by Luke Bamforth

Created on: September 23, 2010

One time carpenter to the stars, Harrison Ford got his big break playing cocky, drag racing, hoodlum Bob Falfa in 1973s ‘American Graffiti.’ He had already made appearances on TV and had even been in a couple of films, but it was this role that was set to propel him into the stratosphere. The film itself is not one of his best and his part was small, but it was this movie that saw him first work with George Lucas, who would be integral in his early career.

Harrison Ford, although not a prolific actor, has racked up a large number of features over his career. He has played parts in sci-fi films, adventure movies, war movies and has even tried his hand at psychological horror. The following are some of his best films.

The role that made him famous and launched his career in the eyes’ of the movie going public was that of Han Solo in the original trilogy of the Star Wars franchise. Beginning with ‘Episode IV: A New Hope’ in 1977, Harrison played a roguish smuggler who is coerced by his conscience into helping a rag tag bunch of rebels fight the might of the evil Empire. The first film was followed by ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980) and ‘The Return of the Jedi’ (1983) all of which were massive successes.

It was due to his performance as Han Solo, as well as George Lucas’ friendship with fellow director Steven Spielberg, which led to the creation of and his being cast as Indiana Jones. To this date he has played the part of Dr Jones in four movies though only three of them can be considered amongst his best films. They are, of course, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981), ‘Temple of Doom’ (1984), and ‘The Last Crusade’ (1989). For that tiny percentage of the population who don’t know, Indiana Jones was a whip toting, artefact seeking archaeologist, with a penchant for upsetting the Nazis.

In 1982 Harrison Ford toyed with the darker side of science fiction when he played the part of Rick Deckard, a Replicant bounty hunter in the film Blade Runner. Based on a short story by Philip K Dick and directed by Ridley Scott it was film that asked the question ‘What makes us human?’ A cult hit that at times is misunderstood it was butchered, against Scott’s wishes in the editorial suite, though a more recent director’s cut has seen it restored to it’s original vision.

In 1992 he starred in the tense political thriller ‘Patriot Games’

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