Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Oh my heck- It's only, like, my favorite!

 

Absolutely LOVE The Last Crusade. After the dark tone of TOD, I welcomed the humor and lighter tone. And Sean Connery was amazing as Indy's father.

 

I don't get why people dislike the darker tone of TOD. Raiders was pretty dark too, and I feel the much more comical approach to TLC hurt the feeling of danger a bit that was so strong in the first two movies.

 

Great film. Although Marcus's comedy turn is cringe worthy, which goes against what I thought his character was in the original.

 

My second favourite Indy flick. It's a road movie and the saving grace. The cinematography, lighting and feel was surely different, but it doesn't detract.

 

I love LC!!!
"Dad!"
"What?"
"Dad??"
"What??"
DAD??"
"WHAT?!!"

 

Hey, you know what? I'm going to make a controversial statement. I like ALL the Indy movies. Yes, even that one.

 

I do too, in my mind there's no such thing as a bad Indy movie.

 

IMHO, LC was a sub-par, well below average film. It's my least favorite film in the IJ franchise - and, though many may be surprised at this, I liked Crystal Skull much more than this film (I actually thought Crystal Skull was a solid film, but that's another thread).

I'm a big IJ/Lflm. fan from way back, and did see all of the IJ films in the theater back in the day. Note that I've tried to like LC since it's an IJ film, but have had a problem with this since Day 1:

The inappropriate comedy was too much - just like Ford's Han Solo in ROTJ, there were too many jokes made here which got grating after a while. The scene when the German officer got thrown off the train & the "no tickets" line was almost painful to watch - the Germans were not threatening here as they were in Raiders, which was the wrong approach.

The presense of S. Connery was out of place in an IJ film, and took the focus away from Ford as Indy. I also didn't find the interaction between father & son interesting; it was more grating/annoying than anything else.

Like ROTJ, the film was basically a re-done version of the first film in the franchise (in this case Raiders), with the Germans, the artifact they were all racing to find, etc. There were a lot of other storylines they could have come up with - what we saw here was extremely unoriginal.

I didn't like the beginning scene with River Phoenix as a Young Indy. First of all, he was obviously a lot older than the other boy scouts in the film. Plus, the "origin" story with the hat, whip, and fear of snakes seemed very artificial to me: We are expected to believe that three iconic elements to the IJ character all took place within a day?! Ridiculous...

 

I have some of those same issues as well, plus the movie as a whole to me just lacks the excitement and intensity ROTLA, TOD and even KOTCS has for me. I still enjoy it a lot, but I have problems with it that I don't have with the other three films.

 

It's probably my favourite Indy film.

 

It was my favorite Indiana Jones. I would've liked Raiders as much if not for that last scene where the Nazis were killed. That was overboard, and I didn't like Temple of Doom at all.

I liked the fact that General Veers...er...Julian Glover was the villain in The Last Crusade. He played a similar role in "For Your Eyes Only" (villain pretending to be ally, only to reveal himself as the villain).

 

The Last Crusade was fantastic. First off, anytime Harrison Ford brandishes the whip, dons the fedora and takes on the moniker of Indiana Jones I will watch that movie, no question about it. Iconic character, for sure.

Secondly, Ford + Connery = Genius. The bickering between father and son in that film was priceless. What brings down the quality of repeat viewings is Henry Jones, Sr.'s fate in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull... that sucked. That said, I just try to fast-forward through that scene whenever I watch Crystal Skull, and pretend to be absolutely oblivious to its' effect on that movie as well, as such the experience of Last Crusade is thankfully unharmed.

I know 'tis a cliché thing to say, but they just don't make movies like that anymore.

 

I actually like KOTCS and Last Crusade I think they are both good.

 

I like them both too, I think all of the Indy films are great.

 

I think for most people to warm up to KOTCS they have to make at least 2 more Indiana Jones movies. I mean there is nothing to compare it to Except the Classics that the original 3 were, although Temple of Doom got a lot of flac when it first came out. Now I always loved the Phantom Menace all the way back to when I saw it in the theater in 1999 and I would say All of the prequels did great at the Box Office which I think is a sign to how good they were Liked becuase they dont do that good at the Box Office if people Did not like them. I saw ROTS 7 times at the theater because I loved it so much. But for some reason The Phantom Menace got riped apart by the media and some of the fans. But 15 years later and I think people that didn't like TPM origanaly have warmed up to it and now like it. I think the reason for this is they now have two other prequels to now compare it to, and everybody has there favorite, with two other Indiana Jones movies this can happen to KOTCS ......

 

Re-watched Last Crusade on the weekend, then had Raiders on in the background the following night. LC still really holds up, but it reinforced the opinion I've had all along - it's the 'fun' episode of the series, best exemplified by the shift in Marcus Brody's character to a cute, bumbling, fish out of water, as opposed to the more serious academic in Raiders who cautioned Indy about meddling with powers like the Ark. He seemed to have been displaced by Henry Jones as a mentor, so was relegated to comic relief.

Not that I'm objecting to Connery'sh preshensh - sherioushly inshpired cashting.

Really do need to properly revisit Crystal Skull - I enjoyed it well enough the first time while acknowledging some glaring flaws (largely some dreadful CGI, Shia 'I'm Not Famous' LeBeouf, and that ending which I still believe to be inspired by Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls). TPM has held up well over the years, better than I expected, guessing Crystal Skull might be the same - not necessarily what we wanted or expected, but still better than your usual studio fodder.

 

I thought Alison Doody was very good. A very under-rated actress.

 

I love your avatar.

 

The Indy OT mirrors the Star Wars OT I think and TLC is much like ROTJ. In some ways its a bit of a rehash of the original movie. Whilst at the same time lightening the tone a bit more and being about a bit of a rollercoaster in terms of set pieces and action.

 

It's my favourite Indy movie

 

I think Last Crusade is a great movie. I have seen the knight's sword on sale at memorabilia shops in both Orlando and Vegas.

 

I love Sean Connery as Indy's dad. Brilliant casting.

As I recall, it was Steven Spielberg who pushed for casting him--according to the Complete Making book, Lucas never really went for the idea. Supposedly the number-two choice for the role was Gregory Peck, and I suspect Lucas always saw Henry as more of an Atticus Finch type than a Victorian James Bond.

On the other hand, another potential choice for Henry was Jon Pertwee. I guess Spielberg thought that if he couldn't get James Bond, he'd get the Third Doctor, who was always the most James Bond-like of the leads from Doctor Who.

 

Yep Connery was great in TLC.

I can't imagine Worzel Gummidge as Indys dad though.