Clear and Present Danger (1994)

With Patriot Games, this was one of the best Tom Clancy novels and is the best of the movies to date. (The Hunt for Red October was quite good, if plodding, though The Sum of All Fears was barely passable.) It has zip and crackle: a secret special-ops drug war in Colombia, a rocket-launcher ambush of the U.S. delegation, Jack Ryan (cowboy ex-Marine that he is) personally rescuing our men on the ground, and finally barking back to the President "How dare _you_, sir!" in defense of the Constitution. Like The Peacemaker, I never mind catching parts of this movie on TV during a break. While quite realistic, I'd give it full fifth star if parts weren't somewhat implausible. All the actors do a fine job, from Harrison Ford to James Earl Jones to Willem Dafoe to Joaquim de Almeida to Donald Moffat as the President. 4.5 stars.