Professor Henry Jones: I didn't know you could fly a plane.
Indiana Jones: Fly, yes. Land, no.



After having taken a definitively dark turn in 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, director Steven Spielberg and executive producer George Lucas decided that the third installment of the series should be thrilling, lighter in tone and more upbeat and humorous. In other words, they wanted to recreate the Saturday-matinee serial fun of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Lucas, Menno Meyjes and screenwriter Jeffrey Boam wrote a story that once again sent the archaeologist/adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) on the quest for another legendary artifact -- the Holy Grail. And to avoid the inevitable “ho hum, been there, done that” syndrome that sequels often suffer from, they decided to include a father-son dynamic to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade by casting Sean Connery as Professor Henry Jones.

Although Last Crusade follows the basic structure -- borrowed from the James Bond series -- of the other movies by starting the film with the end of a previous adventure before introducing the main storyline, the film tweaks the formula by showing us Indy's first big adventure: in 1912 Utah, when the future archaeology professor is a Boy Scout (literally) living with his widowed father, Henry Jones. While on a Boy Scouting sojourn in the mountainous desert, young Indy (River Phoenix) wanders into a cave and sees a group of ruffians pilfering the long-lost Cross of Coronado. “That cross is an important artifact,” Indy says to a fellow Boy Scout. “It belongs in a museum.” Indy sends his friend for help, steals the Cross of Coronado from the ruffians, but ends up being chased as he attempts to escape on foot, horseback and even a circus train. In this interlude, Indy acquires most of the traits established in the earlier films -- his fear of snakes, his affinity for the whip (and the origins of the scar on his chin) and, yes, his choice of the leather jacket and snap-brim fedora. (One of the best scenes in the series: the handsome rogue who was hired to find the Cross by the collector known in the credits as “Panama Hat” tells Indy, “You lost today, kid. But that doesn’t mean you have to like it.” And in a show of admiration for the kid’s spunk and courage, takes off his hat and places it on Indy’s head. Spielberg holds the camera on the hat, and in the blink of an eye, we flash forward 26 years and to the conclusion of Indy’s search for the Cross of Coronado.)

Panama Hat: Small world, Dr. Jones.
Indiana Jones: Too small for two of us.
Panama Hat: This is the second time I've had to reclaim my property from you.
Indiana Jones: That belongs in a museum.
Panama Hat: So do you.


After this exciting prologue, The Last Crusade gets underway when American millionaire Walter Donovan (The Empire Strikes Back’s Julian Glover) commissions Indy to find the missing leader (and his important papers) of Donovan’s Holy Grail recovery team. Several clues have been found near Ankara, clues that might lead to the location of the legendary cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper -- a cup that also caught some of His blood at the Crucifixion. But when Indy temporizes, Donovan tells him the identity of the missing team leader...and our favorite archaeologist/adventurer starts out on yet another globe-trotting trek to chase an ancient treasure.

Indiana Jones: Listen. Since I've met you I've nearly been incinerated, drowned, shot at, and chopped into fish bait. We're caught in the middle of something sinister here, my guess is dad found out more than he was looking for and until I'm sure, I'm going to continue to do things the way I think they should be done.



Soon, Indiana Jones, his friend and boss Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott), Elsa Schneider (Allison Doody) -- a young, sexy Austrian archaeologist who works for Donovan -- and Indy’s friend Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) set off on a quest to find the legendary Grail.

Professor Henry Jones: They're trying to kill us.
Indiana Jones: I know, Dad.
Professor Henry Jones: This is a new experience for me.
Indiana Jones: It happens to me all the time.


Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, with its crisp script, thrilling music by John Williams (with its pastoral-sounding "Henry's Theme" and riffs on the familiar "Raiders' March") fine directing by Spielberg -- who balances action set pieces and the father-son element adroitly -- and a convincing father-son chemistry between Ford and Connery, is one of the best action films made in the 1980s, and its recent release on DVD proves that it, like the other films in the series, has aged well.


Cast List
Harrison Ford ... Indiana Jones
Sean Connery ... Professor Henry Jones
Denholm Elliott ... Dr. Marcus Brody
Alison Doody ... Dr. Elsa Schneider
John Rhys-Davies ... Sallah
Julian Glover ... Walter Donovan
River Phoenix ... Young Indy
Michael Byrne ... Vogel
Kevork Malikyan ... Kazim
Robert Eddison ... Grail Knight
Richard Young ... Fedora


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12