The Jake Gyllenhaal-led eight-episode series Presumed Innocent, which also stars Ruth Negga, Bill Camp, Renate Reinsve, and Peter Sarsgaard, recently hit Apple TV+.
The series, which comes from Big Little Lies and Boston Legal creator David E. Kelley and is based on a 1987 legal thriller novel by author Scott Turow,
is not the first time this story has made it to the screen. In 1990, Harrison Ford starred in the film of the same name,
which was directed by Alan J. Pakula, and also starred Brian Dennehy, Raul Julia, and Bonnie Bedelia.
The film comes off of a couple of Ford’s mid-1980s starring roles in thrillers that had a more mature theme, such as Witness.
Coming out in 1990, Presumed Innocent kicks off an impressive decade where Ford really solidifies himself as one of America’s most iconic leading men,
but this movie does not offer that shining, gruff, kick-ass Ford we are used to. Presumed Innocent is one of his stronger performances, in part because of how different it is from everything else he’s done. Ford’s great starring role and the well-crafted courtroom thrills leave this as one of the most engaging, slick thrillers of this period, when John Grisham would eventually take over with films like The Firm or A Time to Kill. Presumed Innocent is darker, dirtier, and an exercise for Ford to step out of his usual star persona.
What Is Harrison Ford’s ‘Presumed Innocent’ About?
The movie follows Ford as Rusty Sabich, a prosecutor working for the District Attorney’s office. Carolyn Polhemus, a fellow prosecutor, is murdered, and Sabich is put in charge of the investigation. Sabich is placed in an uncomfortable and unenviable position, as he is a married man who once had an affair with Polhemus. The case takes a dark turn for Sabich when he is charged with the crime in the middle of his investigation.
With Sabich facing a grueling trial, he and his legal team are forced to uncover a conspiracy that frames him for Polhemus’ murder. Presumed Innocent plays out, as many of Pakula’s films do, as a twisted, paranoia-laden thriller that boxes you in and leaves you guessing until the very end. Like The Parallax View and All the President’s Men, Pakula delivers another sharp, twisty, and thrilling movie.
In many ways, Presumed Innocent is a classic courtroom thriller, but it grants itself the ability to be darker, more cryptic, and less showy than most of the genre’s greatest additions. The procedural elements are very well written and acted, and a lot of time is spent in the courtroom. The movie takes a fairly bleak point of view with respect to the justice system. In Presumed Innocent, nearly everyone involved with this trial on either side is susceptible to corruption in one form or another. Some of them are personally compromised, others are inclined to behave in a professionally unethical manner. There is a dark, cynical core at the heart of Presumed Innocent that seeps its way into every sequence, down to the bitter end. Ford, for all his star power, threads a needle with a low-key, tense, character who fits seamlessly into this grimy world.
Harrison Ford Is Far From a Charming Hero in ‘Presumed Innocent’
Harrison Ford made himself a timeless icon of American cinema with his starring roles as Indiana Jones and Han Solo. But when Ford put down the whip and the blaster, he still proved his stardom with countless, more adult-oriented thrillers that are now considered classics. While Blade Runner didn’t hit at the time, it has gone on to be counted among the most iconic, important sci-fi movies in history. Films like The Fugitive and Air Force One are action classics of the 1990s. But all of these roles have something in common: they are engaging with Ford as a totemic movie star of his time. He’s charming, crafty, strong, and mostly heroic.
Presumed Innocent leaves that archetype of Ford at the door, and gives us a completely different character in terms of stature and charisma. Sabich is not a hotshot who barges headfirst into the mystery at the heart of this gripping legal thriller. He is uncomfortable, tense, and keeping his feelings very close to his chest. So close, in fact, that you may even start questioning whether he really is innocent as the story plays out, even up to the final scene.
A different approach was needed to dig into Sabich. Ford explained in a 1990 interview that he chose to cut his hair into a short, cropped style and posture himself differently. This choice kills two birds with one stone, as Ford says that he wanted audiences to “not to expect this to be the Harrison Ford that they’ve met in previous movies,” and it further embodies the more stilted, uncomfortable character that the script calls for.
Harrison Ford’s Rusty Doesn’t Have Control in ‘Presumed Innocent’
Ford is not playing a hero in this movie. He is wired, exhausted, backed into a corner, and, at times, quite pathetic. Regardless of how the key mystery of the film unfolds, it is clear that Sabich is not necessarily a very good person. He’s aggressive and adulterous, and doesn’t command the respect and gravitas that Ford typically brings to his starring roles. By the end of the film, he has not really uncovered much. Sabich is largely a passive player in the story, and only discovers the key to the mystery by accident. He is merely a pawn in a larger scheme, and that is not the way Ford is usually positioned in a movie of this kind.
There is a movie star quality that many great actors never achieve; a kind of special magic quality that feels as impossible to quantify as it is to deny. Sometimes that quality lets stars off the hook to not try as hard on the acting front. The charisma makes up for a neglect of digging into fresh, new territory. Ford doesn’t slide by on his charms in Presumed Innocent. He dives into a character, and comes out looking and feeling differently than you’ve ever experienced him before. Ford’s stardom is not completely lost in the shuffle, but transformed into something that makes Presumed Innocenta captivating thriller all these years later.
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Source: Tampa Bay Times
