Hey, as far as I’m concerned, if Harrison Ford has a pilot’s license and owns his own planes he’s entitled to do whatever he wants with them. But then, I don’t worship at the eco-altar of Al Gore, either:
Environmental activists have blasted Harrison Ford for making “unnecessary” trips by air, following revelations he once made a jet journey to buy a cheeseburger.
The “Indiana Jones” star began flying when he was 52. After receiving his license, he went on to purchase several aircraft, which he keeps at Santa Monica Airport in California.
He recently revealed in an interview the extent of his love for piloting, telling Britain’s Live magazine, “Learning to fly was a work of art. I’m so passionate about flying I often fly up the coast for a cheeseburger. Flying is like good music; it elevates the spirit and it’s an exhilarating freedom.”
As Big Hollywood editor John Nolte, who’s still recovering from having watched Ford wax his chest to save the rain forest(!) writes:
Harrison, if you’re going to forever shatter our man-chested image of you, couldn’t you have at least done it out of a firm set of principles? And how about you fly up to East L.A. and refund my money for all these DVDs of yours that lost much of their movie star lustre along with your chest hair?
In the last two decades, no movie star has fallen further than Harrison Ford. That appalling Indiana Jones’ sequel might have made money, but it was an embarrassment and since Air Force One way back in 1997, he’s made one awful choice after another. You get the impression that somewhere along the line he decided to stop being Harrison Ford, and now the most sure-fire star of the late 70s through the mid-90s can’t even open a film.
I knew it was over when he became one of those 50-somethings sporting an earring, but I kept hoping for a miracle — for American Graffiti-era Harrison Ford to pop out of a time tunnel and beat some sense into Middle-Aged-Crisis Harrison Ford.
The irony is that Ford does worship at the altar of Gore, and frequently blasted President Bush during the first eight years of the previous decade for imagined environmental incorrectness, in sharp contradistinction to his “I like Ike” all-American Indiana Jones character. Which is a reminder of two things:
- Ford’s hypocritical boutique environmentalism is yet another example of what Roger L. Simon dubs the Hollywood Mini-Me Syndrome.
- Bill Whittle’s Lou Grant Effect remains inviolable as a reminder that unlike Hollywood’s golden era, the gulf between the coolness of a character an actor plays and how pathetic he is real life has never been wider.
There have been several articles written since Hollywood’s BDS nearly drove it over a cliff in the mid-naughts asking if Hollywood needs stars to promote movies. But then, who’s left as a larger than life star in his prime who isn’t (a) completely crazy and (b) bankable enough to consistently still put butts into seats?
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