Almost There: Harrison Ford in "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
Monday, May 4, 2020 at 9:46PM 
As we well know, AMPAS has major genre bias, preferring the prestigious quality of respectable dramas above everything else. Even when they decide to embrace a genre picture, there's a branch of the Academy that's always ready to turn their collective noses at them with unashamed snobbery. We're talking about the actors, whose distaste for anything remotely close to action movies, adventure, horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and so forth, has robbed many great performers of the recognition they so richly deserve. Truth be told, this is a problem that goes beyond the Oscar voters and even affects popular views on the art of acting.
If you want a good example of this, look to the awards race of 1981, when Raiders of the Lost Ark was a major success with critics and audiences alike...
Transcending the usual limitations of the action-adventure genre, it went on to score eight Oscar nominations and won half of them as well as a bunch of prizes from regional critics' groups. However, one of its elements went systematically ignored throughout the season. We're referring to its actors, among them one of the biggest stars of the 1980s, Harrison Ford.
While the aforementioned genre bias is difficult to get past, Ford was, at the very least, in the conversation come awards time. His pop-cultural cachet was rarely bigger than in 1981 with two of cinema's coolest and most iconic heroes, Han Solo and Indiana Jones, now being embodied by the same man onscreen. Furthermore, Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark got a Best Picture nod and we already explored in this series how rare it is for Best Picture nominees to be ignored by the acting branch. One question arises from these ponderations on Oscar history: Was Harrison Ford worthy of a nomination for playing Indiana Jones?
Throughout his career, Ford has been often criticized for not stretching himself as an actor, rarely going deep into his characters and mostly coasting on his charisma. That's made him popular as a leading man but an unlikely candidate for riling people up when it comes time to vote for movie awards. His range is admittedly limited, but that's been the case of many a great star in the history of Hollywood. Like the best of them, Ford shows a canny talent for finding variations within his screen persona, adapting it to each role with seamless virtuosity.
Take the two heroes that have been mentioned so far, Star Wars' Han Solo and the Raiders' Indiana Jones. Superficially, the characters are similar, but there are precise variations in the way Ford plays them that make all the difference. The cynical arrogance and peacock-like pomposity of the Millennium Falcon's captain are very obviously absent from the cinema's favorite archeologist. They're both preternaturally confident men, but Ford adds a layer of abrasion to Han that he erases from Indy. Instead, he finds Jones' specificity by highlighting certain vulnerabilities.
Indiana Jones is an adventurer, but there's a dorky sense of academic curiosity seeping through his hunky façade during calmer scenes. That makes him necessarily different from a roguish mercenary and helps the audience connect to him as our guide into his world of fantastical archeology. More importantly, perhaps, is how Ford interacts with Karen Allen's Marion, Jones' old paramour. In the hands of this smart performer, our hero is a closeted romantic and there's a wounded sentimentality to his dialogues with the woman, effectively giving the picture some much needed emotional stakes.
Above all else, though, what's most evident in Ford's performance in Raiders of the Lost Ark is his ease with comedy. Without ever betraying the mounting tension of the action set pieces, he's always able to find some humorous reaction or sardonic expression to lighten things up. It's impossible to imagine the movie being as successful as it is if we removed that comedic savvy from its leading man. Harrison Ford's impeccable instincts helped make this movie into the perfect creation that it is.
Also, he's great at playing up the thrilling aspects of the narrative, an equally important quality to have when headlining such an epic adventure.
Maybe if Ford made it look more difficult, his craft wouldn't be so easily dismissed, but it's the effortless nature of his acting that makes him an ideal match for the role of Indiana Jones. He couldn't be more perfect as an instantly iconic dreamboat that's a funny action hero to boot. Harrison Ford made us believe, helped us buy into the escapist thrills of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and, for that, we should be grateful. I know I am and, all this considered, it would have been nice for the Academy to extend their love for the movie to its leading man. So yes, he was certainly worthy of an Oscar nomination for playing Indiana Jones.
Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark is currently available to stream on Netflix.
More from our 1981 retrospective
- The 1981 Supporting Actress Smackdown
- Katharine Hepburn's fourth Oscar
- Meryl's first Best Actress nomination
- Kathleen Turner's sizzling debut in Body Heat
- Jessica Harper in Pennies From Heaven
- Marilia Pera in Pixote
- Only When I Laugh and the Razzies
- Kathryn Harrold in Modern Romance
- Vintage: Pop Culture in 1981
- Vintage: Sexiest People Born in 1981
Reader Comments (29)
Claudio: I've seen 3 of that 1981 Lead Actor field. Haven't seen Lancaster and Newman. My ballot before those 2?
Bruce Campbell, The Evil Dead
Harrison Ford, Raiders of the Lost Ark
Mel Gibson, The Road Warrior
Dudley Moore, Arthur
David Naughton, An American Werewolf in London
(Just missed: John Travolta, Blow Out, Warren Beatty, Reds.)
Volvagia -- I've seen the five Oscar nominees from that year's Best Actor category. My line-up, considering the eligible titles, would be something like this:
James Caan, THIEF
Gérard Depardieu, LOULOU
Harrison Ford, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
Burt Lancaster, ATLANTIC CITY
Steve Martin, PENNIES FROM HEAVEN
Lancaster is my winner and Fonda, as well as Beatty, are runners-up. Out of your ballot, I still need to see THE ROAD WARRIOR.
Thanks for sharing your personal ballot, by the way. I love this stuff and checking out other people's alternative Oscars.
Harrrison is a good actor and great movie star but unless he does some really great supporting actor role I don't see him winning an Oscar
Karen Allen would have been on my supporting actress ballot for sure, along with both the ladies that have been written about thus far and Reid from Atlantic City. I’m glad oscar nominated and gave the award to Stapleton but her aside the roster is not that great.
I'm not sure how I'd fill out the category, especially since I've never seen Atlantic City, but yeah I think Harrison Ford should've been nominated (along with Dudley Moore and Steve Martin) - and Karen Allen too.
Harrison Ford is due an honorary Oscar (once Liv Ullmann has hers).
James -- agreed. he'd be a perfect HOnorary winner.
Claudio - he's so perfect as Indiana Jones (i think it's a far greater performance than his work as Han Solo... though obviously that's wonderful too) for the reasons you so well delineate.Especially his interactions with Marion.
No matter how well a film like Raiders is directed and produced without a strong central performance it's never fully engaging and Ford is one of the best at pulling the audience in and carrying them along. Like Bruce Willis in Die Hard he takes a good solid film and with his performance takes it to the next level. I'd hate to take Henry Fonda's one competitive Oscar away but Harrison would be my winner if he'd been nominated.
There was some good work nominated this year though only Lancaster would even make my runner up list. My list would run this way:
Sean Connery-Outland
Richard Dreyfuss-Who's Life Is It Anyway?
Harrison Ford-Raiders of the Lost Ark-Winner
John Heard-Cutter's Way
John Travolta-Blow Out
Runner-ups: Mel Gibson-Gallipoli, Burt Lancaster-Atlantic City, Steve Martin-Pennies from Heaven and Treat Williams-Prince of the City
While we're talking almost there how did Karen Allen also miss for her fantastic Marion? She's fantastic and yet nothing.
Raiders is, in my opinion, the greatest action-adventure film ever made, and Harrison Ford is terrific in it, but -- like anyone else in the present day -- I can't isolate the first performance from the layers he added in the second and third. (Not dismissing the fourth film necessarily, but I find it forgetful enough to not know if Ford adds any new dimension to the role.)
I remain skeptical of the argument here, and the Almost There series in general, but I can't rule out the possibility that Ford may have been close. I just don't know. There was no precursor love for him, aside from the Saturn Awards, where he, Karen Allen, and Paul Freeman (Belloq) were nominated.
Brevity - Technically, that's still more precursor love than Paul Newman got in 1981. His only nomination for the Absence of Malice was the Oscar.
I'm sorry that you feel unconvinced about the arguments made here. When I do pre-90s years I admit all of this becomes much more difficult to parse out, since there are so few precursors left. However, I try to take into account several factors, including a movie's cultural impact at the time of release and how the Academy overall responded to the movie and/or performer. I could just do recent years, where the likely runners-up to the nominations are easier to figure out, but I think it would become boring, both to me and the readers.
Even if you feel skeptical about this series, I appreciate that you are reading these pieces and commenting. The feedback is always appreciated. Thank you.
Next week's piece might be easier to accept as an Almost There case. It's an actor who won the Golden Globe starring in an Oscar-nominated picture by an Oscar-winning director.
The chemistry between Indy and Marion brings so much to the film. I agree that it gives what could be just an action movie (however well made) emotional stakes. It’s also what’s missing from the sequels, as much fun as they are. Ford really needs an equal partner to play off (Carrie Fisher filled that role in the Star Wars movies, Sean Connery did so in Last Crusade). Otherwise he comes off as kind of one-note— and that note is too often grumpy.
my actor nominees from 1981 were
harrison ford - raiders of the lost ark
john heard - cutter's way
william hurt - body heat
burt lancaster - atlantic city
steve martin - pennies from heaven
i have heard winning, altho' i have no memory of that film all these years later
raiders wins pic, director and supporting actress
Such affection for Karen Allen!
I hope those fans will make an effort to see her strong performance in last year's fine independent film Colewell. As a simple small town postal clerk, Allen is moving in an allegory of the dangers of allowing your job to become your identity.
1981 Actor:
Harrison Ford, Raiders of the Lost Ark
John Heard, Cutter’s Way
Burt Lancaster, Atlantic City
Steve Martin, Pennies from Heaven
Treat Williams, Prince of the City (WINNER)
Ford is the type of movie star charismatic performance that will always be ignored by awards like the Oscars because it’s not seen as a terrible difficult performance. I disagree with this sentiment and believe he would’ve made a great best actor nomination. I really enjoy a lot of Male performances from this year but my top 5 just stand above. How Treat Williams was nominated for giving a bad performance (according to IMDb) is beyond me because he’s spectacular and a terrible snub from ‘81.
He always has great chemistry with his leading ladies something he's so often not given credit for and never moreso than with the wonderful Allen.
My Nominees
James Caan, THIEF
Warren Beatty REDS
Harrison Ford, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
Burt Lancaster, ATLANTIC CITY
Richard Dreyfuss WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY
Harrison Ford in this feels similar to Johnny Depp in Pirates. Instantly iconic, massive hit (though Raiders was bigger with the Academy), though only Depp was nominated. I'd attribute this to Depp's previous reputation as a unique, artistically-inclined actor which no doubt earned him respect within the Academy.
I miss Karen Allen! I remember reading somewhere that she was happily semi-retired in Maine before coming back for the fourth Indy film (the bad one). Thanks for recommending Colewell, James. I’ll have to seek it out.
She brings such subtle humanity to every role. I’m thinking of starring roles like Starman but also underwritten “girlfriend” parts like Scrooged or Animal House.
@Claudio. In order to really understand why the person in question was not nominated we would need to know the list of actual nominees. Maybe you just want to make a point that so-and-so deserved a nomination. I believe my suggestion is valid in any scenario.
For once, maybe I could decide that the performances of the actual nominees were better than that of the actor or actress in question.
I think this series is interesting. Almost There isn't the same as "Sixth Place." I like that someone who probably was anywhere from sixth to tenth in the voting is considered.
But speaking of sixth place, I wonder if Karen Allen made it there. I bet it was close.
Is Allen a Lead though.
Echoing the sentiment that Harrison Ford should be an Honorary Oscar winner. One of the biggest box office stars ever and several iconic characters.
"Throughout his career, Ford has been often criticized for not stretching himself as an actor, rarely going deep into his characters and mostly coasting on his charisma" --- this may be true, but AMPAS still gives Oscars to people like John Wayne, so...
Marcos -- That's a good point. I think I'll try to include a paragraph about the actual Oscar nominees in this series' future entries. Thank you for the helpful feedback.
By the way, I've been trying to be positive in this series, only writing about performances I like. Perhaps I should reconsider that in the future.
Really good article, and I relaly enjoyed this thread too.
I think Ford is excellent in Raiders and would have eben a deserving nominee. But 1981 was very strong. I haven't seen Newman's performance, but Beatty, Fonda, lancaster and More are all brilliant. But I think Ford should have been in there somewhere...and I think the screenplay should have been nominated too.
I think Marion is a leading role rather than supporting role. She's spoken about before she comes into the film, and once she comes in, she feels important throughout. I also think she has enough screen time. I mean, Belloq is important throughout too, but he seems more of a support. The film's not really 'about' him, but I think it is about Marion as well as Indy.
A bigger obstacle than genre for him receiving a nomination is, as you said, because he makes it look easy.
Ebert said he's one of maybe two or three people in the history of the movies able to do what he does. We can talk about limited range, but Ford is a great actor.
Claudio, mentioning the actual field is a great idea, as is writing about an Almost There you didn't care for all that much. Can't hurt to try :)
Ben -- I appreciate the feedback from the readers and will try to take these things into account in the future. This month, the performances are already picked, so they'll be positive assessments though I will make sure to add some words about the Academy's nominated five. In June, I'll try to pick at least one performance I don't care for as the subject of an Almost There article.
Truth be told, after some push back about negative minded pieces I wrote during Oscar season I became a bit afraid of being too mean spirited in my writing. Since then, I've been actively trying to keep positive and reserve my more negative opinions to myself. Maybe it's time to change that, even if only a little bit. We'll see.
In any case, I hope you've been enjoying the Almost There series and, as always, thank you for commenting.
`I've been actively trying to keep positive and reserve my more negative opinions to myself.´
As a reader, I salute you for doing that. Internet could use more of that.
Thank you, Claudio.
Claudio: One easy, uncontroversial pick for that (I hope, at least) is Johnny Depp in Black Mass. That film is a crime on SO many levels. First problem: Johnny Depp's makeup job. Second: Cumberbatch's accent. Third: I get that the...loaded title...was taken from a book, but, seriously, to both book and film: Government corruption, regrettable though it is, isn't witchcraft. YOUR. PUN. TITLE. IS. STUPID! Fourth: Before that movie, how often had "Scorsese Crime Film not done by Scorsese"...worked? ONCE before that? (American Hustle). And Scott Cooper wasn't fit to lick David O. Russell's boots, let alone the big man's.
To Burt Lancaster's credit, he wondered in a contemporaneous interview why Harrison Ford hadn't been nominated.