Five years after Steven Spielberg and George Lucas dipped into the dark waters for the second Indiana Jones film, they brought the Man with the Hat back in a much brighter story and, as the posters announced, this time he brought his dad. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was, as far as most everyone thought, a return to form: a return to the fun and thrilling adventure story that was Raiders of the Lost Ark and decidedly not Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Released in 1989, the film gave everyone the satisfactory end to the trilogy that they wanted, right down to the heroes riding off into the sunset. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we continue our Indiana Jones series.
Indiana Jones and the Reminder to Love our Fathers
We chat about the origins of the story and the return to a story with Nazis and a Biblical artifact and why they, perhaps, were getting away from the darker tones exhibited in their previous film in the series (even if Lucas still get to incorporate the Monkey King into the story as he’s always wanted to do). We discuss the feel of the film and how it differs from the previous two, having a much glossier, more fake feel, and how that affects our feelings about it. We return to our conversation begun in our “Temple” episode about Jones’ character arc and how, knowing that film was a prequel, this film’s opening — as fun as it is — really doesn’t make sense character-wise. We chat about which characters work for us, which don’t, and how they really botched the writing job with Marcus Brody this go-around. And we deliberate on what the ending means and how, or even if, it works with the fourth entry into the franchise. It’s a fun film and we have a great time talking about it. Listen in!
Film Sundries
- Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon
- Script Transcript
- Original theatrical trailer
- Original poster artwork
- Flickchart
- Letterboxd
