Harrison Ford Makes the Party

The Scene: Wednesday’s benefit West Coast premiere of Paramount’s “Clear and Present Danger.” Both the screening and outdoor after-party were on the studio’s lot. The big draw of the evening was star Harrison Ford, who said, “Frankly, I’d rather be home milking the cow. But I’m pleased to be able to bring people’s attention to the movie.”

Who Was There: Ford; co-stars Joaquim de Almeida, Henry Czerny and Ann Magnuson; director Phillip Noyce; producer Mace Neufeld; plus 900 guests, including Tom Arnold, Alan Ladd Jr., Buzz and Lois Aldrin, William Friedkin, Ron Meyer, Rob Friedman, Sid Ganis and Paramount execs Sherry Lansing, Jonathan Dolgen and Barry London.

Buzz: Among the filmmakers there was pleasure with the good reviews. “It’s better than a slap in the belly with a wet fish,” was the way Ford put it. Among the guests there was the arcane art of estimating success. “It’ll do $100 million on inertia alone,” said one.

Best Act of Self-Defense: Screenwriter John Milius’ wife, Elan Oberon, brought her own heavy-duty, gun-range-style ear protectors, which she wore through much of the screening. “It’s too loud,” she said. “It hurts my ears.” On the other hand, Milius said his hearing has been so damaged by proximity to guns and explosions that “I can’t hear what people are saying to me at parties. I find myself just agreeing with whatever they say.”

Dress Mode: According to one fashion expert, what was stylish were T-shirts worn under sleeveless dresses, skirts with suspenders worn over T-shirts, and vests worn over T-shirts. Passe were “rayon floral nostalgia dresses. But the way to update them is to wear them over a T-shirt.”

Quoted: Ford on the Jack Ryan persona: “I think it’s important when you play a character who does extraordinary things to allow the audience to see some aspect of the character that is like themselves. So you can help create an emotional continuity between the character and the audience. So they feel they have a representative and it’s not just a story about someone who has nothing to do with their lives.”

Money Matters: Tickets were $300; more than $300,000 was netted for Stop Cancer. “Every penny of this goes to fund research,” said Paramount’s Lansing, who co-chaired the event.

Pastimes: Noyce spent the day at half a dozen theaters watching the film with the public. He slipped away from the screening to do the same thing. “I’ve seen it before with indoctrinated audiences,” the director said. “Now I want to see it with the guy who values the $7 he paid.”