Harrison Fordhas built a filmography that most actors can only dream of. Though Ford is probably best known for playing everyone’s favorite smuggler, Han Solo, in theStar Warsfilms and the titular character in theIndiana Jonesfranchise, he’s had plenty of other memorable performances that helped to make him one of Hollywood’s long-standing icons.
Frantic (1988)
Dr Richard Walker (Harrison Ford) is visiting the capital of romance, Paris, with wife Sondra (Betty Buckley). While Richard takes a shower in their hotel room, Sondra receives a phone call and vanishes from the room. Richard looks for her, he questions disinterested staff, and while searching outside he stumbles across his wife’s bracelet. The police offer little help, but help does arrive in the form of Michelle (Emmanuelle Seigner), a drug smuggler who accidently took Sondra’s suitcase at the airport. With Michelle’s reluctant help, Richard realizes that the contents of the suitcase are the only thing that can help find his wife.
Franticis an unsung hero of thrillers. It’s how all quality neo-noir movies should be made. Atmospherically calm in its beginnings, it builds tension with the seemingly worthless amount of help given to Richard, while all the time he becomes more and more frantic in his quest to find his wife.Roman Polanskidirects a cinematic experience full of dead ends and danger. Ford plays his Doctor character, a man usually in control, with a sense of intelligent panic. Cleverly crafted,Franticreally should be on everyone’s go-to thriller list.
Six Days, Seven Nights (1998)
While on vacation in the South Pacific with her boyfriend, Frank Martin (David Schwimmer), Robin Monroe (Anne Heche) is asked to urgently oversee a fashion shoot. Robin hires Quinn Harris (Harrison Ford) to fly her to Tahiti for the appointment. On the way, their plane is damaged in a storm, and they are forced to crash-land on a deserted island. So their adventure begins. Escaping the island is one thing, escaping the nearby moored pirates is another, and the more they run from danger, the closer they both become.
Ford plays a middle-aged, stubborn pilot that is always right, but with enough charm we can see he is a softy at heart. Directed byIvan Reitman, it mixes comedy and action with a story that has a very basic plot. Cheesy and immature at times,Six Days, Seven Nightsis exactly what it says on the can — “After this week in paradise, they’ll need a vacation!” An adventure, a romance, and a movie that we can just enjoy and not take too seriously. Definitely a step in a totally different direction for Ford.
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Blade Runner (1982)
Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is tasked with the retirement of four Nexus-6 replicants that have traveled back to Earth illegally. His job is simple, track them down and kill them before they kill anyone else. The replicants have a four-year lifespan and are becoming more and more desperate as they approach their end. Deckard is helped by Rachael (Sean Young), a replicant that has false memories and believes she is human. In a future where people are not what they seem, has Deckard any similarities with the ones he’s hunting, and was there a reason he was chosen in the first place?
Many versions of this sci-fi classic have been screened, cut, and re-cut. The earlier versions offer less violence and a happier conclusion, but directorRidley ScottreleasedBlade Runner:The Final Cutin 2007, which most would agree is a more complete version. Depending on which version you prefer, it’s universally accepted that the movie is a cinematic masterpiece that has influenced pop culture, TV and film. It also gaveRutger Hauerone of the most memorable monologues in motion picture history.
What Lies Beneath (2000)
Dr Norman Spencer (Harrison Ford) and his wife Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer) live a peaceful existence in a Vermont lakeside house. After Claire witnesses her neighbors arguing and the wife disappears, she believes she sees a woman’s body floating in the lake. Becoming aware of a presence in her house, she contacts her friend Jody (Diana Scarwid) to hold a séance, but when the missing wife returns, it’s obvious that the restless spirit that is leaving messages around Claire’s home isn’t who she thought it was.
Chilling and dark,What Lies Beneathfuses many of our fears from loss, murder, marital infidelity, and trust issues into a single story that twists along on an unpredictable path. Malevolent forces are definitely at work, and Ford and Pfeiffer do their best to throw us off the scent. Pfeifffer embodies a woman unsure of what she thinks, while voices, noises, and objects moving on their own plague her, and Ford pulls the strings as the quiet and unassuming manipulator.
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
It’s the maiden voyage of the Soviet Union’s first nuclear-powered submarine with ballistic missile capabilities, the K-19. In charge is Captain Alexei Vostrikov (Harrison Ford). His mission is to test fire a ballistic missile in the Arctic and then patrol the East Coast of America. From its initial launch, the K-19 is fraught with mishaps and bad omens. Although the test fire is a success, the reactor coolant starts to fail, and to make things worse, the crew learns that the backup coolant system hasn’t been installed. With a possible nuclear meltdown that could accidentally kick-start World War III, will the headstrong Captain save himself, risk his crew, or indeed the world?
Based on a real event,K-19: The Widowmakermixes fact with fiction to produce a dramatic chain of events, as best it can. Ford, with a Russian accent, puts on a strong performance of a man that demands both fear and admiration from his crew. Executive Officer Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson) provides a bitter conflict against the decisions his captain makes, adding hierarchical tension to the growing problems the submarine experiences. It has all the clichés we would expect, oxygen problems, dangerous water pressure, claustrophobia, and dissent within the ranks, but other than the occasional corny line, it’s a solid, underwater survival must-see.
Patriot Games (1992)
While in London with his wife Cathy (Anne Archer) and daughter Sally (Thora Birch), former CIA Agent Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) interrupts an assassination attempt on members of the royal family. Those responsible are an ultra-violent, IRA breakaway group, and within the melee Jack kills Sean Miller’s (Sean Bean) brother. Miller is arrested but is hell-bent on revenge. After Jack and his family arrive back in America, Jack is informed that Miller has escaped custody. To protect his family Jack must return to the CIA and use all of his skills to stop a mad man driven by anger, one that will stop at nothing to take away Jack’s family for good.
Stepping intoAlec Baldwin’s shoes to play the lead in this sequel toThe Hunt for Red October, Ford makes the character his own. A hero but by no means a fighter, he’s the kind of guy that doesn’t quit, and those kinds of heroes are always best suited for thrillers. Keep an eye out for a young Thora Birch and parts of the movie’s score that were borrowed from Aliens.
Clear and Present Danger (1994)
When American businessman Peter Hardin and his family are murdered by a Colombian drug cartel, close friend, U.S. President Bennett (Donald Moffat), secretly orders a mission to destroy the cartel. Newly appointed acting Deputy Director of Intelligence, Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford), becomes entangled in his own government’s lies, assassination attempts by the cartel, and becomes the last hope for the team of soldiers who are mercilessly left to die when their covert operation is terminated. If Ryan can’t trust the President, who can he trust?
The secondTom Clancyadaptation to star Ford as Jack Ryan,Clear and Present Dangeris full of double-dealing and government betrayal that makes almost everyone involved as treacherous and guilty as the other. Ryan, the voice of reason, can only watch as the powers that be, bend the rules. A compelling thriller that shows the dirty side to patriotism and democracy.
Witness (1985)
An 8-year-old Amish boy, Samuel Lapp (Lukas Haas), is an eyewitness to the brutal murder of an undercover police officer. Sergeant John Book (Harrison Ford) is in charge of the case, and when he uncovers corruption within his own department, he is attacked by his own colleagues. Book is then forced to take the boy and his mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis) back to their Amish community, a place that doesn’t exactly welcome Book, but might be his salvation from the ones who swore to protect society.
Possibly the best movie Ford has ever starred in, although made in an unusual setting,Witnessuses the Amish way of life and their declaration of non-violence for the plot’s entire credibility. It culminates in a powerful ending of thought-provoking morality that regardless in which decade the movie was made, has the ability to transcend time. A movie about society’s morals, and one that real life society should pay attention to.
The Fugitive (1993)
Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) is wrongly arrested for the murder of his wife Helen (Sela Ward). On transportation to death row, Kimble manages to escape. He now has the chance to prove his innocence and catch the real murderer, the one-armed man. However, an even bigger problem is following the Doctor in the form of U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) and his team. The Marshal doesn’t care what Kimble has done, and only wants to catch him, so Kimble must catch the one-armed man before his luck runs out.
Originally a ’60s TV show,The Fugitiveis a classic chase thriller that allowed Tommy Lee Jones to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as the cold and relentless Marshal. Ford, aged 50 on release, plays his role like age really is only a number. He’s emotionally and physically exhilarating, and gives his all for a superb portrayal of a desperate man on the run.
