As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy.
- The general disarray of Indiana's life in the present. He's living alone in an apartment, puts alcohol in his morning coffee, sleeps in his boxers, acts like a Grumpy Old Man, retiring as a college professor, his college students don't respect him as they once did, and he and Marion are estranged, preparing to go through a separation. Then comes the The Reveal of why this happened: Mutt Williams's death. He was serving in Vietnam to spite his father and left on bad terms. He was killed in action, something that makes Indy go through a lot of grief and puts a strain on his marriage to Marion. Any parent or sibling who lost a child or their brother would know the same type of pain that Henry Jones and Marion Ravenwood felt. note
- Indy's discovery of his murdered colleagues. His grief is palpable; he goes into Heroic BSoD, unable to do anything except try to call the police. It takes the bad guys abducting him to get him to snap out of it.
- Indy telling Helena that the one choice he would make if he had a time machine is going back to prevent Mutt from going to Vietnam and causing his marriage with Marion to fall apart. Seeing gruff, stoic Harrison Ford almost break down in tears is absolutely heartwrenching. The Dark Reprise of Indy and Marion's love theme adds to the sad atmosphere.Helena: How would you have stopped him?
Indy: I'd tell him he was gonna die... and tell him that his mother would find no end to her grief and that his father would be... helpless to console her, and that the loss would put an end to their marriage. - Indy's friend Renaldo and his crew that help him and Helena find the Graphos are killed by Voller and his men with Renaldo getting shot by Voller when he tries to fight back. When the trio escape the Neo-Nazis, Helena celebrates until a distressed Indy laments his friend's death.
- Having gone back to Ancient Greece, Indy decides that there's nothing left for him to return to in his present. He's exhausted and resigned to the thought that his life is an irretrievable mess and that he'd rather die alone in an alien environment than go back.
- There's also Sallah's quote on the main film page, remarking that as human civilization modernizes, it's no longer an Adventure-Friendly World — the one thing that defined Dr. Jones was slipping away.
- The ending of the film, showing Indy retrieving his iconic hat from outside the window was very much a Tear Jerker like this for many audiences because Harrison Ford turned 79 during the production of this film and it is unlikely that there will be another Indiana Jones film that has the character played by the actor who made him famous. Some fans are hopeful that the Digital De-Aging technology might make it possible but it is unlikely still because Ford might not actually agree to portray the character in appearance only detached from his agency in doing so. This realization makes the franchise as End of an Age for many and had many actually crying in theaters.
