Harrison Ford Used An Indie To Prove Star Wars Wasn't The Only Type Of Film He Could Do

Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker might've been the protagonist of George Lucas' "Star Wars," but Harrison Ford was its breakout star as the charming interstellar rapscallion Han Solo. He would've broken out eight years earlier in Jacques Demy's "Model Shop," but the genius head of Columbia Pictures at the time believed Ford had "no future" as a film actor. Having finally kicked down the door at the age of 35, Ford was determined to not get pigeonholed as his generation's Flash Gordon à la Buster Crabbe. So before "Star Wars" hit theaters on May 22, 1977, the actor chased down a supporting role in a small, independently produced film.

The film was Jeremy Kagan's "Heroes," a quiet drama about a Vietnam veteran (Henry Winkler) who escapes a mental hospital in New York City and sets out on a quest to start a worm farm in Northern California. Winkler is joined by an engaged woman (Sally Field), who finds in the veteran a kindred, unsettled spirit. She's moved by his intention to round up his combat friends, with whom he hopes to create a new, humble life away from the battlefield.

Ford plays Kenny "The Ace" Boyd, Winkler's 'Nam buddy who raises rabbits, which are key to our protagonist's endeavor because rabbit excrement is especially nourishing for worms. This is an opportune moment to note that "Heroes" is the kind of actors' piece that is far more rewarding for the performers than the audience.

According to Brad Duke's "Harrison Ford: The Films," the actor viewed the looming (though far from guaranteed) success of "Star Wars" as a springboard to more interesting work. "Heroes" offered an appealing landing spot. Ford was third billed behind Henry Winkler, a television phenom based on his portrayal of The Fonz on "Happy Days," and Sally Field, who was about to become a full-fledged movie star as Burt Reynolds' co-star in 1977's second-highest-grossing movie (behind "Star Wars") "Smokey and the Bandit."

Ford read for the part (probably the last time he did that), and left a delayed impression on Kagan:

"He was quite shy and quite good in the casting session, but he was not very communicative. He stayed in my mind, though, and I called him back and he told me a little more about himself. I thought I'd take a chance. There was something special about him. Something honest, simple, that came from the heart."

"Heroes" received mixed reviews, but even the harshest pan, from The New York Times' Vincent Canby, praised Ford's screen presence. Ford shrugged off the reception. "I didn't really care if people went to see the movie," he said. "I was doing it for people in the industry so that they would understand that it wasn't the only string in my bow ... and that I was fiercely determined to do that kind of thing."

Curiously, after "Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back," Harrison Ford stuck to the sci-fi/fantasy genre until Peter Weir's "Witness" in 1985, for which he received his first and thus far only Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He should've been nominated for his dad-gone-mad portrayal of Allie Fox in Weir's adaptation of Paul Theroux's "The Mosquito Coast," but the film was mishandled by Warner Bros. and wildly underrated by critics.

"Star Wars" is the first movie I saw theatrically, so Ford is basically my first and favorite movie star. He proved in "Witness" and "The Mosquito Coast" that there were depths to plumb, but he's played it disappointingly safe over the last 30 years (though his heel turn in Robert Zemeckis' "What Lies Beneath" is awfully nifty). Now that he's buried Han Solo and is on the cusp of bidding Indiana Jones adieu, perhaps he'll hurl himself into one last complicated role. Or maybe he'll ride off into the sunset. On a camel. Whatever he does, what a pleasure it's been to watch Harrison Ford.