Every Ed Harris Movie Ranked Worst To Best

For a movie starring Ed Harris, Taraji P. Henson, Amy Madigan, and Peter Weller, "Once Fallen" is surprisingly anonymous. The film went straight to video after premiering at a handful of festivals and largely disappeared after that. As such, you'd be hard-pressed to find any reviews from critics or audiences, who perhaps didn't realize it existed. Even if it isn't Harris' worst movie, it's certainly his least memorable, placing it firmly at the bottom of this list.

Written and directed by Ash Adams (who also has a small role in the film), it stars Brian Presley as Chance Ryan, an ex-con who's trying to turn his life around after a stint in prison. His father, Liam (Harris), is serving a life sentence for murder at the same jail his son was just released from, and he has become the leader of the jail's chapter of the Aryan Brotherhood. Upon release, Chance learns from his ex-girlfriend that he has a son, August (Keegan Thomas), falls in love with his ex's friend, Pearl (Henson), and struggles to reconnect with his mother, Rose (played by Harris' real-life wife, Amy Madigan). His quest for redemption is nearly derailed when he agrees to help a friend repay a debt to a violent mobster named Eddie (Weller).

Everybody has to start somewhere, and Ed Harris began his leading man career with a role in one of Charles Bronson's worst films. (Technically speaking, this was Harris' second movie role, his first being a small part as a pathology resident in 1978's "Coma"). "Borderline" stars Bronson as Jeb Maynard, a Border Patrol officer who's trying to track down a killer who murdered his best friend, fellow USBP officer "Scooter" Jackson (Wilford Brimley), and a young Mexican boy. He soon learns this is the work of Hotchkiss (Harris), aka "the Marine," an illegal alien smuggler working for local rancher Carl Richards (Bert Remsen). Maynard decides to go deep undercover, posing as a Mexican immigrant in order to catch his man.

Writing for The New York Times, Tom Buckley said "Borderline" has, "an air of cheapness and improvisation. The characterization and dialogue are rudimentary, as is the direction by Jerrold Freedman." The TV Guide writeup concurred, saying it was, "a good programmer, but nothing special." (True to their name, they also complained that the darkly-filmed night footage would "make this a tough film to watch on TV in a semi-lit room, but it plays well enough in a theater.") But hey, if nothing else, at least it did the trick of introducing the world to the talents of Ed Harris, who would spend the rest of the 1980s rising to greater and greater heights.

Dustin Lance Black attracted an A-list cast for "Virginia," but even the talents of Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, and Emma Roberts couldn't keep this one from receiving a rotten reception from critics. The reaction at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival was so bad that Black drastically recut the film before finally releasing it two years later.

The semi-autobiographical story stars Connelly as Virginia, a schizophrenic Southern belle who carries on a decades-long affair with married sheriff Richard Tipton (Harris). Their relationship is further complicated when Virginia's son, Emmett (Harrison Gilbertson), falls in love with Tipon's daughter, Jessie (Roberts). There's also the issue of Virginia's recent cancer diagnosis, which she decides to turn into a fake pregnancy so she can blackmail her lover for financial support while he's running for state senate. Harris' wife, Amy Madigan, costars as his onscreen spouse, Roseanna, who suspects something's going on.

Although Connelly won praise for her performance, the rest of the film was largely dismissed by reviewers, even after the extensive recuts. "Ms. Connelly gives a brave, full-tilt performance that is true to the character but can't hold the movie together," opined Stephen Holden of The New York Times. Peter Debruge of Variety called it, "a scattershot Southern melodrama that can't decide what it wants to be," adding it was "sustained only by Jennifer Connelly's empathetic perf[ormance]." Those bad reviews did nothing to help its chance at the box office, where it grossed a  paltry $12K.

When director Renny Harlin hits, you get glorious action spectacles like "Die Hard 2," "The Long Kiss Goodnight," and "Deep Blue Sea." But when he misses, you get stuff like "Cleaner." Samuel L. Jackson plays Tom Cutler, a retired police officer who now supports his daughter (a young Keke Palmer) by working as a crime scene cleaner. After performing a routine job at a sprawling mansion, Cutler gets contacted by a homeowner, Ann Norcut (Eva Mendes), who wants to know why he was in her house. It soon becomes clear Cutler was unwittingly hired to do a coverup, and Norcut's husband — a whistle-blowing police officer — has disappeared. He looks to his former partner, Detective Eddie Lorenzo (Ed Harris), for help, but he's involved in the corruption as well (and has other motives for getting rid of the missing officer).

"Cleaner" went straight to DVD after its disastrous debut at the Toronto Film Festival, where critical reception resembled something close to a murder scene. Variety wrote that the film "suffers from a distracting case of visual jitters and takes a 'CSI' approach to fetishizing the messy nature of the human body." Nathan Rabin of The AV Club concurred, saying, "Low energy and grindingly mediocre, it adds a whole new dimension to Harlan's wildly uneven oeuvre: tedium." The film did get a good review from Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter, who called it, "a neatly contained crime whodunnit with a nifty setup and an expert lead performance by Samuel L. Jackson."

"In Dubious Battle" was one of several films James Franco directed during his stretched-too-thin phase, when the multi-hyphenate was churning out dozens of projects a year without a break. This included trying to bring every classic American novel to the screen, from Cormac McCarthy's "Child of God" to William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" and "As I Lay Dying." He assembled an all-star cast for this John Steinbeck adaptation, including Ed Harris, Vincent D'Onofrio, Selena Gomez, Robert Duvall, Bryan Cranston, Sam Shepard, and Zach Braff. But much like Franco's other lofty literary excursions, it was met with a collective critical shrug.

Set during the Great Depression in California, it's the story of apple workers going on strike, led by Mac McLeod (Franco) and Jim Nolan (Nat Wolff). The 900 strikers have become increasingly dissatisfied with their cruel working conditions, and now they want a wage increase from $1 a day to $3. Harris plays Joy, one of the grizzled, land-weary strikers, who gets shot while on the picket line.

Jude Dry of Indiewire complained that Franco and screenwriter Matt Rager, "tell their story in such broad terms it's difficult to care." Tricia Olszewski of The Wrap echoed this, saying, "rarely has such star wattage resulted in a film so dull." Even a mostly positive review by Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly conceded, "the movie struggles to transcend broad outlines." The film took in a little over $213K at the worldwide box office.

Adapted from Stephen Elliott's true crime memoir of the same name, "The Adderall Diaries" is simultaneously about Elliott's (James Franco) investigation into the case that inspired the book, his struggles to overcome writer's block, and his attempts to reconnect with his abusive father, Neil (Ed Harris). That's a lot for any film to take on, especially one that runs under 90 minutes and is directed by a first-time filmmaker, Pamela Romanowsky.

After struggling with substance abuse and homelessness, Elliott is hired to write a book about software designer Hans Reiser (Christian Slater). The proposed biography changes drastically when Reiser is arrested for the suspected murder of his missing wife. Meanwhile, Elliott is on a press tour for his previous book, an autobiographical look at his abusive childhood (Timothee Chalamet plays the author in flashbacks). While reading an excerpt, he's confronted by the elder Elliott, who claims everything he's written about him is a lie. This causes him to question his own memories, and he attempts to patch things up with his dad before it's too late.

In his scathing review, Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com praises Harris, saying he "emerges with the most complete or interesting portrait, as an intense, regretful father, more complicated than Stephen's one-dimensional portrait of him." He couldn't find much else to like about the film, a sentiment shared by the vast majority of critics. "Seldom has a story about subjectivity been so solipsistic," wrote Indiewire's David Ehrlich. "It's not adaptation," he added. "It's erasure."

"The Prime Gig" went straight to DVD after playing at a handful of festivals, failing to generate enough buzz to justify a theatrical release, despite boasting an all-star cast that includes Vince Vaughn, Ed Harris, and Julia Ormond. The only film helmed by famed theater director Gregory Mosher, it centers on Pendleton "Penny" Wise (Vaughn), a master telemarketer who suddenly finds himself without a job when his boss, Mick (Stephen Tobolowsky), has to close down shop. Desperate for cash, he takes an offer from Caitlin Carlson (Ormond), who's hunting new talent for legendary telemarketer Kelly Grant (Harris). Penny leaps at the opportunity, but he's unsure of Grant's new endeavor to sell shares in a gold mine.

"The Prime Gig" drew inevitable comparisons to "Glengarry Glen Ross," considering Mosher directed the original Broadway production and Harris starred in the film adaptation, not to mention their shared subject matter. Yet those comparisons weren't necessarily favorable. David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews found it was, "a mishmash of so many cliches that are standard to this genre," without any of the tension of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Dennis Schwartz of Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews wrote, "It has all the flavorings of an indie feature without enough appeal to attract a mainstream audience." In short, even a salesman as skilled as Penny couldn't sell audiences and critics on this one.

There seemingly wasn't an actor alive who didn't show up for "Masked and Anonymous," Larry Charles' perplexing dissection of the legend that is Bob Dylan. The supporting cast reads like a murders' row of A-listers: Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Luke Wilson, Angela Bassett, Bruce Dern, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer, Mickey Rourke, and so on. But all the acting talent in the world couldn't save this one from getting savaged by critics who found it to be little more than incoherent hagiography.

Dylan plays a character much like himself, an enigmatic folk singer named Jack Fate. Fate is temporarily bailed out of prison to perform at a benefit for an unnamed, war-ravaged country, organized by shady concert promoter Uncle Sweetheart (Goodman) and his partner, Nina Veronica (Lange). As the concert unfolds, several bizarre characters weave in and out to discuss everything from politics to mysticism, including Harris as Oscar Vogel, a spiritual figure who inexplicably shows up in blackface and plays the banjo.

In his half-star review, Roger Ebert called the film, "a vanity production beyond all reason," although he didn't attribute it necessarily to Dylan. On the other side of the spectrum, Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post declared it to be, "a fascinating, vexing, indulgent, visionary, pretentious, mesmerizing pop culture curio." So much like Dylan's music, the film's merit is in the eye of the beholder.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, there were few genres more reliable than the legal thriller, as the meteoric popularity of John Grisham led Hollywood studios to snatch up every bestselling potboiler they could get their hands on. Ed Harris starred in a number of these, including this critically-derided adaptation of John Katzenbach's novel, which treats its serious subject matter with all the nuance of a "Law & Order" episode.

Sean Connery stars as Paul Armstrong, a Harvard law professor with a staunch opposition to the death penalty. He's pulled back into private practice when elderly Evangeline Ferguson (Ruby Dee) asks him to defend her son, Bobby Earl (Blair Underwood), who's on death row for a rape and murder he claims he didn't commit. Paul thinks Bobby was railroaded by Sheriff Tanny Brown (Laurence Fishburne), who violently forced him into a confession. Though he suspects the real culprit is incarcerated serial killer Blair Sullivan (Harris), Paul soon learns there are deeper, darker secrets at play here.

Though Roger Ebert thought the film started strong, he ultimately felt it crumbled under the weight of its twisty plot machinations. "There is no psychological depth, no real motivation, no human values to weigh," he wrote, "just characters jerked here and there like puppets in an arbitrary plot." Hal Hinson of The Washington Post took offense at its handling of touchy material, saying, "the filmmakers raise a serious issue, then have the audacity to fudge when it's time to take a strong position."

There are two groups of people who stayed away from "Man on a Ledge": Those suffering from acrophobia, and those with high standards for entertainment. Sam Worthington stars as Nick Cassidy, who checks himself into the Roosevelt Hotel and steps out on the ledge of the 21st floor. Nick only wants to speak with negotiator Lydia Spencer (Elizabeth Banks), who's been on leave ever since failing to save a policeman from jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. She finds out that the man on the ledge is a former NYPD officer who was fired for stealing a pricey diamond from businessman David Englander (Ed Harris). But Nick claims Englander framed him, and he won't step off the ledge until the truth is exposed.

The film was panned by the majority of critics, who found its plot preposterous and its acting phoned in. "The movie has a kind of outsize desperation," wrote Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe. "All it wants to do is wow us." Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle said, "In the end, it's all much ado about not so much, a semifunctional thriller that tingles but never terrifies." And Keith Staskiewicz of Entertainment Weekly summed it up best with the lede to his review: "For a film with such a straightforward title, 'Man on a Ledge' turns out to be remarkably convoluted." Reviews didn't help its box office, and the movie grossed just $47 million on a $42 million budget.

Another in the long tradition of Shakespeare adaptations set in the modern day, "Cymbeline" takes one of the Bard's lesser-known plays and turns it into a gritty crime saga, with a biker gang duking it out with corrupt cops. Ed Harris plays the gang's leader, Cymbeline, who wants to marry off his daughter, Imogen (Dakota Johnson), to his stepson, Cloten (Anton Yelchin), in order to maintain the royal bloodline. But Imogen has already married the penniless Posthumus (Penn Badgley), and besides, Cymbeline's wife, Queen (Milla Jovovich), wants to kill her husband and his daughter in order to place her son on the throne. 

When Posthumus is banished from the kingdom, he meets Iachimo (Ethan Hawke), a trickster who convinces him he has seduced Imogen thanks to a deceptive photograph. This sends Posthumus into a jealous rage, and he dispatches the loyal Pisanio (John Leguizamo) to murder her. But Pisano instead tells Imogen to go into hiding as a man, setting off a series of twists and turns that can only be described as Shakespearean.

"Cymbeline" was lambasted by critics, who saw it as a letdown after Michael Almereyda's successful modern translation of "Hamlet" (also starring Hawke). "The film has moments of real wit and stylish brutality," wrote Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly, "but its nods to modernity ... just feel like self-conscious stunts." Yet Manohla Dargis of The New York Times was more positive, saying the film, "reaffirms that Shakespeare can always survive every interpretive trick, with or without choppers and chrome."

"National Treasure" was a sizable commercial hit in 2004, and a sequel followed at whiplash speed just three years later. While the first film was far from a critical darling, its followup, "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" was even more harshly received by reviewers, though still a financial success. Nicolas Cage returns as treasure hunter Ben Gates, who discovers a long-lost page from John Wilkes Booth's diary that implicates his ancestor in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. To clear his family name, Gates sets off on a quest to find the titular Book of Secrets. Ed Harris costars as Mitch Wilkinson, a black market dealer who wants to find the book for his own financial gain.

In his review for Slant Magazine, Nick Shager likened the "National Treasure" franchise to an amusement park ride, "providing its customers a few cheap, fleeting thrills by jostling them about with disorienting, whiplash speed." Matt Zoller Seitz of The New York Times said that the sequel, "amounts to a bunch of crossword puzzle answers stitched together with explosions, chases, and displays of intuitive reasoning." Yet the film did have its defenders, including Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Gate, who wrote, "this American history-themed action thriller doesn't get many points for realism, but it makes up ground in so many other areas that you probably won't care." Although the proposed third entry never materialized, fans of the franchise do have the upcoming Disney+ series, "National Treasure: Edge of History," to look forward to.

The true story behind "Touching Home" should serve as inspiration to any first-time filmmakers: after their alcoholic father died in a prison cell, twin brothers Logan and Noah Miller vowed to write, direct, and star in a film about his life, despite having no previous experience in front or behind the camera. Crazier still, they vowed to have Ed Harris play their deceased dad, and miraculously, the pair convinced the A-list actor to star in their film after running into him at the San Francisco International Film Festival. 

Logan and Noah star as Lane and Clint Winston, washed-up baseball players who travel to Northern California to reconcile with their father, Charlie (Harris), who's living on the streets after a lifetime of drinking and gambling. The cast is rounded out by Brad Dourif as Charlie's long-suffering brother, Clyde, and Robert Forster as the town sheriff, Jim "Perk" Perkins.

Reception to "Touching Home" was split down the middle, with some critics cheering it and others jeering it. On the cheers side, Stephen Holden of The New York Times praised Harris' performance, calling him, "an actor almost incapable of sounding a false dramatic note." On the jeering side, Eric Hynes of Time Out faulted the acting debuts of Logan and Noah Miller, saying, "although convincing as athletes, neither Miller belongs on a movie screen." Harris must've enjoyed working with them, however, since he later starred in their follow-up film, "Sweetwater."

There aren't many actors you'd pick to fill George C. Scott's massive shoes, but Ed Harris is on that list. In "Resistance," Harris takes on the role of General George S. Patton, who Scott famously played in the 1970 biopic "Patton," for which he won (and refused) the best actor Oscar. Luckily for Harris, he doesn't have to carry the weight of this drama on his shoulders: rather, that duty goes to Jesse Eisenberg, who stars as famed mime Marcel Marceau. 

The film takes place before Marceau became a famous silent clown, recounting his efforts to save thousands of Jewish orphans during WWII by working with the French Resistance. Harris has a supporting role as Patton, the eccentric American military general who helped the Allied forces defeat the Nazis. Patton introduces Marceau to the troop during a 1945 address, commending him as an example of true heroism.

"Resistance" had the unfortunate luck of opening in March 2020, right as movie theaters were closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its box office was severely limited as a result. It wasn't helped by the reviews, which were mixed at best. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave it a positive writeup, saying, "Eisenberg acts with physical finesse and deep feeling, proving that the power of art can literally be a saving grace." David Ehrlich of Indiewire was more negative, saying the film, "can't stop finding new reasons to ignore its protagonist, or flatten him into anonymity."

Although it was shot in 1991, "China Moon" sat on a shelf for three years, a casualty of the collapse of Orion Pictures. When it finally hit theaters in 1994, it was met with a collective shrug by critics and audiences. A neo-noir set in steamy Tampa, Florida, it stars Ed Harris as Kyle Bodine, an upright homicide detective who falls under the spell of the beautiful Rachel Munro (Madeline Stowe) while drinking at a dive bar. The two begin an affair, which turns complicated when Rachel murders her abusive husband, Rupert (Charles Dance), and asks Kyle to help her dump the body. When his partner, Lamar Dickey (Benicio del Toro), starts looking into the crime, Kyle has to cover his tracks.

Writing in The New York Times, Caryn James complained that there was little to differentiate the film from other sexy neo-noirs, particularly Lawrence Kasdan's "Body Heat," which has an almost identical plot. Still, she conceded it was "absorbing and twisty enough to keep an audience watching." Pamela Bruce of The Austin Chronicle was more critical of the comparison to the 1981 William Hurt/Kathleen Turner thriller, saying, "rather than trying to improve upon these generic similarities, director [John] Bailey ... serves up a pale imitation of its predecessor." Yet Hal Hinson of The Washington Post felt that, despite its flaws, "the movie kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat throughout." Mixed critical reception hurt its chances at the box office, where it grossed only $3 million.

As Christy Lemire said in her review for RogerEbert.com, "Frontera" is, "a well-cast, well-made, well-acted drama that you will probably forget about soon after you've seen it." That's a good way to describe this issues-based Western, which gets plenty of mileage out of the performances by Ed Harris, Michael Pena, Eva Longoria, and Amy Madigan.

Pena stars as Miguel Ramirez, a Mexican citizen who crosses the border illegally to look for work. While in America, he meets Olivia McNary (Madigan), who provides him with water and a blanket when he's passing through her land. As luck would have it, Miguel is present when Olivia is killed after accidentally falling off a horse, and her husband, local sheriff Ed McNary (Harris), thinks he's responsible for her murder and arrests him. Miguel informs his wife, Paulina (Longoria), who crosses the border to help him, but she's raped and kidnapped while en route. When Ed learns the truth of Olivia's death, he agrees to help Miguel rescue Paulina.

Critical response was mixed at best, and the film made a paltry sum at the box office. "To varying degrees, the actors flesh out their underwritten roles," wrote Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter. That was especially true of Harris, who was given "the most room to create a nuanced portrait," she said. Keith Ulrich of Time Out praised the actors for overcoming the deficits in first-time co-writer/director Michael Berry's script, saying, "the cast is uniformly excellent, underplaying almost every moment that threatens to become hammy."

Writer-director Todd Robinson takes a "Citizen Kane" approach to "The Last Full Measure," which tells the true story of the efforts to posthumously award the Medal of Honor to Vietnam veteran William H. Pitsenbarger, who was killed in action during a rescue mission on April 11, 1966. Sebastian Stan plays Scott Huffman, an up-and-coming Washington power player who's asked by his boss, Carlton Stanton (Bradley Whitford), to look into Pitsenbarger's case at the behest of fellow veteran Tom Tully (William Hurt). Huffman's investigation leads him to speak with the fallen soldier's parents, Frank and Alice Pitsenbarger (Christopher Plummer and Diane Ladd), and vets Ray Mott (Ed Harris), Billy Takoda (Samuel L. Jackson), and Jimmy Burr (Peter Fonda). As he speaks with each witness, flashbacks paint a portrait of Pitsenbarger's heroic actions, with Jeremy Irvine playing him on that fateful day.

Although reviews were positive overall, most of the praise was heaped on the performances by the all-star cast, not necessarily on its portrayal of the true events. Odie Henderson of RogerEbert.com awarded the film three stars, even though it "misses the opportunity to flesh [Pitsenbarger] out, to give us more insight into who he was." Glenn Kenny of The New York Times was more positive, saying, "while the story mechanics are creaky, the valor of Pitsenbarger is evoked cogently, in well-executed battle sequences." And Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "there's hardly a moment in this film that doesn't feature at least one great actor in top form."

If nothing else, "Enemy at the Gates" proves you don't want Ed Harris on your tail. Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, it's one of those love stories set against the backdrop of history, taking inspiration from the true story of Russian sniper Vasilii Zaitsev, who fought at the Battle of Stalingrad during WWII. An exceptional marksman, Vassili (Jude Law) becomes a national hero thanks to a publicity campaign orchestrated by his friend, Commissar Danilov (Joseph Fiennes). But their partnership is threatened when they both fall in love with the same woman, Tania Chernova (Rachel Weisz), who joined the Army after the Nazis murdered her family.

Desperate to pick off the Soviet's best sniper, the Germans bring in their top marksman, Major Erwin König (Harris), to kill Vassili and Russian morale along with it. A violent game of cat-and-mouse ensues between the two men amongst the battle-torn ruins, with increasingly personal stakes.

Reviews were mixed, with even the most positive notices coming in lukewarm. Although he ultimately recommended it for the Law/Harris showdown, Roger Ebert felt "the film might have been better and leaner if it had told the story of the two soldiers and left out the soppy stuff." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly was less forgiving, calling it, "a simplified 'happy' hero's story." And although Derek Elley of Variety appreciated the visuals, he ultimately said the film "shows a consistent inability to generate any kind of drama when characters open their mouths."

"To Kill a Priest" was the first of three films Ed Harris made with Polish director Agnieszka Holland, who would later achieve international acclaim with her Oscar-nominated "Europa Europa." It's loosely based on the true story of Jerzy Popieluszko, a Catholic priest who was murdered by Poland's communist regime during the country's Solidarity movement. Christopher Lambert plays a fictionalized version of Popieluszko, here named Father Alek, while Harris plays the secret policeman assigned to stalk and kill him, Stefan. The film gives us glimpses into the two men's personal lives, with Joanne Whalley playing Anna, a married woman who temporarily challenges Father Alek's vow of chastity, and Cherie Lunghi playing Stefan's devoted wife, Halina.

Although the reviews were overall positive, "To Kill a Priest" did have its notable detractors, particularly Roger Ebert, who called it, "a movie of great, almost crushing, sincerity" that was "so ineptly made that scene after scene strikes the wrong note or no note at all." One quick fix, he felt, would be swapping the two lead roles, with Harris as the priest and Lambert as the killer, since Harris was more convincing in his convictions, while Lambert's dead-eyed stoicism might've been more effective for a cold-blooded murderer. Derek Malcolm of The Guardian was similarly dismissive, saying the would-be thriller "plods through the muddy ground of fractured authenticity." But Tim Appelo of Entertainment Weekly was more positive, writing, "the ever-intense Harris skillfully conveys the conflicts in the policeman's heart."

There's not much that differentiates "Kodachrome" from other road movies (particularly Alexander Payne's "Nebraska," to which it drew obvious comparisons), but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the ride for what it is. Jason Sudeikis plays Matt Ryder, a struggling record label executive who learns his estranged father, Benjamin (Ed Harris), is dying of cancer. An old-school photojournalist, Benjamin's dying wish is to have a roll of Kodachrome film developed at the last remaining lab. Matt agrees to take the trip from New York to Kansas with his dad, and his nurse, Zooey Kern (Elizabeth Olsen), comes along for the ride. Old wounds are healed, new romances are started, and beautiful photos are developed.

The film had its premiere at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival before landing on Netflix the following year. The majority of reviews were good, if not particularly outstanding, with most of the praise going to its trio of stars. "The talented actors elevate the thin premise and make it worth watching — especially the end," said Lindsey Bahr of The Associated Press. "With a stronger script, maybe Harris, Olsen, and Sudeikis's performances wouldn't have been wasted like the tenth selfie you took in the mirror this morning," wrote Robert Daniels of 812 Film Reviews. But not every critic was so forgiving, as was the case with Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly, who called it, "a road-trip dramedy so schematic and loaded for emotional bear it feels like it was generated by a Sundance screenwriting app."

In his first collaboration with director Agnieszka Holland, "To Kill a Priest," Ed Harris played a secret policeman hired to murder a Polish clergyman. In their second collaboration, "The Third Miracle," Harris dons the black robes to play a Roman Catholic priest struggling with his faith. You could almost say the two were carving out a niche, were it not for their third team-up, the biographical drama "Copying Beethoven."

Harris plays Father Frank Shore, a Vatican postulator who investigates potential candidates for sainthood. Known as "the miracle killer," Shore is skeptical when he hears claims that the death of Helen O'Regan (Barbara Sukowa) caused a statue of the Virgin Mary to cry blood and heal a young girl's lupus. Yet his investigation leads him to believe it could be real. Things get complicated when he meets the dead woman's daughter, Roxanne (Anne Heche), whose experiences with her mother were anything but saintly. It doesn't help that Roxanne arouses feelings in the lifelong priest that could seriously challenge his vow of celibacy.

"The Third Miracle" was the best-reviewed of Harris and Holland's three collaborations. Stephen Holden of The New York Times found Harris' casting to be particularly inspiring, writing that his "screen presence is so robust and sensually confident that it seems impossible such a man would take a vow of celibacy." San Francisco Gate's Peter Stack was similarly enthused, calling the film, "earthy, gritty, sexy — and yet also a questioning examination of spirituality."

You'll never catch Ed Harris phoning it in, even when he's appearing in action trash like "Run All Night." To be fair, this trash is well executed by director Jaume Collet-Serra, re-teaming for the third time with Liam Neeson. Neeson plays Jimmy Conlon, aka "The Gravedigger," a once great mob enforcer for his lifelong friend, Irish crime boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris). Now living most of his life on the wrong side of a bottle, Jimmy is estranged from his son, Mike (Joel Kinnaman), who's fallen in with Albanian heroin smugglers due to his friendship with Shawn's criminal son, Danny (Boyd Holbrook). When a drug deal goes wrong, Danny ends up dead and Mike is chased by the smugglers, the cops, and his dad's boss. It's up to Jimmy to make sure his son remains safe for the next 24 hours, even if it means going up against Shawn.

Reviews were mixed, although certainly more positive than Neeson and Collet-Serra's previous collaborations ("Non-Stop" and "Unknown"). Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com praised the performances, writing, "watching Neeson and Harris in scenes together, especially a great, tense meeting in the middle of the piece, is a surprising joy." Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly called it, "an admirable cat-and-mouse tale that puts forth a lot of cliches and executes them with B-movie intensity." Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post was less forgiving, dismissing it as, "the cinematic equivalent of junk food. It satisfies the craving for the sensation of nihilism, without its substance."

"Buffalo Soldiers" had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on September 8, 2001, and the events of September 11 caused Miramax to place it on a shelf for two years, fearing that audiences would find it distasteful. Indeed, this military satire was greeted with vitriol from a nation that was rallying behind American troops, so much so that star Anna Paquin had a water bottle thrown at her head by an angry audience member during a press conference at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. When the film finally hit theaters, positive reviews did nothing to help its box office prospects, despite a starry cast that also included Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris, and Scott Glenn.

Set in 1989, it stars Phoenix as Ray Elwood, an American soldier stationed in Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall. Elwood is a scoundrel who uses the military as a base of operations for his underground black marketeering and drug manufacturing operation. His commanding officer, Col. Berman (Harris), is blissfully unaware of Elwood's actions, or that he's having an affair with his wife (Elizabeth McGovern). Newly arrived Sgt. Robert E. Lee (Glenn) tries to clean things up, but Elwood just begins dating the sergeant's daughter, Robyn (Paquin).

Released right before America entered into the Iraq War, many felt that "Buffalo Soldiers" was the wrong movie at the wrong time. Yet Roger Ebert (among others) defended it, writing, "It is important to remember that gripes and disgruntlements and anti-authoritarian gestures are part of our national heritage."

We're bending the rules a bit to include "Empire Falls," which is technically a limited series. But no list of the best Ed Harris movies would be complete without this adaptation of Richard Russo's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which aired over two nights on HBO. Directed by Fred Schepisi, it stars Harris as Miles Roby, who manages the Empire Grill in the small, decaying town of Empire Falls, Maine. His ex-wife, Janine (Helen Hunt), is newly thin thanks to her fiancee, fitness club owner Walt Comeau (Dennis Farina), and their engagement is straining her relationship with her and Miles' daughter, Tick (Danielle Panabaker). Miles' father, Max (Paul Newman), is living as a vagabond, while his brother, David (Aidan Quinn), has proven himself aa a talented cook after kicking his pot-smoking habit. 

There are plenty of other colorful characters in Miles' life, including the Empire Grill's wealthy owner, Francine Whiting (Joanne Woodward); Francine's daughter, Cindy (Kate Burton), who has long loved Miles; Charlene (Theresa Russell), a waitress who has caught his eye; and Bea (Estelle Parsons), his wise ex-mother-in-law. Flashbacks to an affair between Miles' mother, Grace (Robin Wright), and local man Charlie Mayne (Philip Seymour Hoffman), add further context to his life.

Dana Stevens of Slate summed up the critical consensus of "Empire Falls" when she wrote, "there are worse ways of spending your weekend." The show was an Emmys juggernaut, earning 10 nominations, including best limited series and best actor for Harris. Surprisingly, its only victory was for Newman's supporting performance.

You would've expected Ed Harris to have worked with Clint Eastwood more, given their shared affinity for Westerns. Yet the two have only appeared together once, and neither one of them was wearing spurs or a cowboy hat. "Absolute Power" is a political thriller, with Eastwood both directing and starring as professional art thief Luther Whitney. While robbing the mansion of billionaire Walter Sullivan (E.G. Marshall), Whitney has to hide when the old man's younger trophy wife, Christy (Melora Hardin), shows up with her secret lover, U.S. President Richmond (Gene Hackman). When their tryst goes wrong, the Secret Service steps in and murders Christy, then chases after Whitney when he makes a run for it.

Desperate to deflect blame from themselves and the President, agents Bill Burton (Scott Glenn) and Tim Collin (Dennis Haysbert) frame Whitney for the murder. He finds an ally in Detective Seth Frank (Harris), who sees a lot of holes in the Secret Service's story. Frank also falls in love with Whitney's estranged daughter, D.C. prosecutor Kate Whitney (Laura Linney), who finds herself caught in the crosshairs.

Although critical assessment was mixed, the film had passionate supporters. Roger Ebert was pleasantly surprised by its emphasis on the father-daughter relationship, writing, "not many thrillers slow down to notice relationships, but this one does." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said it was, "fresh out of the cliches that reduce most thrillers to formula." 

Although the lion's share of praise and awards went to Julianne Moore's surprisingly empathetic turn as Sarah Palin, Ed Harris is just as important to the success of "Game Change." Harris is eerily uncanny as Senator John McCain in Jay Roach's behind-the-scenes look at the Republican politician's failed 2008 presidential run, which aired on HBO in 2012.

Adapted from Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's nonfiction bestseller, it centers on the efforts of Republican strategist Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson) to get McCain into the White House after he wins the GOP presidential primary. Trailing far behind Democratic nominee Barack Obama, Schmidt decides to shake things up by replacing McCain's preferred Vice Presidential candidate, Independent Senator Joe Leiberman, with a flashier choice: then-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (Moore). Schmidt and campaign consultant Nicolle Wallace (Sarah Paulson) soon realize that Palin lacks the knowledge, experience, and temperament to be second-in-line to the presidency, despite her rising popularity with the hardcore Republican voter base.

Reviews were positive, with Brian Lowry of Variety calling it, "a home-run: a big, smart, entertaining, and extremely promotable showcase for marquee stars." While most reviews focused on Moore's performance as Palin, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly said that McCain was "embodied with often breathtaking accuracy by Ed Harris." The film earned 12 Emmy nominations, winning five prizes: best movie/miniseries, best lead actress for Moore, best director for Roach, best writing for Danny Strong, and best casting. Although Harris lost his bid as best supporting actor, he did win that category at the Golden Globes.

Not to be confused with the 2020 Ben Affleck basketball movie, Peter Weir's "The Way Back" tells an astonishing story of survival against the harshest of elements. Set during WWII, it stars Jim Sturgess as Janusz Wieszczek (a stand-in for Slavomir Rawicz, whose memoir "The Long Walk" served as the film's basis), a Polish army officer who is suspected of being a spy by the Soviets. He's sent to a Siberian labor camp to serve a 20-year prison sentence. He decides to make a break for it during a blizzard, and he's accompanied on his journey by a group of inmates that includes Ed Harris as an American engineer known as Mr. Smith; Colin Farrell as Russian criminal Valka; and Mark Strong as Khabarov. Once they've escaped, the group begins their 4,000-mile trek to British India through Mongolia and the Gobi Desert, picking up a young Polish girl named Irena (Saoirse Ronan) along the way.

Though it was ostensibly based on a true story, there were some questions about the accuracy of Slawomir Rawicz's recollection, with evidence pointing to him never having escaped at all and instead being released in 1942. Yet reviews were still largely positive, and the film earned an Oscar nomination for its makeup. As Dan Kois of The Washington Post put it, "The Way Back" is, "an uplifting, complicated work of art from a director whose ability to tell intimate stories on a big historical canvas is unmatched in Hollywood."

For his sophomore directorial effort, "Appaloosa," Ed Harris returned to one of the genres he loves best: the Western. Harris stars as Virgil Cole, a veteran lawman who rides into the small New Mexico town of Appaloosa with his deputy, Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen). The two have been hired to reign in the evil rancher Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons), who rules over the frightened citizens. Their mission is interrupted by the arrival of impoverished widow Allison French (Renee Zellweger), who sparks a romance with Cole while trying to seduce Hitch. As she plays one man off the other, their partnership is threatened when they need each other the most.

Like his directorial debut, "Pollock," "Appaloosa" was met with widespread critical praise, with Harris earning kudos for his work both in front of and behind the camera. "What makes the movie absorbing is the way it harmonizes all the character strands and traits and weaves them into something more engaging than a 1-2-3 plot," wrote Roger Ebert. Todd McCarthy of Variety called it, "a decent Western made in an era when a Western has to be pretty darn good to rope people into a theater to see it." Unfortunately, even a pretty darn good Western did little to rope in audiences, a sign of the genre's dwindling appeal (although Harris has had better luck playing a similarly costumed gunslinger on the TV Western "Westworld").

"Sweet Dreams" attempts to do for Patsy Cline what "Coal Miner's Daughter" did for Loretta Lynn (both films were produced by the same man, Bernard Schwartz). While this musical biopic doesn't rise to the Oscar-winning heights of its spiritual predecessor, it ultimately succeeds as a performance showcase for Jessica Lange as Cline and Ed Harris as her husband, Charlie Dick.

Directed by Karel Reisz, it follows the country music legend from her meteoric rise to her untimely death at 30 in a plane crash on March 5, 1963. Initially playing low-level gigs while unhappily married to her first husband, Gerald (James Staley), Patsy's life changes when she meets Charlie, a charming man who convinces her she's cut out for bigger and better things. The two get married, and Patsy throws her focus on her music and raising their children, putting her ambitions temporarily on hold when Charlie is drafted into the Army. With the help of new manager Randy Hughes (David Clennon), Patsy becomes a superstar, and Charlie becomes increasingly abusive.

Reviews were on the whole positive, if slightly reserved. Although he enjoyed the performances by Lange (who earned an Oscar nomination) and Harris, Roger Ebert ultimately felt there was, "no clear idea of what the filmmakers thought of Patsy Cline, or what thoughts her life is supposed to inspire." Janet Maslin of The New York Times also emphasized the performances, saying Harris, "reveals heretofore-unexplored leading-man potential." 

"State of Grace" had the misfortune of opening the same year as "Goodfellas," which raised the bar significantly for modern-day mob movies, causing this fairly standard genre entry to suffer in comparison. Yet despite being a box office dud, it has since been rediscovered as a minor cult classic, thanks in large part to top-notch performances by Sean Penn, Ed Harris, Robin Wright, and especially Gary Oldman (who Leonardo DiCaprio cited as an influence).

Directed by Phil Joanou, it stars Penn as Terry Noonan, who returns to the New York City neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen after a long absence. Now an undercover cop, Terry is working a sting operation to bring down Frankie Flannery (Harris), head of an Irish-American crime organization. Terry's ties to the Flannery family run deep, as his best friend is Frankie's younger brother, Jackie (Oldman), and his old flame is their younger sister, Kathleen (Wright), and the rekindling of these relationships threaten to break his dedication to the law.

Reviews were generally positive, if somewhat tempered by the rapturous response afforded Martin Scorsese's mob classic, which was released the same month. Most of the praise went to Oldman's performance as Jackie, although Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that his brother, Frankie, "is played by Ed Harris with an eeriness to match Mr. Oldman's." Ian Nathan of Empire said the film was "heavy-weighted with the Method mood of Sean Penn, the itchy wildness of Gary Oldman, and Ed Harris' reliable stoicism."

Ed Harris has a small but pivotal role in "Snowpiercer," the bloody sci-fi epic that marked the English-language debut of Korean auteur Bong Joon Ho. Adapted from the French graphic novel "Le Transperceneige," it imagines a dystopian future in which Earth has been blanketed with a new ice age, and what remains of humanity is riding aboard a vast, circumnavigational locomotive named the "Snowpiercer." The compartments are heavily segregated, with the wealthy enjoying life's luxuries at the front of the train and everyone else living on scraps in the back. Curtis Everett (Chris Evans) leads a revolt and makes his way to the front, intent on finding the train's creator, Wilford (Harris), so they can wrest control away from him.

Tilda Swinton costars as Wilford's eccentric second-in-command, Minister Mason, and Everett's crew includes Song Kang-ho as Namgoong Minsoo, the man who designed the train's security features; Octavia Spencer as Tanya, a woman intent on retrieving her son; Jamie Bell as Everett's second-in-command, Edgar; and John Hurt as his father figure, Gilliam, who encourages the revolution. 

Suffice it to say, there was a lot of buildup to Wilford's appearance, and Harris doesn't disappoint. The film didn't disappoint either, and critics praised its bold visual style and balletic, bloody violence. David Sims of The Atlantic called it, "a loud, clanging, original action flick that's grabbing you by the lapels and yelling in your ears." Andrew O'Hehir of Salon declared it "the best action film of 2014, and probably the best film, period."

Ed Harris' involvement with "Places in the Heart" was a point of contention for many critics — not because they didn't like his performance, but because they felt his storyline was extraneous to the rest of the film. Yet even those quibbles did nothing to dim the luminous reception of Robert Benton's nostalgic period piece, which the writer-director based on his own memories of growing up in Depression-era Texas.

Sally Field stars as Edna Spalding, a recent widow struggling to save her farm and raise her children. But with the help of a blind border, Mr. Will (John Malkovich), and a friendly black farmer, Moze Hadner (Danny Glover), Edna might be able to pull things together before the bank forecloses on her. In a parallel story, Edna's sister, Margaret Lomax (Lindsay Crouse), is having a crisis in her marriage, as her husband, Wayne (Harris), is having an affair with the local schoolteacher, Viola Kelsey (played by Harris' wife, Amy Madigan).

Although he ultimately gave the film a good review, Roger Ebert felt the love triangle between Harris, Crouse, and Madigan was a distraction from the main story. Benton, he wrote, "tells a central story of great power, and then keeps leaving it to catch us up with minor characters we never care about." That didn't stop the Academy from showering it with seven Oscar nominations, including best picture; Benton won best original screenplay, while Field won best actress (and delivered her famous "You like me" speech).

Ed Harris' breakout year came in 1983 with the one-two punch of "The Right Stuff" and "Under Fire." Although he doesn't have many scenes in Roger Spottiswoode's political thriller, his performance is pivotal to its dramatic impact and social commentary. It's the story of three journalists who clash professionally and romantically while covering the fall of the corrupt Samoza regime in Nicaragua: photojournalist Russell Price (Nick Nolte), who makes an ethically questionable decision in support of the rebels; foreign correspondent Alex Grazier (Gene Hackman), who takes a cushy job as a news anchor; and the woman they love, reporter Claire Stryder (Joanna Cassidy).

Harris plays Oates, a mysterious American soldier who continuously pops up in Price's life. Working with French spy Marcel Jazy (Jean-Louis Trintignant), Oates obtains Price's photographs of rebel leaders in order to track down and assassinate them. He does this with relish, revealing deep sociopathic tendencies.

The film earned raves from critics, particularly Roger Ebert, who declared it one of the year's best films. "This is the kind of movie that almost always feels phony, but 'Under Fire' feels real," Ebert wrote. He heaped praise on the actors, who "create characters so convincing we forget they're stars." Writers from Time Out agreed, saying, "It takes an honorable place alongside classic war-torn romance pictures like 'Casablanca' and 'To Have and Have Not.'" The film earned an Oscar nomination for Jerry Goldsmith's score, plus a Golden Globe bid for Hackman's supporting performance.

One of the great joys of Maggie Gyllenhaal's "The Lost Daughter" is watching Ed Harris dance in a porkpie hat, begging Olivia Colman to join him. It's a moment of pure joy in what is otherwise a pretty somber character study, and Gyllenhaal's directorial debut is enriched by Harris' presence.

Colman stars in this adaptation of Elena Ferrante's novel as Leda, a British professor who becomes fixated on a young mother, Nina (Dakota Johnson), and her daughter, Elena (Athena Martin), while vacationing in Greece. Almost on a whim, Leda steals young Elena's doll, stirring up memories of her own early struggles with motherhood (played in flashbacks by Jessie Buckley) and her decision to leave her family for the older Professor Hardy (Peter Sarsgaard). Harris costars as Lyle, the friendly caretaker of the vacation home she's staying at, who tries to bring the emotionally distant Leda out of her shell by cooking some freshly caught octopus and coaxing her into joining an outdoor dance party. 

"The Lost Daughter" was heralded by critics as an assured debut for Gyllenhaal, who earned an Oscar nomination for penning the screenplay (Colman and Buckley competed for best actress and best supporting actress, respectively). Jessica Kiang of Indiewire declared Gyllenhaal directs, "with a blazing certainty that seems borderline miraculous in a first-time filmmaker." Tomris Laffly of The Playlist said the film, "leaves you haunted, shaken, and crushingly scarred like only the best of films are capable of doing."

Just like he did with "JFK," Oliver Stone assembled a who's who of A-list actors to play the various historical figures who weave in and out of "Nixon." With Anthony Hopkins front and center as the disgraced former president, Stone rounds out his expansive cast with the likes of Joan Allen, Powers Boothe, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, E.G. Marshall, Bai Ling, David Paymer, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Sorvino, Mary Steenburgen, J.T. Walsh, and James Woods.

At 192 minutes, it's an expansive biopic, with the Watergate scandal acting as a framing device to explore the complicated life of Richard Nixon (Hopkins). Using Nixon's notorious tapes, we get glimpses of his entire life, from his upbringing with a domineering Quaker mother, Hannah Nixon (Steenburgen), to his marriage to Pat Nixon (Allen), to his career in politics, which ended in shame and resignation. Harris has the integral role of E. Howard Hunt, the mysterious CIA operative who was instrumental in Bay of Pigs and acted as a White House "plumber" during the Watergate investigation.

The film received near-unanimous praise from critics, who were surprised by its empathetic treatment of its controversial subject. "Tragedy requires the fall of a hero," wrote Roger Ebert, "and one of the achievements of 'Nixon' is to show that greatness was within his reach." Oscar voters bestowed it with four nominations: best actor for Hopkins, best supporting actress for Allen, best original screenplay for Stone, Stephen J. Rivele, and Christopher Wilkinson, and best score for John Williams.

When "Walker" was released in 1987, its critical reception was so rancid that it effectively ended the career of director Alex Cox, who came to prominence in the mid-80s with "Repo Man" and "Sid & Nancy" but struggled to find financing thereafter. Yet this satirical indictment of American imperialism has since been rediscovered as a cult classic, and Ed Harris' lead performance is often cited as one of his best.

It tells the true story of William Walker (Harris), a 19th-century soldier of fortune who travels to Nicaragua at the behest of Cornelius Vanderbilt (Peter Boyle), who wants to exploit the country for financial gain. A firm believer in Manifest Destiny, Walker soon appoints himself as President, creating a violent military dictatorship that destabilizes the region. Cox peppers the film with several anachronisms, including Coke bottles, Time magazine covers, and military helicopters, drawing parallels between America's occupation of Nicaragua in the 1850s and the 1980s (right up to clips of then-President Ronald Reagan justifying U.S. military presence in the country, which plays over the closing credits).

Roger Ebert's zero-star review summed up critical reaction at the time. "Some bad movies are in no hurry to announce themselves, but 'Walker' declares its badness right from the opening titles," he wrote. Yet the film did have its defenders, including Vincent Canby of The New York Times, who called it, "a hip, cool, political satire that's almost as lunatic as its title character." And modern assessment has grown kinder, thanks to a Criterion blu-ray release.

Production on James Cameron's "The Abyss" was notoriously rocky, as the drawn-out underwater shoot tested the nerves of everyone involved. It was especially tough on Ed Harris, who spent long stretches clad in a diving suit that was filled with breathable liquid meant to allow his character to sink deeper into the ocean without compressing. Yet as the old adage goes, "Pain is temporary. Film is forever." And despite the flaws of the film (many of which were fixed by Cameron's director's cut), the end result is a haunting sci-fi epic that's also a surprisingly tender love story.

Harris plays Virgil "Bud" Brigman, foreman of an underwater diving platform who's drafted into accompanying a team of Navy SEALs to investigate the mysterious sinking of a US nuclear submarine. Also aboard the mission is Bud's ex-wife, Dr. Lindsay Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), who designed the rig and wants to make sure the SEAL team — led by unhinged Lieutenant Hiram Coffey (Michael Biehn) — doesn't muck it up. Although the Soviets are initially suspected, it soon becomes clear there's something otherworldly lurking beneath the oceans' surface.

When the film was released in 1989, the majority of reviews focused on the groundbreaking special effects by Industrial Light and Magic, which won the Oscar. Critical response to the story and structure was lukewarm but has grown more positive. As The Hollywood Reporter put it, "The Abyss" is "a visual tour de force, featuring overall, the greatest underwater sequences ever seen on film." 

Ed Harris' terrifying performance is central to the effect of "A History of Violence," David Cronenberg's meditation on America's obsession with — and predilection towards — carnage. The film's entire mood changes once Harris shows up, sporting a nasty scar and a watery eye that exudes a chilling menace underneath. And although his screen time is brief, his presence is felt throughout.

Viggo Mortensen stars as Tom Stall, an ordinary diner owner whose quiet life in small-town Indiana is rocked by an attempted robbery. Tom is hailed a hero when he kills both of the criminals, but that all changes when Carl Fogarty (Harris) shows up. Carl claims Tom is actually Joey Cusack, a former Philadelphia gangster who once tried to blind him. Tom vehemently denies this, but his wife, Edie (Maria Bello), and son, Jack (Ashton Holmes), have their doubts. Once the truth is out, Joey/Tom travels back to Philly to confront his mob boss brother, Richie (William Hurt).

"A History of Violence" earned rave reviews from critics, who praised it as one of Cronenberg's best. Jonathan Rosenbaum of The Chicago Reader called it "an art film deftly masquerading as a thriller." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, "it slams you like a body punch and then starts messing with your head." The film earned Oscar nominations for Hurt in best supporting actor and for best adapted screenplay (Harris won the National Society of Film Critics prize as best supporting actor).

Ed Harris' breakout role came with an uncanny embodiment of John Glenn in Philip Kaufman's "The Right Stuff." Adapted from Tom Wolfe's book of the same name, it's an epic recounting of America's first steps into the space race, centering on the recruitment and training of the Mercury 7 military pilots. Beginning with pilot Chuck Yeager's (Sam Shepard) daring attempts to break the sound barrier, it conveys the bravery required to launch yourself into space in a metal can.

The film was a box office bomb, grossing just $21 million in its initial release. But that didn't stop critics from rallying behind it, most notably Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, who both picked it as the best film of the year (both later placed it on their individual lists of the decade's best). As Ebert wrote, "The Right Stuff" belongs in the category of "experimental epics: movies that have ambitious reach through time and subject matter, that spend freely for locations and special effects, but that consider each scene as intently as an art film."

Despite flopping in theaters, "The Right Stuff" did manage to earn eight Oscar nominations, including best picture. It won four prizes: best film editing, best sound, best sound effects editing, and best score. Harris garnered a great deal of buzz in the best supporting actor category, placing as runner-up at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards. Although it was Shepard who reaped the Oscar bid, Harris' career was off to the races.

Throughout his long career, Ed Harris has mostly found success as a supporting actor, rarely getting the chance to carry a film on his shoulders. With "Pollock," he got a rare chance to show off his leading man chops, and he made the absolute most of it. He plays famed abstract painter Jackson Pollock, a man whose brilliance with a paintbrush was matched only by his failings as a human being. A violent alcoholic and manic depressive, he fights with his painter wife, Lee Krasner (Marcia Gay Harden), and drives away everyone who loves him, culminating in a drunken car crash that killed him at the age of 44.

The film was a decade-long passion project for Harris, who first became interested in playing Pollock when his father gave him a biography as a gift. He took the project on as his directorial debut, he and learned how to paint in order to totally immerse himself in the part.

In his four-star review, Roger Ebert declared the movie belonged to Harris, whose "similarity to Pollock is not just superficial ... He seems to have made a deeper connection, to have felt an instinctive sympathy for this great, unhappy man." (Ebert later placed it on his list of the year's 10 best films, calling it, "one of the best biopics about an artist.") The film won raves from critics overall, and Harris earned his first Oscar nomination in the best actor category. (Harden won the best supporting actress prize.)