Burrito, Coffee, Cigar – Harrison Ford’s Rule-Breaking Stunt on the ‘Air Force One’ Set

In the 1990s, Harrison Ford practically made a career out of playing reluctant heroes under fire — literally. Whether running for his life in The Fugitive, dodging betrayal in Presumed Innocent, or fighting off hijackers in Air Force One, Ford embodied the stoic everyman thrust into extraordinary chaos. But behind the scenes of these serious thrillers, the actor’s famously dry sense of humor never really left — and nowhere is that more evident than during one unforgettable moment on the set of Air Force One.

As Gary Oldman, Ford’s co-star and on-screen nemesis, recently recalled in an interview, there were clear, almost sacred rules laid down on set. Working inside a cramped soundstage dressed as the iconic presidential plane came with strict guidelines: No smoking, no drinking, no eating. Straightforward enough. After all, long months shooting in a confined space demand some basic discipline to prevent tempers from flaring and sets from descending into chaos.

But Harrison Ford, it turns out, wasn’t one for such trifling restrictions — at least not that day.

“There were signs everywhere,” Oldman said. “And there was one day when I looked around, and Harrison was standing in the doorway beneath the sign that said ‘no smoking, no drinking, no eating,’ and he was drinking a coffee, eating a burrito, while smoking a cigar — and he was doing all three.”

In true Ford fashion, the image was equal parts rebellious and absurd: Han Solo himself giving a casual middle finger to authority, defying all three prohibitions in one glorious, effortless moment — coffee in one hand, burrito in the other, cigar clamped between his teeth.

At first glance, the act feels like peak Harrison Ford: the no-nonsense, quietly anarchic movie star who always seems to be operating on his own wavelength. It’s the kind of moment you can easily imagine Indiana Jones pulling off in between dodging rolling boulders.

But then there’s the culinary horror of it all. A burrito paired with a cigar? The fusion of smoky tobacco, red onions, and jalapeño heat is enough to make even the most forgiving palate revolt. Surely even John Goodman’s Big Lebowski alter ego would have raised an eyebrow.

Still, you have to admire the sheer audacity. In a high-pressure environment where most actors would tiptoe around the rules, Ford simply carried on — a burrito in one hand, a cigar smoldering, a cup of coffee balancing the chaos.

It’s a reminder that while Air Force One may have sold Harrison Ford as a clean-cut, all-American action president, the man behind the role was still very much the wry, unpredictable figure fans fell in love with decades earlier. No government orders, studio rules, or polite notices taped to the walls were going to change that.

And honestly? If anyone was going to rewrite the rules of presidential decorum — both onscreen and off — it was always going to be Harrison Ford.