Make the Case: 5 Essential Harrison Ford Films

3. Frantic (1988)

Ford got a lot of mileage out of playing characters who were fighting against the phenomenal tide of a multifaceted conspiracy. Frantic has been largely forgotten over the years, and that is most certainly something that needs to change. If you can’t stomach a Roman Polanski movie, then you will probably want to skip this one. For everyone else, Polanski creates one of the most suspenseful films of his career. That gives Harrison Ford the opportunity to prove that he could find considerable range within the character types he was most frequently associated with. One of the reasons why Ford has endured as an actor for several decades is because of his ability to play believable heroes in the majority of his most popular roles. They can fight the world and unrelenting, staggering odds, but they generally remain very plausible in how ordinary they are. Frantic is a great example of that. Yeah, Ford is once again trying to save someone in his family (his wife, in this case), but things are a little different this time out. Even as he begins to piece together the mystery of who kidnapped his wife, he remains as lost in the elaborate circumstances as we are. Even so, he continues to fight and take charge in the way that audiences like to see him do. Polanski creates a formidable mystery, and Ford proves his ability to rise to the complexities of the story.

 

4. The Mosquito Coast (1986)

If there is one movie in Harrison Ford’s filmography that should have ended with a small dump truck full of major awards, it would be The Mosquito Coast. Backed by a cast that includes Helen Mirren and River Phoenix, Ford completely strips away the persona he had carved for himself by this point. He is a brilliant, bullying, obsessive, and ultimately cruel man who puts the lives of his family at stake in the name of succeeding in his maddeningly ambitious social experiment. Once again, Peter Weir manages to find a cohesive film within a story that quickly becomes a mediation on obsession and insanity. But once again, Ford is the element that helps the entire film to succeed. Those who only know Ford from The Fugitive or Air Force One will scarcely believe what he pulls off in The Mosquito Coast.

 

5. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Arguably, the Han Solo (with Chewie) appearance at the end of the Force Awakens trailer is the fan favorite moment. Han Solo will always be one of the most popular characters in all of Star Wars fandom. Like Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford plays a monumental role in why that is the case. Like Indiana Jones, the next person who plays Han Solo has an extremely unenviable task in front of them. Personally, The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite case in point for that argument. The developing relationship between Solo and Leia is one of the few light moments in an otherwise bleak chapter, with the wonderful chemistry between Ford and Carrie Fisher finally getting the attention it deserves. Vader’s big reveal is naturally the most shocking moment of Empire, but a very close second is how Ford plays Solo in the last moments before he is frozen in carbonite. If anyone doubted whether or not Ford was going to become one of the greatest heroes of film in the 20th century, that scene alone silenced the vast majority of them.