on Feb 5th, 2006Older Action Heroes - Who You Callin’ Old, Punk!
Harrison Ford has a new film coming out called Firewall. Just when you thought it was safe to pull out your pill dispenser in public, here’s Harrison playing an action hero, putting your out of shape body to shame. Raising the age spector seems unfair, though. It’s like shooting fish in your bathtub. What’s the point again? Does Harrison pull off the character in the movie? Do we suspend our disbelief and indulge the story?
You know, it’s sort of like writing a review about a movie critic, and pointing out he, oh, by the way, drives a Ford Pinto. What’s that have to do with anything, you might ask. Nothing. Try frying up those fish in someone else’s backyard, buddy, because your sorry catch ain’t worth my charcoal.
Ford stays in great shape by working the land at his 800-acre ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyo. But now 63 years old, you’ve got to wonder: How many beatdowns does this no-quit punching bag have in him?
“I don’t know if anyone else his age could pull this off,” Dergarabedian says. “Most other actors at this age would’ve transitioned.”
When Sean Connery was 63, he played a sagacious expert on Japanese affairs in “Rising Sun,” letting Wesley Snipes do the ass-kicking. Even Clint Eastwood at that age was reaching for scripts like “The Bridges of Madison County.”
Fiery Ford: The action hero of the AARP set
by Michael Kane
New York Post, February 5, 2006