Many fans will recall Harrison Ford's earliest roles and think first of his part in George Lucas' American Graffiti or how he briefly appears in Apocalypse Now. However, there is a clear connection between Harrison Ford and multiple "movie brats" of the '70s. Having worked with three out of five of them pretty early on in his career, Ford's success can be attributed to many of those roles. As the iconic characters Han Solo and Indiana Jones, he cemented his place as a movie star in Hollywood and would go on to have a lavish career as one of the top actors in cinema. The role that really changed his life was Han Solo in Star Wars. Before that, he seemed stuck playing supporting characters with no great star power. By playing one of the greatest supporting characters ever, he showed studios he had the ability to lead the way.

Star Wars would lead to his success as the star of films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Blade Runner and Witness, among others. However, fans might not be aware of what role in particular paved the way for Ford's casting in Star Wars, and it came in a legendary director's 1974 film. What was different about this role was that Ford had a much more active purpose in the overall plot of the story. As a supporting character, Ford guided the plot to its eventual climactic twist but played a big part in maintaining the mystery in the film. In fact, as the main antagonistic force in the film, Ford had a chance to show off his acting chops for the first time on the big screen. His performance is an underrated highlight that basically landed him an audition for Star Wars.

Harrison Ford initially shined in George Lucas' 1973 coming-of-age comedy American Graffiti, where he plays a rambunctious teen looking for kicks. In a role like this, Ford was only really able to continue doing some of the comedic work that he had already been doing on television. In order for him to be taken seriously as an actor, Ford needed to diversify the kind of roles he could play. In Star Wars, Ford plays Han Solo to the best of his ability and with extreme versatility. Embodying all the comedic and emotional sides of Han, it was definitely the role that changed everything for Ford. However, his follow-up role to American Graffiti is the first time Ford showed off other sides of his talent. After working with George Lucas in 1973, American Graffiti's producer Francis Ford Coppola decided to cast Ford in his upcoming 1974 film, and not the one everyone remembers.

Starring Gene Hackman as paranoid surveillance expert Harry Caul, the classic thriller tells the story of Caul's suspicions that his most recent client is going to murder his latest subjects. It remains an incredible feat of Coppola's career that he made three of the best movies of all time in the '70s and managed to sneak in this forgotten gem right in the middle of The Godfather Part II's success. The Conversation is one of four incredible films that Coppola made in a ten-year span, and it has a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It is believed that Coppola liked Harrison Ford's presence and aura in American Graffiti, as opposed to Lucas recommending him. Coppola liked Ford's acting chops and decided to give him a key role in The Conversation. In the film, Harrison Ford plays corporate man Martin Stett who works directly under his company's CEO. Stett is a constant looming obstacle for Harry Caul and eventually turns out to be an ambiguous part of the film's fantastic climactic twist. After delivering an effective performance, Coppola recommended Ford to Lucas when it came time to start casting for Star Wars.

The Conversation is another one of those New Hollywood-era classics that remains a masterclass in filmmaking. Specifically, The Conversation highlights how to utilize POV through sound, imagery and editing to evoke specific emotions for the sake of subverting audience expectations. The entire film, the audience is experiencing things through Harry Caul's eyes and ears, making them assume that what is being discovered is logically the truth. However, the film also establishes Harry Caul's paranoia with each and every sequence and makes the audience begin to wonder what's really going on. After things finally conclude, it all becomes clear that The Conversation is a story riddled with subjectivity.

The twist is brilliant because it is incredibly realistic and stares the audience in the face the entire time. The caveat is that everything is learned and explored through Harry's paranoid mind. Using sound and editing, the film's language never lets anyone suspect that Harry might be overreaching with his thoughts and opinions. The build-up to what happens makes the twist hit much harder than expected. The Conversation is also a brilliant work of ambiguity and a big part of its effect comes from Harrison Ford's character.

After his job is done, Harry brings the tapes from the conversation he recorded to his client. A big-wig corporate man is the one who hired Harry for the job and is ready to pay Harry for his services. However, at this point, Harry is already suspecting foul play and that the targets he was surveying might be in danger. Perhaps Harry would have handed the tapes over if they were to his client directly. Instead, Harry has to hand them over to his client's corporate assistant, Martin Stett, and decides not to.

Ford plays Stett with an air of ambiguity to begin with, making Harry and the audience wonder what ulterior motives Stett might have. Ford is such a presence that every time he is on the screen, it is unclear how much danger Harry might be in. Throughout the film, Ford's character is Harry's greatest antagonist (other than his own mind) and appears when Harry is least expecting it. It's clear Stett cannot be trusted and the extent of his danger becomes as unexpected as the twist itself, adding a more unnerving quality to his character. When all is revealed, it's unclear whether Stett was involved in the conspiracy or not, but it only makes him that much more disconcerting. Ford's performance made the film's intentionality really stick.

While it's pretty clear that Harrison Ford has The Conversation to thank for landing the role of Han Solo in Star Wars, it's also possible that the film helped him land other roles in iconic thrillers. One of the not-so-obvious examples of Ford's success in thrillers is Blade Runner. Combining the sci-fi elements of Star Wars with the thriller aspects of The Conversation, Blade Runner is Ford giving one of his most captivating performances as a morally compromised law enforcer investigating a mysterious case. Ford's ability to touch on multiple emotions for the purpose of embodying the film's themes is one of his greatest talents. This is something he started doing in The Conversation. However, beyond Blade Runner, Ford would go on to be one of the most prominent thriller actors of the '80s, '90s and 2000s.

One could actually argue that Harrison Ford's greatest films are his thrillers. Starting with Witness in 1985, Ford would go on to make a ton of classics in the genre. From '85 to '95, Ford gave fans his ultimate thriller decade with underrated gems such as Frantic and Presumed Innocent and hits such as Patriot Games and The Fugitive. Ford then got caught up in a cycle of making intense conspiracy thrillers because of the success of The Fugitive, such as Clear and Present Danger, Air Force One and K-19: The Widowmaker.

Every film in Ford's catalog of thrillers is great, and that's why giving some attention to his first thriller makes a lot of sense. While The Conversation will never be Harrison Ford's greatest thriller, it is definitely the one that started it all for the legendary actor. Without The Conversation, Harrison Ford wouldn't have been a lock to play Han Solo in Star Wars, but he also might not have gone on to become one of the best thriller actors of all time.