What's the Best Indiana Jones Movie?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Oatsdad, Feb 23, 2019.

  1. FACE OF BOE

    FACE OF BOE Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Perhaps Tom Selleck could have appeared in ‘Crusade’s’ opening sequence as the Indy looking character that the young Indiana Jones steals the Cross of Coronado from. That would have been a nice nod to Sellecks almost casting.
     
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  2. JediJones

    JediJones Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    Selleck would've given that part more impact, but maybe too much. He would've stolen the scene, and we wouldn't have been thinking about Indy.

    I could also imagine a plot where Selleck plays Indy's brother, and they make it another buddy picture like Ford and Connery had.

    The fridge scene is one of many unlikely action sequences, but it probably goes a fridge too far. To have the fridge tumbling and rolling across the ground at high speeds and not have Indy severely injured doesn't seem possible. Impossible is not the same as unlikely. I think the original concept was that the fridge would stay in place, and the lead lining would help Indy survive the blast. At some point, THAT was decided to be implausible and the whole idea of the fridge being thrown from the blast was added in. Which I don't think helps.

    Of course the whole thing was repurposed from an old Back to the Future script draft where Marty gets back to the future by getting inside a fridge time machine at an atomic testing site, to get his 1.21 gigawatts. Which kind of explains why this scene isn't very organic to Crystal Skull and has to have the weird "thrown from the blast" part tacked on, which is the weakest aspect of the scene.

    Back to the Future - The First Time Machine was a Refrigerator, not a Delorean

    "The atomic test came into play for the return trip. Instead of a clock tower hit by lightning, “the 1952 version of Emmett Brown… rigged up a special lead-lined refrigerator with the device attached to it so that Marty could ride out the atomic detonation inside the refrigerator while the blast would trigger the time travel device.”"

    Marty learned in school that the last atomic test had happened in 1952, so that's how they knew about it. Which is actually more organic and plausible in that story than is the replacement plot with the lightning bolt and the clock tower. It isn't that plausible that 30 years later people are still going to be talking about where lightning struck.
     
  3. AndrewK

    AndrewK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    hard to imagine he was unable to see that bridge, at least reach with hand and feel around? Also kind of silly of the bad guy to trust his life to someone else picking a cup. The scene with "No ticket" always makes me laugh no matter how many times I see that movie, funny scene
     
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  4. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    Raiders of the Lost Ark.
     
  5. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever Thread Starter

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    I always thought that the bridge wouldn't appear until someone took the leap of faith. Indy couldn't have poked around for it because it wouldn't be there until he took his chance.

    Yes, you could argue that the bridge shouldn't then exist for those who followed, but it's a movie about a magical cup and an invisible bridge - roll with it! :D
     
  6. Timothy Aborn

    Timothy Aborn Forum Resident

    Location:
    Milford, NH 03055
    The first one is the best one.
     
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  7. Onkster515

    Onkster515 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    First, of course.

    Third is okay, but unnecessary.

    Fourth is just sad.

    Second should be erased from history.
     
  8. Kyle B

    Kyle B Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Raiders is the best, but Temple of Doom is underrated. There are some great action sequence in there. The only major flaw is the extended scene where Indy is “under the influence”. That needed to be cut by half.
     
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  9. twicks

    twicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    Each sequel is a little worse than the one before it. Temple of Doom goes hard, as the kids say.
     
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  10. Mosep

    Mosep Senior Member

    Location:
    St.Louis, MO
    I'd say the major flaw was Kate Capshaw's entire character.
     
  11. NightGoatToCairo

    NightGoatToCairo Forum Resident

    Location:
    .
    Temple/Raiders [tie]
    Crusade










    The other one
     
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  12. MikeMusic

    MikeMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Surrey, England
    Has to be Raiders
    Saw it at a West End cinema when it came out with a group of friends in our 20s and 30s
    Saturday morning pictures on steroids for (almost) grown ups, cheering clapping and much appreciation
     
  13. GeetarFreek

    GeetarFreek Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montana
    The first one by a lot

    Sean Connery made 3rd one lots of fun

    Temple of Doom, I tried watching recently, wow that hasn’t aged well.

    I won’t even discuss the abomination that is the 4th
     
  14. hyntsonsvmse

    hyntsonsvmse Nick Beal

    Location:
    northumberland
    I got they 4k blu ray boxset for Christmas. I won't be watching the forth film. It should never have been made.

    Favourite of the 3?
    That's between 1 and 3. It's a tough call so I'll call it a draw. Film 3 is really SC film. He out acts Harrison Ford throughout. He's also got the best lines.
    All three films are gems.
     
  15. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    I enjoy them all. My order is probably:

    1. Temple Of Doom
    2. Last Crusade
    3. Raiders
    4. Crystal Skull
     
  16. Jack D

    Jack D Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europa
    1 Raiders ... always
    2 Last Crusade is so much better than...
    3 Temple
    4 Skull

    Raiders is always a top 5 Speilberg.

    Steven Spielberg Movies Ranked from Worst to Best
    5. Saving Private Ryan (1998): Is this World War II film more than just its incredible opening sequence on the Normandy beach? We say yes: Saving Private Ryan also contains Tom Hanks’ most underappreciated and restrained performance as a hardnosed Army captain leading his troops on a seemingly ridiculous mission to rescue the last of the Ryan clan (Matt Damon) after his other brothers are killed in the war. The non-battle sequences, which at the time seemed dull in comparison to everything else in this film, now feel like mere momentary pauses in which we get to collect ourselves while we learn more about these men. Spielberg, god help him, can’t resist treacly bookends, but the rest of Saving Private Ryan is so gut-churning that it’s impossible not to be affected.

    4. Jaws (1975): The original blockbuster is a lot slower than you remember, proof that so few of the films it inspired took heed of its central filmmaking message: Tease, tease, tease, make them wait … and then destroy them. His technique is nearly subconscious at times, seemingly displaying a telepathic sense of how the human mind works, and how best to scare it. And don’t forget, by the way, the time it spends on its characters too, most memorably Robert Shaw’s Capt. Quint. Jaws was criticized for shepherding Hollywood out of the daring age of the late sixties and early seventies into a more impersonal multiplex age, but that’s not the film’s fault: That’s just a measure of how amazing an achievement Jaws actually was.

    3. Schindler’s List (1993): The best of Spielberg’s “serious movies,” this Best Picture winner, ironically, isn’t really a departure from his trademark set-piece style. But instead of being exhilarating, Schindler’s List’s most memorable sequences are harrowing and sobering: Amon Göth (Ralph Fiennes) picking off Jewish prisoners with a rifle or the remorseless liquidation of the Jewish ghetto captured in all its cold cruelty. If Spielberg allows a little sentimentality to creep into the corners of this harsh black & white film — specifically in the form of a little girl with a red coat — it’s a small price to pay for a drama that doesn’t shy away from a horrible chapter in human history. There is obviously not a happy ending, though we see the smallest glimmer of hope.

    2. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982): Adjusted for inflation, it’s still Spielberg’s biggest hit (and the fourth-biggest hit of all time), but it doesn’t feel like a blockbuster: It feels, instead, universal, timeless. For all the moments that Spielberg’s obsession with childhood went awry, this is the one time he got it exactly right. That sense that you’re the only one who understands, yet no adults will listen to you. That palpable, screaming loss of a friend. The “c’mon gang!” community spirit that feels almost painfully yearning today. This is the movie that Spielberg has said he feels the closest to, and it’s no wonder. It’s all the more powerful because there was never a sequel: Nothing could soil the experience. It hasn’t become a recurring classic on cable the way you might have expected it to, but that’s ultimately for the best: Revisiting it again will remind you of what it felt like the first time.

    1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): Spielberg has made more “important” films, and ones that are more emotionally involving, than Raiders of the Lost Ark.
    But he’s never made one this flat-out, top-to-bottom perfect.
    Dreamed up in Hawaii while on vacation with his buddy George Lucas, this funny, sexy, thrilling film gave the world Indiana Jones — part Sherlock Holmes (smart), part James Bond (suave), part Man With No Name (tough), and, naturally, part Han Solo (lovable rogue). While Harrison Ford will forever be closely associated with his Star Wars character, we understand why he’d prefer to be linked with Indy: In Raiders, he’s the ideal distillation of the smart-ass, everyman action hero. And Spielberg is having a ball. A lot of people blame him for the advent of the blockbuster/event movie. But it’s not his fault that none of his disciples can make ‘em as brilliantly as he did here.

    Every Steven Spielberg Movie, Ranked
    Steven Spielberg's Movies, Ranked Worst to Best
    Every Steven Spielberg Film (ranked) - IMDb
     
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  17. Rodant Kapoor

    Rodant Kapoor Forum Resident

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    I was 12 when Raiders of the Lost Ark came out. Our family went out for a weekend matinee, and I was bummed when I saw the poster because I thought it was going to be a western (it was the hat & bullwhip, I didn't see all the other hi-jinks going on in the movie poster in the lobby :laugh:).

    I was so smitten with that movie, especially when the Angels circled over and caused everyone to melt, I never saw anything like THAT before :eek:!
    I've seen that movie easily 100 times after that, and it fueled my love for Archeology and history.

    The other movies were great to me as a fan, but 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', and the second, 'Temple of Doom', are my favorites.
    Raiders was more gritty and realistic, as was Temple, but the latter notched up the cheese factor and the subsequent ones more so IMHO.
     
  18. head_unit

    head_unit Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA USA
    I thought this was a very visible example of I guess Spielberg getting entranced with effects, like the skulls. But I loved how Marion comes back. Nevertheless Raiders is one of my favorite movies ever, probably close #2 along with Spirited Away and The Sound Of Music, all a bit behind Kiki's Delivery Service which I consider my favorite because it is just so nice and pleasant and I don't get tired of watching it.
     
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  19. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever Thread Starter

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    A friend who turned 50 yesterday watched "Raiders" for the first time last week and got fixated on the fact Marion runs around the desert barefoot after the Well of Souls sequence.

    She thought it was unrealistic that Marion could do so without extreme pain.

    She's fleeing deadly snakes and then fighting Nazis! No time to stop at Thom McAn! :laugh:
     
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  20. Bobby Buckshot

    Bobby Buckshot Heavy on the grease please

    Location:
    Southeastern US
    She also (apparently) drank so many shots as to outdo a very large man at a drinking game - in extremely high altitude...and then displays no signs of being drunk! She's got superpowers.
     
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  21. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever Thread Starter

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    In a movie with that scene and many others that stretch credulity - or delve into outright fantasy - I thought it was odd my friend focused on Marion's lack of footwear... but that's what stayed with her! :laugh:
     
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  22. Agreed!
     
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  23. GregM

    GregM The expanding man

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Good luck predicting or understanding what females say. I've never been able to do it! :shrug:
     
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  24. JediJones

    JediJones Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    They're definitely obsessed with shoes, so that doesn't surprise me. I'm as shoe-oblivious as a person can get. I never look at a person's feet in real life or in a movie.
     
  25. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever Thread Starter

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    The whole "Marion's feet would hurt too much" discussion reminded me of the time I saw "Shrek" with my then-girlfriend.

    After the movie, she complained because Donkey didn't bleed when he got shot (with an arrow, I think).

    I responded "so you're okay with a talking donkey and an ogre and dragons, etc., but the lack of blood was too much for you?" :laugh:
     
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