Arrison Ford turned 80 yesterday. On the one hand, this milestone will make many people feel really old. But then again, perhaps it’s not too surprising.
After all, it feels like the actor has been making movies forever and ever. And in a way he has: George Lucas’ Star Wars – the film that catapulted Ford to international fame – was released 45 years ago.
With 50 percent of the UK population under 39, that means half of the country wasn’t even born when Ford did the press tour for the blockbuster space saga.
The actor – who is arguably one of the last big movie stars – has some of Hollywood‘s greatest roles, from Han Solo to Indiana Jones to Rick Deckard. He has starred in 59 films over his long career, has been nominated for an Oscar, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has won dozens of other accolades for his memorable body of work.
So, to celebrate the actor’s turning octogenarian, here are our favorite Harrison Ford moments in the movie.
Star Wars, 1977
Ford was already 35 when he grew up playing Han Solo in George Lucas’ Star Wars† Since the mid-1960s, he has played supporting and supporting roles and even starred in a number of films, such as the 1967 Western A Time for Killing and the 1974 Francis Ford Coppola-directed The Conversation.
But it was the role of the smuggler, captain of the Millennium Falcon and leader of the Rebel Alliance that changed the actor’s life.
Apocalypse Now, 1979
Apocalypse Now was directed by Coppola and played an impossibly star-studded cast including: Marlon BrandoRobert Duvall, Martin Sheen and Laurence Fishburne. Loosely based on Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella Heart of Darkness, the film tells the story of soldiers on a covert mission during the Vietnam War.
Ford played Colonel G. Lucas (which was a writer’s joke – Coppola and Lucas were friends and founded the production company American Zoetrope in 1969). While it wasn’t his biggest role, it easily made Ford transition to another blockbuster where he wasn’t Han Solo.
Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981
Directed by Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark saw Ford become beloved adventurer Indiana Jones, a role he would play four more times. It was the highest-grossing film of 1981, winning five Academy Awards†
Blade Runner, 1982
There may not be a movie in the world more eighties than Blade Runner. The music, the camera angles, the clothing, the colours, the themes. This science fiction blockbuster by Ridley Scott, which went on to become one of the most celebrated in the annals of science fiction filmmaking, was loosely based on Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel. Do Androids dream of electric sheep?
Set in a dystopian future Los Angeles, the film follows Ford’s character, Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who kills androids as they try to escape from planetary colonies. A sequel, Blade Runner 2049, directed by Denis Villeneuve was released in 2017 and saw Ford reprise one of his most beloved roles.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 1984
Ford’s second appearance as a professor of archeology can be seen as his most famous, in large part because of the hat scene that has become one of the most shrouded/parodied moments in cinema: racing through a massive stone door as it comes crashing down on him, Jones nevertheless reaches back. through the narrowing gap to retrieve his infamous broad-brimmed sable fedora, not being crushed by a whisker.
The film also starred Kate Capshaw, Amrish Puri and Roshan Seth.
Witness, 1985
Directed by Peter Weir, who also made The Truman Show and Dead Poets Society, Witness followed the story of a police detective (Ford) who tries to protect an Amish woman and her young son after witnessing the murder of an undercover police officer. .
The film received a whopping eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor for Ford. He missed it, but the film won two – for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing.
Working Girl, 1988
Amid several years of action thrillers and psychological neo-noir dramas, Working Girl saw Ford in a role that enjoyed a bit of (much-needed) levity.
Ford played a fusion partner in this romantic comedy drama starring Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver, Alec Baldwin and Joan Cusack. The story follows an ambitious secretary Tess (Griffith) whose boss Katharine (Weaver) refuses and later steals her brilliant idea for a merger. When Katharine is put out of action with a broken leg, Tess takes the opportunity to move forward and move forward with her idea.
The film also did well at the Academy Awards, earning six nominations.
Presumably innocent, 1990
An absolute classic of the thriller genre that came out of Hollywood during that decade – think The Firm, Jagged Edge, Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, The Pelican Brief – in this legal thriller, Ford played a prosecutor charged with the murder of his colleague and lover .
Sabrina, 1995
Ford, who often plays the grumpy guy, did the best here. He is Linus Larrabee, the super-rich older brother of bad boy David. Sabrina is the daughter of the driver of the Larrabee family. She returns completely transformed from an internship at Paris Vogue.
A remake of the 1954 Billy Wilder film, it would never reach the intoxicating heights of the original – how could it ever rival a movie that featured Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn together on screen – but it was still a lot of fun . An age-old romantic comedy dynamic.
What lies beneath, 2000
Ford starred opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in this supernatural horror film about a couple living in a haunted house. Although it received mixed reviews, it became the tenth highest-grossing film of the year, demonstrating that Ford has lasting power at the box office.