Harrison Ford Pays Tribute to Sean Connery: “God, We Had Fun” Making ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’

Harrison Ford Sean Connery

Harrison Ford does not strike me as a very sentimental guy, but he’s made a slight exception to honor his Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade co-star Sean Connery, who died this past weekend at the age of 90.

Read the Harrison Ford Sean Connery tribute below.

“He was my father…not in life…but in ‘Indy 3,'” Ford told Variety this week, in the wake of Connery’s death. “You don’t know pleasure until someone pays you to take Sean Connery for a ride in the side car of a Russian motorcycle bouncing along a bumpy, twisty mountain trail and getting to watch him squirm. God, we had fun — if he’s in heaven, I hope they have golf courses. Rest in peace, dear friend.”

Connery played Ford’s father, the stoic Dr. Henry Jones, Sr., in 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Here’s the scene from that movie that Ford is referencing in his tribute:

You can really see Connery squirming around at the :33 mark in that video. And man, what a great overall performance. I love the little look of delight that passes over Connery’s face when he realizes that Ford is about to joust a Nazi soldier, and the way he quickly slips back into the stern father figure role at the end of the conflict, deflating Indy’s ego in the process. What a wonderful dynamic between these two performers…and their moment at the end of the film – the “Indiana…let it go” moment? Gets me every time. He was far from perfect off-camera, but he was one hell of an actor.

Variety has a few more remembrances of Connery, but the only other one I’ll include here comes from Ford’s Star Wars director and Last Crusade co-writer George Lucas.

“Sir Sean Connery, through his talent and drive, left an indelible mark in cinematic history,” Lucas said. “His audiences spanned generations, each with favorite roles he played. He will always hold a special place in my heart as Indy’s dad. With an air of intelligent authority and sly sense of comedic mischief, only someone like Sean Connery could render Indiana Jones immediately into boyish regret or relief through a stern fatherly chiding or rejoiceful hug. I’m thankful for having had the good fortune to have known and worked with him. My thoughts are with his family.”

Here are the final moments of Last Crusade, which follow the film’s four protagonists as they ride out of the Canyon of the Crescent Moon and into a glorious blockbuster sunset: