Rank The Indiana Jones Saga

In Raiders-related news, stuntman Terry Richards has passed away. You'll remember him as the sword-wielding man shot by Indiana in RotLA.

 

RotLA
KotCS
LC
ToD

Haters gonna hate.

 

I notice there's quite a few rankings where KOTCS is coming in second place, seems to be getting a better reception overtime.

 

It's by no means a bad movie to me. It may not be as good as the previous Indy films, but I still hold it in high regards.

 

I like it a lot as well. I find it's a movie that time has been very good to over the course of the past half-decade.

 

Forgot to comment on that before. R.I.P., such a great moment in the film.

 

Not just in the film, but an iconic scene in cinema history too.

 

Sure is.

That reminds, favorite scene per movie would be good to add on our rankings.

 

Crusade. (Connery does it for me!)
Raiders
Doom



Skull

 

Crusade
Ark
Temple
Skull

 

1. Raiders

2. Temple

3. Last Crusade

4. Crystal Skull

Raiders is a classic that still holds up today, the other sequels are forgettable.

 

Mod warning: Contains material that may be offensive

 

I think they all do, but Raiders is definitely one of a kind.

 

I recently uncovered my old copy of the book, From Star Wars To Indiana Jones: The Best Of The LucasFilm Archives. Seek it out ASAP if you've never read it. I've owned it since the mid-90s and it covers the original three Star Wars and Indy films. All sorts of great production stills and artwork and prop pictures and it goes into tons of detail about the making of all six of them. Highly recommended reading for both SW and Indy fans. Both sets of films get equal coverage and attention, and the Indy section is amazing, too.

 

After my most recent runthrough of the series for the first time I've done in a good while, my ranking remains the same:


TOD
ROTLA
KOTCS
TLC


All excellent films, though. A tremendous series.

 

maybe I'll have to watch them all again but at the moment probably:
TLC
KOTCS
ROTLA
TOD

 

Awesome book. Too bad the cover of my copy has started to discolor a bit. But definitely a must have for any movie fan!

 

1) Last Crusade, 2) Raiders of the Lost Ark, 3) Temple of Doom. Though I really do love all of them. I think there was a fourth movie in there somewhere, but I seem to have blocked it out? I didn't mind Young Indy, though.

Anyway. Last Crusade comes first, because,

Harrison Ford and Sean Connery. Best duo EVER. I've seen all three of the Indy movies over thirty times, could write the entire script to all of them from memory if I was ever asked, and even though I know exactly what's coming, I still can't stop myself from cracking up after Sean Connery appears on screen. ("I should have mailed it to the Marx brothers." "She talks in her sleep." "Son, I'm sorry: they got us!" Etc).

The entire character development we get with Indy. Both in terms of his family, and his origin story at the beginning. It's not watching how he gets his hat, or his fashion sense, or his fondness for whips; the real value of the opening sequence is watching him get his life lesson. Namely, not everybody agrees with you that "that belongs in a museum;" there are people out there who will plunder the tombs for their own profit and not give a crap how much history and culture they're destroying; and you can't always count on the law to stop them even if it knows about them. That lesson is the reason Indy goes on to be a bruiser and gunslinger instead of a pure researcher like his father.

Elsa's easily my favorite of the three heroines. Besides the twist of her not being what she appeared to be, I liked the fact that she was an archaeologist too, who was in the same space as Indy intellectually. She could keep pace with him in a way Marion and Willie never could.

The bad guys... well, the main villain is easily the weakest of the trilogy, but having the Nazis back bigger and badder than ever (complete with a cameo for Hitler) more than made up for it. Let's face it, when we say "Indy villain," that's who really comes to mind.

Great action sequences - the ten minutes on the tank were my favorite in the franchise, and one of my favorite action sequences of all time, but the entire movie from the moment they arrive at Grunwald Castle to the airplane chase, too.

And of course, they used the most iconic artifact in the history of the Western world as the Macguffin.

It wasn't perfect, but definitely my favorite of the series and might just be my favorite movie ever. (Star Wars edges out Indiana Jones as a franchise, but I'm not sure it does when you compare all the films individually).

 

Raiders
Temple
Crusade and Kingdom are equal.

 

Mine has some wear on it but a used copy in good shape can be purchased for a pretty small amount.

 

We think quite alike. I rate the series similarly to this.

 

Raiders
Temple
Crystal Skull
Last Crusade (when this one came out, I totally despised it, but I've kind of warmed to it over the past decades...but it's still my least favorite Indy film)

 

Here my favorite Jones films

1. Last Crusade
2. Raiders
3. Temple
4.Skull

 

Raiders
Doom
Skull
Crusade

 

I don't dislike it at all but like you it's the one I enjoy the least, though it's still entertaining.