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Actors’ Pleasantly Surprising Roles feat. Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman & Russell Crowe

Posted on January 10, 2011 Written by ripitup

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Actors’ Pleasantly Surprising Roles feat. Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman & Russell Crowe

Finding a good script is tricky. Constantly being after good scripts and trying to be versatile at the same time is even trickier.  An actor might often find himself playing a character more often than other roles- such as being a cop or a villain too often. So just when you think you’ve seen all the cards up his sleeve, he surprises you as a character you have never seen before. Below are 3 examples:

* Harrison Ford in Six Days Seven Nights

Six Days Seven Nights starring Harrison Ford & Anne Heche
Six Days Seven Nights starring Harrison Ford & Anne Heche

We are accustomed to seeing Ford in serious roles. Whether he is a cop (The Devil’s Own,Witness) or The President (Air Force One). Sure he had his characters with a sense of humor (Indiana Jones) but this one really caught me off guard.

In Six Days Seven Nights, he is a middle-aged pilot who lives on an island in Tahiti and is pretty pleased with his easy-going life. That’s until he meets Robin (Anne Heche) and a plane crash puts them both an island.

Ford’s character gets drunk too often and makes jokes at Anne Heche’s character Robin’s expense. He also falls down, gets beaten up and smiles a lot, all the while managing to be the masculine Harrison Ford we know him to be. Watch this one to see Harrison in an action/romance/comedy genre.

Two other movies if you like the combination of these genres:

Birds on a Wire starring Goldie Hawn and Mel Gibson

The Bounty Hunter starring Gerard Butler and Jennifer Anniston

* Gary Oldman in The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter starring Demi Moore & Gary Oldman
The Scarlet Letter starring Demi Moore & Gary Oldman

We saw Gary play the bad guy too often. Sure, when he isn’t playing the ultimate-villain (Léon, Murder in the First, Dracula), he does play a lot of shady/grey characters (Romeo Lies Bleeding, Sid and Nancy). So I am guessing I am not the only one surprised to find him as Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale in the film adaptation of The Scarlet Letter in 1995. He was a reverend, he was genuinely nice and he was playing a romantic character! And being Gary Oldman, he pulled this off brilliantly. You may or may not like the movie but Gary’s performance was…well, up to Gary’s standards.

* Russell Crowe in A Good Year

A Good Year starring Russell Crowe, Marion Cotillard & Albert Finney. Feat. Tom Hollander & Richard Coyle.
A Good Year starring Russell Crowe, Marion Cotillard & Albert Finney. Feat. Tom Hollander & Richard Coyle.

Russell Crowe might be an academy-award-winning actor, but hey let’s face it, he doesn’t have typically have a boyish charm. And he doesn’t really look like as if he is ready to make a fool out of himself. I am checking out his films to see another light-hearted role and I can’t. He played a warrior, a cop, an agent, an “insider”…. Sure, Mystery, Alaska is fun but A Good Year is even better. Not just because it features the Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard (Public Enemies, Inception) but because it shows us the two sides of Crowe- one we know so well and we are not so used to.

A Good Year follows Max Skinner- a ruthless and successful British broker in London to Provence, France. His uncle has died and left him his vineyard. All Max wants to do get the paperwork out of the way and do whatever the hell he wants with it. But before he can change the property, the property, its residents, his uncle’s (Albert  Finney’s)  memories and a certain French girl changes him.

This movie is directed by Ridley Scott, a director that Russell collaborates with quite often. The duo also did Gladiator, American Gangster, Body of Lies and Robin Hood together. But among them all, this is the sweetest, lightness and the most romantic movie of them all. Here, Russell’s hotshot Max  gets into funny situations, falls in love, falls in love with the vineyard and discovers a side to himself that he didn’t know or forgot that it existed. And best of all, Russell isn’t alone in providing the comic relief. His friend Charlie (Tom Hollander) comes to visit. And well, Tom’s scenes are usually not so charismatic in movies and this one is no exception. Max’s broker nemesis is played by Richard Coyle– who you might remember as Jeff from TV Show Coupling– the British series that had most viewers laughing their butts off. And that’s an understatement. So it doesn’t matter if you put Richard in a semi-serious, small role. I start laughing the moment I see the guy. Oh, and the female lead is so elegantly beautiful that the story wouldn’t have made sense if Max hadn’t fallen head over heels with her. This film really made me like Russell. Yes, he is a good actor but he was just not this fun before.

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: a good year, a good year movie, adventure, albert finney, Anne Heche, comedy, Coupling, drama, Gary Oldman, Harrison Ford, harrison ford movies, Marion Cotillard, movies, Richard Coyle, Ridley Scott, romance, russell crowe, russell crowe movies, Six Days Seven Nights, six days seven nights movie, The Scarlet Letter, the scarlet letter movie, Tom Hollander

Sabrina starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond & Greg Kinnear

Posted on December 22, 2010 Written by ripitup

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Sabrina starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond and Greg Kinnear
Sabrina starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond and Greg Kinnear. Image via Amazon.

Plot

Sabrina Fairchild (Julia Ormond) is the ugly duckling daughter of the Larrabee family chauffeur (John Wood). She has been in love with the young Larrabee brother – David (Greg Kinnear) all her life. Unfortunately, David is the ultimate player, going from one pretty girl to the next.

She gets her opportunity to change when she moves to Paris and works as a photographer. Upon her return, David is shocked that she has turned into a beautiful young woman and he’s dying to flirt with her.

The older Larrabee brother Linus (Harrison Ford) is the ultimate workaholic, successfully running the family business. He isn’t content with David’s fascination with Sabrina as David is about to marry Elizabeth Tyson (Lauren Holly), with whose family Linus is about to close a profitable merger deal. Knowing that Sabrina still wants David, Linus makes a plan with his mother (Nancy Marchand). He will seduce Sabrina and make her give up on David.

Of course Linus has forgotten about one thing: Sabrina is enchanting and while she is falling for him, he is also falling for her…Will this plan end up well for anyone?

**

Movie Trivia

Sabrina is the 1995 remake of the 1954 American classic of the same name. 1954’S Sabrina stars Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden. Original Sabrina – directed by Billy Wilder- is rated 7.8 on IMDB while Sydney Pollack’s version is rated at 6.0

A couple of years ago, the movie was adapted to a popular TV series in Turkey and the English translation of the show reads “An Istanbul Fairy Tale”.

Verdict

Sabrina is a sweet, charming movie. Yes, once again I committed the sin of not having seen the original. I am positively biased towards the newer one, since I am a spoiled movie fan that prefers the 90s camera work and technology over the 50s.

It is by no means a perfect movie. While I think Julia Ormond makes a lovely Sabrina, a more good-looking actor could have played David. I love Greg Kinnear to bits, but he just isn’t hot enough for the part of David, though he does seem to make a good replacement for William Holden.

I think Harrison Ford is a perfect Linus, and I’ll go as far to say I prefer him over Bogart. As charismatic as Bogart is, Ford is much more likeable. And the movie does unfortunately becomes a victim to its wardrobe. It might be in character but seriously, didn’t businessmen wear ties in the 90s? What’s with Linus’ fascination with the bowties? Who wore bow ties to a corporation in the 90s? And well, he could have picked a little more flattering glasses. Let me put it this way- Harrison looks as old as he looks now in the film. Which is weird, given that the movie was shot so many years ago.

But apart from my objections to the wardrobe and Greg Kinnear, I liked watching Sabrina. It might be a poor girl falls for the older rich guy storyline, but it comes with Ford and Ormond.

6.5/10 from me. Recommended to every romantic.

**

Other Posts on Harrison Ford Movies

Extraordinary Measures starring Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser & Keri Russell

Firewall starring Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany & Virginia Madsen

Air Force One starring Harrison Ford, Glenn Close & Gary Oldman

Six Days Seven Nights starring Harrison Ford, Anne Heche & David Schwimmer

The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford & Tommy Lee Jones

Other Posts on Greg Kinnear

Ghost Town starring Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear & Téa Leoni

Someone Like You starring Ashley Judd, Hugh Jackman & Greg Kinnear

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: audrey hepburn, billy wilder, comedy, drama, Greg Kinnear, Harrison Ford, harrison ford movies, Humphrey bogart, john wood, julia ormond, Lauren Holly, movies, Nancy Marchand, romance, Sabrina, sabrina 1954 movie, sabrina 1995 movie, sabrina movie, sydney pollack, william holden

The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones

Posted on September 7, 2010 Written by ripitup

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The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones
The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. Co-starring Joee Pantoliano, Julianne Moore and Sela Ward. Directed by Andrew Davis. 1993.

Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) is a highly successful, well-off and respected heart surgeon. However one day, he comes home to find an attacker and his wife Helen murdered. The murderer – who has one prosthetic arm – gets away. Kimble, desperate to revive his wife, leaves his fingerprints everywhere. For the lazy cops, he is the perfect suspect. After all, there are no other fingerprints around other than Richard’s. It also helps their case that she had a life insurance and Richard was the only beneficiary.

So Richard is sentenced to prison until he is killed by lethal injection. However while the convicts are being transferred to the prison, one of the prisoners fakes a heart-attack, causes enough chaos for some of the guards to get injured. Since the driver gets killed, the bus crashes into a railroad. Kimble barely makes it out with his life and seizes his one chance to escape.

Samuel Gerard, Marshall, responsible for prisoners, is pissed that prisoners have gotten away and he takes over Kimble’s case with full control and he is determined to catch Kimble no matter what.

Despite the fact that the whole country is after him, Kimble manages to dodge cops and starts his own quest to catch his wife’s murderer and prove his innocence.

So the fascinating great cat and mouse game starts. However the mouse is just as smart, maybe even smarter than the cat. And instead of running away, the mouse will cleverly involve the cat in his quest for innocence…

The Fugitive (1993) is a terrific and old-fashioned (in a very good sense) action/thriller/drama. Harrison-Ford, as usual, is very at home in this action-packed role as the smart protagonist. Tommy Lee Jones is perfect as the “cat”. Note that Tommy Lee won Oscar for Best Supporting Actor with this role. The movie was also nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Effects, Best Editing, Best Film, Best Sound and Best Music Oscars.

The Fugitive is based on the TV Series The Fugitive from 1963. Co-starring in the film are Julianne Moore and Joe Pantoliano. Directed by Andrew Davis, written by Jeb Stuart and
David Twohy. Rated 7.8 on IMDB, voted by over 96.000 viewers. I do agree. This movie is a real threat and it is not a movie that will lose from its age.

Other Harrison Ford Movies

Firewall starring Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany and Virginia Madsen

Six Days Seven Nights starring Harrison Ford and Anne Heche

Extraordinary Measures starring Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell

Air Force One starring Harrison Ford, Glenn Close and Gary Oldman

Regarding Henry starring Harrison Ford and Annette Bening

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Academy-award winning movie, action, Andrew Davis, David Twohy, Harrison Ford, harrison ford movies, Jeb Stuart, Joe Pantoliano, Julianne Moore, movies, Sela Ward, the fugitive, the fugitive movie, thriller, Tommy Lee Jones

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