Star Wars (1977) — Harrison Ford

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HARRISON FORD · 1977 · SIGNATURE ROLES

Han Solo does not believe in the Force, in causes, or in anything he cannot load onto the Millennium Falcon.

Han Solo does not believe in the Force, in causes, or in anything he cannot load onto the Millennium Falcon. Harrison Ford plays him as a smuggler with a price on his head and a heart he refuses to admit to — until the final battle, when he returns, unasked, to save Luke Skywalker and the Rebellion.

Two hikers walking across rippled sand dunes under a hazy sunset sky in the Mojave.
Photo: Joshua Sortino, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 · Source

Ford’s performance is the film’s ballast. Against the mythic earnestness of Luke and Obi-Wan, Solo is funny, skeptical, and practical, and his romance with Princess Leia — all bickering and bravado — gave the saga its human pulse. Ford famously told Lucas that his dialogue could be written but not said; Lucas told him to say it anyway. The result became one of the most quoted performances in film history, and Solo became the character audiences most wanted to be.

Low desert sand dunes with scattered shrubs below a brown ridge under an evening sky in Death Valley.
Photo: Z3lvs, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 · Source

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