Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Anchor of the Indiana Jones Trilogy

The 1980's made up for its lack of good music by turning out good movies. This wealth of 1980's movie titles makes it hard to choose a favorite. As a huge fan of Indiana Jones, this reviewer chooses the third of the Indiana Jones trilogy, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).

In Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Indy battles snakes and Nazis in pursuit of the lost Ark of the Covenant. Raiders introduces Indiana Jones to the movie audience and so has a lot to offer in story and adventure. But the character of Indiana Jones does not become fully developed until he joins up with the elder Dr. Jones in a quest for the Holy Grail.

Awesome Actor Trio

Some of the best movies of the 1980's star either Harrison Ford (Raiders of the Lost Ark,1981; Witness, 1985); the late but forever young River Phoenix (Stand By Me, 1986); or Sean Connery (The Untouchables, 1987; Highlander, 1986; Time Bandits, 1980; and in the role of James Bond Never Say Never Again, 1983).

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade features all three of these actors. Count three heartthrobs from three distinct generations.

In a flashback scene that begins the movie, River Phoenix plays the young Indiana Jones. Then Harrison Ford enters as the Indiana Jones we know from Raiders of the Lost Ark, an archaeology professor who goes on wild adventures in search of priceless objects. Sean Connery joins the action halfway through when Indiana finds him imprisoned by Nazis in an Austrian castle.

These guys are good looking and they can act. Together their three performances have created a classic.

Awesome Actor Trio

Some of the best movies of the 1980's star either Harrison Ford (Raiders of the Lost Ark,1981; Witness, 1985); the late but forever young River Phoenix (Stand By Me, 1986); or Sean Connery (The Untouchables, 1987; Highlander, 1986; Time Bandits, 1980; and in the role of James Bond Never Say Never Again, 1983).

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade features all three of these actors. Count three heartthrobs from three distinct generations.

In a flashback scene that begins the movie, River Phoenix plays the young Indiana Jones. Then Harrison Ford enters as the Indiana Jones we know from Raiders of the Lost Ark, an archaeology professor who goes on wild adventures in search of priceless objects. Sean Connery joins the action halfway through when Indiana finds him imprisoned by Nazis in an Austrian castle.

These guys are good looking and they can act. Together their three performances have created a classic.

An Original, Distinctly American Character

In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade the character of Indiana Jones became not just endearing but enduring. The character himself is the brainchild of George Lucas, creator or Star Wars and American Graffiti.

Indiana Jones is American without being arrogant. He is a guy who just will not quit no matter how much pain his body is suffering. When trapped, even among the snakes he hates, Jones stays calm and finds a way out. He uses what is available to him: his surroundings, his wit and courage, and his self-learned skills.

Above all, Indiana Jones is moral. He is not a womanizer like James Bond. He is not a cop who despises the system like Dirty Harry. He is an anti-pirate, an American Robin Hood who steals back from the thieves and gives to the museums. In doing so, he does not kill. It is greed and their own foolishness that kills his foes.

Lucas and Spielberg Collaboration

Like his Indiana Jones creation, George Lucas is lacking the kind of arrogance that would keep him from seeking the help of other successful filmmakers. His choice of Steven Spielberg for director is a huge factor in the box office success of the Indiana Jones trilogy.

In a 1999 interview with the Academy of Achievement, Lucas explains why he and Spielberg work so well together:

"I think one of the reasons that Steven (Spielberg) and I have been as successful as we have is because we like the movies. . . . We enjoy movies and we want to make movies like the ones we enjoy. We want to be able to entertain the audience. We want to be able to startle the audience. We want to be able to blow the audience away and say -- have them walk out of the theater saying, 'Whoa, that was fantastic, I was really moved by that.' That's where part of the fun of it is. And, you know, you want people to think. You want people to be emotionally moved."

The success of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is also owed in large part to the late Jeffrey Boam, writer of the screenplay. According to Boam in a 1996 interview with EON Magazine, he is the one who came up with the idea of the Dr. Jones father character played by Sean Connery (Chitwood).

A Prequel and a Sequel

Superior writing makes Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade a much tighter, better told story than the second movie in the trilogy Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). The key to its superiority is that Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is both a prequel and a sequel. Therefore, the third movie in the trilogy connects back to the first and gives the audience the back story on our intriguing Indiana Jones.

At the beginning of the movie the year is 1912. A young Indiana Jones (River Phoenix) explores a cave in Utah with his boy scout troop. There he and a friend come upon a band of ruffians who have just found the Cross of Coronado. With conviction the young Indy states to his friend, "That should be in a museum."

Introduced with his conviction are Indy's developing horseback skills, the origin of the whip and the hat, his dislike of snakes, and his erudite father. Having stolen the cross and escaped, Indy arrives home. Indiana's father, engrossed in his grail diary, does not notice that his son is breathless and makes him start his story over in Greek. Meanwhile, the sheriff arrives and makes Indiana return the cross to the thieves.

Then the movie jumps ahead to the year 1938 and the Portuguese coast. An older, determined Indy finally recovers the cross which the sheriff had forced him to give up so many years ago in his own father's house.

A Western That Travels East

As the opening setting in Utah and the appearance of the sheriff would lead us to believe, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is really an American Western. Even though he travels first to Europe (Venice; Austria) and then to Asia (Republic of Hatay), the horse riding Indiana Jones remains a cowboy.

Yet, due to the father-son conflict portrayed in the story, this movie is much more than a cowboy flick. The young Indiana Jones lost the Cross of Coronado because his father was too wrapped up in his Holy Grail studies to pay attention to his son's dilemma. Later, Professor Jones tells his students, "We cannot afford to take mythology at face value." Yet that is exactly what the younger Dr. Jones is compelled to do when he and his father set out on a joint grail quest.

By the end of the movie the two Dr. Jones have worked through their differences and gained a new appreciation of each other. The end setting reflects the development of their relationship. Although the end scene supposedly occurs in Turkey, it was actually shot in Texas. Father and son are home.

Smarts, Sass, and Symbolism

A classic is a movie that one wants to watch over and over. We watch it again because there is always something new to see or hear. We watch it because it makes us cry or laugh.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade will make you laugh. The father-son conflict provides much of the humor in the movie. Sometimes the son is foolish; sometimes the father. The elder Dr. Jones insists on calling Indiana "Junior", but both respond "Yes" to an inquiry for Dr. Jones. In one scene the beautiful vixen (Alison Doody) betrays Indiana and then tells him, "You should have listened to your father."

Beyond the obvious comedy and adventure aspects, this film has a little more depth. It is clever without being annoying and therefore lovable.

In the same interview as quoted above, George Lucas stated:

"Learning to make films is very easy. Learning what to make films about is very hard. What you've really got to do is focus on learning as much about life, and about various aspects of it first. Then learn just the techniques of making a movie because that stuff you can pick up pretty quickly. But having a really good understanding of history, literature, psychology, sciences -- are very, very important to actually being able to make movies."

History and psychology are a continuous backdrop to the adventure and the dialogue between characters. As father and son ride in a zeppelin in hopes of escaping the Nazis, they discuss their difficult past. The elder Jones tells Indiana, "Actually I was a wonderful father. I taught you self-reliance." Of course, the movie audience knows how true it is that Indiana is self-reliant. We do not believe that the father is truly responsible for this characteristic in Indiana, however, until his father uses his Charlemagne to take down an airplane.

Finally, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was not made to be taken too seriously, but the filmmakers were serious about their craft. The use of symbolism in the movie greatly aids in pulling together not just this movie but the entire trilogy. The making of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) would not have been possible without it as a foundation.

The best unifying symbol of the movie is the lion. The young Indiana Jones encounters a lion on the circus train. Here he first takes up a whip to tame the lion. After Indiana rescues his father from the castle in Austria, they head towards Berlin to retrieve the diary referring to that city as "the lion's den". The third lion's den is the cave where the grail rests. Stone lions guard the entrance and Indy must solve three riddles in order to pass safely.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is witty, funny and suspense-filled all the way through to the end. If you have never seen it, watch and enjoy. Look for the comic character of Marcus Brody who was in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Enjoy the motorcycle with sidecar jousting scene. Then ride the zeppelin, but be sure to have your ticket!

Chitwood, Scott. "EON Pays Tribute to Jeffrey Boam." EON Magazine. 14 February 2000. http://movies.ign.com/articles/033/033971p1.html

"A Life Making Movies." George Lucas Interview. Washington, D.C.: Academy of Achievement. 19 June1999.http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/luc0int-1

Spielberg, Steven. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Perf. Harrison Ford, Perf. Sean Connery, Perf. River Phoenix. Lucasfilm and Paramount Pictures, 1989.