Actor Harrison Ford has been quite picky about his roles over the years, carefully choosing roles that fit his charming charm, but he hasn't always made the perfect choices. While the actor has dozens of really great films under his belt, he also has a few stinkers, such as historical submarine thriller "K-19: Widower" and utopia-building drama Mosquito Coast, though Ford defended both pretty thoroughly. There's one box-office bomb he wasn't so wary of, though, in large part because, admittedly, he was never on the movie's wavelength.

The 2011 sci-fi western Cowboys and Aliens had all the ingredients for a big box office hit. Based on Platinum Studios' Scott Mitchell Rosenberg's 2006 graphic novel of the same name, Cowboys & Aliens was directed by Jon Favreau, fresh off the success of the first two Iron Man films. It starred Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Paul Dano, Walton Goggins, Keith Carradine and Clancy Brown, making for a wild smorgasbord of fantastic acting talent. Unfortunately, it was a colossal financial flop, grossing $174.8 million at the global box office, only about $11 million more than its $163 million budget. While some critics (including Roger Ebert!) praised the film's central performances, Ford and Craig just couldn't save the film from its convoluted script or its confusing tonal shifts, and ultimately, Cowboys and Aliens was consigned to the cinematic dustbin. In interviews discussing the film, Ford shared that he didn't understand it at all, and honestly? I can kind of relate.

It was easy to be skeptical of Cowboys and Aliens when it was first released because its two genres seemed too different, but as production began and People got their first glimpses of Ford and Craig in period clothingit just seemed like it might work. Favreau has shown that he can blend sci-fi action and comedy quite well with the Iron Man movies, and the cast was pretty much perfectly put together. The biggest problem was the script, which underwent several rewrites with numerous screenwriters, eventually ending up with a screenplay credited to Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof. (Kurzman and Orci have often been credited as a writing duo, working together on films like The Island and the 2009 Star Trek reboot, while Lindelof is best known as the creator of Lost and co-writer of Star Trek: In The Darkness" with Kurtzman, Orci and JJ Abrams.)

In an interview with Cinema BlendFord explained that he was initially confused by the script and wanted to stop after reading the first 30 pages, but his agent pushed him to continue:

“It was ambitious, I thought. I said, "Why don't I go and talk to John?" and then I met Jon Favreau, I was impressed with what he had to say and his collegial spirit generous in sharing a little more space for the character Everyone Like You is a chance to really try to bring texture to the piece. And it was."

Ford very rarely played villains during his long careerand his role in Cowboys and Aliens was definitely in line with traditional Western movie villains, so it's a good thing he had fun smashing the bad guys. It's a shame it wasn't much fun for the audience.

While mixing all these great actors with both cowboys and aliens seemed like a potentially great idea, the end result was frustratingly confusing, and Ford probably should have ignored his agent's insistence. There were too many cooks in the kitchen, with a very custom script, heavy producers giving big notes (like Steven Spielberg prepares the main antagonist), and what appears to be a loose attitude towards the overall vision of the film given Ford's "lots of work in progress" comments. What could have been a wildly entertaining mash-up of genres is a story that bogs down the plot instead of giving its characters any development, which is a shame, because Ford and Craig at least try to make it work. Hopefully he's good as Ford's character's son, though it would be interesting to see a young Glenn Powell in the rolewhile he was also auditioning (while channeling his inner Ben Foster). Then again, that might be too jaw-dropping for one movie, big Hollywood blockbuster or not.

Fortunately, the experience didn't deter Ford from taking risks with genre cinema, and he'll appear as President William "Thunderbolt" Ross in Marvel's Captain America: Brave New World, wearing his a special brand of movie star charisma for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ford is one of the all-time greats even when his films fall short of expectations, and it will be great to see what he does in the superhero realm. At the very least, I hope he has fun.