The middle-aged machismo clock has

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The middle-aged machismo clock has struck twelve for Harrison Ford, 63. I'm sorry to say this, but you can tell in the trailer that Ford has gotten too old to be playing that same late 40ish-early 50ish guy -- older but studly and physically trim -- he's been in film after film since Clear and Present Danger. He looks his age and then some in Firewall (Warner Bros., 2.10), and you just don't believe that a guy with a military-style haircut with white sidewalls and a kind of imperceptibly bent-over walk who basically looks like Uncle Festus from Bakersfield would have a teenaged daughter and a 10 year-old son with a 42 year-old wife (Virginia Madsen). Audiences may decide this doesn't get in the way of the film (which is pretty good by the way...review coming this Friday), but Ford's appearance keeps intruding into your consciousness as you watch it. There's a rugged fight sequence that Ford performs with a younger costar near the end, but you can't help think while watching it, "Could a guy this old, even if he works out like a Marine every day, really keep up against a guy 30 years younger in a knockdown brawl like this?" At a certain point movie stars known for their cool, panther-like machismo have to face up to the calendar and think about playing their age. (And no, this doesnt invalidate my idea about Ford and Steven Spielberg totally ignoring his age factor in the forthcoming Indy 4 flick and having him do the same grueling physical stuff he did in Raiders of the Lost Ark because it would be a good running joke if they did that.)