Harrison Ford has created some of the most indelible characters in screen history: Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Rick Deckard, John Book, and owning existing characters like Dr. Richard Kimble or Jack Ryan. His legacy as one of Hollywood’s greatest action stars is already cemented (though his abilities as an actor are seriously underrated; one needs only watch Witness or 42 to see how good he can be). Defying age, Ford is making a farewell tour of the most iconic of his creations, cementing their legacy. He’s already given Han Solo his tragic end. Then he made a triumphant return to the world of Blade Runner, now it’s on to fix the damage to Indiana Jones that Crystal Skull inflicted. Whether that attempt succeeds as well as Blade Runner 2049 and The Force Awakens did, Ford’s place as a legend is already secure.
Harrison Ford’s Best 10
1. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Han Solo
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Indiana Jones
3. The Force Awakens (2015) Han Solo
4. Star Wars (1977) Han Solo
5. The Fugitive (1993) Dr. Richard Kimble
6. Witness (1985) Detective John Book
7. Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade (1989) Indiana Jones
8. Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Rick Deckard
9. Air Force One (1997) President James Marshall
10. 42 (2013) Branch Rickey
Honorable Mention: Return of the Jedi (1983) Han Solo
Oscars, Golden Globes & Emmys
Oscar Wins (0): None
Oscar Nominations (1): Witness (1986)
Golden Globe Wins (1): Cecil B. DeMille Award (2002)
Golden Globe Nominations (5): Witness (1986), The Mosquito Coast (1987), The Fugitive (1994), Sabrina (1996), Cecil B. DeMille Award (2002)
Emmy Wins (0 ): None
Emmy Nominations (0): None
My Favorite Ford Scene:
“The Quickest Solution” from Raiders of the Lost Ark
The reason I picked this is, not only is it such a quintessentially Indy moment, it has a great real-life back story. This was originally supposed to be a long, drawn-out fight sequence, but on the day they were going to shoot it, Harrison Ford was so sick he could barely stand up, so he asked Steven Spielberg…..”What if I just shoot the guy?” Spielberg agreed to try it, and it worked so well with the cast and crew on set they decided to keep it and Ford went back to faceplant on his hotel bed.
Next Film: Harrison Ford isn’t attached to any film before tackling Indiana Jones for the (likely) final time in the untitled Indiana Jones 5. The film is currently scheduled for a 2020 release.
I agree with your list, except for Working Girl and Air Force One. I would substitute Clear and Present Danger and (I can’t wait for the pushback on this one) Temple of Doom.
Ford’s Jack Ryan is one of my favorite characters in the history of film, and I will be bummed for all eternity that Ford only made two of those movies. The fact that the character is a total pie-in-the-sky fantasy only makes him more appealing. The rot in real-life politics is so ingrained, it runs so deep, that you need to create a character as extreme as Ryan to vicariously oppose it, and Ford plays the part to the hilt.
Temple of Doom is an underrated masterpiece that is better than Last Crusade and every bit as good as Raiders, but oh so different, with the almost hallucinatory dark and bizarre atmosphere, the disturbing (for an Indy film) violence, and the overall B movie feel that is closer to actual B movies than any of the other Indy installments. It’s much pulpier, and unapologetically so. There are no scenes of university settings, no lectures from Dr. Jones, to give the film a respectable veneer. It does not even have the usual Spielberg sheen. I don’t care that Lucas and Spielberg have been known to bad-mouth the movie. They need to stop. They obviously don’t know what they had. Ford is fantastic in the role, making Dr. Jones seem darker, even with his sidekick Short Round to (theoretically) bring out his warmth. By the time Last Crusade rolled around, Indy was familiar. But TOD was fresh.
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