Mostly Film – Take 243: Harrison Ford In Review — Episode 4
Peak Ford. Jonathan and JP cover the three-year stretch — 1992, 1993, 1994 — where Harrison Ford was the biggest movie star in the world outside of his own franchises. Combined worldwide gross across three films: approximately $572 million. All three opened at number one. One of them held number one for six consecutive weeks.
First, Patriot Games. Alec Baldwin was unavailable due to a Broadway commitment, McTiernan left when Baldwin left, Tom Clancy publicly asked for his name removed from the production, and Ford stepped into Jack Ryan anyway. The original ending tested so badly they scrapped it entirely and reshot the climax — during which Ford accidentally hit Sean Bean in the face with a boat hook and gave him a scar that the Sharpe makeup department later leaned into for authenticity. The satellite strike sequence caused brief concern at the Pentagon. Roger Ebert complained about the Indiana Jones ending. The question: does Ford make Jack Ryan his own, or is he always playing Alec Baldwin's character?
Then The Fugitive. Twenty-five drafts, nine writers, six editors, and a script that still wasn't finished when they started shooting. Baldwin, Costner, Douglas, and Nolte were all considered before Ford. Nobody involved had seen the original TV series. Tommy Lee Jones improvised "I don't care" during a freezing sewer sequence, told Joe Pantoliano nobody would win any awards for this film, then won the Oscar, the Golden Globe, and every critics' prize going. The train crash was 27 cameras, one take, no miniatures. The St. Patrick's Day parade was shot in the real parade with no rehearsal. Seven Oscar nominations including Best Picture. The only TV adaptation ever nominated for that award. The big question for the episode: is The Fugitive the best film Harrison Ford ever made outside of Star Wars and Indiana Jones?
Then Clear and Present Danger — three screenwriters, Clancy still not fully happy, and Ford's own stated favourite of the two Jack Ryan films he made. A film whose central thesis is that telling the truth to Congress is more dangerous than participating in a cover-up. It felt provocative in 1994. It has dated extremely well.
After 1994, Ford never made another Jack Ryan film. The question that hangs over the episode — and sets up Episode 5: what happens to Harrison Ford's career after the peak?
