Episode 21 – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

We’re back from our holiday hiatus, and Charlie has brought his mom, Marcy Wallace on the show to talk about Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Turns out it’s easy to get caught up in the details if you’re re-watching this one. But in between Jessica and Charlie’s plot quibbles, we get Marcy’s opinion on whether this holds up as an action/adventure flick today. Choose wisely, sit back, and take a listen (ha, GET IT?).

Clarifications:

The younger hand/arm of Henry Jones Sr. is played by Alex Hyde-White, who plays Reed Richards in the storied 1994 movie The Fantastic Four. Which I know, because I had to watch it for the Merry Marvel Movie March our sister podcast is doing. Check that out here!

The Monkey King is apparently a mythological Chinese figure, whose integration into the script might have been slightly less hilarious than we thought when we recorded this.

I quickly began to wonder whether there would have been suitable torch alternatives when this movie took place. Wikipedia has the answer, as always! Indy was indeed being reckless.

Marcy forgot to mention that the “smile for the camera” moments of the movie really reminded her of Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood. This isn’t too surprising actually, since Indiana Jones draws a lot of inspiration from 1930’s matinee serials and movies of that period.

Notes regarding Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, from our EP:

  1. “Poorly received” is probably not quite right. Overall, critics and fans still seem positive about it, and the main drawback seems to be its failure to live up to its predecessor.
  2. Adam thinks it has the best soundtrack.
  3. Adam thinks Short Round was at least better than Shia LaBeouf.
  4. Willie Scott is the name of the character everyone loves to hate.

Also, The Goonies is technically directed by Richard Donner, although Spielberg had his hands all over it so it doesn’t undermine anything we say.

Adam’s main problem with the choice of Grail is that technically the cup didn’t belong to Jesus at all. It’s not like the Last Supper took place at Jesus’s house, so there’s no reason to think it would have anything to do with him being a carpenter. Guess Indy just got lucky!

From the moment we first see the tank, to when we realize Indy has NOT fallen over the cliff, about 16 minutes has elapsed. Quite a bit of the film!

Indy murders a lot of people in this one, but he’s not alone. I won’t spoil the actual body count for you, but here’s the video proof!

Movies We Reference:

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Odd Thomas (2013)

Lost in Translation (2003)

Local Hero (1983)

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (2015)