Indiana Jones Trilogy (not on DVD) 11/03/02 - 11/09/02

[Morticia]

This is a thread to discuss the technical and/or thematic merits of the Indiana Jones Trilogy ("Raiders of the Lost Ark, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade").

The purpose being to foster intelligent discussion of films without resorting to "It's a piece of crap." or "It's the greatest film ever." (And so that we all can gain a bit of a film education from everyone.)

We'll discuss a new film each week. Either slade or I will post the film in this forum in advance, and lock the topic until the first day of discussion.

Thanks everyone. We are open to any ideas about running this forum.

****SPOILER WARNING**** of course this entire thread is going to be full of spoilers.

And we realize these movies are not available on DVD and may not be for awhile. This is not the place to complain about that fact. Thank you!

[limacharliewhiskey]

Indyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Ah, one of my favorite movie trilogies, Indiana Jones. I must admit that when I first saw Raiders of the Lost Ark at the movie theater as a child (I was 10 when it came out), I was completely oblivious to all of the biblical references to the Ten Commandments, the Lost Ark of the Covenant, or the Holy Grail. That didn't prevent me from enjoying these movies as a child and teenager.

But when I now watch these films as an adult (on VHS and laserdisc, unfortunately), I now have a slightly different view of them and do appreciate the movies more, as I now understand the relevance of these theological and historical references.

My favorite film is probably the Last Crusade (with Raiders coming in very closely in 2nd place), while the Temple of Doom ranks far behind the others in terms of overall movie, but 1st in terms of non-stop roller-coaster paced action.

For me, I enjoyed the Last Crusade the most because medieval history was a high school class that I covered a few years before the film, so I understood the historical references to the Crusades and understood what the relevance of the Holy Grail was better than the Ten Commandments at that point.

Sean Connery also was great as Indiana Sr., and provided quite surprising comic relief that I hadn't really seen him do previously.

As for Raiders, I've come to appreciate this film more as I've watched it on laserdisc, and all of the exposition in the film that used to put me to sleep until the action scenes came up, it's all much more interesting now that I understand the relevance of the topics, especially the one scene near the beginning of the film where the government officials first inquire Indy about information on the Lost Ark.

I can only hope that the rumored 4th film holds up well to the previous three.

[airjosh]

I love the Indy films as well and can't wait for a release on DVD. I saw Raiders when it came out I was very young. I enjoyed the film but the end freaked me out. I still have a hard time watching it. It doesn't freak me out anymore, but I feel uncomfortable knowing what is going to happen.

I was ten when Temple of Doom came out. I know that people don't like this film as much as the others, but I thought it was a good follow-up. The sequel to a film has so much pressure to "best" the original, I thought that the over the top feel was necessary to shake that. It was a fun ride and as a ten year old, it was quite an adventure. I also liked short round as he was around my age and was getting to be a part of this fantastic adventure. Plus, later he showed up in Goonies with another great character.

Last Crusade was a surprising third bow. I love this movie, the chemistry between Ford and Connery is outstanding. By this time I was a teenager and was able to enjoy much of the more adult humor, etc. I loved the history that was brought into the film(s). Religious history as fact is so exciting in this context as it is so far removed from our lives. I have read the bible many times, first at seven, and have read most of the holy texts from the majority of the worlds religions. I loved the references and am still fascinated by the quest for proof of religious history.

There was a great show on discovery recently about proving the story of Moses. I sat captivated and awed as they uncovered real evidence. It is exciting and the Indiana Jones movies were able to capture that wonderment without cheapening it and create adventures we all would love to have. I have to wonder how many people started in archaeology because of these films, or religious scholars?

[Morticia]

Isn't that amazing?

Just under a year after starting this discussion on the Indiana Jones trilogy, it's on DVD. And has won the October DVD of the Month for 2003.

Well, now let's put in our .02 now that this trilogy is finally on DVD.

[MooglePorn]

All in one thread eh?

To me Indy is all about fun. Spielberg has issues with either making a movie way too serious (Close Encounters) or way to silly (A.I.) for the subject matter, but with Indy he created a perfect balance, IMO. All three films are serious when they need to be, and funny when they need to be, all to support the non-stop action and fun to be had by the viewer. The movies just flow like wine, and they feel like they were made by people who really knew what the fuck they were doing. I think that's why they are so well regarded even after all this time... you just CANNOT watch Indianna Jones and not have fun.

[downhuman]

Originally Posted by MooglePorn

you just CANNOT watch Indianna Jones and not have fun.

Wanna bet? What if someone's stabbing you in the eye with a No. 2 pencil while you're trying to watch Raiders?

[Enzian]

Raiders is my favorite. I saw it with my Dad, and it's the first movie I had seen where I was able to string scenes together into a plot. I guess I used to watch movies as a string of unconnected scenes. I remeber getting the "Ah HA!" feeling as I connected the scenes.

Temple of Doom came out when I was in 4th grade. I saw it three times - once with a "girlfriend". We had enough money between us to buy the Making Of magazine, back when theaters sold such things. We bought it and because she's a family friend, we still hand it off to each other. Heh. I just went to her niece's birthday party with my wife and two kids, and we laughed when I asked for it back. (She didn't have it - damn!)
Kate Capshaw. Some people think she destroys ToD, but she was my first movie-star crush. I used to think she was so pretty. I remeber having innocent 4th grade dreams of her.
Anyway, I have too many good memories of ToD for it to be a real stinker in my book.

The Last Crusade. I saw this when I was a freshman in High School, I think; with my cousin, definitely. It's actually my least favorite movie of the three in memory, but in fact I like it better than ToD. Did that make any sense?
I can't stand seeing Sallah and Dr. Brody turned into bumbling fools. That's just mean. They were both "real" characters in Raiders, but here - empty comic relief. Not good.
The evil heroine? Whoop de doo. I could care less.
Sean Connery? His character was too stupid to make me care. Singing a song inside a German tank? C'mon! Caring about the vase more than Indy? Eeeeeh. I guess. He was too much "bumble" and not enough substance. It was a fine line the character walked, but, in the end, he crossed it. Not good. (This is NOT Connery's fault - the script sucked)

The boat chase was good, until it gets cheesy. The boat explodes when squeezed by the freighters? The boat stays horizontal - and even afloat! - as it gets chopped by the propeller? What the hell is a huge propeller like that doing half-submerged, anyway?
Swimming in petroleum? Indy has his eyes open!If the stuff is so flammable, how come the many drops of fire that fall from his torch don't set the place off? No one in the past 2000 years has wondered where that manhole leads? It's right there - in the middle of a cafe!

The dirigible was cool. The airplane scenes were good. I don't have a problem with the plane with no wings skidding though the tunnel, oddly enough. The seagull technique was cool. More of that kind of stuff would've been cool.

I love the scene where Indy gets the Grail Diary autographed by Hitler. That is some funny stuff!

The motorcycle chase is great!

The best part of TLC is... the opening scene with River Phoenix. Excellent.

Off-Topic (Enzian History):
Growing up, we had a B&W TV with UHF and VHF dials. I adopted it. When we got a VHS camcorder, I adopted that, too, and made movies with a friend. The thing was always in my possesion, and my Dad rarely asked for it. I used to hook it up to my TV and watch VHS tapes in my room! When I was watching TLC, my TV finally gave up the ghost, leaving a huge black scorch mark on my wall, and scaring me to death with a loud bang! Cool and sad, at the same time. End of an era.

Gotta run.

[aintnosin]

All I can say is this: when Raiders first came out, I saw it five times in two weeks. There was something intangibly magic about that movie that the sequels just couldn't capture again.

I only saw Temple once when it first came out and I haven't watched it since I got the DVD so I don't have much to say.

While I liked Crusade a lot better than Temple, I had two problems with it and that was the characters of Marcus and Sallah. In the first movie, Brody doesn't have much to do but he is clearly capable and intelligent. Sallah is wise and equally capable. In the third film, they return in name only. In Crusade, they are reduced to buffoons and lame comic relief, contributing almost nothing of value to the story.

Originally Posted by Enzian

The boat chase was good, until it gets cheesy. The boat explodes when squeezed by the freighters? The boat stays horizontal - and even afloat! - as it gets chopped by the propeller? What the hell is a huge propeller like that doing half-submerged, anyway?

Actually, you often see cargo ships with part of their screws above the water, especially if they are empty and riding high in the water.

[Oscar Antonio M]

Raiders of the Lost Ark was one of the first films that made me a movie buff and was a long time favorite of mine for a long time and it still is. I revisted the film on DVD when the box-set came out and im still in love with it. Simply put, its one of the most entertaining film adventures of all time, the character development put into Indy its very well done and Harrison Ford brings him completely alive, also i love the sense of the cleverness and ingenouity than runs throughout it, very few movies nowadays can achieve that. But what i like the best about Raiders is that it feels like the collaborative work of four filmakers: Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Phillip Kaufman and Lawrence Kasdan. All four of them bring their little touches to the movie and it turned out great.

When i first saw "Temple of Doom" i didnt really like it, i found it a bit too dark for my taste, but after repeated viewings on TV i appreciated it more. Temple of Doom is a lot of fun and for me its the most visually impressive films of the free, from the beginning in the Obi-Wan Club, to the Thugge cult ceremony and the final battle its all great eye candy. The problem i have with it its that its sometiems way over the top, it works for the most part, but the way they exaggerated Kate Capshaw's character was too much. But that dosent mean its a bad film, its clever, very well-paced and highly entertaining. But it lacks the heart that Raiders of the Lost Ark had.

The Last Crusade is my second favorite of the trilogy. The thing i like the most about its the added depth to Indy like how he got his name, his fear of snakes, the whip, etc. Yeah it works for the most part and it adds more heart to the film, perhaps a bit too much. The problem i have with the film is that it feels like they chose Sean Connery as Indy's dad and made Sallah and Dr. Brody come back just for the sake of making more box-office money, but it does not ruin the film at all. It helps it as it is very funny and enjoyable to see Indy and Indy's dad sharing screen time and the perfomances by Connery and Ford really bring it for the screen. Also the action and comedy in this movie are just wonderful. The problem ive got with it its that it gets slow in parts, but seeing as its the longest of the three films (126 minutes long) it dosent matter. Also i consider Allison Doody to be the most beautiful of the three Indy women

Im very glad to own the Indy Box-Set, Paramount did an absolutely great job of putting it together.

My rank of the Indy trilogy:
1: Raiders of the Lost Ark
2: Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
3: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

[airjosh]

I just finished my off and on quest of checking out Indy on DVD. I am so glad that we finally have these on DVD and in widescreen. These films came out when I was a child and like the Star Wars films they created entire worlds that made my imagination soar. With Star Wars it was the galaxy and with Indy it was the fascination and wonder of our own world and the tremendous history and mythology of humanity. I have already talked about the movies individually so I will give my input on the DVDs.

First though, while watching Last Crusade tonight I noticed some pretty amatuerish continuity errors. The biggest one is when they are in the library and have found the X. When Indy is breaking into the floor there is a partial overhead shot and the X in the floor that was established a minute before doesn't exist and you are looking at just a grey area where the X should be. I did notice for whatever reason the blacks were not as black as they were in the first two films. I don't think anything has changed in my setup or calibration, but I definitely noticed less saturation of black.


Anyways, I am pretty pleased with the DVD set. The sound in all three films was good and certainly an improvement on the original sound for the films. The video looked great and pretty much without any real chinks in the armor. My only gripes were with the now-bad compositing in the last two films. Even though to some it would be considered blasphemy, I would have liked a little clean-up job on some of the compositing issues. I mean as much as you hate to screw with a classic, aren't we all grateful for the loss of the little boxes around the tie fighters in Star Wars?

The extra disc is pretty great, we would have all loved to see a commentary for each film but we knew that wasn't going to happen. The hour docs for each film are pretty fun to watch and often offer up some interesting trivia and insight into the films. I haven't watched the mini-docs yet, but overall I am just really happy to have quality presentations of the films on DVD.

[3DMan]

What actually surprised me is the crappy bluescreen work in Crusade. At no moment in the airplane dogfight did I believe they weren't on a stage being shaken by stagehands. Surprising to me since it's the most recent and I was let down the most by the effects(kind of like looking at the creature in Aliens and then Alien 3-wtf?).