Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is the third, and, for many years, it would be considered the last installment of the successful action-adventure trilogy. While it doesn’t make the dynamic impact that Raiders of the Lost Ark did upon its debut, you really couldn’t ask for a more crowd-pleasing potential final chapter.  Director Steven Spielberg here was not only fulfilling the three-picture deal he had with creator and writer George Lucas and star Harrison Ford, but also seized upon an opportunity to try to earn back the respect for the character after the prior entry, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, had begun to evaporate, at least in his mind.  Ironically, Temple of Doom was one of the films that brought about the PG-13 rating’s existence, and, despite the fact that The Last Crusade is easily the mildest of the Indiana Jones movies in terms of scares and intensity, it would be the only one among 1980s releases to get the harder rating.

Last Crusade begins with River Phoenix playing a young Indiana Jones, even at a young age, having a thirst for adventure.  His father (Sean Connery), who is also professor of Medieval literature, is acutely obsessed with tracking down any information he can get regarding the whereabouts of the legendary Holy Grail, the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, and, as a result, little attention is paid to young Indy.  Flash forward to 1938, where Indiana (Harrison Ford) finds that his father has been kidnapped by the Nazis, who are also looking for the Holy Grail, and the legendary powers of immortality it may hold.  Indy and his dad have never quite seen eye to eye, which makes Indiana’s subsequent rescue attempts all the more interesting, as he tries to impress a man who only lives for the Grail.

Spielberg, who put aside the potential for directing two other 1980s classics in Big and Rain Man to take on the project, corrects many of the missteps he had made in Temple of Doom, by going in completely the opposite direction, making the adventure about the characters and not the thrills and chills every few minutes.  For the most part, Last Crusade is a much lighter, frothier affair, with even the more menacing parts marked with bits of genuine levity.  Jeffrey Boam provides the warmly funny screenplay, and even the cinematography, which ran dark and mysterious in the previous adventures, appears vibrant and colorful.  It’s a kinder, gentler Indiana Jones.

Originally, Chris Columbus, a Spielberg favorite in the 1980s, turned in an early script set in Scotland and Africa, reportedly to be called “Indiana Jones and the Monkey King”, which included Lucas’ long-standing desire to make a haunted house part of the story in Scotland before ending up in a battle for the Fountain of Youth in Africa.  Lucas wasn’t happy with it (primarily for it being too rooted into fantasy, and because of Spielberg’s qualms with the African stereotypes, having received a good share of blow-back for the depictions in Temple of Doom), despite it being based on his own ideas, and decided to go another direction, with the Grail legend.

Spielberg was skeptical that the Holy Grail, which was just a cup with no attributed powers at the time, would make for an interesting adventure, but saw the prize not as the cup itself, but the restoration of the relationship with a mostly estranged father and son, with the introduction of Henry Jones Sr. something that Spielberg thought could shake things up for the character of Indiana Jones in very interesting, humorous, and heartwarming ways.  Spielberg brought on board Menno Meyjes, who wrote his The Color Purple and helped pepper up Empire of the Sun for him, to work with Lucas on the story. Mythical powers were added during the development phase to the cup to put it on a powerful par with the other relics from the prior films.  Jeffrey Boam, who worked with Spielberg on his production of Innerspace came in to shape it into a final screenplay, while an uncredited Tom Stoppard would re-work all of the dialogue for the film to give the characters more levity and humanity.

Sean Connery is a perfect addition to the series, playing the part of the unimpressed father beautifully, though, in reality, Connery is only twelve years older than Ford.  Just when you think you’ve seen all there is to see as far as the character of Indiana Jones, out comes another facet, and Harrison Ford does a very commendable job in balancing the Indy we all know from the previous film and the boyish vulnerability whenever he is around his father.  Two of the biggest legends in the world of action flicks together on one bill is worth the price of admission at any price.  Spielberg had wanted Connery from the get-go, as he had always envisioned the Indiana Jones series as his own form of the James Bond adventures, tying in his younger series with the “father” series, with the iconic actor who famously played 007.  Most of the supporting roles also went to actors who appeared in more recent James Bond films, including Julian Glover and Alison Doody, who had roles in For Your Eyes Only and A View to a Kill, respectively.  Even John Rhys-Davies, returning in his role from Raiders as Sallah, had just appeared in 1987’s The Living Daylights.

River Phoenix is an inspired choice to play the younger Indiana Jones, selected by Harrison Ford himself for the role after the two had appeared together in 1986’s The Mosquito Coast. Ford liked the young actor and thought he was the one he could think of that could handle the part who most resembled what he looked like as a teenager. The sequence essentially acts as an origin story of sorts, introducing us to Henry Sr., as well as showing how Indiana would earn his trademark Fedora hat and whip (and his first use of it produced the scar on Harrison Ford’s chin, which were real and had been acquired in a car accident decades prior, as well as the origin of his fear of snakes.

The story moves briskly from one plot point to the next, and while some think this makes for a tighter affair than its predecessors, there are also extraordinarily contrived elements that are brought in for that plot to move as fleet as it does.  For instance, Indiana Jones secures a nicely fitting staff uniform prior to going on a Nazi zeppelin in a manner that isn’t really explained by something we see within the story. The scene in a library in Venice where Indiana Jones makes connections on finding catacombs in the street connect things that are easily connectable (though Elsa claims him to be a genius), and requires finding a symbol under their feet that has been likely seen by thousands of people that have ever looked at the floor from his vantage point.

The effects work in this film are remarkably shoddy for a film with this budget and team of professionals.  In particular, the blue screen effects are blatantly obvious when they occur, with lighting and backdrops that don’t match with the established environs well.  Creature effects, such as a circus python and a rhinoceros that somehow has the ability to gore through the top of a train, are cartoonish and not convincing at all.  Locale work does bolster these elements well, however, with the production granted access for a half-day to parts of Venice, Italy, as well as the exterior shots of the Grail’s home film in Petra, Jordan, substituting for Alexandretta (interiors were a fictional set, as was the set for the interior of the library in Venice).

The theme of the film that of the search for the father is the real search, rather than the search for the Grail, is perhaps the most poignant.  For Henry Sr., it is the search for illumination, starting off with the quote at the beginning of the film, “May he who illuminated this illuminate me”, which is also what he claims to have discovered by the end of the film.  In a way, the religious artifacts on all three films are about the search for God in a couple of different forms, just as religion can also be seen as a search for the father (of all of us), as well as the search for self.  For Indiana, he has always search for what’s factual, whereas his father is in a search for truth, which he distinguishes from fact in his line, “Archaeology is the search for fact, not truth.” In the end, Henry Jones Sr. finds the illumination he is seeking; he doesn’t need the Grail itself, because what he is wanting to know is that it exists, and in its existence, that God exists.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade would prove to be a box office smash, finishing second overall in the U.S. box office, losing only to Batman, though it was the top money earner internationally, finding huge success in Japan, most notably.  In fact, at the time of its release, it was the second highest money-earner for international dollars of all time, though it has subsequently been bested many times over. Critically, it was also successful, with many reviews noting it bouncing back in tone and tempo from The Temple of Doom for the funnest romp in the series.  It would receive an Oscar for its sound effects editing, and also nominations for John Williams’ score and for sound mixing.

There is a sense of welcome immaturity to the entire production, letting you know that it’s all in the name of fun.  Some Indiana Jones fans love the comedy and repartee within the film so much, they consider it the best of the series (even Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford have said that it is their favorite as well).  It’s a loving send off to one of the most beloved characters in movie history, and even if the humor sometimes gets into the realm of corniness, we like the characters so much, even those moments will make us smile.  For every Indiana Jones fan, it’s must-see viewing, literally watching Indy and friends ride off to the sunset together.

Although Spielberg and Lucas had claimed shortly after the release of The Last Crusade that it would be the last of his cinematic adventures, Lucas liked the aspect of seeing Indiana Jones in his younger year, producing The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles for television for three years, including a few made-for-TV movies. Despite their early claims to its closure, the film series would prove its immortality 19 years later with the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. 

Qwipster’s rating: A

MPAA Rated: PG-13 for violence, sensuality, and some disturbing images
Running Time: 127 min.

Cast: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Alison Doody, Denholm Elliott, John Rhys-Davies, Julian Glover, River Phoenix
Director:  Steven Spielberg
Screenplay: Jeffrey Boam