The $370m classic Harrison Ford was convinced would bomb: “This is going to be my ‘Hudson Hawk'”
Back when he was one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars, a status that slipped out of his grasp a long time ago, Harrison Ford could barely put a foot wrong at the box office. And yet, he was convinced that one of his best and successful movies was destined to go the way of an infamous vanity project.
Back when he was one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars, Bruce Willis sought to indulge himself by harking back to his days as a New York City bartender. During those pre-fame years, he wrote a song called ‘The Hudson Hawk’, and when he was rich and famous enough to call his own shots, he decided to turn the concept into a film about a debonair thief.
It was the first time he’d received a writing credit on a theatrically released feature after developing the story, and it would be an understatement to say the results weren’t pretty. Hudson Hawk wasn’t a commercial catastrophe, but it tanked in the United States and was only saved from further embarrassment by a strong showing overseas, where Willis’ name was enough to lure in an audience.
The ill-judged ego massager also won three Razzies for ‘Worst Picture’, ‘Worst Director’, and ‘Worst Screenplay’, but the leading man was at least spared the ignominy of being named ‘Worst Actor’. In short, it was a disaster on every level, which can’t be said about Ford’s starring turn in Andrew Davis’ The Fugitive.
A haul of almost $370 million from cinemas made it the actor’s highest-grossing live-action movie when he was playing a character other than Han Solo or Indiana Jones, and it held onto that title for 35 years until Captain America: Brave New World was released in 2025, so it was a million miles away from bombing.
The big-screen adaptation of the 1960s TV series also won Ford’s co-star, Tommy Lee Jones, the Academy Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’, and it earned another six nominations, including ‘Best Picture’. Despite that, he wasn’t the only cast member who thought the action thriller was doomed to fail.
“Look, I’d be lying to you if I didn’t tell you that I think everybody thought this was going to be a real dud, except for Andy Davis,” Joe Pantoliano confessed to Rolling Stone. One of the most famous urban legends surrounding The Fugitive was that Ford invoked the name of Hudson Hawk to voice his fears over the film’s prospects, which was anointed as fact by Daniel Roebuck, who was there when he said it.
“Harrison Ford said in front of me when we were in the water, so I can attest that he said it,” the actor confirmed. “He goes, ‘Oh, man, this is going to be my Hudson Hawk.'” Obviously, it wasn’t, and it’s still one of his biggest-ever hits that doesn’t involve Star Wars or wearing a fedora and cracking a whip.
The chances of an A-lister making their very own Hudson Hawk are never zero, but as far as Ford’s filmography goes, The Fugitive most definitely isn’t it.
