1994 Oscar-Nominated Blockbuster Ranked Among Films That Are Better Than the Books They're Based On
Tom Clancy's novel Clear and Present Danger was only improved upon when it made the transition from page to screen.
The 1994 movie adaptation of Clancy's 1989 political thriller is on The Atlantic's list of "films better than the books they're based on."
"Clear and Present Danger the book is the size, shape and weight of a brick; [director] Phillip Noyce's bureaucratic thriller slims Tom Clancy's nearly 1,000 pages into a svelte 141 minutes," Atlantic senior editor Evan McMurry noted. "The action takes place on the sea, in the jungle, at a drug lord's mansion and in the streets of Bogotá-the latter setting the scene for an ambush sequence so memorable that the Jack Ryan series restaged it. But the film is most gripping in hallways and offices, culminating in Henry Czerny and Harrison Ford brandishing dueling memos at each other like light sabers."
McMurry continued, "And although the character of Jack Ryan can sometimes blur into a cipher in Clancy's novels, Ford embodies him with a Beltway Dad gravitas-never more so than when he announces to the lawbreaking president of the United States, ‘It is my duty to report this matter to the Senate Oversight Committee!' Such a Boy Scout."
Released in August 1994, Clear and Present Danger is the second and final film in which Ford, now 83, portrayed Jack Ryan following 1992's Patriot Games. As the newly appointed CIA acting deputy director in Clear and Present Danger, Ryan learns his colleagues are keeping him in the dark about a covert war against a drug cartel in Colombia, with the apparent approval of the president to conduct the mission.
In addition to Ford, the cast includes Willem Dafoe as John Clark, Anne Archer as Cathy Ryan and James Earl Jones as Admiral James Greer.
Clear and Present Danger earned critical acclaim and raked in more than $215 million at the global box office. The film was also nominated for best sound and best sound effects editing at the 1995 Oscars.
Clancy's novel was a hit upon its August 1989 publication too, debuting at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. Clear and Present Danger was the fourth Jack Ryan book written by Clancy. The author penned a total of 12 Jack Ryan novels solo between 1984 and 2003 before collaborating with other authors on five more books between 2010 and 2013.
After Clancy's 2013 death, Mark Greaneytook over writing the character in four books from 2014 to 2016. Marc Cameron succeeded him with seven novels from 2017 to 2023, followed by Andrews and Wilson with three from 2024 to 2025. New Jack Ryan books by Ward Larsen and M.P. Woodward are set to be released later this year.
Like the book series, the film and TV franchise lives on. Over the years, multiple actors have embodied the role of Jack Ryan, including Alec Baldwin in 1990's The Hunt for Red October, Ben Affleck in 2002's The Sum of All Fears, Chris Pine in 2014's Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and John Krasinski in the Jack Ryan TV series-which aired on Prime Video for four seasons from 2018 to 2023-and the upcoming movie Jack Ryan: Ghost War.
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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 3:59 PM.