Indiana Jones

I did this once already with The Godfather Saga and I'm going to do this again with the Indiana Jones Trilogy. No, you need not misread that, I am writing about the Indiana Jones Trilogy. That's Raider's of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom and the Last Crusade. I don't care what Sheapet Lebouffy thinks, there are only three Indiana Jones films in my collection and that's likely how it will stay.
With that spot of business out of the way I think I should say that my primary reason for doing all three films in one entry versus separate entries is because the individual films pale in comparison to the character of Indiana Jones. Like James Bond, the character of Indiana Jones and his place in film history is more significant than any of the films on there own. The hat, the whip, and the dry sense of humor have combined to make Indiana Jones the sort of film icon that 10 year old boys pretend to be any chance they get and grown men waste idle hours wishing they could be.
I for one have been guilty of both in my lifetime. As a kid I would explore the woods in our neighborhood picking up various sticks, leaves and rocks and treating them as lost artifacts and as I grown up I can admit that I really wish I owned a cool hat or a whip. If I were to attend Halloween parties I think Indiana Jones would be one of my top choices for a costume.
Okay, enough with the Indiana Jones man crush, the films themselves fulfill every boys dream of adventuring around the world in search of the sorts of treasure that are more valuable then anything else one can imagine. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, we get introduced to Dr. Jones in search of ancient treasures in South America before being recruited by the U.S. Government to search for the Ark of the Covenant which is believed to hold the ten commandments. Shockingly Indy agrees and the search is on.
I wonder what it would have been like to see this film in theaters when it was first released. In the thirty years since it's release we have had 3 sequels and dozens of rip offs (National Treasure my butt). But at the time it was a radical enough improvement on the action/adventure/comedy genre that it garnered an Academy Award nomination for best picture. Such a thing today would be inconceivable given the Academies hatred for movies whose only purpose is to entertain. Still, the film no doubt earned it's nomination by managing to keep audience's brains turned on and butts on the edge of their seats.
The sequel is not as bad as some may think but it is not without it's flaws. On a DVD chronicling the three films Steven Spielberg refers to Temple of Doom as his least favorite and writer George Lucas says that writing the script during a dark period in his life likely resulted in the films darker tone and the idiocy of the films lone female character. It also spawned the PG-13 rating as audience's were a bit disturbed by the fact that people were ripping hearts of mens chest and showing it to them before dieing in a PG movie. Still, the films adventure is undeniable and as sequels go it helped reaffirm Indy's place as a major film character.
The third in some ways is actually my favorite. Sean Connery joins Harrison Ford (I didn't need to mention Harrison Ford's name, did I?) and the banter between these two as father and son Jones is terrific. The adventure is endlessly entertaining and brings the story back to biblical pursuits and everyones sworn enemy: the Nazi's. By all accounts, any and all Indiana Jones films should be this good because the character is this good. While I can't argue that the Last Crusade is the best of the films, it is my favorite.
After this one we had a long hiatus between adventures. I remember being in high school and thinking to myself that the purpose of the Internet in 1996 was to keep me up to date on the rumors for a long awaited 4th adventure. That adventure came about 10 years to late in my opinion and all I can say about it is that I remember feeling excited about seeing Indy on the big screen and while I tried turning my brain off and walking out happy I must say that every time I have looked back on the film in my memory it has gotten worse. I still believe in the Indiana Jones character and I would likely see another one even with Lebouffy in the Jones role. If I owned the rights to the character I would probably scrap the direction that the fourth film went and just recast Jones and keep up the late 1930's early 1940's setting with the Nazi's as the enemy and any number of interesting historical relics as the target. Regardless, the name Indiana Jones will always evoke the imagine of tough guys with sharp wit that I look forward to sharing with my son one day.