Ford Explorer

Image credit: Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Everett Collection

WITNESS (1985)
WORKING GIRL (1988)
THE FUGITIVE (1993)
Career highs. Best Picture nominees all, these three films arguably represent his finest work. (''Witness'' also gave Ford his first and only Best Actor nod.)

Ford: '''Witness' was a wonderful experience -- until the writers got an Oscar. They went up to accept and said, 'It's too bad these guys screwed up our story.' To them, it would have been better to end with Danny Glover getting kicked by a mule than the ending we came up with. I was amazed by the rudeness. [Though the original script did end with a mule kick, the writers deny Ford's recollection and the Academy has no record of them complaining in their speeches.] On 'Working Girl,' I was surprised when people said, 'Comedy: This is something new for you.' I said, 'Really?' Because I had always thought of 'Indiana Jones' and 'Star Wars' as comedies. With 'The Fugitive,' halfway through, they wanted a shot of me running through the forest for the trailer. When we rolled film, I nearly ran into this piece of equipment that hadn't been there during rehearsal. To avoid it, I put all my weight on one leg and tore a ligament. I limped through the rest of the movie. Damn trailers.''

THE DEVIL'S OWN
AIR FORCE ONE (both 1997)
A turbulent year for the actor. ''The Devil's Own,'' a pet project of costar Brad Pitt's, was marred by creative differences and ended up a box office disappointment. Later that year, Ford rebounded playing a terrorist-battling president in Air Force One.

Ford: ''Brad and I didn't agree on which way it should go. We had rewrite issues all the way through. But everyone behaved well; the stories about us fighting were untrue. It just took us longer than it should have. What I remember most [about 'Air Force One'] was wanting Glenn Close as my vice president. Her agents wouldn't give her the script because the part was too small. But when President Clinton was in Jackson Hole, Wyo. [where Ford owns a 600-acre ranch], I was invited to a party and Glenn was sitting next to him. At a break in the meal, I approached her and asked her to play my vice president. But actually, I think it was Clinton who really talked her into it.''

Ford plans to follow ''K-19'' with an as-yet-untitled cop comedy directed by ''Bull Durham'''s Ron Shelton, and the thriller ''A Walk Among the Tombstones,'' helmed by Joe Carnahan, whose December drama ''Narc,'' says Ford, ''is one of the best movies I've ever seen.'' And yes, he says a fourth Indiana Jones film will be made -- pending a script he, Lucas, and Spielberg can agree on. Will the film feature an older Indy or one in his 1930s prime? ''We're going to bring him forward in time,'' says Ford, who then adds, ''Are you suggesting he's past his prime?''

Never.