0008: Harrison Ford's Ten Best Films
Submitted by lbangs on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 09:17
Tags:
- 1) Blade Runner
- 2) Raiders of the Lost Ark
- 3) The Empire Strikes Back
- 4) Star Wars
- 5) Witness
- 6) The Fugitive
- 7) Presumed Innocent
- 8) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
- 9) Return of the Jedi
- 10) Working Girl
What about Clear and Present Danger? I thought it was a very well done action thriller. Far superior than Patriot Games, its predecessor.
I'm not a big fan of either film. Clear and Present Danger seemed a bit muddled, and it forced the main character to act out of character too often. On the other hand, the single set piece involving the cars and missle launcher was excellent. Had the entire film been that good, it would have made my list. As it is, I believe this ten films to be better.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
So for this list and ones like it, do you mean that these were the best movies Harrison Ford has been in, or that these were his best performances? I assume the latter, since I know you tend to use precise language, but thought I'd double-check.
Assuming the former, Star Wars seems a bit high. It's been a very long time since I've seen any Indy movie but Raiders, but I recall liking The Last Crusade quite a bit better than Temple of Doom. And how 'bout American Graffiti, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, and Air Force One. Or do the first three not count because they aren't really "Harrison Ford" movies?
I definitely meant the best films he has starred in and not necessarily his best performances.
I excluded several of the film you mentioned (Apocalypse Now, for instance) because I didn't really feel Harrison was one of the main stars of the picture, not because they weren't better than the films on my list. I haven't seen Air Force One yet, perhaps much to my shame.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Air Force One is definitely worth a rental, but probably not full evening price. Here's my reshuffling of your list (if I may be so bold) with AF1 included:
1 and 2 were tough to order, as were 7/8/9.
It wasn't on your list, but I'd probably put The Last Crusade at 6.5. May I ask why you prefer Temple of Doom?
Interesting that, even if we differ on the order, we still agree on Harrison's 6 best films!
I believe The Temple of Doom was quite a step down from Raiders, but I think the directing and script still produced some excellent suspense and humor from what is largely a carbon copy of Raiders. I also feel like these elements were still held in pretty good balance. The third part tried to incorporate more humor, and for the most part, I feel this failed. It was especially disconcerting to see the noble Sallah reduced to a buffoon simply for a laugh. It largely ran contrary to his character. I felt like the suspense sequences were an afterthought to the humor and rarely generated any real feeling of danger, and some of the elements of the ending (for the sake of remaining spoiler proof, I'll say the mystic stuffs) I found a bit silly. It's not an awful film, but despite the great line about the origin of Indiana's name, I found it very unsuccessful.
I'll have to check out Air Force One soon.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I'll have to watch Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade again. I've seen Raiders countless times, but I've only seen the others once or twice each (in the theater, and then right around the VHS release, so it's been awhile). I remember thinking that the darkness of ToD kinda betrayed the mood of the original, while TLC recaptured it. But I do agree about the ending of TLC. I'll let you know if I stand by my ranking when I rewatch them (which might take a long while).
I would almost consider American Graffiti, but that was a supporting role. This list looks like his starring vehicles. I really like Blade Runner but I cant see it being better than any of the Star Wars Trilogy. Then again I did love Blade Runner and I respect your opinion. I didnt care for The Fugitive that much either.