The Harrison Ford Thriller That’s as Controversial as It Is Hitchcockian

The Big Picture

• Harrison Ford’s role in
  Frantic
  showcases his vulnerability and range as he steps away from Indiana Jones and Star Wars.
• Frantic
  is a Polanski thriller that inverts the Hitchcockian style, relying on suspense and intrigue.
• Controversial upon release,
  Frantic
  still stands out as a radical and thrilling film in Ford’s career.

Following the popularity of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises in the 1980s, Harrison Ford essentially had all the freedom to work on any project he chose. Given that both Han Solo and Indiana Jones had become instantly iconic characters that audiences of multiple generations could recognize, Ford had the ability to invest in more unusual projects that benefited from his magnanimous star power. Admirably, he often chose to work on decidedly un-commercial projects that challenged his viewers’ preconceived notions about his heroic roles. Characters like Blade Runner’s Rick Deckard or The Mosquito Coast’s Allie Fox were far less endearing, and earned Ford acclaim for playing against type. While it cratered at the box office upon its initial release, the disturbing Roman Polanskithriller Frantic contains one of the most dynamic and challenging performances of Ford’s entire career.

What Is Harrison Ford’s ‘Frantic’ About?

An international neo-noir that draws from the style of the great Alfred Hitchcock, Frantic is an action-packed mystery thriller that satirizes American idealism. Ford stars as Dr. Richard Walker, a highly respected surgeon who visits Paris, France on a business trip with his wife, Sondra (Betty Buckley). While his medical skills have made him a figure of significant importance at an upcoming conference, Walker is essentially an outsider within the country; he doesn’t speak French, and has no knowledge of the nation’s cultural hallmarks or political infrastructure. After Sondra mysteriously disappears while Walker is in the shower, he desperately pleads with the local authorities to help identify her; realizing the barrier in communication may be too great to bridge any meaningful conclusions, Walker decides to stalk out on his own investigation.

After spending around a decade playing two of the most iconic action heroes in cinema history, Harrison Ford is cast in a movie where he’s forced to be vulnerable. Walker is naturally in a fragile emotional state due to his wife’s disappearance, but his frustration escalates when he realizes that he won’t find help from the law enforcement that would seemingly prevent a situation like this from happening; even agents of the U.S. embassy are somewhat skeptical about his story, and refuse to aid him in any way that would disrupt their standard procedures and protocol. Ford may be known for giving his iconic angry, jaded speechesbut in Frantic the context is perfect; he’s a character bound by a single motivation, and grows increasingly disillusioned about the notion of compassion when he’s forced to be on his own.

Ford’s grounded performance is perfect for the style of Franticas Walker is essentially an “audience avatar” that is only exposed to the same level of information that the viewer is. After realizing that Sondra mistakenly took a different briefcase with her when they were leaving their hotel, Walker discovers that the items she obtained may have some relevance to a larger political conspiracy linked to the Paris criminal underworld. Walker is certainly a man of great intelligence, but he’s certainly no secret agent or action hero. By playing an ordinary man caught in extraordinary circumstances, Ford was able to play a very different type of protagonist within a spy thriller.

‘Frantic’ Inverts the Hitchcockian-Style Thriller

As with many of Polanski’s films, Frantic owes a great deal to Hitchcock’s best work in terms of style and tone. Although there are brief moments of action in which Walker is pursued by international terrorists, Frantic is a film that relies on suspense and intrigue to become kinetic. Like any great Hitchcock film, Frantic forces its protagonist to use their unique skill set to get out of a dangerous situation. His rudimentary knowledge of illicit materials, stemming from his experiences as a surgeon, allows him to deduce that Sondra may have accidentally obtained key items within a drug trade. While this knowledge equips him with a better understanding of the mystery at hand, it only heightens his anxiety; Ford is able to show the fear that washes over Walker’s face upon these critical revelations.

Like many noir classics, Frantic features a “femme fatale” character in Emmanuelle Seigner’s Michelle, a drug smuggler who crosses paths with Walker after Sondra’s kidnapping. Despite her ties to the criminal underworld, Michelle has no loyalty to the smugglers she works for, and shows compassion for Walker as he tries to find Sondra. The situation forces the two characters into an unlikely alliance where they are both constantly forced to question each other’s motivations. Walker can’t help but wonder if Michelle is actually trying to profit from the situation by finding the whereabouts of the suitcase; simultaneously, Michelle is skeptical that Walker may turn her into the authorities once Sondra’s safety is confirmed.

‘Frantic’s Ending Was Controversial

Despite earning rave reviews from critics like Roger Ebert upon its initial release, Frantic was hit with a wave of controversies that threatened its theatrical rollout. Concerned about the film’s graphic violence and sexual content, Warner Brothers lobbied for Polanski to cut over 15 minutes from the filmincluding an alternate ending that revealed Sondra’s involvement with the conspiracy from the beginning. While cutting the last minute twist turned out to be a savvy creative decision that helped the film avoid becoming superficially silly, it ironically mirrored the ending to another Ford thriller, 1990’s Presumed Innocent.

Frantic is still an uncomfortable film to watch today due to the sexual assault and harassment crimes of Polanskiparticularly in a film with so much violence against women. Nonetheless, it was a brave move on Ford’s part to star in such an angry, cynical thriller that showed the deep ignorance of American tourism. It remains one of the most radical and exciting decisions of his entire career, and one that shows his ambitions as an actor to go beyond the high-profile franchises he’s most closely associated with.

Frantic is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.

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