It’s been two weeks since I started looking back on the Indiana Jones franchise reviewing Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Temple of Doom.  Today with just only a few day’s away to the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, lets look back to the last film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 

Released about 19 years ago, The Last Crusade takes place during the year 1938 serving as a true sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark considering The Temple of Doom was primarily a prequel.  This time the quest is for the most biblical item in the world, the Holy Grail.  With a budget that by today’s standards for an action movie is low, $48 million, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas once again create an action adventure film that people will remember for all time.  Being the most humorous of the three The Last Crusade focuses on the relationship between Jones and his father more then it does on the Grail itself.  Introducing the father of Indiana Jones is Sean Connery playing the role of Dr. Henry Jones Sr.  Also, returning from the first film Raiders of the Lost Ark is Denholm Elliot as Dr. Marcus Brody and John Rhys-Davies as Sallah.  Playing the villain’s is once again the dreaded Nazi regime with Julian Glover (Walter Donovan), Alison Doody (Dr. Elsa Schneider) and Michael Byrne (Colonel Vogel).

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The Last Crusade might have been a sequel but it was also an origin story.  Opening up with a young Indiana Jones played by River Phoenix we get to see one of his earliest adventures and in a sense the passing of the torch from another adventurer.  During the year 1912 a young Jones must stop grave robbers from stealing the Cross of Coronado.  In this sequence the Indiana Jones origin story shows us the the first time he uses the infamous whip in which he scarred his chin, we see where his fear of snakes comes from and we see where he gets the hat that everyone knows.  We also are introduced the the relationship between Indy and his father, but the thing that I love about this entire prologue opening is the end.  One of the men who tried to steel the Cross is dress just like the way future Indiana dresses and he’s the one who gave Indy the fedora.  You can tell just from looking at that man that he’s impressed with the young Jones probably reminding him of himself as an adventurer.  There he passes the torch from one adventurer to another giving him his fedora.  As an actor, River Phoenix was probably the luckiest kid at the time.  He was personally recommended to play the role by Harrison Ford because apparently he looked like Ford at that age, and it turned out great.  Not only does Phoenix look like a young Jones but he was also able to pull off some of the mannerisms that Ford does throughout the franchise.  I especially like the scene when young Jones first takes the Cross and just before he begins to climb the rope he looks back and smiles and that’s something you’ll see Ford do through out the movies. 

As usual, Harrison Ford performs as if he really is Indiana Jones and with a little more humor.  This time however Indiana is portrayed with a little more depth of characterization with the addition of Sean Connery playing his father.  The casting of Sean Connery is simply perfection and it proves that Spielberg was correct in assuming that the Grail itself wasn’t a strong plot device.  Although its a myth with that’s considered huge in biblical mythology it never seemed to measure up to something like the Ark of the Covenant at least when it came to story telling in a movie like this.  Without Connery, who knows how this movie would have played out.

The chemistry between Ford and Connery is simply amazing.  It’s Amazing enough that there was a cry for Connery to return in Crystal Skull but that is not to be.  Connery brings great humor and intelligence to Henry Jones but the character himself is too deep into the myth of the Grail that he doesn’t pay attention to his son Indiana in which there is a resentment that Indiana has towards his father.  The thing that makes the relationship so great and funny is that Henry Jones has this attitude that he’s been there and done that.  He has the intelligence to match up to his son, but in the end he’s actually never been though adventures the way Indy has.  His reactions during certain events brings that humor into play and with Ford working off that we have basically a light hearted action film which is a huge change from Temple of Doom.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark we didn’t get to see all that much of Marcus but here in The Last Crusade he’s basically in the entire film.  In Raiders he portrays a serious colleague of Indiana but we only find out here in The Last Crusade that he’s actually a bumbling fool.  Sure he’s Intelligent in archeology but as Indy said, he got lost in his own museum once.  So that basically sums up who he is, he’s a simple museum curator and Indiana Jones is the man that acquires the items that go into the museum.  The return of both Marcus and Sallah was intended to recapture the same tone as Raiders and in a way it worked.  John Rhys-Davis in Last Crusade is great but it really wasn’t as entertaining in Raiders but that’s basically attributed to what he had to do in Last Crusade.  Don’t get me wrong , Davis is perfect but he didn’t have a lot to work with.

That being said, and although The Last Crusade was more in tune with Raiders when it came to tone then Temple of Doom did.  I think that much is obvious, but nothing will ever match up to what Raiders did  That being the case this film had more intrigue then the Temple of Doom, at least for my part, in which this film is my personal second favorite of the franchise.

Overall, The Last Crusade is another excellent film in the Indiana Jones franchise.  The light hearted adventure is a pleasant change from Temple of Doom and with an amazing performance by Sean Connery, The Last Crusade makes 3 for 3 in a movie franchise that will be remembered and loved for a very very long time.  Next week we hope to make that 4 for 4 but if Spielberg can continue what he’s done in the first 3 films with the long lasting performance of Harrison Ford, I have no doubt that we’ll love Crystal Skull.  As for The Last Crusade it rates an 8.5 making it number 2 on my list.  Raiders is an 10 out of 10, The Last Crusade is an 8.5 out of 10 and Temple of Doom is an 8 out of 10.

-Phil