Was this Harrison Ford interview really the “Most SAVAGE”?

A few days ago the algorithm randomly fed me a YouTube short declaring that this nearly 40-year-old television interview featuring Harrison Ford was his “Most SAVAGE” interview ever.

Why? Because the reporter, a pre-TODAY Show and “The View” host Meredith Viera, asked the wildly successful actor some rather harsh questions.

The interview was for the short-lived CBS News program, “West 57,” which ran for four years from 1985 to 1989. At the start, she references a poll conducted by “people” — I’m guessing she’s referring to People magazine — which she claims showed “very few people knew who you were despite the fact that you’d been in the business [for] 20 years.”

As if that weren’t enough, she went on.

“And directors have been asked to list the top ten dramatic actors and very often don’t put your name down,” Viera says.

The tone here seems more suitable for a politician and not a Hollywood super star. Keep in mind, 1987 Ford had already starred in five of the biggest block busters of all time, including the Star Wars trilogy and two Indiana Jones films. He’d also scored his first Oscar nomination three years earlier for Witness.

The very idea that people “didn’t know who he was” or that directors wouldn’t want to work with him or cast him in dramatic roles seems fairly unlikely. He was one of the biggest actors in the world throughout the 1980s and well into the 1990s.

So what’s the purpose behind Viera’s brash questioning right at the top of the interview?

Harrison Ford, who I greatly respect, was always known at the time and for years after as a somewhat difficult interview. He rarely if ever talks about his personal life, has a very dry sense of humor, and often gives terse answers. In other words… he’s a tough interview. And while I don’t proclaim to understand what Viera’s motives were, her harsh questions were likely designed to get Ford to an emotional place in hopes he’d get candid with his answers.

“Are you trying to hurt my feelings?” he asks, to which Viera chuckles and gets to her point.

“Maybe the fact that you stayed away from all that kind of publicity has hurt you,” she says. “Is that possible?”

“Do I look hurt?” Ford quips.

After this, Viera goes after Ford with the claim that he plays the same characters over and over again. This does seem to get under Ford’s skin a little, as it’s a topic he has discussed in other interviews at the time. He argues that “I also… go out of my way not to do the same thing over and over again. I have some stake in that I have been successful at that.”

Viera continues to be combative, challenging that narrative by claiming that “the public has the impression that you keep playing very similar characters.”

“Do you want me to give the money back?” he retorts, before arguing that it shouldn’t be too surprising that the audience sees him more for the successful films than the less successful ones.

I suppose in that way, it’s hard to argue that the interview isn’t “SAVAGE.” Viera goes at Ford hard, perhaps in an attempt to be a serious journalist and not treat the celebrity tenderly. And that’s perhaps valid. And let’s face it, as the interview wraps up, Ford answers some personal questions. So it could be argued that despite her crass questioning, it may have achieved it’s goals.

Of course, after watching this, I felt compelled to keep going. To watch more of Ford’s old interviews. In more modern times I think Ford has gotten more relaxed, as the late night interviews have relied more on gags and humor, allowing him to avoid any personal probing. But in the 1980s and 1990s, the interviews often seemed dry. Interviewers seemed to struggle as they were limited in their questions, having to keep everything more specific to whatever film he was promoting, or rehashing stories he’s since told a thousand times.

My favorite is when he talks about his first onscreen appearance in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, and the Hollywood executive who insisted he’d never be a star. Often Ford white recite his quote… and get it wrong every time. “Paging Mr. Jones,” he repeated says in several different interviews. However, that’s not the quote at all. It’s actually “Paging Mr. Ellis, Mr. Ellis.”

Another entertaining interview, during which Ford appears very uncomfortable, is in 1995 when he appeared on The Dini Petty Show, a day-time talk show in Canada. He was there to promote his romantic comedy Sabrina. The nearly 20-minute interview starts off rather well, but things start to take a turn when suddenly Dini asks “how did you meet your wife,” and the actor stumbles. At the time, Ford was married to his second wife, Melissa Mathison. He cracks a joke, then goes through a quick response. Moments later, Dini hits him again, this time suggesting that he’s has several on-set affairs. I’m honestly not sure where this question came from, although years later Carrie Fisher said she and Ford had an affair during the filming of Star Wars. This is then followed up by a word-association game that Ford clearly doesn’t like and struggles to find answers. But Dini really just roles with his discomfort playfully.

For more older interviews, you can also check out the excellent Bobbie Wygant Archive over on YouTube. There’s a whole host of insightful interviews there with many celebrities, and many featuring Ford.