Wlos: Hanover Street

In the 1979 film Hanover Street, actor Harrison Ford portrays a valiant leading man, David Halloran.  David Halloran is an American air force pilot, stationed in England, flying missions in WWII.  While in England, he falls in love with a nurse and later has to escort her husband, Paul Sellinger (a British secret agent), into Germany on a daring mission.  Over the course of the mission, the pair encounters serious trouble because of a plane crash.  But despite complication, David Halloran is able to daringly lead the duo into both a successful mission and safety through being what his British counterpart deemed "a hero."  When the traditional view of heroes is examined, it can indeed be seen that David Halloran consistently embodies multiple characteristics of heroism throughout the movie.

Merriam-webster defines "hero" as a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities.  When we view David Halloran's actions in Hanover Street, we first see the character's bravery in the beginning when he successfully asks out a woman who displays herself as hard to get.  When I think about his actions in this situation, I quickly realize that Ford's character possesses a level of courage that is above the average person -- as I recall, I know many people who scare at the notion of asking people out.  The fact that audacity invades his everyday life shows that Halloran indeed has the components of courage in place.  As the movie progresses, we see David Halloran express his bravery in much more dangerous situations, each varying from each other -- he encounters circumstances in the line of fire, behind enemy lines, in the air experiencing trouble with his plane, etc.  The diversity with which Halloran's courage is observed shows that he is a character with fundamental bravery, rather than situational or inconsistent bravery.

Once it is known that David Halloran has fundamental courage, it is important to note that the only thing that makes him a hero are the circumstances and people that call for it.  For instance, we never would have seen his heroism behind enemy lines if his Paul Sellinger did not need him as an escort.  While behind enemy lines Halloran's heroism is consistently called upon by situations that Sellinger gets himself into independently, like when he almost fell off of the broken bridge and died.  This displays the fact that heroism is a dependent variable -- its something that occurs because of another happening.  When this is considered, it becomes rather interesting to consider the development of a heroic character.

A heroic character is developed by creating an individual with the components in place to be heroic, and then allowing those components to create heroism in the circumstances they're thrown into.  For instance, the director and writer of Hanover Street said he wanted Harrison Ford for the film because he "posses a fierce, burning sexual energy" (Pfeiffer and Lewis 83).  How could sexual energy be related to the fundamentals of courage in a character?  Sexual energy is something that allows someone to romanticize situations.  When David Halloran is thrown behind enemy lines, he makes cunning actions that develop a far-fetched story that is essentially romanticized.  when the factor of romanticism is viewed, the correlation between sexual energy and heroic energy is clear.  What does this tell us about heroism?  It's not an independent quality in itself, it's the effect of an interior causation (which also causes sexual energy, and probably a lot of other qualities).  Whatever the cause of heroism is, it only forms a hero when it is called to do so.  Essentially heroes are by-products of a deep human framework.

Andrew Wlos