Karen Allen "Didn't Do Much" for Harrison Ford

Karen Allen makes a big comeback on the silver screen today, with the opening of the new "Indiana Jones" installment.

I love her!

I thought about posting on Allen last Sunday, when the Los Angeles Times ran a Calendar story on Stephen Spielberg's plea to get Allen to reprise her role as the franchise's original "tough-minded tomboy-fatale Marion Ravenwood."

Allen co-starred in one of my favorite movies, "Starman" from 1984 (more here). But what got me going about her this morning is Newsweek's story, where writer David Kaplan recounts Harrison Ford's feelings for Allen:

When "Presumed Innocent" was being filmed on a soundstage in Queens in the late 1980s, I spent an afternoon interviewing Ford, who was playing the lead. He was articulate, thoughtful, witty. As we were finishing up, I couldn't resist an irrelevant question. "Can I ask you just one more thing?" I said.

"OK, which movie?" he answered.

"But I haven't even told you the question."

"Which movie?" he again replied.

"The first 'Indy' movie," I said, and before I could say more, he offered, "Sorry, I don't have much to tell you," he said. "She didn't do that much for me."

I expressed shock that he could anticipate my crush and perhaps a silly question of what she was actually like, if her personality matched her the appeal of her smile, whether the reality could live up to the ideal. "You and so many others," he said, with a smile and a tsk-tsk. "I understand about the voice and everything, but …" And the 'Indy' director Steven Spielberg didn't seem to be a big fan either. He cast Kate Capshaw in 'Indy' 2 and then married her, and we never saw Marion Ravenwood again.

Well, I like Capshaw too - my wife reminded me of her when we first met.

But there's something about Karen!