The 10 best Harrison Ford movies
All these years later and legendary actor Harrison Ford is still going strong. The most recent film in his Indiana Jones series, The Dial of Destiny, has been well-received, and Ford has offered an aged Indiana a sense of reflection that can only arrive towards the end of one’s career.
Perhaps in that light, Indiana serves as a metaphor for Ford’s cinematic offerings in sum. Many might argue that his best days are behind him, the Han Solos, the Jones, the Rick Deckards and everything in between, but the actor is still capable of pulling a performance or two out of the bag when required.
We’ve been enjoying Ford on screen for the last 50 years since he made his first supporting roles in movies such as American Graffiti and The Conversation before hitting the big time in one of the lead roles in George Lucas’ first Star Wars movie, a role he’d go on to play several times over the years.
Today, we’re going to take a look at his ten best-ever performances, from the classic moments as the legendary archaeologist to a family man in the midst of a serious mental breakdown to a science fiction cop of iconic status.
The top 10 best Harrison Ford movies:
10. Six Days, Seven Nights (Ivan Reitman, 1998)
This strange romantic action-comedy hybrid served as the bridge between old-school classics like The African Queen and 2022’s The Lost City. It features all the classic tropes: Ford as a grizzled hard-drinking pilot who takes an instant dislike to a high-maintenance city girl, and then unforeseen events force the two together, and a reluctant but rapidly blossoming romance ensues.
Ford is by far the best thing about this film, and it’s a testament to his innate charm and easiness on the eye that his character, Quinn Harris, can carry the film. Whilst the film is ultimately quite daft, Ford is able to exude so much charisma in his performance that he completely outweighs the sub-par writing and direction.
9. Sabrina (Sydney Pollack, 1995)
If you’re going to remake a classic 1950s rom-com, you’re going to need a classic old-school director and some mid-century movie star magic to do it right. Enter acclaimed director Sydney Pollack, with Ford in toe as the leading man Linus Larrabee. Adhering very closely to the plot of the Billy Wilder-helmed original, which in turn was based on the 1954 play Sabrina Fair, Sabrina follows Linus and his attempts to save his brother’s wedding — by ‘tricking’ the third love interest into falling in love with him, instead.
It’s all standard romantic farce stuff, and while the film was compared unfavourably at the time to the original, Pollack’s new version offers us a unique role that Ford has rarely played: the nerdy, uptight ‘square’. With Ford being so firmly established as a sex symbol by the 1990s, it was refreshing to see him switch it up a bit.
8. Working Girl (Mike Nichols, 1988)
After finding success in the 1960s with movies such as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and The Graduate, Mike Nichols continued his career into the following decades with more hits like Silkwood and Working Girl. The latter, which won the Academy Award for ‘Best Original Song’ due to Carly Simon’s theme, ‘Let The River Run’, starred Ford as Jack Trainer, an investment banker.
Naturally, Melanie Griffith’s protagonist Tess falls for Ford’s character, yet, the role was almost played by Alec Baldwin, who ended up portraying Mick Dugan. At the time, Ford was one of cinema’s biggest stars, and the studio was initially reluctant to pay for him. However, they eventually changed their minds, allowing us to see Ford in the charmingly comedic romantic role.
7. Witness (Peter Weir, 1985)
After rising to prominence as a significant name in the Australian New Wave due to movies like Picnic at Hanging Rock, Peter Weir transitioned to Hollywood in the 1980s. Witness starred Ford as Detective Sergeant John Book, who must protect an Amish woman, Rachel, and her son Samuel after the latter witnesses the murder of an undercover policeman in a train station toilet.
Ford’s compelling performance is one of the movie’s highlights, rightfully earning him countless nominations from organisations such as the Academy Awards, BAFTAs and the Golden Globes. His chemistry with Kelly McGillis is flawless, depicting a love they know cannot flourish due to the differences in their lifestyles.
6. The Mosquito Coast (Peter Weir, 1986)
When one of Hollywood’s most charismatic actors pairs up with such a thoughtful and esteemed director as the Australian auteur Peter Weir, you know the results are going to be good. A year after their first collab, the two made The Mosquito Coast. Critics were divided on this 1980s adaptation of the book by Paul Theroux, but time has favoured it, and the film is now widely regarded as one of Ford’s best.
Strange, beguiling and thought-provoking, the film follows Ford as inventor Allie Fox, whose neuroses regarding the state of Western civilisation lead him to seek sanctuary in the jungles of Central America. Bringing his family with him, Allie creates a sort-of paradise, but his erratic behaviour causes them to tumble into a dystopian nightmare. As Ford himself put it, “This is the sort of movie that really doesn’t sink home for about three days. It is disturbing and makes you think. It stays with you.”
5. Star Wars IV-VI (George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Richard Marquand, 1977-1983)
Cinema was never the same after the release of Star Wars in 1977, which starred Ford as Han Solo, the Millenium Falcon’s captain. The movie is one of the most influential ever made and remains one of the most beloved cinematic franchises. According to director George Lucas (via Time), “The plot is simple—good against evil—and the film is designed to be all the fun things and fantasy things I remember. The word for this movie is fun.”
Ford is perfect as Han Solo, although Lucas was initially uncertain about hiring him after expressing a desire to cast new talent. However, it’s a good job that Lucas quickly came around to the idea because it’s hard to imagine Star Wars without Ford in one of the leading roles.
4. Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve, 2017)
It’s hard to revisit an iconic role you played over 30 years prior and even harder to have to take a step back and give way to a younger leading man. But that’s exactly what Ford does in this masterful follow-up to the 1984 sci-fi classic, and he does it better than anyone else could.
2049 finds Ford’s Deckhard living alone in a Las Vegas hotel, with only his canine friend and countless Elvis Presley holograms for company. Making room for Ryan Gosling’s Agent K, Ford is able to simultaneously pass the baton whilst reminding audiences what exactly it was about the Blade Runner universe that made it so damn well great. The audience is Harrison Ford.
3. The Fugitive (Andrew Davis, 1993)
In Andrew Davis’ 1993 reimagining of the ’60s television show The Fugitive, Ford gives a brilliant performance as a vascular surgeon called Dr Richard Kimble. Falsely sentenced to death for the murder of his wife, Kimble sets out to seek justice and find the real killer following a bus crash that allows him to escape custody.
For his thrilling role, Ford was nominated for various accolades, such as ‘Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama’ at the Golden Globes and ‘Best Male Performance’ at the MTV Movie Awards. Taking over the part from David Janssen several decades earlier, Ford plays the role with a fresh perspective, channelling the grief of a man who must fight for his life while mourning the loss of his wife.
2. Indiana Jones I-IV (Steven Spielberg, 1981-2008)
Having proven himself in Star Wars as dashing, handsome and macho in a way that both men and women could respond to, it was abundantly clear to Steven Spielberg and George Lucas who would don the hat and the whip in their riff on 1930s adventure serials.
Of all the roles, even more so than Han Solo, Indiana Jones is the quintessential Ford character. When you think of Ford, you are unwittingly also thinking of the hunky and adventurous archaeology professor — that’s how synonymous the two are. Effortlessly exuding charisma whilst demonstrating visible vulnerability is probably the defining facet of a leading man, and considering that in 2023, a new entry is coming over four decades after the first, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more enduring one than Ford as Jones.
1. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1984)
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner remains one of the quintessential entries into the science-fiction genre and a definitive cyberpunk movie. The success of the visually impressive film, complete with a mesmerising score by Vangelis, helped popularise Philip K. Dick’s literature, which led to movies such as Minority Report and Total Recall. At the heart of Blade Runner is Ford’s Rick Deckard, a police officer who is asked to hunt and kill a group of fugitive Replicants, all while falling for a Replicant named Rachael.
Ford’s performance is arguably the best of his career, bringing plenty of depth to his role as he is forced to confront existential questions and reflect on his morals. Despite his initial depiction as cold and aimless, he soon becomes more human after interacting with Replicants – synthetic humans. Thus, through Ford’s incredible performance, audiences are left to question the difference between artificiality and reality.
