Tom Cruise, #3 on the list of box office stars who have generated the most income for the studios at a take of 1.51 billion dollars. Tom Hanks, #2 at 1.52 billion and Harrison Ford is #1 with a take of 2.08 billion dollars. After all the years Harrison Ford has been around, I've never seen a guy who can be so likable, even when he makes a bad movie. Born in 1942, his early roles in 'American Graffiti' (1973) and 'The Conversation' (1974) had him in gear as an interesting looking character actor who was about the same age as I am now. Then, of course, his breakthrough film, 'Star Wars', had him engulfed in the full context of success and the phrase, "never looking back", can rarely be applied as strongly as in the case of Ford, who later took on the challenge of a leading man and 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' made him a full fledged superstar. Thankfully, Tom Selleck's schedule made him unavailable as Indiana Jones and stories I've read from multiple sources said Harrison Ford was Oliver Stone's first choice to play Jim Garrison in 'JFK'.

'Six Days, Seven Nights' has Ford under the direction of Ivan Reitman, the man who made Arnold Schwarzenegger funny in such films as 'Twins', 'Kindergarten Cop' and 'Junior'. Too bad Sylvester Stallone's voyage into comedy was a disaster. Maybe Reitman can do something for his career later on. In 'Six Days, Seven Nights', Ford looks entirely like an everyday common man playing his role with a likable quality in a mediocre film. Ford plays a somewhat broken down commercial pilot who lives in the South Pacific who meets a New York City magazine editor (Anne Heche) and her fiancee (David Schwimmer). He flies them to their eventual destination and Heche and Ford later travel alone as Heche's boss asks her to interrupt her vacation and make a 15-hour stop over in Tahiti to do a magazine layout.

As they are flying, a violent storm kicks up forcing them to turn back and upon doing so, the plane is struck by lightning and they crash land on a deserted island in a 'Gilligan's Island' type of scenario. Spoiled with her bottled water, business lunches and NYC lifestyle, Heche can't comprehend this disaster and asks Ford what he's going to do. There are some clever lines as Ford talks about the plane's landing gear and says: "Sure, I'll just glue it back on". Her sarcasm is not to be out done as she says: "I've flown with you twice and you've crashed half the time". Her best line is when she asks Ford if he's "One of those guys. Those handy guys who, when you give them a pocket knife and a Q-tip, they build you a shopping mall."

Their isolation on the island puts them into an unpleasant confrontation with some modern day pirates. They also deal with the conflict of each other's opposite tendencies, the humourous pratfalls of inexperience in their situation and the unexpected situations in nature.

I couldn't quite get my mind around the fact that I was watching some scenes straight out of movies such as 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', 'Romancing the Stone' and others and while pleasant enough in content, the movie is a one time deal you want want to re-visit and while Ford isn't quite upstaged by his female companion, Heche is still more believable in her role and gives a better performance. I was surprised.