Harrison Ford’s been a legend of the silver screen for decades now, first getting his start in the 1960s with minor roles before he exploded in popularity by the late 1970s, and became a leading man by the early 1980s. He’s been a part of some truly popular franchises, too, including the Indiana Jones series, which has seen its fifth installment – The Dial of Destiny – get released in 2023.

While The Dial of Destiny might be too flawed to count as a truly great Harrison Ford movie, at least the legendary actor – now in his early 80s – has been in numerous other iconic movies over the decades. What follows are some of his best, aiming to highlight the various genres he’s excelled in over the years and will hopefully continue to do for a little longer, seeing as he doesn’t have any plans to slow down any time soon.

25 ‘Sabrina’ (1995)

Directed by Eric W. Schwartz

Based on a 1954 movie written and directed by Billy Wilder, Sabrina takes the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to remakes. It follows the title character after she manages to make her longtime crush, David, fall for her, only for complications to arise due to him already being engaged.

Harrison Ford is featured in the role that Humphrey Bogart played in the original; that of David’s older brother, Linus, who also harbors feelings for Sabrina, despite being much older than her. It’s one of those very old-fashioned films that might only appeal to those who can get on board with the premise, making it a strange choice for a 1990s remake… but at least as far as remakes go, few could call it a bad one.

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24 ‘The Age of Adaline’ (2015)

Directed by Lee Toland Krieger

A movie that combines fantasy with romance, The Age of Adaline revolves around the title character, a woman who mysteriously stops growing older while in her late 20s. Ford plays a man who was once in love with Adaline but obviously kept aging, as normal people tend to do, with the film ultimately exploring how this causes Adaline angst in her romantic/general life.

Few people would call it one of Ford’s very best movies, but it gave him a great deal to do as an actor, and he rose to the occasion, being another film that shows he can fit into the romance genre surprisingly well. The consensus on Rotten Tomatoes says as much, expressing how Ford and star Blake Lively are both good, even if the movie itself is flawed.

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23 ‘Patriot Games’ (1992)

Directed by Phillip Noyce

One of two Jack Ryan movies starring Harrison Ford in the lead role and having Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce as director, Patriot Games can sort of blend into the crowd of 1990s Harrison Ford action/thriller movies. Buckle in, because there are plenty more mentioned below, and their titles can be easy to mix up.

The plot here centers on Ryan and his family being in danger after the CIA agent interferes with an IRA assassination, leading to plenty of expected action and suspense. It might not rewrite the playbook when it comes to these sorts of movies by any means, but it gets the job done and was successful enough for a sequel in 1994.

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22 ‘The Frisco Kid’ (1979)

Directed by Rovert Aldrich

Contrary to popular belief, Westerns can be funny sometimes, and while The Frisco Kid isn’t the most well-known Western/comedy film, it is notable for starring a young Harrison Ford. It’s something of a buddy comedy, following Ford’s bank-robbing character going on a series of misadventures with a rabbi, after the two cross paths out in the Old West.

Gene Wilder plays the rabbi here, and of course, also featured in perhaps the most famous Western/comedy crossover movie of all time, Blazing Saddles. The Frisco Kid doesn’t have quite the same level of acclaim, but anyone looking for more wild and chaotic entertainment in a Western setting could certainly do a lot worse.

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21 ‘Presumed Innocent’ (1990)

Directed by Alan J. Pakula

Presumed Innocent is another 1990s Harrison Ford thriller, though this one’s more of a mystery/thriller/drama rather than an action-heavy thriller. Ford plays a prosecutor who gets accused of a crime he didn’t commit, and so has to fight for his innocence in a case that gets more and more complicated with every new development.

It was directed by Alan J. Pakula, who was best known for making a series of successful, paranoia-heavy thrillers in the 1970s, including All the President’s Men, Klute, and The Parallax View. Presumed Innocent is another solid film from Pakula that scratches a similar itch to those 70s releases, and Ford gives a good performance as a desperate man struggling to protect his innocence.

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20 ‘Clear and Present Danger’ (1994)

Directed by Phillip Noyce

To poorly paraphrase Smash Mouth, the 90s Harrison Ford thrillers start coming and they don’t stop coming. Clear and Present Danger is the second Jack Ryan film that starred Ford and was directed by Phillip Noyce, and sees the CIA agent getting wrapped up in a conflict between the U.S. government and a Colombian drug cartel.

Of all the movies based on novels by Tom Clancy, it’s one of the most well-known and widely liked. It’s a little better than Patriot Games overall, having a slightly snappier pace despite being longer, while also benefiting from having Willem Dafoe appear this time around, who’s a welcome presence in any movie he shows up in.

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19 ‘Air Force One’ (1997)

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen

After earlier 1990s thrillers that saw Harrison Ford playing agents who serve the U.S. president, Air Force One gave him the chance to play the role of (a fictional) president himself. It takes place largely on the titular plane, revolving around how President James Marshall handles the presidential aircraft getting hijacked.

It can be seen as silly or perhaps even a little derivative of Die Hard, given that movie helped popularize the idea of action/thriller movies taking place in confined locations. But it still overall works, committing to its wild premise with confidence, with things also being helped by Ford giving a naturally confident and captivating lead performance.

18 ‘Working Girl’ (1988)

Directed by Mike Nichols

A romantic comedy directed by Mike Nichols, Working Girl stars Harrison Ford alongside Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver. Though she was billed below Ford and Weaver, Griffith is the protagonist here, playing a young woman who decides to screw her boss over after her boss screws her over, which sees her taking over her boss’s life while she’s recovering in hospital following a skiing accident.

Its tendency to be syrupy and quite aggressive as a romantic comedy means that the satirical edge the film could’ve had is buried, but at least it works as a romantic comedy, silliness and all. While the genre isn’t typically recognized by the Academy Awards, Working Girl proved surprisingly popular among Oscar voters upon release, getting a total of six nominations, including one for Best Picture.

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17 ‘Frantic’ (1988)

Directed by Roman Polanski

Frantic’s an efficiently made and overall tense psychological thriller that will unnerve any viewer who tends to have fears surrounding travel in unfamiliar locales. Ford plays a doctor who goes to Paris with his wife, only for things to quickly turn nightmarish when she suddenly disappears, leading to a desperate search for any clues as to her whereabouts.

As might be expected, complications arise, and it becomes apparent that there’s a wide-reaching conspiracy surrounding the disappearance. It never quite goes so far as to become completely stupid, but it definitely flirts with crossing a line into unreality, which at least keeps it consistently entertaining and unpredictable.

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16 ’42’ (2013)

Directd by Brian Helgeland

42 is a biopic about Jackie Robinson, a legendary athlete who made history for being the first Black man to play in Major League Baseball, back in the 1940s/50s. It was one of the first starring roles for the late Chadwick Boseman, who played Robinson, with Harrison Ford playing Branch Rickey, a sports executive who signed Robinson, breaking a previously held color barrier.

The film covers the challenges Jackie Robinson faced resulting from his unique position at the time, ensuring 42’s a sports film that also looks at America’s history of racism during the 20th century. It doesn’t break any biopic conventions by any means, but tells a story worth telling, and tells it well, also being backed up by strong performances by Boseman and Ford.

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15 ‘Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens’ (2015)

Directed by J.J. Abrams

Though recent Star Wars movies have proven divisive, 2015’s The Force Awakens was a hotly anticipated movie, and while reception to it at the time felt more glowing, there are surely many who still like it. It brings back old characters who hadn’t been seen in decades, including Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia (Mark Hamill is only seen briefly as Luke Skywalker in this film).

The plan was to have each member of the trio get one movie centered around them, with The Force Awakens being the one that gave Ford the biggest chance to shine. He brings a great deal to the film as an older, more regretful, but still charismatic Han Solo, and for being one final, bittersweet adventure for the iconic character, The Force Awakens is largely a success.

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14 ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ (1984)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Of the original three Indiana Jones movies, The Temple of Doom was certainly the most divisive, as it took the series in a dark and sometimes very grim direction. It’s an Indiana Jones adventure that takes place before films #1 and #3, centering on Indy having to find a mystical stone, in the process uncovering a horrific underground cult.

The other films in the series have their violent moments, sure, but nothing quite as brutal as the scene here which features a man getting his heart removed via a human sacrifice. The gloomy underground setting and child slaves also make this a bleak time at parts, but there is still plenty of action and spectacle on offer here, with Ford slipping back into the titular role with ease.

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13 ‘The Mosquito Coast’ (1986)

Directed by Peter Weir

While most adventure movies are a good deal of fun, or potentially even escapist in nature, The Mosquito Coast is instead a particularly dark – and psychologically heavy – “adventure” film. Harrison Ford stars as a father who wants to retreat from modern society, so he takes his family and makes them all live with him in the jungle, somewhere in Belize.

Mosquitos are the least of their problems, given Ford’s character doesn’t think things through particularly well, and what was supposed to be a paradise away from civilization quickly becomes a nightmare. It’s uncomfortable but overall interesting, and the skilled cast also includes Helen Mirren and River Phoenix, both giving great performances alongside Ford.

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12 ‘American Graffiti’ (1973)

Directed by George Lucas

After underwhelming parts throughout the 1960s, Harrison Ford turned to carpentry as a way to make ends meet, seemingly thinking he wouldn’t be able to make it as an actor. While his role in American Graffiti wasn’t huge enough to be called a star-making one, it was significant enough to get the ball rolling on his acting career again, with the years following 1973 seeing Ford get progressively bigger roles, eventually becoming a movie star.

The film’s a coming-of-age dramedy set in the early 1960s, and it follows a group of high school graduates enjoying life at its most free, right before they all head off to college. Ford plays a skilled drag racer who challenges one of the main characters to compete with him, and Ford makes the most of his limited screen time, shining in a small role that started his working relationship with George Lucas, who would of course go on to make Star Wars with Ford playing Han Solo.

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11 ‘Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi’ (1983)

Directed by Richard Marquand

Though the conclusion to the original Star Wars trilogy isn’t perfect, it is a good deal better than the infamous conclusion to the sequel trilogy (the less said about that 2019 film, the better). Return of the Jedi wraps up what’s still the best three-film collection in the Star Wars saga, revolving around Luke Skywalker saving Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt before confronting his father, Darth Vader, and hopefully saving the galaxy.

If it was to be judged based on the strength of Harrison Ford’s performance, this would probably rank lower, as Ford looks a little checked out of the series at this point, and hasn’t been shy about saying he believes the movie should’ve killed off Han Solo. But maybe the distance from the performance is just Han Solo being typically cool and detached, and the movie is successful in other areas to ultimately make it a good one (the Luke and Vader stuff is all pretty great).

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10 ‘The Conversation’ (1974)

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Ranking among the greatest thrillers of all time, The Conversation isn’t the most well-known Francis Ford Coppola movie released in 1974, but it is very good and quite underrated. It’s a movie about surveillance and obsession, following a man who becomes obsessed with a couple he was tasked with surveilling and recording.

As one of Harrison Ford’s earliest well-known roles, he doesn’t have a great deal to do here, given Gene Hackman’s the star and the movie more or less belongs to him. He plays an assistant to the client Hackman’s character is working for, clashing with him and causing his paranoia to only increase. Like with American Graffiti, Ford’s not in this a lot, but he makes his limited time in front of the camera count.

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9 ‘Witness’ (1985)

Directed by Peter Weir

Despite decades of giving memorable performances, Harrison Ford has only received one acting nomination for the Oscars, and it was for 1985’s Witness. In the film, he plays a detective who goes undercover in an Amish community, and is tasked with protecting a child who was the sole witness of a brutal murder.

It ranks among his very best performances, and is easily one of his most iconic that didn’t see him playing a role within a larger franchise. Witness skillfully balances thriller, crime/drama, and romance elements, overall becoming an underrated movie that holds up today, thanks to its interesting premise and the strong central performance from Ford.

8 ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ (1989)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

A highlight of 1989, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was the third movie in the series, and certainly felt like the final one, owing to its title and the way it ultimately ends. After The Temple of Doom, it gets things back on track for anyone who didn’t like the darker direction the series went in, with this film feeling much more like the first, almost – but not quite – to its detriment.

The familiarity does feel more welcome than off-putting, and the ace up The Last Crusade’s sleeve is obviously Sean Connery, who memorably plays Indy’s father, Henry Jones Sr. Ford and Connery are paired well together, ensuring The Last Crusade is often very funny alongside being reliably action-packed and exciting.

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7 ‘Blade Runner 2049’ (2017)

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

Of the numerous great movie sequels released in 2017, Blade Runner 2049 was one of the very best. Coming out 35 years after the original, it made the wise decision to have Harrison Ford return in a supporting role rather than as the lead again, here revolving around an officer (played by Ryan Gosling) searching for Rick Deckard (Ford’s character).

It recaptures part of what made the original film great, but also stands out on its own in many ways, ultimately being one of the best sci-fi releases of the 2010s. It was always going to be a risky film to make, but the execution was more than sound, with Denis Villeneuve knocking it out of the park as director.

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6 ‘Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope’ (1977)

Directed by George Lucas

It’s hard to name movies that are more iconic, popular, and influential than the original Star Wars from 1977. Thanks to the prequel trilogy, it eventually became Episode IV, though nothing will stop it from being the public’s initial view into this particular galaxy far, far away, and all the strange characters, alien worlds, and unusual technologies found within.

Luke Skywalker is the ultimate protagonist here, but Star Wars did still manage to be Harrison Ford’s breakout role, with him instantly becoming an icon due to playing one of cinema’s most popular side characters, Han Solo. It’s a role Ford slipped into with ease, and it’s easy to see why all these years later, it still stands as either his most iconic or second-most iconic (another character is, after all, Jonesing for that distinction).

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