RYAN IS CLEARLY... ...BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN

Jack Ryan is back, he's mad and he's fighting singly-handedly for truth, justice and the American Way. In essence, he's Superman in a suit and tie. In the new high-budget, espionage thriller of the summer, "Clear and Present Danger," Harrison Ford plays his former role of Jack Ryan with the honesty and uprightness we would expect of him.

In this cinematic extravaganza of another Tom Clancy novel, Jack Ryan even has the same wife (Anne Archer) and child (Thora Birch), but here instead of battling the "other" of the Irish Republican Army, he goes head-to-head with the Columbian drug cartel, and more specifically the links the illegal drug trafficking organization has to the United States government. Ryan even gets to ball out the president played by Donald Moffat. With all of these differences, it seems as if Clancy should have switched the names of the two novels, making this one "Patriot Games" and the other dealing with the I.R.A. to "Clear and Present Danger." But who has the nerve to stand up to a potboiler novelist who has made millions from his thrilling action-adventure flicks. If Jack Ryan were a real person, I'm sure he would have no problem informing Clancy of his mistake.

These plot distinctions make this film more intellectually stimulating than "Patriot Games." It also removes the xenophobic malaise which over rode the entirety of the former blockbuster and replaces it with a cynical, probably more truthful look into the Washington political machine. Instead of bad guys breaking into his house, trespassing on the home and family Ryan has tried so hard to maintain, here we have Ryan confronting the drug lords in a tete a tete which would make any undercover CIA person scared to his bones.

Ryan, with his unaffected, yet steely presence and unwavering honesty, epitomizes the American Good Guy. Why do you think Harrison Ford has starred in some eight out of the top 10 grossing movies ever? He plays, in the words of a young woman I know, the type of man every woman would want to come home to: he's good-looking but not too pretty, he's honest and intelligent, he's not afraid to look danger in the face and figure out how to deal with it and he wouldn't cheat on you. These are the types of men Ford has usually played. In some of his movies, like the "Indiana Jones" series or the "Star Wars" saga, he includes the little boy charm which melts women's hearts and speaks for every man over the age of eight. Here he plays the man who appeals to the older generations. These are the men who wish to be spies, who would like to take on the government, the corporation, the entities which are beyond their control. They would like to be in the position to conquer and still maintain the integrity which we have been taught is so essential. On the road to success, this often seems to be lost. What a triumph it is to do the right thing, to take on and defeat the bad guys and not lose any of your self in during the process!

Jack Ryan assumes the post of his good friend Admiral James Greer (James Earl Jones) without fully realizing that his underlings and co-workers are surreptitiously plotting against him. He wants to be up front in his dealings with the Columbian drug lord Ernesto Escobedo (Miguel Sandoval). He wants to stomp out their operations, but not at the cost of human, especially American, life. Suffice it to say that everyone is double-crossed during the film. Those who were at one time enemies become friends, and friends become foe. When all is said and done, Ryan is the single remaining person to have kept his word while protecting himself. He does not have any outside interests to motivate him. His purpose is to remain stalwart in his beliefs.

This film will thrill and excite you. It is not the action thriller of "Speed" or "True Lies," but is more of a "how the hell is he going to get himself out of this one?" sort of movie. While the film drags a bit at the end, and many different endings would have left viewers secure and happy walking out, the true purpose of the film is ultimately achieved. We walk away with a little more pride, a little more energy and the satisfaction that the right thing was done.

As Clancy would have us believe, you leave the theater thinking Jack Ryan is the only hope America has. Hooray to Hollywood for its plastic, prepackaged, "I know he'll win in the end thrillers." They'll keep me coming back again and again.