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Harrison Ford: Smashing Bottles, Slinging Weed, and Partying with the Stones

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If someone had told Harrison Ford the odds early on, about his chances of making it as an actor in Hollywood, he may have given up. But he wasn’t an odds kinda guy. He was a guy who did what he had to do to make it. Sometimes that meant swinging a hammer and working as a carpenter on the houses of James Caan and Joan Didion. Other times he found work touring with the Doors as the band’s photographer. He even dealt a little weed on the side to people like Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas. But whether he was pulling focus on an elusive Jim Morrison, tearing ass through Petaluma in an old Chevy, or navigating a hunk of junk through an asteroid field, never tell him the odds. Harrison Ford made his own luck.

Sources

Harrison Ford: The Films, by Brad Duke

Earl McGrath Was a Character. His Closet Was Filled With Rare Recordings (NY Times)

Rock and Roll Gatsby: The Captivating, Confounding, Chaotic Career of Earl McGrath (Rolling Stone)

When Harrison Ford shot Jim Morrison (Dangerous Minds)

Feast of Friends (Short 1969)

Harrison Ford on The Big Picture, 1989

When Harrison Ford worked as a roadie for The Doors (Far Out)

Harrison Ford Almost Gave Up Show Business After Working With Jim Morrison (Inside the Magic)

How Jim Morrison Almost Ended Harrison Ford's Acting Career (Looper)

The Doors | Northern California Folk Rock Festival 1968 (Mild Equator)

Northern California Folk-Rock Festiva (Woodstock Whisperer)

John Densmore (San Jose Rocks Podcast)

Harrison Ford's Time Under Contract At Columbia Was A Far Cry From The Hollywood Dream (Slash Film)

Extended interview: Richard Dreyfuss on "American Graffiti," "Jaws," and civics classes (CBS News)

Richard Dreyfuss Claims Bill Murray Threw an Ashtray at Him, Calls Him a Drunk Irish Bully (Movie Web)

'It was exhilarating': Ron Howard's happy days on the role that changed his life (Sydney Morning Herald)

Harrison Ford Raised Plenty Of Hell Behind The Scenes Of American Graffiti (Slash Film)

Fires, alcohol and an out-of-control Harrison Ford: 50 years later, the making of ‘American Graffiti’ has not been forgotten (El Pais)

How ‘hellraiser’ Harrison Ford almost ruined George Lucas’s American Graffiti (Telegraph)

Carrie Fisher’s Autopsy Reveals Traces of Cocaine, Heroin, and MDMA (Vanity Fair)

Inside Carrie Fisher’s Difficult Upbringing with Famous Parents (Vanity Fair)
Carrie Fisher’s Crazy ‘Star Wars’ Ride: Cocaine, the Rolling Stones, and That Slave Bikini (The Daily Beast)

For Eric Idle, Life’s a Laugh and Death’s a Joke, It’s True (NY Times)

Carrie Fisher Had Stoned Sleepovers With 'Star Wars' Co-Star Harrison Ford, New Book Claims (Hollywood Life)

Indiana Jones – Harrison Ford’s alternative pastime weed (Hotcorn)

Carrie Fisher Didn't Remember the Details of Her Harrison Ford Affair Because They Frequently Smoked 'Brutal Strength' Marijuana Together (Cheat Sheet)

Harrison Ford Reveals The Funny Way Steven Spielberg Avoided Getting Dysentery On The Raiders Of The Lost Ark Set (Cinemablend)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Snopes.com)

Harrison Ford Could Only Film Scenes In 10-Minute Increments Due To His Injuries In Indiana Jones (The Things)

Raiders Of The Lost Ark's Most Iconic Line Was Ad-Libbed By Harrison Ford (Screen Rant)

Badlands is not journalism. Badlands is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.

Credits

Hosted by Jake Brennan.

Written by Ted Omo.

Copy edited by James Sullivan.

Scored and mixed by Joel Edinburg.

Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.

*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak