Harrison Ford is not good in this...

I see what you mean, but keep in mind that Deckard did not want to be there either.

Thit and thpin!

it's just like he literally doesn't want to be there...


I like that about it. I hope he is able to recapture it for the sequel. If he acts like he did in the 90s and 00s, then I'll leave the theatre.

Yeah, as much as I love this movie, I found Ford's performance awkward. It was early in his career and he didn't have many big movies under his belt as a solo actor. (See what I did there?)

I've enjoyed his movies, but more for their stories rather than his presence in them. He lacks charisma, if that makes sense. He's always had this somewhat detached acting style... It even shows up in his interviews where he always seems slightly cranky/uninterested. Watch some of the behind-the-scenes footage of some his Indy movies and you see the same thing.

Oddly, I like him better during those very rare instances where he plays the bad/morally challenged guy, e.g. What Lies Beneath, Paranoia

That's been characteristic of his acting style in most non-Spielberg/Lucas movies...many people felt Dustin Hoffman would have been more appropriate and for a long time Ford wasn't very kind to the movie either because of the rather nasty time they had shooting it in 1981.

I still find the "love scene" kinda bear-fisted and ugly to watch. That's about the only one though.

I thought Ford was well suited to the role as the stoic, noirish detective.

-I was born in a crossfire hurricane.

His acting is much different in Blade Runner than in any other of his films. But it totally suits the character he is playing. Deckard is a washed up ex-Blade Runner who is forced to take on a job he couldn't care less about. Deckard doesn't want to be there at all at ANY time. He seems so detached, uninterested in many things and cold. Maybe even a bit artificial (I believe he is a replicant). Also he has not that much dialoge or many exciting action moments like Harrison did in Star Wars or Indianja Jones. In Blade Runner he is doing quite detective work, much of it in his very own apartment, he is asking people and following leads. His character is taken directly out of a film noir classic. The scene where he assures Rachel he made a bad joke about her being a replicant, it seems so fake. And that is actually a compliment, since Deckard is very bad at trying to comfort her. He hurd her feelings and tries to make up for it, but his act is just so lousy, she decides to walk out on him. Empathy is something replicants are lacking. And so is Deckard in this very scene. So in my humble opinion, Harrison Ford's acting in Blade Runner is actually very good.

I thought what he did was perfect. Additionally, either watching with or without the voice overs can affect how you perceive the mindset of his character. Keep in mind also that Ridley Scott was notorious at the time for not spending a lot of time working out intricate character details, etc do that no doubt had some kind of effect on his performance I would imagine.

Interesting.
I believe that "Blade Runner" is Ford's finest dramatic performance as an actor.

For instance I think he does very well in these scenes.
#1. This is a very difficult scene; Ford has to go from held in intensity, to emotionally demanding, to pretending to push aside the whole thing by saying something he does not believe in, and at the end his facial expression has to show concern about what he has done.

Deckard: Remember when you were six? You and your brother snuck into an empty building through a basement window. You were going to play doctor. He showed you his, but when it got to be your turn you chickened and ran; you remember that? You ever tell anybody that? Your mother, Tyrell, anybody? Remember the spider that lived outside your window? Orange body, green legs. Watched her build a web all summer, then one day there's a big egg in it. The egg hatched...
Rachael: The egg hatched...
Deckard: Yeah...
Rachael: ...and a hundred baby spiders came out... and they ate her.
Deckard: Implants. Those aren't your memories, they're somebody else's. They're Tyrell's niece's.
Deckard: O.K., bad joke... I made a bad joke. You're not a replicant. Go home, O.K.? No, really - I'm sorry, go home.

Deckard: She's a replicant, isn't she?
Tyrell: I'm impressed. How many questions does it usually take to spot them?
Deckard: I don't get it, Tyrell.
Tyrell: How many questions?
Deckard: Twenty, thirty, cross-referenced.
Tyrell: It took more than a hundred for Rachael, didn't it?
Deckard: She doesn't know.
Tyrell: She's beginning to suspect, I think.
Deckard: Suspect? How can it not know what it is?

Rachael: What if I go north? Disappear. Would you come after me? Hunt me?
Deckard: No... No, I wouldn't. I owe you one... But somebody would.

Batty: This is for Zhora!
[Batty breaks one of Deckard's fingers]
Batty: This is for Pris!
[Batty breaks another one of Deckard's fingers, puts the gun back into his hand and lets him go]

Deckard: Excuse me, Miss Salomé, can I talk to you for a minute? I'm from the American Federation of Variety Artists.
Zhora: Oh, yeah?
Deckard: I'm not here to make you join. No ma'am. That's not my department. Actually, uh. I'm from the, uh, Confidential Committee on Moral Abuses.
Zhora: Committee of Moral Abuses?
Deckard: Yes, ma'am. There's been some reports that the management has been taking liberties with the artists in this place.
Zhora: I don't know nothing about it.
Deckard: Have you felt yourself to be exploited in any way?
Zhora: How do you mean, exploited?
Deckard: Well, like to get this job. I mean, did you do, or- or were you asked to do anything lewd or unsavory or otherwise, uh, repulsive to your person, huh?
Zhora: Ha. Are you for real?
Deckard: Oh yeah. I'd like to check your dressing room if I may.
Zhora: For what?
Deckard: For, uh, for holes.
Zhora: Holes?
Deckard: You'd be surprised what a guy'd go through to get a glimpse of a beautiful body.
Zhora: No, I wouldn't.
Deckard: Little, uh, dirty holes they uh, drill in the wall so they can watch a lady undress. -- Is this a real snake?
Zhora: Of course it's not real. Do you think I'd be working in a place like this if I could afford a real snake? -- So if somebody does try to exploit me, who do I go to about it?
Deckard: Me.
Zhora: You're a dedicated man. Dry me.