Murray: Hanover Street

            In the film Hanover Street there are two types of hero.  Originally, Sellinger believe he has become boring and thus must be heroic in order to gain the interest of his wife again.  He somewhat foolishly decides to become a field spy instead of a desk spy.  It is possible to tell that Sellinger thinks that in order to be a hero it is something of storybooks.  The brave individual goes into action, vanquishes evil, and returns a victor winning the hearts of the people.  This is evident because that is what he hopes to do in order to win Margret’s heart.  He leaves a very comfortable life in order to be the hero that he thinks his wife desires.  Once in the war zone his view of bravery and heroism evolves.  When he meets Halloran he realizes that simply being at risk does not make him a hero.  Selllinger tells Halloran that he is a hero.  Halloran immediately refutes this claiming that he is only acting out of fear.  Halloran sees himself as probably being a hero earlier but once he had met Margret he lost his heroic statue because he was afraid.  Before meeting Margret, he did not bat an eye at the fact that his propeller was damaged in combat. As Pfeiffer and Lewis state in their book The Films of Harrison Ford “He is courageous only because his loneliness prevents him from having a fear of death”(84) It is probable that he considered himself a hero then because he was not afraid of death or injury but this is undermined by gaining feeling for Margret.  It was after he met Margret that he was too scared to take off because he heard something.  In Halloran’s mind he has become weak in a way.  He has lost the status of being a hero. Through Harrison Ford’s facial expressions especially the tension from the situation is clearly evident.   It is the mixture between reluctance and joy that Ford brings to the scenes where the script leaves off. Sellinger voices his change in viewpoint because he continues to say that a hero is someone who goes beyond fear.  Sallinger evolves to know that what real courage is; through looking at Halloran and noticing thee differences.  Halloran also changes his views on heroism because of Sallinger. Halloran realizes that emotion does not lessen the act of heroism but instead makes it stronger.  He see that Sallinger’s live motivates him to act more heroically than if he had not emotion.  Halloran sees that emotion is not a hindrance but a motivator to ask more valiantly than recklessly.  In the end, Halloran has the last moment of heroism because he realizes that heroism is sometimes taking a back seat and allowing others to be the hero in the limelight.