Indiana Jones and the Making of an Idol
| Indiana Jones goes back to an idea that George Lucas had in the 70s, an homage to 30s adventure serials and pulp magazines in much the way that Star Wars was. The adventure story was very much in the mould of old Doc Savage comics, the cliff-hanger storytelling copied from Old Republic serials, and the character’s distinctive look was inspired by Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Charlton Heston in Secret of the Incas and Zorro. As Star Wars was becoming an international phenomenon, Lucas was vacationing in Hawaii with friend Steven Spielberg and in light of his new found success, offered to Spielberg that they should collaborate on a new venture. Hard to believe now, but no studio at the time wanted a piece of the script to be called Raiders of the Lost Ark, even though it had both Spielberg and Lucas’ names attached. Paramount Pictures begrudgingly gave a greenlight as Lawrence Kasdan, co-author of The Empire Strikes Back, finished the screenplay from a story by Lucas and Philip Kaufman. The director of the ’78 Invasion of the Body Snatchers was looking to direct originally, and he came up with the idea for the Ark of the Covenant to be the MacGuffin that everybody pursues. |
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Then came casting, and for the iconic role of Indiana Jones (formally Indiana Smith in earlier versions of the script), it’s hard to believe that there was anyone else for the part than Harrison Ford. Indeed, Ton Selleck was the first choice, but a conflict with his then filming TV show, Magnum P.I., forced him to bow out. It was Spielberg that suggested Ford, which made Lucas initially hesitant because he didn’t want Ford to be his “Bobby De Niro”, which was in reference to Martin Scorsese’s preference for actor Robert De Niro.
For Indy’s love interest Marion Ravenwood, a number of actresses were considered, including Sean Young, for whom Raiders became another brush with greatness in a long, kind of sad history of missed opportunities for Young. Karen Allen won the part instead.
It’s sufficient to say that when Raiders was released in 1981 no one had ever seen anything like it before. The non-stop action, the humour, the thrills, the romance – Raiders of the Lost Ark just about had it all and it was a chemistry that could never quite be duplicated in the following two Indy films.
Unlike the matinee idols he was based on, Indiana Jones looked like he took all the punches that were swung his way. Two of the best scenes in the film show Indy’s status as an all too human superhero. One is when he motions a gigantor Nazi bruiser with the “Wait-a-minute” hand gesture before fighting him. The other, more famously, is the scene where Indy shoots the swordsman out right; a famous ad-lib by Ford who was exhausted from food poisoning when shooting the scene.
Of course, Raiders, that odd little movie nobody wanted, went on to be the biggest success of the 1981 box office year. It also launched a thousand imitators who are all trying to find that magical combination of everyman hero, massive adventure and supernatural forces; think: the National Treasure and the re-imagined Mummy films.
But perhaps most importantly, Indiana Jones made archaeology look cool and stylish. How many kids started wearing fedoras because of the man named Indiana.
Naturally, a sequel was inevitable and in 1984, Spielberg, Lucas and Ford returned for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Consider it Lucas’ first experiment in prequels; the action takes place two years earlier than in Raiders.
Kasdan had his hands full with The Big Chill, so American Graffiti co-writers Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz took over scripting duties, working from a story by Lucas. Since dark worked so well for Lucas in the second chapter of the Star Wars trilogy, he figured dark was the way to go for the second Indy.
Temple of Doomhas actually been rather maligned for being the “worst” of the Indy movies. Of course, that’s all relative because the worst Indiana Jones is still better than the best Police Academy.
True, Willie Scott, the “Indy Girl” in this outing played by Kate Capshaw, adds nothing to the proceedings but enough whining for a choir of 1930s lounge singers. The addition of Short Round also comes from Spielberg’s hit-and-miss cute kid phase, what exactly happened to Short Round between Temple and Raiders is a mystery never solved.
But more than that, something was amiss. The movie said “Indiana Jones,” but it’s like the cooked the movie with an amended recipe, trying a few new spices and adding an odd new flavour to our favourite dish.
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Still, there’s a lot to be redeemed from Temple, not the least of which is some jaw-dropping action sequences. The mine cart chase still remains a milestone in Indy lore, just a pure adrenaline rush from start to finish and all the more amazing for all the miniature work still holds up a quarter-century later. The final showdown on the bridge, with Indy cornered by the forces of Mola Ram (a wicked Amrish Puri), has one of my favourite lines from the series. Caught in the middle of the rope bridge, Indy raises a sword and says “Mola Ram! Prepare to meet Kali... in Hell!” before cutting the bridge in half. In a word: awesome! Also, it’s worth noting that between this and Gremlins (another Spielberg production) it was deemed necessary for the MMPA to find a middle ground between PG and R. Hence the creation of PG-13. But at the time, Temple of Doomwas considered a disappointment, a financially successful disappointment, but a disappointment nonetheless. It was now up to Spielberg and Lucas to make amends, so they went back to two of the things that worked so well in Raiders: Biblical lore and Nazis. |
Lucas contributed the idea of the Holy Grail, Spielberg wanted a tale about father and son. The screenplay ended up being credited to Jeffrey Boam, but Tom Stoppard did some uncredited rewrites in the script for the movie title Indian Jones and the Last Crusade.
The casting challenge this time was to find an older actor worthy enough to play Indy’s bookish father, Professor Henry Jones Sr. For Spielberg it was a simple choice: who better to be Indiana Jones’ father than James Bond himself, Sean Connery.
This sort of played into Spielberg’s Bond fixation as the filmmaker always wanted to make a movie featured Her Majesty’s favourite secret agent, instead he settled for Indiana Jones. Indeed, there were inside jokes all over the place as it’s revealed that Indiana takes his “professional” name from a beloved childhood dog, just as Lucas himself named the character after a dog he owned in the 70s. Many considered the Last Crusade a return to form; even Spielberg considers it his favourite of the Indiana Jones movies. One can’t deny that after the doldrums of Temple, Last Crusade makes for a refreshing change, but it can at times seem like the filmmakers tipped the balance in the opposite direction. There’s definitely more jocularity in this one, almost as if lost laughs from Temple of Doom are trying to made up for. But one can easily forgive because the chemistry between Ford and Connery is so good it hurts. So long as you can get past the opening prologue where it seems like everything that made Indy, Indy happened to him on a single day as a teenager. (Although it’s worth saying that the late River Phoenix did a wicked Harrison Ford impression.) |
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Only a cameo by Harrison Ford as “Old Indy” in an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles has been the sole tide over for fans awaiting the next big screen adventure. Secrecy has been the watch word for The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but in this day and age, leaks are inevitable.
Clearly, there are some very strong connections to Raiders; can the reappearance of Marion and a warehouse full of wooden boxes in storage be a coincidence? Is Mutt, the character played by Shia LaBeouf, Indy and Marion’s love child? All questions will be answered this Thursday. It only took 19 years of waiting.
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