462: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

[00:00:00] 169. Let's get to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which is the third in the franchise. Came out in 1989, once again directed by Spielberg. Stars Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Alison Doody, Denholm Elliott again, you know a lot of the

[00:00:18] same cast as well as River Phoenix is in there, the late River Phoenix. And the synopsis is, in 1938 after his father goes missing while pursuing the Holy Grail, Indiana Jones finds himself up against the Nazis again to stop them

[00:00:33] from attaining its powers. So when I first saw this one immediately, for the first time, it was my favorite of the three and after I saw the latter two it was still my favorite and I think it'll probably always remain the top dog.

[00:00:49] You know, A Temple of Doom, even though it's a great movie, and this is just pure speculation there, I feel like they said, alright let's see if we can go darker, let's see if we can do something a little bit different from the first, let's

[00:01:02] see how it goes. And you know, still very good movie of course, but I think they course corrected a little bit with Last Crusade and all the right pieces came together. They have the right charm, the right pacing, the right kind of story,

[00:01:14] the right locations, and they really brought back I think the things that really to me make the franchise iconic and give me the most enjoyment. You know, let me know your thoughts in the comments if you're listening to this on

[00:01:28] YouTube or Bandcamp or wherever. I would love to know what you think of the whole franchise and what works for you so please let me know. But anyways, kicking things off, even just the opening, I just I love how they open these movies with

[00:01:39] the simple opening credits over like a quiet sequence, you know, like it's River Phoenix going through the desert and RIP to River Phoenix, he is perfect as young Indy. I love that whole sequence on the train, in the caves like in the

[00:01:56] mountains, it's just it looks amazing, the locations, how Spielberg, he of course is the most successful legendary director of all time, I would say. I don't think that's too crazy to say. And this franchise is a good example of that where

[00:02:11] he can handle really every sort of style, every sort of tone, he can't just do quiet dialogue driven films, he can do big action sequences, he can add charm, he can add horror, he can add comedy, suspense, whatever, and this, even just

[00:02:25] that opening sequence is a good showcase for that. Of course in some ways that's like an origin story but that shows you we don't need to see that in the first movie. Like alright well hey let's give them a little flashback in the third one,

[00:02:38] great, genius, I love that. And that whole opening does give you that discovery of or the reveal of him being scared of snakes and his dealings with dangerous animals and all that so there's little bits to the character that feed oh like

[00:02:54] I see where he got this phobia, oh I see where he got this talent, where he got to use the whip. And sorry I haven't even mentioned the whip yet in the first two reviews. The look of Indiana Jones, amazing. I know that's nothing crazy new

[00:03:08] to say. Love the look. One of the best easily identifiable silhouettes in all of movies. Just the hat, the jacket, the whip, perfect. It is so good. But going back to the sequence itself it does give you those little Easter eggs I guess you

[00:03:26] could call them and I really like that. And then getting into the bigger heart of the story, the big introduction of Sean Connery as Indy's father and I know it's been talked about a lot. It's one of the more acclaimed celebrated parts of

[00:03:42] the franchise. I think that relationship, that chemistry is so great. Like they just have such a good rapport and they can bounce off of each other so well. They actually feel like father and son and they feel like they have similar

[00:03:56] experiences in the little bickering you know with like his father trying to tell him how to do things properly and all that. And Indy acting like a little kid and getting upset with his dad is so funny, really clever, good writing, good

[00:04:09] performance, and really gives you that world-building, that sense of character art. Where did I come from? And it's I guess in some ways this movie is a good subtly so a very good backstory for the character without actually being a long

[00:04:25] flashback. You know it gives you hints as to who Indy was when we first met him in Raiders. And then also I think this movie has some of the best if not the best action of the whole franchise in terms of the intensity, the suspense, the

[00:04:41] effects, the overall scale of the action. Which of course it's the third one so they want to continue to build makes sense but still very very solid action. One of the best ones to me is the harbor chase with the boats and like the

[00:04:55] smaller boats getting destroyed by the huge blades on the ships. And it always gives you that sense of danger with the character where you oh my god is he gonna get out this time? Is someone gonna save him? Is he gonna get

[00:05:07] out by himself? Like what's gonna happen? Is he gonna get unlucky this time and he always manages to escape somehow? The moment which is one of the more referenced is where the room is burning and Indy and his dad are tied up and

[00:05:24] they're trying to talk to each other facing away from each other like opposite ways and that humor and then also trying to kick the chair over to get themselves free. And probably my favorite moment and it goes back to how

[00:05:37] the first one has the sequence with Indy pulling out the gun and shooting the swordsman. The moment where they're on the blimp or at least Indy's on the blimp and he throws out that security guard or the Nazi whoever it is out the

[00:05:51] window and all the passengers look at him with complete shock and fear like who is this guy? And he just goes no ticket. And it's just little things where it's like he has that subtle clever off-the-cuff humor you know and that

[00:06:07] partly goes into writing of course but also it's Harrison Ford's naturalism as an actor and what he can do with very very seemingly little effort. There's also the chase and that drive in Europe where it's Indy and his dad on

[00:06:25] the little Nazi motorcycle carry car vehicle. And then for whatever reason maybe I'm I don't know how other people feel but this to me is the most memorable of the five. I feel like I remember almost every scene and I don't

[00:06:40] want to sound too repetitive with saying I like this I like that but I feel like this whole movie sticks with me way more than not way more but out of all five it does so the most. But he meets Hitler, dresses up as a Nazi and meets

[00:06:54] Hitler by chance that's funny. The big sequence towards the end so well choreographed and orchestrated where there's the tank and then another great Spielbergian Indiana Jones classic moment is where they everybody thinks that Indiana Jones has flown off the cliff and then they're all looking over

[00:07:15] the cliffside like oh my god you know my son he's dead he's gone and then we just see Indiana Jones come into frame from behind them having managed to escape from the possible death and he's like what are y'all looking at you know or he

[00:07:30] didn't say that but he just appears there's like oh you're okay and it's moments like that that I will always love I always laugh at and makes me love the character even more and just being in that world and having that chemistry

[00:07:42] in that atmosphere and that sense of creativity and storytelling. Then there's also the big climax at the end where there's a holy grail and the villain makes the wrong choice and there's that supernatural twist as they often do in

[00:07:58] these movies just enough to where it's not obviously it's supernatural and over the top but it's not so much that it's so far into a fantasy that it's losing how grounded it is. But really like how it ends very good overall resolution

[00:08:14] and another thing with this whole franchise that purely a personal subjective interest is Steven Spielberg clearly has a love of World War two history of aviation especially and that's something that I love as well especially World War two history in general not just aviation and that's

[00:08:34] something that I can just get drawn into maybe more deeply than other people will the casual viewer that's something that immediately gets me hooked. I'm like oh cool like a pre-World War two current World War two or post-World War two

[00:08:48] setting I'm just that's for me that's my kind of movie setting because of the conflicts of everything going on in the world the overall design of the world vehicles costumes everything so I really like that music so Spielberg and I are

[00:09:04] very much simpatico in that interest shared interest but besides that I just think it's a masterpiece of a movie just as the first one is as well and even if they had not done the other two movies decades from when this one came out it

[00:09:21] would still be one of the best franchises ever one of the best trilogies ever but this is a very very good third movie in a franchise that that doesn't happen very often either at that time period or now there's really

[00:09:34] a lot to latch on to and think about and enjoy and it's not too long like none of these movies are too long I mean the fifth one is the longest which I don't mind it being long considering it's the last one but these first three

[00:09:46] especially but even the fourth one none of them are three and a half hours long the plots aren't too complicated you know they're not bloated just for the sake of being bloated and trying to feel epic they feel epic already with how the

[00:09:59] world is presented and yeah it really is a lifesaver of a series for me I I don't know it's it's really really special to me and newer audiences need to watch Indiana Jones you just got to watch it please do try it out it'll be

[00:10:18] worth it I promise so that one is a heavy 5 out of 5 10 out of 5 love the movie fantastic