Indiana Jones

So, I was pretty disenchanted to find that there was no thread for the entire Indiana Jones trilogy here (shut the fuck up. They only made three). So I'm starting this thread to celebrate the greatest blockbuster adventure series of all time. Yes. It's better than that other George Lucas property, because this series has only one shitty film, as opposed to the three shitty films of the other one.

I'll admit I've only had a cursory experience with Dr. Jones, having watched a bit of Raiders and the first third or so of Temple (in my choir class for some reason; I think there must've been a sub that day) but they definitely seemed like good movies. I'm not sure, however, if Jones deserves to be listed as the second-greatest hero in American cinematic history (above Rick Blaine, really?!), although he's certainly cool. I'm told that the famous scene where he just shoots the swordsman was ad-libbed by Ford because he hurt his foot that day (or something) and couldn't do a big swordfight.

By the way, has anyone here heard the rumor that Spielberg, Lucas, and... that third guy whose name I can't remember originally intended Jones's Fatal Flaw to be "touches little girls?" What's up with that? Was it serious, a joke, or...?

A little of that made its way into Raiders, when Marion says "I was a child! It was wrong, and you knew it!"

Thank god they didn't follow up on that.

But they never specified how old she was in the final product, I don't think. She could've easily been an irresponsible late-teenager or something. In the original concept (so goes the rumor, anyway), she was going to be explicitly stated to have been twelve, and what's more, the blame for the relationship would've been placed on HER!

I once read a (surprisingly good) fan script (Indiana Jones and the Sword of Arthur, or somesuch) that went into a little detail on that. An early-twenties Indy is still hurting from a bad breakup and rebounds with a fifteen/sixteen-year-old Marian.

Not canon, of course, but I thought it worked pretty well.

Well, this took an unexpected turn real fast.

Sorry. Sometimes I find the production at least as interesting as the film itself, is all.

Heh, heh...

Well, I suppose that if they only made three, then I've only seen the first one.

Am I the only one who actually likes the fourth and treats it as equally as the other films?

No you're not, JR. It's not a masterpiece, but then depending on who you ask neither was Temple of Doom, and no one seriously pretends ToD doesn't exist.

(And, really, Overly Long Fanon Discontinuity Running Gags are one of the things that make me wish for the option to Dope Slap people through the internet. )

edited 23rd Jul '12 5:01:30 AM by Nohbody

I like the fourth one. Granted, it could have been better, but I like it for the most part.

But then, I'm really hard to displease. Things that have other people frothing at the mouth just don't bug me.

The fridge and the aliens ruined the fourth film. Far more than Shia le beef, or however you spell that oik's name.

I still don't understand why aliens "ruined" the fourth film.

Just as the first three movies were homages to pulp fiction of the time setting, where Nazis and death cults were the "in" thing for material, The '50s had Dirty Commies and aliens as their pulp fiction fodder.

I don't think the fridge, while somewhat groan-inducing, ruined the film, either. It's not like the series (or Follywood in general) is exactly known for a strict adherence to physics, after all.

Mind you, RUINED FOREVER isn't that far behind Fanon Discontinuity for reasons to want to Dope Slap people on the internet...

(And, yes, it's a loooooong list. )

edited 23rd Jul '12 5:41:56 AM by Nohbody

I rolled my eyes at the UFO, but I didn't mind the fridge. It was an entertaining movie, and that's all I care about.

edited 23rd Jul '12 7:24:38 AM by Mort08

The Last Crusade is my favourite. Anyone else?

And Kingdom of the Crystal Skull wasn't that bad. It was better than Temple of Doom, at any rate.

But those aliens were very silly.

edited 23rd Jul '12 7:26:33 AM by PurpleDalek

Yeah...I have a feeling I'm marking myself for death here, but I actually think that Temple of Doom is my favorite of the four.

I don't get while people hate on the fridge. That scene was hilarious.

That wasn't the point, though.

But I wouldn't mind seeing the alien from Crystal Skull in the cantina. THAT would be funny.

Don't give George Lucas any more ideas.

Don't worry, he's retiring.

To concentrate on his hobby of altering the Star Wars films?

To go back to making movies in his garage, he says.

You're not alone, Purple Dalek. Last Crusade is my favorite too.

Crystal Skull is the weakest of the bunch, but it's still not bad. And the things most often complained about (aliens, Russians, refrigerators) are probably the most defensible aspects of the film.

I get why people say Crystal Skull was so bad, but I feel it was more... average than anything else. To me, it wasn't much worse than Temple of Doom.

Actually, I rather liked it.

Then again, I didn't hold the original movies in as high a regard as a large number of people seem to. They were good movies. Two of them were really good movies. That's all they were, though.

Crystal Skull is the only movie I ever got to see from beginning to end. I really liked it.