The improvised scene in ‘Indiana Jones’ and other surprising anecdotes from Harrison Ford’s career

If there’s a movie you want to see this year, it’s ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fate’one of the most important movies of 2023 not to miss. In it, the famous archaeologist returns and with him, of course, Harrison Ford. With 80 years, the actor presents the fifth installment of one of the most important sagas of cinema. In addition, Ford can boast of having been immortalized for posterity with not just one character, but three: Professor Jones is joined by Han Solo from Star Wars and Rick Deckard from ‘Blade Runner’.

However, not everything is glamour, sophistication and ease when it comes to making a name for yourself in Hollywood. Ford also had its rough beginnings. It is already known that he worked as a carpenter while looking for a life in the world of acting. But not everything is reduced to that well-known anecdote. Next We review three moments in Ford’s career that not everyone knows. A sample besides that legend is not born, it is made. And he has achieved it.

The first (and little visible) appearances in the cinema

It is hard to believe that the man we have known as Han Solo or Indiana Jones in movies had such anonymous beginnings. But so it was. Ford’s first appearance on celluloid lasted a mere 40 seconds. His big screen debut was in the 1966 film ‘Thief and lover’, starring James Coburn. The actor, then just 24 years old, plays a bellboy who delivers a message to Coburn. A short participation that was not accredited in the final titles.

On his second occasion in the cinema he also appeared “discredited”. He was in the movie ‘Luv…means love’, with Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk as protagonists. Released in 1967, here the young Harrison appears in a car (you can see the scene here), accompanied by a girl, and they collide with the car in which the characters of Lemmon and Elaine May are. Angry, Ford gets out, walks over to the other car, punches good old Lemmon and drives off.

His first credited role would come in the following work, ‘The ride of the damned’, where he used the name Harrison J. Ford. The “J” was put on to avoid confusion with the silent film actor who has the same name as him.

the famous scar

Like other celebrities in the world of cinema, Ford has a characteristic brand. In his case, it is a scar on his chin, with which his fans will be more than familiar. How was it done? The brand is the result of a car accident, which occurred back in 1968. While trying to carve out an acting career, Ford worked in a department store in Laguna Beach, California. There he earned a salary while he went from casting to casting. On the way to work with him by car, one day he left the road and the vehicle hit a telephone pole. From that crash the actor came out with several injuries, one of them the characteristic on the chin, which he did when he hit the steering wheel.

Interestingly, the scar would go on to receive a fictional backstory in the Indiana Jones saga.. In ‘The Last Crusade’, we see a young Indy played by River Phoenix cutting his chin using the whip. Also in ‘Armas de mujer’, Ford’s character comments that said mark was made in a fight, although he later denies it.

Responsible for one of his most famous scenes

This is one of the curiosities that fans of the actor like the most (and one of the most surprising for those who were unaware of it). The scene in question is one of the highlights of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’. In it, Indiana Jones confronts one of the villains who starts juggling a greatsword to try to intimidate the archaeologist. However, Ford’s character draws his gun and shoots him. End of the duel.

The resolution of this scene has a very simple explanation. During filming, Ford contracted dysentery., a disease caused by a bacterium that causes diarrhea and vomiting. This caused him to film in short 10-minute intervals before leaving to go to the bathroom. Because of this, instead of doing a long sword fight scene, Ford and Spielberg decided that it would be better for Jones to simply end the confrontation by shooting the villain.. And so, without meaning to, they created one of the funniest and most popular scenes in both the saga and the seventh art.

And it is that there is no one who equals ‘Indy’, even with tricks. The specialized press has seen the fifth installment of adventures in Cannes. The rest of us will be able to see the film on June 28 in theaters.