Reel Rewind: Indiana Jones

“We do not follow maps to buried treasure; and ‘X’ never, ever marks the spot.” Famous words said by one of the most famous characters in cinema. I’m talking about Dr. Henry Jones Jr., otherwise known as Indiana Jones. The adventures of Indiana Jones are some of the most famous movies ever made. In fact, the American Film Institute has both Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade on their Top 100 list. 

What makes the Indiana Jones movies so memorable? For starters, the thrilling adventures that Jones goes on truly make you feel like you’re there with him. The action is very on the edge of your seat even though you know Jones will prevail in the end. These action-packed adventures have given us some of the most iconic scenes in cinema history. Who could forget about Jones running away from a rolling boulder at the very beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark? 

The next thing that makes the adventures of Indiana Jones so great is that we get memorable stories that are spawn from actual history. Only a movie about an archeologist’s travels could really use history and legends to tell thrilling tales. On top of that, the callbacks to the films in the series is something that all fans love. Jones’ most memorable adventure is probably finding the Ark of the Covenant. We are introduced to Indiana Jones during this adventure and his fight against the Nazis as they go after the Ark. The references to the Old Testament and adventures in the Middle East in the film are so much fun that you actually believe that you are on the journey with Jones himself. There are times that when Jones is asking his aid, Sallah, for help that he’s asking you as well. It’s also in the third film, The Last Crusade, that we get another great adventure in search of a legendary artifact: The Holy Grail. Referencing the Knights Templar and the New Testament, you go on the adventure of a lifetime which includes stops in countries and landmarks that were important to that of Jesus and the Knights Templar during the Crusades. Even the two least popular films in the series (Temple of Doom and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) are based on legends from other cultures from India and South America respectively. Temple of Doom tells the tale of the Thugees, who were followers of the Hindu goddess Kali-Ma, and the British liberating India of the secretive cult. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull goes into how the Mayans believed that their gods were believed to be aliens from another planet/universe. However, it is this storyline that makes this film very controversial with fans of the franchise.

The adventures of Indiana Jones are filled with memories and are visually appealing. Another Lucasfilm franchise - that is set in a galaxy far, far away - does something very similar to Indiana Jones to make the adventures very visually awesome and fun. The sets are all built on the spot and the effects are done practically. You actually believe that the filmmakers traveled to Alexandretta (modern-day Turkey) in their quest to find the Holy Grail. The Temple of the Grail was so big and lifelike that it felt like it was really there in real life. On top of that, the global scale of the series is incredible. While Jones is a professor of archeology at Marshall College in Connecticut, we get to travel to Egypt, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Peru, Nepal, China, India, and many other countries to see some of the most beautiful and exotic places on the planet. 

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg really knew what they were doing when they thought of the character of Indiana Jones. What is crazier is that Harrison Ford was not originally cast as Indiana Jones. George Lucas went against Spielberg’s request for Ford to be cast and instead offered the role to Tom Selleck. Lucas didn’t want Ford to be his “Bobby DeNiro” referring to their friend’s (Martin Scorsese) relationship with Robert DeNiro. After Universal wouldn’t let Selleck out of his contract for Magnum P.I., it took Spielberg pressing Lucas again when searching for a replacement to cast Harrison Ford, which Lucas reluctantly agreed. As it turns out, Harrison Ford has gone on the record to say that Indiana Jones is his favorite character to play. This is the same Harrison Ford who has also played Jack Ryan, Rick Deckard, and Han Solo.

Today, Indiana Jones is still referred to as one of the greatest characters in pop culture history. There was a spinoff show called The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles that aired on ABC and Ford even narrated an episode of the show. There’s been numerous books and video games that have been released that tie in to the movies, which fill in the blank spots in the story of the title character. Indiana Jones has even been the inspiration of two video game characters, which have also turned into big franchises: Lara Croft in Tomb Raider and Nathan Drake in Uncharted, which is getting the movie treatment from Sony starring Tom Holland as the lead. Most notably, there are theme park attractions in Disney Parks around the world. The most popular attraction is at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, where the attraction is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The franchise is still popular to this day that Disney and Lucasfilm are making a 5th film of the franchise which will see Harrison Ford take up the whip and fedora hat one last time in 2022. While we are getting to see one final adventure in 2022, the adventures of Indiana Jones will never truly end. They really do belong in a museum!

RATINGS:

Raiders of the Lost Ark: 9.5/10

Temple of Doom: 7.9/10

The Last Crusade: 9.1/10

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: 7.5

All Indiana Jones movies are currently available to stream on Netflix. Indiana Jones 5 is currently in development and will be released July 29, 2022

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