Before 1923, Harrison Ford Starred In This Forgotten Western TV Movie

It took Harrison Ford a long time to embrace the small screen after he broke through with the "Star Wars" franchise in 1977. Once he'd established himself by playing Han Solo, the star spent decades working exclusively in movies (though he did show up for a brief cameo in the 1990s series "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles"). But in recent years, Ford has cast aside his apparent aversion to TV with starring roles in several shows. 

His delightful portrayal of Dr. Paul Rhodes in Apple TV+'s "Shrinking" has allowed him to show off his underrated comedic chops and surprise his co-star, Jason Segel in the process. The same year he was cast in "Shrinking," Ford was also confirmed to star in the "Yellowstone" spin-off "1923" alongside his former "The Mosquito Coast" co-star Helen Mirren. The Paramount+ series saw Ford play Jacob Dutton, forebear of Kevin Costner's John Dutton from its parent show. The actor's portrayal of the stoic Dutton patriarch earned him praise from critics, who also gave the series overall top marks, highlighting the chemistry between Ford and Mirren and the way in which the show takes the "Yellowstone" formula and elevates it to an even more cinematic level.

In other words, Ford's embrace of TV has paid off. But in truth, "1923" wasn't the first time the actor had starred in a made-for-TV Western. In fact, fronting the "Yellowstone" spin-off sort of brought his career full circle, at least when you consider his role in an early, pre-"Star Wars" Western TV movie.

"1923" premiered in December 2022, 46 years after Harrison Ford appeared in the 1976 made-for-TV Western movie "Dynasty." In the mid-'70s, Ford was starting to gain some traction as an actor. He'd started back in 1966 with an uncredited role in "Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round," but a decade later, he'd added two significant supporting roles in film to his résumé: Bob Falfa in George Lucas' 1973 coming-of-age dramedy "American Graffiti" (during which Ford raised hell behind the scenes) and Martin Stett in Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 thriller "The Conversation." Ford also played two completely different characters on "Gunsmoke" and actually had several TV credits under his belt by the time he appeared in "Dynasty," including guest spots on the David Carradine-led "Kung Fu" and a role in the 1970 TV Western movie "The Intruders."

"Dynasty," otherwise known as "James Michener's Dynasty," aired on NBC just as Ford was about to break through with "Star Wars," and it saw him playing a small supporting role in a film written by the titular author. Michener, who passed away in 1997, wrote more than 40 books in his lifetime and had a particular penchant for penning multi-generational family sagas — much like Taylor Sheridan and his generation-spanning "Yellowstone" universe. "Dynasty" was no different. The writer provided an original story that spanned 35 years in the lives of an Ohio frontier family. The story was then adapted for TV by Sidney Carroll.  

Ford's role in the film was relatively small. Yes, despite the actor's face being given pride of place on the posters for this decades-old Western, he actually only shows up around an hour into the film. The actual leads are Harris Yulen and Sarah Miles, who play John Blackwood and his wife, Jennifer, respectively. Stacy Keach plays John's brother, Matt. The story begins in 1820s Ohio, with the brothers setting up a family home on the frontier, starting businesses, and having children. But there's a bitter rivalry between the pair that intensifies when Jennifer leaves John for Matt. As the years go by, the brothers continue to try to one-up each other, in the process establishing a formidable business empire. Ford's Mark Blackwood is the son of John and Jennifer, who shows up for a brief section of the film where he has a blazing argument with his mother after the funeral of his father — and that's pretty much it. Thankfully, the young actor had bigger things on the horizon at the time.

"Dynasty" was directed by Lee Philips, who started out as an actor and had appeared in a number of episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" in the 1950s and 60s. He moved into directing when he oversaw an episode of "The Lloyd Bridges Show" in 1962 and went on to have a prolific career in TV, directing episodes of big series like "M*A*S*H" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show." "Dynasty" wasn't necessarily one of his most fondly remembered projects, but it also wasn't a total disaster. The New York Times' John J. O'Connor, for example, was impressed by the performances, which he described as "remarkably good." In particular he singled out Sarah Miles, who, in his estimation, was "intriguing with her tic-like demonstrations of defiance and neurosis." Ford, meanwhile, wasn't really in the film for long enough to earn much praise for anything, though he also wasn't around long enough for anyone to disparage his contribution either.

"Dynasty" was the first of three late-1970s TV movies featuring Ford. In '77, he appeared in the supernatural horror film "The Possessed," but that was hardly his biggest project from that year. After he debuted as Han Solo, he officially became a star, and the only other TV movie he appeared in after that was 1978's "The Star Wars Holiday Special." Aside from his 1993 cameo in "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," that was Ford's final scripted TV project for 44 years. It wasn't until Taylor Sheridan and Paramount came knocking would he deign to return to the small screen, and this time it was for a much better Western than "Dynasty."