Indiana Jones Trilogy (1981-89)

Rating: 4 Stars (out of 4)

We Can Be Heroes

by Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy The Adventures of Indiana Jones on DVD

This is going to sound odd, but my favorite moment in the entire Indiana Jones trilogy comes early in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), when Indy (Harrison Ford) and Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliot) are called into a musty library to answer questions about the Ark of the Covenant. The two men get more and more excited as they tell stories, pour through old books, and uncover clues. Safe in this little room the adventure is about to begin, and that's the sweetest feeling of all.

When I was 12 and first saw Raiders of the Lost Ark, I believe I would have given anything to BE Indiana Jones, and sometimes I still feel like that. I've heard Harrison Ford in interviews saying that he would play Indy again in a heartbeat, while Han Solo from the Star Wars films holds no further interest for him. The Star Wars films are excellent in their own way, but Indy's adventures are so much more inviting. They truly awaken a sense of excitement, discovery, and curiosity. They take you back to childhood. Almost all summer movies today try to do that, but it's easy to resist them. They try to accomplish their task by being childish rather than childlike. Indiana Jones is the real thing.

There's no question that the first film, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by George Lucas, Philip Kaufman, and Lawrence Kasdan, is the best. It allows for a certain worldliness, cautiousness, and darkness in Indy's character. He's far from reckless or noble. He's after treasure, and not always in the name of archeology. (The later movies tone this down.) In his original review, Roger Ebert compared Indy to Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), greedy, but hungry and crafty. The story has its dark moments as well. How many movies show the hero getting drunk, then sitting down for a conversation with the bad guy, Belloq (Paul Freeman)? How many movies have the nerve to (possibly) kill off the heroine?

The movie is also carefully built to have a new thrill every ten or so minutes. It's based in part on old movie serials like Manhunt in the African Jungle (1943) that left audiences with a cliffhanger every Saturday afternoon that wouldn't be resolved for a whole week. Lucas and Spielberg managed to condense that feeling into a single movie. They virtually invented the rollercoaster-ride film.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) is more lighthearted and fun; it even begins with a musical number. It's still thrilling, but at the expense of the quiet moments and darkness. Darkness was reserved for its silly villain, Mola Ram, who hypnotizes Indy (his own darkness is gone--it now has to be induced by others). Supposed quiet moments in this movie include Indy bickering with his new girlfriend Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) and taking care of a cunning little kid named Short Round (Ke Huy Quan). The mystery and expectation are gone. The dialogue this time around was by Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck of Howard the Duck (1985) fame. But moments like the collapsing bridge, the mine cart ride, and the cave full of bugs are as thrilling or more so than anything in the first movie.

The third movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) remains, for the most part, on an even keel with Temple of Doom. What it makes up for in smarts, it loses in daring. We first meet Indy as a teen (played by River Phoenix), stealing his first medallion, claiming that "it belongs in a museum," and flaunting his new nobility. The movie does contain a great "library scene," though, explaining the clues behind the Holy Grail. And Sean Connery as Indy's father is a perfect foil. The chemistry between the two men is magical; they make a great comedy team. The overall tone of this one is even more uneven, though, bouncing from nobility to humor.

The Indiana Jones movies are Spielberg's best work, because they truthfully embody his obsession of re-capturing childhood on film. He attempted the same kind of theme in the cloying E.T. (1982), the horrible Hook (1991), and the empty Jurassic Park (1993), and his so-called "grown-up" films, from The Color Purple (1985) to Saving Private Ryan (1998) are attempts to disguise this obsession, as if he were ashamed of it. As a result, the Indiana Jones films show him embracing his psyche and come off as truthful and personal. (It helps that co-creator Lucas shares the same obsession.)

For all their flaws, I love these movies unconditionally. They would have to be with me on a desert island if I were to survive there. I usually can't go a year without watching at least one of them. They're not available on DVD yet, and the VHS tapes are still annoyingly panned-and-scanned, so your best bet is to find the old letterboxed laserdiscs. These movies are truly alive.

DVD Details: George Lucas and Steven Spielberg's swashbuckling adventure series is, in many ways, more joyous and playful than even "Star Wars," and Paramount's new DVD box set ($69.98) would most certainly be among my desert island selections. Unfortunately, it doesn't offer much more than the widescreen laserdiscs that already graced my collection. The three movie discs come with excellent new picture and sound -- as well as great-looking menus -- but the fourth disc comes with an uninspiring set of talking-head documentaries about the making of the film. Neither Spielberg nor Lucas seemed interested in recording commentary tracks. One can only imagine what the two of them would talk about if shoved into a room together.

Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Sean Connery, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliot, River Phoenix
Written by: George Lucas, Philip Kaufman, Lawrence Kasdan, Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz, Menno Meyjes, Jeffrey Boam
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
MPAA Rating: PG/PG-13
Running Time: 115 minutes/118 minutes/126 minutes
Date: July 19, 2000/October 21, 2003