Harrison Ford and his FIREWALL

The Learning Annex provides monthly opportunities to approach the proximity of the famous and the near-famous (as Mel Brooks would say in the role of the 2000 year old man). One such occasion was tonight's NYC premiere (sort of) for Harrison Ford's new movie, FIREWALL. I paid my twenty bucks a few weeks ago to enter the halls of the 42nd Street AMC movie theater for the opportunity to witness this event, albeit shivering outside for 30 minutes in the newly arrived February chill. Finally, the ushers let us in and hastily took our computer-print-out ticket-sheets only to replace them with a "flag-decorated wristband". My usher's aim with connecting the sticky ends was off and I wound up with an unwanted "hair-removal treatment" from my wrist. Definitely not very good security... anyone could have made a copy of my printout and hustle through the lax check-in procedures. We were immediately directed to the 3rd floor where a "security guard" checked our persons for any "metal". From my point of view, the metal-detecting wand wasn't even powered on -there was no glow at the tip. Then it was onward, into theater no.6 and seating for all .. I got 3rd row. OMG... these were not stadium seats! I'd have to crane to see the movie screen and move my head from side-to-side in order to take in the action on the huge panavision screen. The waiting-for-the-movie-to-start ordeal was made pleasant by the 40-ish woman on my right, who, as it turned out, was readily conversational. She told me that she liked the entertainment but hated the city. She was getting ready to move to either Utah, Colorado or Nevada. She wanted to see mountains and trees, rather than concrete and asphalt... and whatever personal baggage that was causing her to leave NYC. Definitely a woman in flux!

The movie started; it was a techno-thriller and kept everyone interested to the end. Harrison Ford did what he does best: look vulnerable and get the crap beat out of him! Then the lights came on and Joel Siegel came in. He bantered back and forth with the audience and a few minutes later, the moment we all paid for had arrived: Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones, Han Solo...etc.) entered with a few "handlers" (read: bodyguards) and received a standing ovation. The format was that Joel would interview/prompt Harrison to tell us "stuff". But Harrison is not exactly an exciting speaker, he's very mellow and laid-back and talks slow with deliberation, so Joel had to keep the commentary popping while Harrison was popping pop-corn into his mouth. He was sporting a beard and explained that it was for his upcoming part in a Civil War-era movie wherein he plays the man who tracked down and caught John Wilkes Booth, the person who shot Abraham Lincoln. He talked about not being the first person to be selected for Indiana Jones (Tom Selik was, but had a contractual obligation that couldn't free him for the part). He mentioned how lousy he felt from the "local food" the day that the "Black Swordsman" scene was shot in the first Indiana Jones movie. It seems that he wanted to leave early to recuperate from the runs so he suggested to Steven Spielberg that Indiana should just shoot the giant with the fancy swordwork, thereby completing the shoot early -Steven replied that he was "just thinking the same thing..." and the poor "giant swordsman", who had been practicing his swordplay for weeks just for this scene (which was supposed to be a long one: sword against whip fight) had to "die" with one lazy draw of a gunshot from Indiana Jones!


I noticed that there was a lot of very carefull tip-toeing around the mention of "arabs" during his descriptions. When he spoke about his experiences in Petra, he made sure to mention the "fine arab hospitality... from Queen Noor". And when he had to speak about Marion's (Karen Allen's role) kidnapping, Harrison gingerly described it as the "actors who were...(searching for the right PC expression) dressed up in arab clothes"... as though he was afraid that some kind of "fatwa" was going to befall him if he actually said "arab" without some kind of a "complementary" follow up or dared to put them in a negative light. To me, this "politically correct" baloney attitude that seems to prevail throughout most of Hollywood, is nothing more than a compromise of free speech. It's the very thing that the movie, "Good Night and Good Luck" tries to make clear. It's so ironic that Hollywood makes a very important moralistic movie about the 50's McCarthyism, like GNGL -and yet remains trapped in it's own muck of modern-day PC. Eventually it will pervade their creativity and make them into a cookie-cutter movie-factory producing the "same old, same old". Too bad. I've always thought that actors were much more ballsy.

Otherwise, I liked what Harrison had to say. He liked acting, "It's the only thing that still keeps me engaged..." . One can't help but think if Calista Flockhart has anything to do with that "engagement stuff". His greatest lament was the "loss of anonimity"... "The trouble is that I 'look like' Harrison Ford!". It's true -one would easily recognize him anywhere. He also mentioned that he is planing to "transition" into "secondary roles". This drew a lot of "disappointment sounds" from the audience. But it seems that he's acknowledging the fact that his age, and perhaps his acting abilities, are fading him into the background. He did cheer us up by saying that "...there is another Indiana Jones movie in the works with Steven". Only the paperwork needs to be worked out!? One can only hope (given his propensity for the runs).

It was time -and the conversation between him and Siegel came to an end. We were hoping there would be a Q & A between Harrison and us... but alas (and "a lack"), that was not to be. He left the applauding audience with his "handlers" and we left the theater feeling as though we were... still behind a firewall.