Idiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Welcome to the third part of my trek through the quadrilogy of Indiana Jones films. You can catch up on the first two entries by clicking right here. Today I am covering 1989’s Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (trailer). Like the prior two Indy films, I had only the faintest memories of The Last Crusade’s most iconic scenes from catching bits and pieces of the movie off cable in my childhood. Coming back to it on the film’s 30th anniversary was a treat to see how well it held up all this time later.

I had no recollection of The Last Crusade kicking off with a 1912 flashback of a teenage Indiana (River Phoenix) swiping the ‘Cross of Coronado’ from a grave robber before he is forced to return it back. It is an entertaining and revealing flashback, and seems a little too convenient for this several minute scene to be the origin of Indiana’s phobia of snakes, trademark whip & hat, and his chin scar. It proves to be a fun chase regardless, and sets the stage for all the swashbuckling action and adventures that are about to transpire. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) comes into possession of the Cross of Coronado again in the film’s present day of 1938. It leads to Indy meeting Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) who sends Indy on a quest to track down his father Henry Jones (Sean Connery) who went MIA while on a job to retrieve the one and only Holy Grail used by Jesus at the Last Supper. Along his travels Indiana links up with his father’s colleague Elsa (Alison Doody) and reconnects with old friends Sallah (John-Rhys Davies) and Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliot) from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Ford and Doody have a great chemistry in The Last Crusade’s early scenes where the duo is on the path to find Henry. The first two films had snakes and spiders, and thus this feature’s vile creature the duo must evade is a tomb full of rats in a fun scene. When Indy and Elsa finally discover Henry, the film really ramps up with nonstop chase and action scenes of the Jones’ trying to run from or chase after the Nazis and beat them to finding the Holy Grail. I am amazed by the depth of vehicles that get in the mix. Lucas and Spielberg must have been influenced by 1987’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles because 1930s versions of all three are featured in addition to camels, horses, tanks, zeppelins and boats (I am probably forgetting a few more). Where Temple of Doom saw a lot of groan-inducing hoki-ness with their action and chase scenes, Lucas & Spielberg were hitting all their marks in The Last Crusade because every one of the many chase and action sequences had me reeled in all the way and astonishingly hold up strong 30 years later. The tank scene is the standout with many fingernail-biting moments. Watching the film in HD on BluRay definitely helps, but still it goes to show how The Last Crusade raised the bar for a new standard of action/adventure.

The film as a whole is easily my clear-cut favorite of the four Indy films. Sean Connery is an excellent addition to the cast and the chemistry between him and Ford is instantly apparent. It was delightful watching Connery interact with the cast and it is obvious that he is having a blast. It was not surprising in watching the behind-the-scenes interviews after the film that an actor of Connery’s caliber caused the rest of the cast to step up their game and deliver their best. The final 15 minutes is what I remembered the most of from seeing this off TV many years ago, and it was just as enticing now as it was then to see the cast debate which chalice was the true Holy Grail and the resulting aftermath. For fans of cutting edge special effects that recall the melting face of Raiders, they will not be let down because a similar fate awaits someone in The Last Crusade in all the latest and greatest Hollywood flair that 1989 has to offer.

As referenced in the other blogs of previous two films, there is a single BluRay containing bonus features to all four films. The primary one associated with this one is Making of The Last Crusade. It is a 35 minute compilation of interviews from nearly the whole cast and crew featuring original on-the-set interview and newer interviews filmed for this BluRay box set. It was interesting hear Spielberg recount Lucas’s original vision for this and how the pair collaborated to transform the original outline into what became The Last Crusade. The rest of the feature is filled with facts and anecdotes about the casting, stunts and the legacy of the brand. There are about a dozen other much shorter bonus features covering the rest of the films as a whole, and now that I am caught up on the films I only had brief memories of I decided to dive into them here and will catch up on the rest in the blog covering the final Indy film. I watched four of the shorter extras that focused on the stunts, sound design, music and special effects of the Indiana Jones films. All four are just over ten minutes each and interview key crew members from those departments. The one I enjoyed the most of them was The Music of Indiana Jones where it interviews composer Jon Williams where he reveals how he crafted the vintage theme for the franchise.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a huge redemption for the series from the baffling Temple of Doom. Spielberg and Lucas walked a fine line of swashbuckling action and manage to come ever-so-shy of not crossing that line into the cheesy territory that Temple of Doom did numerous times. Shortly after watching this film I checked out a video debating whether Raiders or Last Crusade is the best Indiana Jones movie. I definitely dug Raider, but for me, the huge leap in quality of the action here and Sean Connery wound up the missing elements of a perfect formula the series needed to be the best film of the four.

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed
Deck the Halls
Die Hard
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Dirty Work
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Guardians of the Galaxy
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Indiana Jones 1-4
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Marine 3-6
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Mortal Kombat
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Skyscraper
Small Town Santa
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Days of Future Past