Right Now I'm Loving...

Right now I'm loving... Harrison Ford.

But honestly, I've been loving Harrison Ford since 1977, when I was the grand ol' age of three. Still love him all these um... 26 years later.

I went to see the new Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit movie a few days ago (I liked it -- it was okay. Not fabulous, but kept my attention).  I wonder if Chris Pine has enough onscreen charisma to be the next Harrison Ford. I have to admit, I like Chris Pine quite a bit. Pine has got that cocky, let-me-wink-at-you-baby-it'll-make-everything-okay-promise bit going on pretty well.

Who's scruffy-looking?

Maybe it's because of the Jack Ryan movie, maybe it's because it's cold as Hoth in Virginia this week. But I started thinking about the original scoundrel. This was going around the Interwebs today:

Which is awesome. As Harrison Ford is.

But here's the real question. How many of the Harrison Ford characters/movies can you name based on the pictures below? Answers (and my score) are at the bottom of the page.

 

One last quote from the man himself:

I, sadly, was only able to get 27 out of the 40 of the Ford movies, and most of those were only movie titles, not full name of the characters. Obviously I need to spend a little time on my Harrison Ford movies this year.  How many could you get?

Answers:

Row 1: Lieutenant Shaffer (A Time for Killing), Willie Bill Bearden (Journey To Shiloh), Jake (Getting Straight), Bob Falfa (American Graffiti), Martin Stett (The Conversation)

Row 2: Han Solo (Star Wars: A New Hope), Ken Boyd (Heroes), Barnsby (Force 10 from Navarone), Colonel Lucas (Apocalypse Now), Lieutenant David Halloran (Hanover Street)

Row 3: Tommy Lilard (The Frisco Kid), Han Solo (Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back), Indiana Jones (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Rick Deckard (Blade Runner), Han Solo (Star Wars: Return of the Jedi)

Row 4: Indiana Jones (Temple of Doom), John Book (Witness), Allie Fox (Mosquito Coast), Dr. Richard Walker (Frantic), Jack Trainer (Working Girl)

Row 5: Indiana Jones (Last Crusade), Rozat Sabich (Presumed Innocent), Henry Turner (Regarding Henry), Jack Ryan (Patriot Games), Dr. Richard Kimble (The Fugitive)

Row 6: Jack Ryan (Clear and Present Danger), Linus Larrabee (Sabrina), Tom O’Meara (The Devil’s Own), President James Marshall (Air Force One), Quinn Harris (6 days 7 nights)

Row 7: Dutch Van Den Broek (Random Hearts), Norman Spencer (What Lies Beneath), Captain Alexei Vostrikov (K-19: the Widow Maker), Sergeant Joe Gavilan (Hollywood Homicide), Jack Stanfield (Firewall)

Row 8: Indiana Jones (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), Max Brogan (Crossing Over), Dr. Robert Stonehill (Extraordinary Measures), Mike Pomeroy (Morning Glory), Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Cowboys & Aliens)

Sunday Showdown: AFI vs IMDb (#66)

For those who came in late: Each week I’m comparingthe American Film Institute’s (“The Scholar’s”) Top 100 films against theInternet Movie Database’s (“The Masses’”) Top 100 films.

This week - #66: Raiders of the Lost Ark (AFI) vs. Reservoir Dogs (IMDb)

(Had to skip #67: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? vs. Chinatown due to some Netflix delays – that will be next week’s Showdown)

I want to state for the record that I loved Reservoir Dogs back in the day.  I was 20 years old when I saw it for the first time and I adored everything about it.  In all our writing classes we were always told to “show, don’t tell.” Tarantino did the exact opposite of that – created an action movie made up almost entirely of talking – and it worked beautifully.  It put Tarantino on the map, and like him or not, he’s stayed there ever since.

But who can win against Raiders of the Lost Ark? Nobody. Definitely not Dogs.  Raiders is perhaps the greatest action-adventure film of all time.  It’s pure fun.  Not to mention it contains the best opening scene of a movie, like, ever.  Plus, Harrison Ford.  How could it lose?

“It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.”

So the score stands: AFI -19, IMDb - 16

	AFI’s Top 100	IMDB’s Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
#58	The Gold Rush (1925)	Memento (2000)
#66	Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)	Reservoir Dogs (1992)
#68	Unforgiven (1992)	The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)
#69	Tootsie (1982)	Modern Times (1936)
#70	A Clockwork Orange (1971)	Life is Beautiful (1997)
#71	Saving Private Ryan (1998)	Monty Python & the Holy Grail (1975)
#72	The Shawshank Redemption (1994)	Back to the Future (1985)
#73	Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (1969)	The Prestige (2006)
#74	Silence of the Lambs (1991)	Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
#75	In the Heat of the Night (1967)	Raging Bull (1980)
#76	Forrest Gump (1994)	Cinema Paradiso (1988)
#77	All the President’s Men  (1976)	Singing In the Rain (1952)
#78	Modern Times (1936)	Some Like it Hot (1959)
#79	The Wild Bunch (1969)	The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
#80	The Apartment (1960)	Rashomon (1950)
#81	Spartacus (1960)	All About Eve (1950)
#82	Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)	Amadeus (1984)
#83	Titanic (1997)	Once Upon A Time in America (1984)
#84	Easy Rider (1969)	The Green Mile (1999)
#85	A Night at the Opera (1935)	Full Metal Jacket (1987)
#86	Platoon (1986)	2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
#87	12 Angry Men (1957)	Inglorious Basterds (2009)
#88	Bringing Up Baby (1938)	The Great Dictator (1940)
#89	Sixth Sense (1999)	Braveheart (1995)
#90	Swing Time (1936)	The Bicycle Thief (1948)
#91	Sophie’s Choice (1982)	The Apartment (1960)
#92	Up (2009)	Goodfellas (1990)
#93	The French Connection (1971)	Downfall (2004)
#94	Pulp Fiction (1994)	Gran Torino (2008)
#95	The Last Picture Show (1971)	Metropolis (1927)
#96	Do The Right Thing (1989)	The Sting (1973)
#97	Blade Runner (1982)	Gladiator (2000)
#98	Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)	The Maltese Falcon (1941)
#99	Toy Story (1995)	Unforgiven (1992)
#100	Ben Hur (1959)	The Elephant Man (1980)