Indiana Jones and the Movie Quest

 

During my prep work for a series of future lists, I've been thinking about the Indiana Jones films a lot and it put me in the mood to rewatch the entire series. It's been a long time since I've seen all four films all the way through, so I was happy to revisit them. My wife and I watched one each night for the last four nights and I don't know if I've ever had as much fun with any four movies in a row like that. I was a bit worried about some of the installments letting me down after all these years, but I needn't have been concerned. It still ranks among my favorite film series, which is a rare thing - a treasured childhood memory that continues to enthrall me to this day.

The main appeal of the entire series is, of course, Indiana Jones himself. The professor/archeologist/kicker of asses is smart, cool, handsome, tough, and an all-around awesome guy. He's not afraid to get his hands dirty or even fight dirty - at various points in the series, Indy sucker punches people, kicks a guy in the balls and then throws dirt in his eyes, and even kills numerous bad guys without a second thought. He's not a conflicted hero. He knows what's right and what's wrong and firmly understands that he's on the right side. Indy is practically fearless - just keep snakes away from him! - and charges into places where I know I wouldn't dare - great heights, catacombs filled with spiders, hallways carpeted in bugs, and tombs overflowing with rats, just to name a few - to complete his missions or save his friends.

Other than being a great character, Indy benefits from the man portraying the character - Harrison Ford. Ford seems like he was born for the role, which is ironic considering he was practically the last choice for the job. I can't imagine anyone else donning that iconic fedora with quite the same panache as Ford does. His rugged good looks, sly smile, and shining eyes are a perfect match for a guy like Indiana Jones. I think Ford is generally overlooked when it comes to his acting ability - too many people see him as just a movie star - because a lot of his best roles seem so effortless. That's the case with his four performances as Indy, for sure. Every movement, every line of dialogue just flows from him with ease and it appears he's not working at all. Those are some of the best performances you'll see, though, when an actor just disappears into the character.

Indiana Jones Through the Years -

* In  Raiders of the Lost Ark with his iconic outfit *

* Looking dapper at the beginning of The Temple of Doom *

* During The Last Crusade, in his professor garb *

* And in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Even as an old man, he's cooler than you *

Even if a movie has a great main character, it's not likely to succeed unless a lot of other aspects are handled well, too. The Indiana Jones series is terrific in a lot of different areas, from the supporting cast and writing to the direction, musical score, and cinematography.

Each film in the series presents Indy with friends to assist him on his journey and foes to stand in his way and they all - for the most part, at least - do a great job of adding to the story and to help flesh out Indy's character.

The Supporting Cast and Characters -

* Marcus Brody, lost in the streets, but looking fashionable *

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, we are introduced to Marcus Brody - played by Denholm Elliot - the dean of the college where Indy teaches. He's a fun, little character, but we don't get to see too much of him. Brody plays a much larger role in The Last Crusade, though, and Elliot shines as the highly book-smart, but not so street-smart, man. Brody's slightly buttoned-up demeanor is more in line with the standard professor archetype, so he works as a way to highlight the differences between Indy and the rest of the people of his profession.

* Marion Ravenwood looks back at Indy, while the city sprawls out in front of her *

* An older, but still strong and confident, Marion *

In movies like these, the female love interests can sometimes be one-dimensional characters who only exist so the hero can rescue them. That's not the case with Marion Ravenwood, played by the beautiful Karen Allen. When we first meet her, she's embroiled in a drinking contest with a very rough-looking lady. From the look of the two people - Marion slight, the other large - it would seem to be no contest, but Marion soundly defeats her. When a group of frightening men come into Marion's bar and accost her, she stands tall and talks back to them, showing no fear. Sure, at one point Marion does get taken and held hostage, but she never sits back and waits for Indy to rescue her - she fights throughout. Allen's natural screen presence works well here. Her smile, laugh, and sassy attitude is evident immediately upon meeting her. It was a joy to see her back in action with Indy in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but I wish the filmmakers would have kept her involvement a secret. It would have been a magnificent reveal when she first appeared on screen. Nearly 20 years later, the character is still tough, smart, and independent. She even manages to save Indy once or twice, for a change!

* Sallah looks intense, but he's a gentle soul *

It's always good to have a friend who's a local when you're off exploring in foreign lands and Indy has such a friend in Sallah, played by the charming John Rhys-Davies. Sallah is a big and burly man but seems as sweet as a teddy bear. Rhys-Davies has a warm smile, hearty laugh, and kind eyes and uses all these traits and more to make Sallah an instantly likable character. Sallah's knowledge of the area and rapport with his fellow locals makes him an invaluable resource for Indy in both Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, where he helps our hero out of a tough jam or two.

* Short Round - taxi driver extraordinaire *

While a lot of people don't care for Short Round, Indy's bite-sized companion in The Temple of Doom, I've always been fond of him. As a kid, I could relate to Short Round and imagined myself in his role many, many times. If he could help Indy save the day, then so could I! Ke Huy Quan didn't even audition for the role, he simply went with his brother and impressed the casting director so much that they offered him the job. Quan does the best job you can probably expect from an amateur child actor, but the character isn't all that well-written. He's pretty one-dimensional and a lot of people find him annoying. Short Round comes across as a blatant Asian stereotype to some people, as well, but since he was such a big part of my childhood - Temple of Doom was the installment I rewatched the most - I still have a soft spot for him. 

* Willie Scott doesn't seem too excited for dessert... *

Speaking of annoying and mostly one-dimensional characters, there's Willie Scott. Indy's love interest in The Temple of Doom is the "damsel in distress" that I was so happy Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade avoided. Kate Capshaw is pretty in the role and can certainly scream like a pro, but that's about all she offers to the film. Willie complains, whines, and screams for about half of her screen time and it gets old pretty quickly. Willie just isn't that interesting of a character. I imagine Spielberg and George Lucas wanted to highlight a different sort of female character in the second film and since they'd already done strong and independent, they went with the exact opposite here.  I'm not sure a great actress could have improved upon the role much and Capshaw was most definitely not a great actress. I'm happy for Spielberg, though, who ended up marrying Capshaw and they've lived (presumably) happily ever since. 

* Henry Jones, Senior - Holy Grail connoisseur *

The Last Crusade is my favorite of all the sequels and almost matches the pure awesomeness of Raiders of the Lost Ark and a big reason for that is the addition of Sean Connery as Indy's mostly estranged father, Henry Jones, Senior. I know the casting of Connery was mostly a gimmick - Spielberg and Lucas simply wanted James Bond to be Indiana Jones' dad - but it works really well. Connery is fantastic and the role is very well written. Henry was an authoritarian, emotionally cold, Holy Grail-loving father when Indy was growing up and the relationship is instantly believable when the two team up to find the Grail. The Last Crusade is easily the funniest of the series and the interactions between the Jones men is the main reason why. There are even a few great moments of father-son bonding and those always sit well with me.

* Mutt Williams, doing his best Marlon Brando impersonation *

I should put this right out here in front - I can't stand Shia LaBeouf and the mere sight of him in most films makes me want to punch him in the face, so when he was cast as Indy's long-lost son for The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I was immediately disappointed. Maybe if he had been given a better character or better dialogue, LaBeouf would have been okay, but that wasn't the case. Mutt is pretty much a train wreck of a character - sometimes it seems his only purpose is to deliver exposition or appeal to the teenage demographic - and the lines he has to say are clunky and cliche, for the most part. LaBeouf is incapable of elevating material, so it's pretty much a disaster. I'm hoping, wishing, and praying that he's not involved with the rumored fifth installment, but he probably will be. Since The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out in 2008, LaBeouf has only gotten more punchable, so he might very well sink the whole thing.

* Screen legend John Hurt, marveling at the alien life forms *

Partially balancing out my hatred of LaBeouf is my adoration of John Hurt, who joined the series for his one and only (sadly) installment in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Hurt is one of those actors who was just infinitely watchable. No matter what he's doing on screen, I'm pulled in. His character, Harold Oxley, was an old friend and colleague of Indy's and they're reunited in pursuit of the titular crystal skull. Like I've said before, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull suffers because of some shoddy writing, but Hurt is able to overcome this and manages to deliver a strong performance. Oxley spends about half of the film talking gibberish and being generally crazy, but Hurt doesn't oversell anything. He doesn't allow the character to become of caricature and, in the process, helps to save what could have been a disappointing chapter to a great series.

* Can you trust Elsa? Well, she speaks with a German accent, so... *

Dr. Elsa Schneider is introduced to Indy and the audience as a friend and fellow Holy Grail scholar in The Last Crusade, but it doesn't take long for her to turn on Indy and reveal she's actually working with the Nazis. In the end, though, she somewhat comes around again and I believe that all she's really interested in is finding the Grail. She doesn't ever seem fully comfortable with the Nazis and shows some (genuine feeling) emotion for both Indy and his father. Alison Doody plays the role well and is convincing as both a hero and a villain, depending on what point of the movie you're at. She's very attractive, smart, and resourceful and I never fail to believe Elsa when she's discussing her passion for the Grail, which is a mark of a good performance.

* Mac, another character with debatable allegiances *

At the beginning of The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it's stated that "Mac" McHale and Indy have spent many years - seemingly almost all the years that passed between The Last Crusade and this installment - working, getting in and out of jams, and traveling the world together, so it's a big shock to Indy when Mac reveals he's a Soviet agent. It seems like a poor filmmaking choice to have this character behave this way, since we didn't get to see Mac be a good guy and, thus, the betrayal isn't all that effective. It's just one more example of where the screenplay lets down the film. Later in the film, Mac tells Indy that he's actually a CIA double agent and he fights alongside him once again, but even later on, it's shown that he's still conspiring with the Soviets. The whole character arc is handled poorly, but Ray Winstone is an interesting enough performer to keep things from totally sucking. Even though I am a big fan of Winstone, the film would have been much better off without Mac's character at all. I'm not sure anything would have been lost, actually.

* Major Toht has the most interesting wave in movies *

As the main villain of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Major Toht, Ronald Lacey doesn't have a whole lot of dialogue, but he makes the most of his screen time thanks to how the character looks and behaves. Lacey is a small man and looks more like an accountant than a Nazi henchman, but I think that's part of the reason why the character works so well. The casting plays against your expectations in such a way that Toht becomes an instantly memorable character. When Toht threatens Marion, you believe he'll actually hurt her because the man must be genuinely sinister to rise through the ranks of the Nazi party and get to be in charge of such an important mission. The most famous aspect of Toht's character is probably the horrible burn that he gets on his hand after trying to pick up a red-hot medallion - it turns out to be quite a distinguishable physical trait! When he gets his comeuppance at the end of the film, you want to cheer which is the sign of a truly great villain.

* Belloq watches Indy with casual indifference *

Dr. Rene Belloq is like a lazy, evil version of Indiana Jones: He's interested in archeology, but would just as much take something after all the hard work is done - like he does after the opening action scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark - and he has no qualms of working with the Nazis if it allows him the resources to do his work. He's charming, in an evil way, and obviously very intelligent, though, too, and Paul Freeman is able to play all these traits in such a way as to create a villain you can almost respect. Almost. In the end, just like with Toht, you're very happy to see Belloq get what's coming to him after he meddles with the Ark.

* I would NOT mess with Mola Ram... *

The Temple of Doom gets a lot of criticism for being so much darker than the rest of the series, but that was something I enjoyed as a kid and still enjoy now. It's dark and scary and has a pretty negative vibe for most of the film. A large part of that comes down to Mola Ram, the lead villain and character who inspired more than one nightmare for me when I was young. As a sinister occultist priest, Ram rips a man's beating heart out of his chest while the man watches, forces kidnapped children to work in his mines, and is responsible for untold hundreds of deaths. He even manages to brainwash Indy into doing his bidding at one point! Amrish Puri is an Indian actor who has almost 300 film credits to his name, but The Temple of Doom is the only thing I know him from and he's great in the role. He uses his body size, bald and painted head, and intense glare to add to the well-written character. Mola Ram is unadulterated evil - no shades of grey here - and that works perfectly for this darker story.

*Donovan might want to reconsider what cup he drinks from *

Walter Donovan is the man who sets Indy off on his journey to find the Holy Grail in The Last Crusade, but it turns out he's also the villain behind the whole thing, too. As the lead villain, Donovan pales in comparison to those who came before him, but he's still solid. Julian Glover plays him as an interested collector at first and later as a selfish, sadistic, Nazi supporter and both characterizations seem to work equally well, which is a testament to the film's writing and Glover's portrayal. Donovan is probably the least memorable of all the Indiana Jones antagonists, but he does get to have a really great death sequence.

* Irina Spalko - worst name in the series? *

Cate Blanchett is a tremendous actress and has delivered some amazing performances over the last two decades or so. Her role in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is not one of them. Irina Spalko has a terrible name, a cartoonish Russian accent, and a hilarious hairstyle. In a recurring theme of The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the writers did nothing to help Blanchett and she just seems to be floundering on screen. Spalko is mostly bland, except for the ways in which she's terrible. In that way, she's the worst of all the Indiana Jones villains, but she is more memorable than Walter Donovan, just in a bad way.

Behind the Scenes -

* Lucas and Spielberg on the set of The Temple of Doom *

It's not possible to write about the Indiana Jones series without giving credit to Steven Spielberg for his direction and overall vision and George Lucas for his story concept and producing skills. The two old friends worked together to create one of the most beloved film series and one of the most iconic heroes in the history of cinema.

Spielberg had proven himself a masterful director with Jaws - a personal favorite - and Close Encounters of the Third Kind - which I didn't care for, but a lot of people love - before starting Raiders of the Lost Ark and would go on to cement his status as one of the most respected and successful directors to come out of Hollywood. His style changes depending on the project, but for the Indiana Jones series, Spielberg reverted back to an older type of filmmaking. He wanted to create something in the vein of the movie serials that he loved as a child and also wanted the movies to look like the time period - the mid to late 1930s for the original trilogy, the mid 50's for the last - in which they were set. He succeeded on both points magnificently and his work on all four films is excellent.

Lucas has always been a better "idea man" than a true filmmaker, so his collaboration with Spielberg is a natural fit. He got to come up with most of the characters and plot points and Spielberg got to help reign him in when his ideas got too nonsensical. If only someone had been there to stop him from making the Star Wars prequels on his own... No matter what he did to the Star Wars universe, I'll always respect Lucas for his heavy involvement with Indiana Jones. Without him, I wouldn't have one of my favorite series and the world would be a worse place.

Almost as iconic as Indy himself, John Williams' music is impossible to separate from the series. One goes with the other and if it was any other way, things just wouldn't seem right. Hearing just a hint of the famous theme song - used heavily throughout all four films - gets me all giddy with excitement. It's usually the indicator that Indy is going to do something heroic or awesome and it never fails to enthrall me. Since Williams has had such a long and esteemed career, it's hard to pick a favorite piece of his music, but his Indiana Jones theme song would certainly be in the top 5 for me.

The first three Indiana Jones films all look wonderful. Part of the praise has to go to Spielberg and the various costume and set design professionals, but a large chunk of it was due to the work of Douglas Slocombe, the cinematographer of the original trilogy. His use of creative lighting to get interesting shadows, vast landscapes, and intimate close-ups all added up and helped make this series look so good. Slocombe retired after The Last Crusade, so Spielberg tapped his friend and go-to cinematographer (since Schindler's List, at least) Janusz Kaminski to shoot The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and instructed him to try and imitate Slocombe's style as much as possible. Kaminski is one of the best cinematographers working today and he does a pretty good job, but the overuse of CGI hurts the look of The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull quite a bit. All in all, the entire series is composed of some truly wonderful shots, vivid colors, and memorable sets and costumes.

Here are some of my favorites shots:

And Some of My Favorite Moments -

My Ratings -

Raiders of the Lost Ark 9.5/10

The Temple of Doom 8.5/10

The Last Crusade 9/10

The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 7/10

My "All-Time" Indiana Jones Awards - 

BEST OPENING ACTION SCENE:

• Raiders of the Lost Ark - It's hard to argue with the moment that kick-started the franchise. Indy swipes a priceless artifact and has to escape the tomb without getting killed by the various booby traps (including a massive, rolling boulder), only to have the artifact stolen by Belloq as soon as he's safely outside the tomb. 

Honorable Mention: The Last Crusade's prologue with Indy as a teenager, getting a thirst of adventure and archeology. 

WORST OPENING ACTION SCENE:

• The Temple of Doom - It starts out with a weird, out-of-place musical number and then delves into too much slapsticky action for my tastes. Not terrible, but not very good, either. 

BEST ENDING ACTION SCENE:

• The Last Crusade - I've always loved the scenes taking place in the temple at the end of the film, from Indy besting the three cryptic clues to get to the Grail room and then Donovan choosing the wrong cup and Indy saving his father with the blessed water. Just great stuff.

Honorable Mention: The Temple of Doom with the battle on the bridge and the British/Indian army eventually coming to the rescue.

WORST ENDING ACTION SCENE:

• The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - The stuff with the aliens and their impact on Earth's history over the years is interesting, but it doesn't make for very good action. The tension and suspense just aren't there.

BEST FEMALE PARTNER:

• Raiders of the Lost Ark - No question here. Marion Ravenwood's first appearance is simply great all around. 

Honorable Mention: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Marion again!

WORST FEMALE PARTNER:

• The Temple of Doom - Like I said above, Willie Scott is just an annoying, needy character who doesn't do much to help Indy out. Elsa Schneider may turn on Indy eventually, but she's useful in the beginning and Indy gets to have sex with her! 

BEST MALE SIDEKICK:

• The Last Crusade - Henry Jones, Senior is funny, smart, and does all the legwork in regards to finding the grail. Plus he saves the day with his umbrella trick on the beach!

Honorable Mention: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sallah is such a great character.

WORST MALE SIDEKICK: 

• The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Mutt Williams. Enough said. 

BEST VILLAIN: 

• The Temple of Doom - Mola Ram is nothing short of terrifying. 

Honorable Mention: Raiders of the Lost Ark has two great villains, but I'd pick Major Toht slightly ahead of Rene Belloq.

WORST VILLAIN:

• The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - As I wrote above, I don't much care for Spalko. 

BEST ACTION SET PIECE (NON-OPENING/CLOSING):

• Raiders of the Lost Ark - The film has so many great ones, but Indy's fight against the very, very large Nazi under and around the airplane has to be my favorite. It shows Indy's resolve and his willingness to fight dirty. 

Honorable Mention: The Last Crusade with its tank chase scene. Indy on the outside, Henry on the inside, both fighting for control of the tank. 

WORST ACTION SET PIECE (NON-OPENING/CLOSING):

• The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - No surprise here, it's got to be the jungle chase scene where Mutt not only fences against Spalko as they stand on two separate vehicles, but then he swings from vine to vine to catch back up to them later. Just awful, awful stuff. 

What do you think of the Indiana Jones series? Do you have a favorite installment or character? What about an individual moment? Are you excited about the possibility of a fifth film in the series - supposedly set for release in 2020? Let me know in the comments!

Like I wrote at the beginning, you'll be reading more about this series in a couple upcoming lists on this blog, so I hope you like reading about these movies!