So when the dude got his heart ripped out in Temple of Doom . . .

What did that look like? Because here in the U.K. they've never shown that scene uncut. Was it really gory enough that kiddies couldn't see it?

 

They usually don't show the full version on American network TV either. In the uncut version, the Thuggee high priest Mola Ram (Amrish Puri magically inserts his fingers into the sacrificial victim's chest. There is a trickle of blood, but the scene is quick. The victim screams and Mola Ram presents his beating heart to the crowd. We then see the open wound in the victim's chest magically heal and he is lowered alive into a lava pit. In the cut versions we don't see the shots where Mola Ram's fingers disappear into the man's chest and where the man's wound heals, so the scene doesn't make much sense. The scene is dark and violent, but not that much different from the cut version. I wouldn't want kids watching it, but it's on par with what we might see in an episode of "The X-Files" or the melting Nazis sequence from "Raiders of the Lost Ark". On TV they also cut short the bit where the sacrificial victim is lowered into the molten pit. In the uncut version he screams and catches on fire as he approaches the lava.

By the way, the heart ripping scene is a combination of two occult practices (neither of them Thuggee). Aztec priests used to cut open a victim's chest with a blade while he was still alive, and then tear out the man's beating heart. The victim's spirit would then supposedly rise straight to the heavens without having to make the journey through the underworld. In the Philippines and other areas, faith healers claimed the power of "psychic surgery". The psychic surgeon could supposedly mystically penetrate the skin on a person's stomach using their fingers in order to remove tumours. The patient would be conscious during the procedure but feel no pain. After the psychic surgeon has removed his fingers from the patient's body, the entry wound would magically heal instantly. Of course, psychic surgery is a scam, still practiced by some con artists, and involves nothing more than simple sleight of hand.

-Dubya Fett

 

Thanks for the info. That's almost more than I wanted to know

 

It showed his heart beating in his hand and u could see it and hear it!

 

Mola Ram - Sooda Ram!!!
MOLA RAM - SOODA RAM!!!

 

his heart then went on fire (cause the dude was lowered into the fire) in Australia it was shown uncut on cable and free to air tv.

 

I saw the whole version on tape when I was nine and it didn't bother me at all. I knew it wasn't real and that a person needed a heart to live! That tells you how great a character Indiana Jones is because the Thugee Temple was probably the most terrifying place imaginable but I knew Indy wouldn't die so I felt safe.

 

Because I am an Australian living in Britain, I can tell you Homer, there is actually more to that scene than just the heart ripping sequence.

When I bought the revamped box set in 2000, I was VERY dissapointed with Temple of Doom's cuts. First of all, no heart ripping. Then there bit where he is lowered into the pit was cut down...

In the Australian version, which is the same as the American version, you see the man catch on fire just before he is actually dropped into the lava. There are two shots of this missing from our version that show this.

Interestingly, ROTLA was uncut, yet, the exploding/melting head sequence was much more gruesome than the TOD sacrifical scene...

But then again, I have MAJOR ISSUES with the BBFC - personally, I wish they would all be gang raped, and then set on fire, but thats just me... DEATH TO THE BBFC!

 

i'm also an australianand i think we get the uncut version. i havn;t seen it for a while but remember seeing the hand tearing into the guys chest.... not that bad

 

KALI MA
KALI MA SHAKTI DE!
</Mola Ram voice>

 

I've gotta stress this:

MOLA RAM - SOODA RAM!!!!!!!

 

You betrayed SHIVA!!!!

*Sankara Stone bursts into flames*

 

I have to disagree on the "gruesome violence" in ROTLA. It is not realistic in any way. It's overdone(purposfully), and almost comical. Whereas the removal of a heart from a living person's chest is not.

 

WOOO! MOLA RAM!!!!

That was great! Do you mean that you don't get to see it on tv? Or that you didn't even get to see it in the movie theatres? Rent the movie. Isn't it in there? It was gross and wacked out by 1984 standards, but not anymore. Did you know that it was the movie that inspired the American rating system to come up with a PG-13 rating?

AMRISH PURI KICKED @$$!!!!!!!

BYE!!!

 

My mother edited that whole sequence out so it was not until I was older that I knew he ripped his heart out.

--Joey

 

Is it still shown in the 95 vhs edition release of it?