8 Movie Re-Castings That Were Totally Justified

8. Harrison Ford Replaces Alec Baldwin - Patriot Games

John McTiernan's adaptation of the classic Tom Clancy novella, The Hunt for Red October, is one of the all-time great Cold War thrillers. Central to it is Alec Baldwin's performance as young CIA Analyst and Historian Doctor Jack Ryan, a government man far more at home behind his desk and in briefings than he is in the field (something later depictions of the Ryan character would let slip).

Baldwin makes for a fine Ryan, and would've undoubtedly made the role his own had he returned in the follow-up, but his commitment to the Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire prevented that from happening. Harrison Ford was then cast in the role, and though he had two films to cement his status as the definitive Ryan (Patriot Games and A Clear and Present Danger), there's a whole lot more to his performance than Baldwin's.

What Ford does so well is that he conveys Ryan's everyman relatability. Yes, he's a former Marine, but direct combat isn't his style. He's an intelligence gatherer and analyst first and foremost - an exceptional one at that - but he's constantly placed in extraordinary circumstances that force him to rely on his brain over just his brawn.

Three other actors have since taken on the part of Ryan, including Ben Affleck, Chris Pine and John Krasinski, but none have cemented themselves nearly as well as Ford. Probably because Hollywood keeps trying to make Ryan the new Bourne.