Harrison Ford

2022 - 7 - 13

Post cover — Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

Happy birthday, Harrison Ford! A superb grumpy old man for 80 ... (The Guardian)

This landmark birthday for our sole remaining great movie star reminds me that he seems to have been an octogenarian for decades now.

By the end of the interview, Ford is doubled up laughing. He rambles on for about a minute and a half, with Letterman looking – as Ford did with Blaine – as if he doesn’t know whether to be amused or concerned, until he eventually stumbles into something that might be construed in some parts of the world as a punchline. Part of this crumpled persona is his ability to remain two or three beats behind everyone else, like he’s slowly catching up on a joke that everyone else finished laughing at long ago. During a David Letterman appearance in the early part of the last decade, Ford launched into a long, formless joke about a man who wants to buy half a cabbage. Because, in an industry where everyone aged 25 and over is possessed by a freakish desperation to cling to their youth for dear life, warping their faces with unnecessary surgeries to try to trick the world into thinking that they’ve somehow become frozen in time, Ford has embraced the role of grizzled elder statesman like no other. My favourite of these is his encounter with David Blaine. While Blaine’s shtick often results in leaping, wailing histrionics from his marks, his meeting with Ford in 2013 couldn’t have been quieter.

Harrison Ford Turns 80: From 'Empire Strikes Back' to 'The Fugitive ... (Variety)

As Harrison Ford turns 80, here's a look at the Star Wars and Indiana Jones star's greatest performances.

The first “Star Wars” may have established Ford as a movie star, but it was “The Empire Strikes Back” that made him a legend. Audiences weren’t ready to watch Ford go off the deep end when “The Mosquito Coast” opened in 1986. It’s the kind of grizzled role Humphrey Bogart would have played in an earlier era, and one that Ford embodies to world-weary perfection. Tommy Lee Jones won the Oscar for portraying a Javert-like lawman, but Ford is equally impressive as Richard Kimbell, a surgeon unjustly convicted for murdering his wife. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is more admired, and Ford did do the heavy lifting of establishing an iconic character in that 1981 adventure. Watching him as Detective John Book, who against his better judgment begins to let his guard down as he falls in love with the mother of an Amish boy, is to be reminded of what a subtle, sensitive performer Ford can be under the right direction. Ford earned his first and only Oscar nomination for his understated work as a detective forced to hide out in Amish country with the family of a murder witness. When Ford rode to the pinnacle of his fame in the 1980s, he was the antithesis of the steroidal action heroes on display in films like “Rambo: First Blood Part II” and “Predator.” Those heroes dispatched their enemies with cyborg-like efficiency. He’s a worthy object of Griffith’s and the audience’s affection. Indiana Jones and Star Wars made him bankable, but he used the clout to get edgier films like “The Mosquito Coast” and “Witness” made. The twist ending is ludicrous, but watching Ford work all the angles up until the big reveal is nothing short of arresting. Indiana Jones may have prevailed, but you got the sense that he knew that with one false step it would have been his ass and not the Nazi mechanic getting shredded by the propeller in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Harrison Ford Trends as Fans Celebrate the Iconic Actor's 80th ... (MovieWeb)

Fans are celebrating the milestone birthday of beloved Star Wars and Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford.

Ford is also set to return to the big screen next summer for the release of Indiana Jones 5. Harrison Ford has appeared in dozens of films, and the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises are certainly among his most popular roles. "thank you so much for acting in Indiana Jones and Han Solo in Star Wars and happy wonderful birthday.

The Secrets of Harrison Ford's Most Iconic Movie Roles (E! Online)

From Star Wars and Indiana Jones to his endearing rom-com work, here's why Harrison Ford has been a full-on movie star for half a century.

"I've been enormously lucky," Ford told the National News in 2010. "I don't play heroes," Ford told Hollywood.com in 2002. I play people who have particular dilemmas and if it comes off as heroic, then it's a cultural definition of the behavior."

The best Harrison Ford performance from each decade (Far Out Magazine)

From the 1960s to the 2020s, we've compiled all of the best performances from Harrison Ford, including his turns as Han Solo and Rick Deckard.

Ford isn’t actually the central character of the story: that honour belongs to the CGI animated dog Buck, which is a bit of an eyesore to look at for two hours. Still, action and thrillers were where Ford thrived, and no film of his in the ’90s was more compelling than The Fugitive. Not only does Ford bear an uncanny resemblance to Rickey, but he also brings 50 years of unwavering brusqueness to the man who signed Jackie Robinson to compelling effect. Part of me wanted to highlight one of his TV performances from this decade, but in the end, I decided to focus on one of his two credited roles from the ’60s. Of the two, Journey to Shiloh is the more compelling, complete with a solid lead performance from James Caan. Ford doesn’t get much to work with, but the embers of his eventual movie stardom are still there. With a surprisingly limited amount of screen time, Harrison turns the charm up to 11 and instantly becomes a superstar from the second we first meet Solo at the Mos Eisley cantina.

Harrison Ford: The extraordinary accounts of how the actor has ... (The Independent)

Actor, who turns 80 today, has been a real-life hero to numerous distressed adventurers.

Start your Independent Premium subscription today. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice. When interviewed about the incident later, George admitted she hadn’t realised it was Ford at first.

Harrison Ford turns 80 today. His life, in photos (Columbus Telegram)

Happy 80th birthday, Harrison Ford. A look at the life and career of the award-winning actor, in photos.

Harrison Ford effect: Indiana Jones visit still talking point of pub (Metro)

When Harrison Ford stopped for lunch at The Ship's Cat in North Shields, he caused quite a stir. One year one, his table is still in demand.

‘It was just a random visit while he was out cycling on a break from filming. ‘He just rocked up,’ says Connor, who wasn’t contacted by Harrison’s ‘people’ beforehand. More than 12 months later, his pit-stop is still bringing in customers.

Harrison Ford a Real-Life Hero (Newsmax)

Over the years the actor, who holds a pilot's license, participated in several rescue efforts. One notable incident took place in July 2000 when hiker Sarah ...

What they were not expecting was for Ford, who had offered his skills as a pilot and his helicopter for rescue missions in the area, to respond. Ford and several other bystanders rushed to the driver's aid. One notable incident took place in July 2000 when hiker Sarah George, 20, fell ill during a five-hour climb up Table Mountain in Wyoming, according to the Independent.

Harrison Ford

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