4. Dr. Norman Spencer - What Lies Beneath (2000)
Spoiler Warning: Not sure if this is necessary for a nearly fourteen-year old movie, but here it is anyway; it's impossible to talk about the nature of Ford's work without revealing a major plot point. Robert Zemeckis' What Lies Beneath is not the worst movie on this list, and I'd likely re-watch it over any of the five presented here (although that's hardly a stunning recommendation). Coming in the wake of other supernatural thrillers like The Sixth Sense, The Blair Witch Project and Stir of Echoes, it should have been much better, especially considering the pedigree on display. Still, there's a nice sense of building atmosphere and almost every Zemeckis movie has at least a few killer sequences. The problem here is down to two thingsClark "Agent Colson" Gregg's screenplay and the bait-and-switch nature of Ford's character. For most of the running time, Spencer is the quintessential late-era Ford type; an laid-back family man with lots going for him. As the ghostly happenings commence, he lays low and plays it reserved and cool, sort of reminiscent of George C. Scott's unfazed composer in The Changeling. Everything falls apart when Ford is revealed as the murderer, and his descent into crazed killer, chasing Michelle Pfeiffer around with ill intent, never rings true at all. In fact, it's terminally goofy and hardly earned by the script or direction (despite the fact it's rather easily guessed). Ford has the gravitas and ability to play a villain, but this character was never strong enough to convince of such a twist, and it's one of the few times where the actor truly feels out of place and adrift. If there's anything really scary in What Lies Beneath, it's watching such a typically strong presence descend into b-movie mugging.