How Do Film Fans Feel About Harrison Ford?
We used Ranker Insights to see what Harrison Ford’s fans think about the actor’s most popular films over his decades-long career
Paramount+’s upcoming series 1923 is one of the year’s most hotly anticipated TV shows for a lot of reasons. It’s a new chapter in the saga of Yellowstone, the smash hit neo-Western from Taylor Sheridan that’s only becoming more popular with the ongoing release of its fifth season. It’s a continuation of 1883, another Yellowstone prequel that tells the story of James and Margaret Dutton and the establishment of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. But perhaps most important, it stars Harrison Ford in the veteran actor’s first-ever lead role in a serialized TV show.
Ford’s co-star Helen Mirren is another veteran actor who will be drawing plenty of eyes to 1923, though as the star of the long-running British police procedural Prime Suspect, she’s a little more familiar with the territory of television. Both actors had their first film appearances in 1966 (both uncredited), but Ford’s breakout role wasn’t until 1973’s American Graffiti. Over the next five decades, Ford would play some of the most iconic roles in film, including Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Rick Deckard, Jack Ryan, and President James Marshall. As America prepares for his latest role, that of patriarch Jacob Dutton, we’re taking a look at the films that fans of the actors have loved most over Ford’s long career in Hollywood.
The chart below doesn’t feature every movie Ford has been in (many movies don’t have a statistically significant affinity with Ford’s fans), but they feature most, if not all, of the films for which he is best known. The results can tell us whether Ford’s fans are more drawn to his Oscar-winning dramas or his blockbuster action flicks, as well as whether they’re more or less forgiving of a Harrison Ford movie than the general moviegoing public.
Movies Voted on by Ford Fans: 17
Though Harrison Ford has well over 50 movies under his belt, the bulk of his fan base is still dedicated to those few iconic films that launched his star. Just 17 of the movies in which Ford has played a role drew a statistically significant number of fans to vote on them, heavily favoring blockbusters like Star Wars and The Fugitive over more grounded dramas like Regarding Henry and Random Hearts. Even Witness, the 1984 neo-noir for which Ford earned an Oscar nomination for best actor, doesn’t inspire many strong opinions from the actor’s fan base.
Average Movie’s Affinity Score: 208
An average Affinity Score of 208 means that a fan of Harrison Ford is, on average, around 2X more likely to enjoy any given movie starring the A-lister. That’s impressive, given the sheer volume of movies Ford has starred in, but it’s an average brought down by a few surprisingly mediocre Affinity Scores. For instance, Blade Runner, one of the most iconic films Ford has starred in, has a “meh” Affinity Score of 139 among the actor’s devotees. They’re even more ambivalent about Apocalypse Now, which has a score of 61 — though Ford has a small role in it, you’d think the Francis Ford Coppola-directed war film regarded by many to be one of the greatest movies of all time would still garner higher marks from Ford’s fans.
Time Span: 1973-2005 (42 years)
Even though many of Ford’s more recent movies failed to register with his supporters, the range of movies featured in this study still covered an incredible 42 years. That’s the longest span of time of any actor we’ve covered in this segment, beating out Meryl Streep by one year. Ford’s career here is bookended by his breakout role in American Graffiti and by his last appearance as Han Solo in 2015’s The Force Awakens, both times playing characters created by George Lucas.
Fan Favorite: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (433)
Readers may be surprised to learn that the movie most beloved by fans of Harrison Ford is The Last Crusade, the third installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. More than the series’ more widely celebrated original, the 1989 sequel co-starring Sean Connery as Indiana’s father is a sure hit among the Ford fan base. Interestingly, though Crusade and Raiders of the Lost Ark have higher Affinity Scores among this audience than do any of the original Star Wars films, the character Han Solo is more likely to be upvoted by Ford fans on lists like The Best Movie Characters Of All Time than is Indiana Jones.
Fan NoT-so-Favorite: Working Girl (44)
Consistent with the trend of favoring explosive blockbusters over quieter dramas, the Harrison Ford movie fans of the actor are least likely to love is Working Girl. In this 1988 romantic comedy about a secretary who takes revenge on her boss for stealing her idea, Ford plays an investment broker with whom Melanie Griffith’s character strikes a massive deal. Though fans of Ford aren’t so hot on the film, it earned six Academy Award nominations and won two Golden Globes.
