Harrison Ford's Top 5 Characters

Happy Birthday Harrison Ford!

Today, one of the heroes of my movie going youth turns 72 years young. With some very recent critical acclaim and some rather big upcoming projects, the man is still going strong. Hopefully, he'll be all healed up from his injury soon so he can resume work on the new Star Wars flick. In the meantime, we might as well honor him by taking a look at his top 5 characters. Characters is the key word. These are not necessarily individual performances because, as many of you know, he's played several characters more than once. With that in mind, let's get started...

#5

President James Marshall

(Air Force One)

Obviously, I could have went a lot of different ways here. I chose this character because the movie he was in was truly all about him. Air Force One is such a fun, if at times goofy movie, and every bit of our enjoyment is due to Harrison Ford. And when he finally says "Get off my plane!" we can't help but cheer.

#4

Dr. Richard Kimble

(The Fugitive)

I absolutely love this movie. There really is no way around it. Anyone who tells me that Harrison Ford wasn't brilliant in this is either lying or crazy. His cat-and-mouse with Tommy Lee Jones is truly epic.

#3

Branch Rickey

(42)

Wait a minute...this? Ahead of his work as Dr. Kimble or Pres. Marshall? This? Yup. Here's the deal, I don't think 42 is a better movie than either Air Force One or The Fugitive, but Ford is better personally. If there's one character he truly disappears into, this one is it. The person, or persona, I think of when I hear the name Harrison Ford never surfaces during this performance. Not once.

#2

Han Solo

(Star Wars Franchise)

Okay, so you probably knew this one was coming. That doesn't make Han Solo any less iconic. And let's not forget cool. In fact, the biggest thing this character has going for him is that he's the coolest character in the Star Wars universe. Some of you are thinking "What about Darth Vader?" Answer this question for me: which one would you rather hang out with?

#1

Indiana Jones

(Indiana Jones Franchise)

Given my #2, there could only be one answer for the top choice. Indy is cool, especially under pressure, super smart, gets the ladies, and travels the world taking down archaeological terrorist. Oh, I almost forgot, he does it all with his hat on. For me, that last factor is enough to put him over the top. For you, I'll throw in the fact that Indy doesn't have to take a back seat to anyone and can save the world with or without help.

Well, there's my 2 cents on the matter. The man has credits going back almost 50 years so I'm sure I left a character out that you're just dying to tell me about. Feel free.

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42

Directed by Brian Helgeland.

2013. Rated PG-13, 128 minutes.

Cast:

Chadwick Boseman

Harrison Ford

Nicole Beharie

Christopher Meloni

Andre Holland

Alan Tudyk

Lucas Black

Hamish Linklater

Ryan Merriman

T.R. Knight

John C. McGinley

Max Gail

The story of how Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play Major League Baseball, as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, transcended the sports world as it was happening to become part of American history. He’s the most important sports figure of the twentieth century. Even if you think that statement is false, you’d have to agree he’s on the short list of possible candidates. With that in mind, 42 takes on the daunting task of telling a tale where everyone know the outcome.

We meet Jackie (Boseman) in 1945 while he’s playing Negro League Baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs. A quick incident at a gas station with a “whites only” restroom shows him as the type of guy who doesn’t take racism lying down. We also meet Branch Rickey (Ford), owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers. He’s looking for a man worthy of breaking baseball’s color barrier. He settles on Robinson even though those closest to him don’t think Jackie’s the right kind of guy. You should at least have a general idea of the rest. If not, just keep watching the movie.

Taken on its own terms, 42 is a fine movie. It does precisely what it wants to do, in the manner it wants to do it. We get a solid feeling of what our hero went through as he took the field more alone than any man ever had. His ordeal turns our stomach and we can’t help but root for him. Chadwick Boseman is good, if unspectacular, in the lead role. Far more impressive is his supporting cast. Of course, there’s Harrison Ford, just perfect as Branch Rickey. Nearly as good, in less flashier roles, are Nicole Beharie as Jackie’s wife Rachel and Andre Holland as reporter Wendell Smith. Smith is tasked with both chronicling Robinson’s journey and being somewhat of a personal assistant for the ballplayer. Others in the cast all shine when their time comes. Through their work and some adequate storytelling we hit some highs and lows en route to a welcome feel good story. The end. For most people.

For me, this is a very watchable, easily likable, but sorely lacking film. Most of my criticism is for what this movie isn’t. Maybe I’m being entirely unfair, but it’s not the Jackie Robinson story I wanted to see. This is 1947 visualized precisely as I’ve heard it, and read it, hundreds of times throughout the course of my life. The filmmakers play it far safer than Jackie himself ever did. For starters, it falls into the trap that nearly every telling of the story does. It’s not truly about the man. It’s about reactions. Somewhat, the reactions are his to whites, on an off the field, who felt compelled to shout epithets and/or put up obstacles to his success. Mostly, 42 is about white reaction to his presence. The movie also completely ignores the fact that a young black man named Larry Doby started his Major League career shortly after Robinson and dealt with the same garbage during the very same season. Then again, that part of the story almost always gets left out.

My biggest gripe is that the rest of our hero’s life is a story worth telling. This could easily have been a three plus hour epic going at least as far back as his days as a star athlete at UCLA, if not all the way to the beginning and going forward until his death. He did not just fade into oblivion once his playing days were over. In many ways, his baseball career was only the beginning of his public struggle for civil rights. The Jackie we get here is a fine conduit for our empathy, but much of that is due to our own sensibilities. The truth is that, as he is presented, he’s largely uninteresting. Giving us a fuller picture of the man would surely change that. As it stands, a movie focused on Branch Rickey, or Rachel Robinson, or Wendell Smith, could’ve accomplished the same thing with a more intriguing protagonist.

It probably sounds as if I don’t like 42 when that’s not the case. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s well put together and hits most of the right notes. I can nitpick the baseball scenes all day, but if you’re not an avid fan of the sport things are probably not bad enough to notice. I don’t even mind the totally fabricated finale. It’s a happy moment that fits so well into the movie that I can easily see why it was done. In the end, I had fun watching. I just want more than it’s willing to give me.