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“ | The U.S. Government just asked us to save the world. Anyone wanna say no? | „ |
~ Stamper rallying his crew |
Harry S. Stamper is the main protagonist of the 1998 disaster action film Armageddon. He is an oil driller who, along with his team, is taken with destroying an asteroid that threatens to destroy planet Earth.
He is portrayed by Bruce Willis, who also played John McClane in the Die Hard franchise, David Dunn in the Unbreakable Trilogy, Butch Coolidge in Pulp Fiction, Frank Moses in Red and Red 2, Joe Hallenbeck in The Last Boy Scout, Paul Kersey in Death Wish, Art Jeffries in Mercury Rising, A.K. Waters in Tears of the Sun, Mr. Church in The Expendables, and John Hartigan in Sin City.
Biography[]
Harry Stamper is a gritty, roughneck oil driller, known to never miss his mark. He is chosen by NASA to drill a hole on an asteroid headed for Earth. He leads a ragtag team of expert drillers who may have questionable pasts, however all are devoted and extremely loyal to him. The only one of his team he has a problem with is A.J. Frost, who is in a relationship with Harry's daughter Grace that Harry disapproves of, feeling that she can do better.
Stamper is in no way a fool, nor ignorant. His crew respects him, his daughter loves him (despite him being afflicted with what she calls a "natural immaturity) and the members of NASA, although initially judging him incorrectly, grow to understand why. Harry is a man who defines responsibility, aware that ever decision he makes and how it can affect those around him. Eventually this lesson is passed on to A.J. Truman realizes that when Stamper says he'll make the mark, he knows it will happen. Col. Sharp believes him and even goes against orders to allow Stamper to succeed in the mission. Because of Stampers perseverance, the mission is accomplished, although at the cost of his own life. A.J. had drawn the lot to set off the detonator when the delay switch was damaged, Harry tricks him, sabotages A.J.'s spacesuit and sends him back to the ship, in order to spare his life. His decision to sacrifice himself in place of A.J was done for two reasons, 1. He wanted to be sure the job was done right, and 2. He knew Grace would be destroyed if A.J. died. Stamper and his crew did succeed and the end of the movie it is acknowledged that A.J. will take care of Grace, now that her father is gone.
Stamper is a diplomatic man; however, he can have moments of rage-shown when he is chasing A.J. with the shotgun after catching him in bed with Grace. All in all, a deeply loyal and patriotic man, he is an excellent everyman, who stands by his integrity and his morals. All his men respect and trust him, to the point that no one of them hesitated when he asked them on following him on the almost-suicide-mission. Despite being the best oil driller in the world, he devolves part of his money on Greenpeace.
Relationships[]
Grace Stamper[]
Harry's daughter. Years earlier, his wife abandoned the two of them, forcing him to raise her alone and taking her with him when he worked. At first, she seems to disrespect him, insisting on calling him by his first name and openly declaring to be more mature than him since she was 10yr old, therefore now that she's a grown woman he cannot tell her who to fall in love with. But later, before the launch, Grace recognizes that while oil drilling stations certainly weren't the best environment to grow up in, she doesn't hold a grudge against him, as she truly loves both her life and cares for his entire team as well. Harry, on the other hand holds her in high regard, forcing Truman to inform her as well about the asteroid. Eventually, he seems to accept her relationship with A.J. when she reassures him that she doesn't blame him if her mother abandoned them. When he decides to sacrifice himself, they bid farewell to each other, with him apologizing for not being able to keep his promise to come home and walk her down the aisle but reassuring her that he will always be with her, while she declares how much she loves and how much she's proud of him. His last words are "We win, Gracie!".
A.J. Frost[]
An unspecified number of years earlier, A.J.'s dying father made Harry promise to take care of him, which he did, raising the boy into his best driller. He loves him like a son but doesn't approve his excessive recklessness nor his relationship with Grace, because he thinks she deserves better than marrying an oil driller, whoever he is. When, at the beginning of the movie, Harry finds out about the two of them, he begins chasing A.J. with a shotgun, eventually (involuntarily) wounding him through a ricochet fragment. When then, the young man's aforementioned recklessness almost causes Harry's drilling station to explode, he fires him. Still, when Harry needs to organize the two drilling teams for the space mission, he immediately recognizes that A.J. is the most qualified to lead the Independence team. During the training, Harry angrily threatens A.J. of excluding him if he keeps taking risks that could jeopardize the mission's success, but at the end, when they are on the asteroid and the drilling is carried on by the latter, Harry decides to trust him and allows him to continue, eventually managing to finish the job. The moment A.J. is picked up to sacrifice himself, Harry takes his place and, after calling him "son", reassures him that he's loves him and that he's proud of Grace choosing him. Overall, it seems that Harry's attitude toward him is mostly due to paternal protectiveness, as Chick hinted that the young man is very much how Harry was in his youth, and therefore the latter wants A.J., whether he likes it or not, to grow up quickly and become not only the best driller, but also the best leader.