Raiders of the lost youth: Harrison, Bruce, Sly

As someone once said, "Getting old ain't for sissies ... or for action stars."

Witness the star of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," who 25 years later -- yes, it really has been that long -- is still in the middle of the heat.

He can run, he can jump -- but he can also feel his aching bones at night.

"Yes, life changes. Your body changes," says AARP member Harrison Ford.

"It's not a real blow to me to me. I didn't just wake up one morning at 63 years old," he says, laughing.

He might be getting older, but he's not sitting down in his La-Z-Boy or taking pottery classes. Ford is running and gunning in "Firewall," which opens Friday. It's his first film after a three-year hiatus, and he hopes the film introduces him as a different kind of action star -- a regular guy and security expert who must rob a bank and push himself to the limit when his family is threatened.

It's not the macho, whip-wielding, hat-wearing, chase-the-fugitive, "get off my plane" stuff Ford has done in the past.

"I think of action films like a good recipe," Ford says. "You might like the taste, but that changes over the years. You redefine the recipe as you go on."

Ford isn't the only older guy who is trying to redefine the genre. Bruce Willis, a relative youngster at 50, stars this spring in the action film "16 Blocks," about an aging cop who must escort a witness (Mos Def) from police headquarters to court.

Sly Stallone, 59, is currently filming "Rocky Balboa," the next in the series about the Philly fighter. The film opens with Rocky and Paulie standing at Adrian's grave and lamenting the unfairness of turning older. But that's not enough pain to keep a certain brawler from lacing up the boxing gloves again.

"I always knew that the fans wanted another film," he says. "It's the one thing people have asked me the most about for years." By the way, Stallone has also mulled over another "Rambo."

Ford also is planning to do another "Indiana Jones" installment. For years, the word has been that the script just hasn't been good enough to start filming.

Ford jokes, "We better hurry up or Sean Connery will be too old to play my father!"

Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst and owner of Exhibitor Relations, says it takes a little careful planning for an aging action star to stay alive with fans.

"Clint Eastwood was the man," he says. "He was the biggest action star of all, but now he's in his early 70s. He had to completely reinvent himself. You either play older character roles or you do what Clint did and become a director. The key is you transition your career as you become older. That's the point."

Eastwood isn't the only one who pulled off a third-act switcheroo.

"Sean Connery is another great example," Dergarabedian says. "Everyone considers him to be the best Bond ever, but as he got older he took on roles like 'The Untouchables' or 'Entrapment.'

"Sean aged gracefully on screen," he adds. "He's no longer Mr. Action Guy. He reinvented himself as a romantic older leading man."

Dergarabedian sees Ford following that plan. "In 'Firewall,' Harrison Ford is an everyman thrown into extraordinary circumstances. It's more realistic that way and you have to make it as believable as possible."

But the movie analyst sees no problem with action icons revisiting the roles that made them international superstars in the first place.

"Sly is wise to do another 'Rocky' as is Harrison in doing another 'Indiana Jones," he says. "These are their bread-and-butter roles. They're iconic characters that these actors will forever be associated with when it comes to fans.

"It's a safe bet to bring these characters back to the marketplace, even if the actor is a little older," he says. "Rocky and Terminator and Indiana Jones are brand names that resonate strongly with audiences.

"People have fallen in love with these characters. They're emblazoned into our minds."

Ford thinks that when you're not playing Indiana or Han Solo, the key to being an action star at his age if finding the right character who isn't just a he-man, take-on-the-world brute.

"What I saw in 'Firewall' was the potential to explore a character," he says. "This is a regular man who is under extreme duress and tension. The action comes from articulating the tension. That's a way not to wear out your welcome with an audience."

Yet stepping into the action when your bones don't recover as quickly isn't so easy.

Even Antonio Banderas admits it was painful to pick up Zorro's sword again. (His second 'Zorro' adventure is just out on video.) "It was more painful this time, I'm 45 now, and every time I try to crash somewhere the bones say, 'You're 45, idiot.'

Ford didn't find that to be the case with "Firewall."

"I didn't hurt myself," he says. "It's acting. It's smoke and mirrors. The action is choreography. You have to understand the physics of a fight scene, which is breaking it down to manageable pieces and putting the camera in the right place to reflect the energy of a fight scene. You can do that at any age."

Anthony Hopkins, 67, did some of his own motorcycle stunts for the recently released "The World's Fastest Indian."

"You get to the age where you think, 'Why not go for a thrill?' he says. "I just left my wife at the hotel that day and didn't tell her I was racing across a desert going 100 miles an hour."

The problem is there aren't as many younger stars who are able to step into the genre and jump-start franchises.

"Vin Diesel was being groomed as the next big action star, but then he left the genre and had a huge hit with 'The Pacifier,'" Dergarabedian says. "The studio did another 'XXX' with Ice Cube, and it didn't fare as well.'

"It's not just the young actors. You have to wonder about the future of action movies. Are they viable anymore?" he says. 'The Island' and 'Stealth' didn't resonate with audiences last summer."

"I think the closest guy to becoming the next big action star is Jason Statham," Dergarabedian predicts. He's a British actor who starred in two big hits [the 'Transporter' films]."

Some say the age you are isn't chronological.

"In my own mind, I feel like I'm still a boy, and I can ride that horse and leap over tall fences," says Tommy Lee Jones, who turns 60 later this year. "When you go home at night and look at some of your bruises, you do think, 'I wish I could slow down,' but I just can't."

- By Cindy Pearlman, Distributed by Big Picture News

SENIOR TOUR OF HEROES

How old are they now? Read it and weep.

SEAN CONNERY, 75
The eminence grise of action movies

CLINT EASTWOOD, 75
Go ahead, make some sarcastic comment

SLY STALLONE, 59
Would look younger without the bad dye job

TOMMY LEE JONES, 59
That is his happy face

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, 58
A grateful nation sends its thanks to the voters of the state of California

STEVEN SEAGAL, 54
Dude, the ponytail is so '80s

PIERCE BROSNAN, 52
Gained cred for fearlessly wearing that Speedo in "The Matador"

MEL GIBSON, 50
Check back after "Apocalypto"

JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME, 45
That's 315 in dog years