It's a bigger “Star Wars” day today than usual, so why not celebrate it with a trip into the cinematic past? On StreamFix we're counting up the best options for online viewings of classics starring old and new cast members from “Star Wars.” Here's where you should begin in your trek to experience these stars at their best.
Harrison Ford: “Witness” (Netflix)
I'll just say it: This is the greatest movie in Harrison Ford's oeuvre. A suspenseful, great-looking movie with superb storytelling (the '85 Original Screenplay Oscar winner) and a damn good role for Kelly McGillis. It's about our man H. Ford protecting an Amish boy who witnesses a murder, but there are too many interesting anomalies to discuss within. I'll mention only two: This is the first of two action movies starring blond Russian dance icon Alexander Godunov (the other being “Die Hard,” of course), and it even gives a minor role to the strangely movie-shy Broadway legend Patti LuPone.
Carrie Fisher: “Soapdish” (Netflix)
I don't know how we possibly waited until the '90s to make a movie satirizing the insanity of soap operas and show business, but it was worth the wait: “Soapdish” is a sneering, intensely physical comedy about the bold and the beautiful people of soaps (specifically on a show called “The Sun Also Sets”) and it gives Carrie Fisher one of her most snarl-heavy roles to date: a hardened TV exec named Betsy Faye Sharon. After Elisabeth Shue's character approaches her and humbly introduces herself as an actress, she responds, “An actress! Really. How nice for you. I'm Betsy Faye Sharon and I'm a bitch. Now get out of here.”
Max Von Sydow: “Three Days of the Condor” (Netfix actually pulled this one, so good luck finding a Blockbuster)
Robert Redford being harried in a paranoid '70s thriller. Faye Dunaway serving up cold-as-ice glamor. Max Von Sydow shooting people in the face and showing no expression while doing it. Please watch this film.
Andy Serkis: “13 Going on 30” (Netflix)
You know what? This movie was damn cute. It came out around the same time as “Mean Girls” and I remember being too #TeamTinaFey to give this one a chance. Time has prevailed: It is a true delight, with Jennifer Garner and Andy Serkis toasting “Thriller” in a major way.
Adam Driver: “Gayby” (Netflix)
This is easily the greatest gay romcom you've never seen. Adam Driver has a minor role, but the movie is nearly flawless without him: It's about a female yoga instructor and a gay male comic book worker making good on a pact they made in their youth to have a kid in their '30s. Just do it. Babies are insane.
Billy Dee Williams: “Mahogany” (YouTube)
“Mahogany” is, unfortunately, too insane to be adored. Diana Ross is gorgeous, but her rise to fame as a model in the '70s is a longwinded campfest. The movie literally concludes with Ross wrestling with her predatory, gay-coded agent (Anthony Perkins) wrestling with her as they drive a car. Worth watching for the sheer nerve of it all, and also because Billy Dee Williams plays Ross' paramour and gives a fantastic performance.