Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
February 2, 2023 10:05 AM - Subscribe

An art collector appeals to Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) to embark on a search for the Holy Grail. He learns that another archaeologist has disappeared while searching for the precious goblet, and the missing man is his own father, Dr. Henry Jones (Sean Connery). The artifact is much harder to find than they expected, and its powers are too much for those impure in heart.

Also starring Denholm Elliott, Alison Doody, John Rhys-Davies, Julian Glover, River Phoenix, Michael Byrne, Kevork Malikyan, Robert Eddison.

Directed by Steven Spielberg. Produced by George Lucas, Frank Marshall, Robert Watts, Arthur F. Repola, Patricia Carr. Written by George Lucas, Menno Meyjes, Jeffrey Boam. Edited by George Lucas, Michael Kahn. Score composed by John Williams.

88% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Currently streaming in the US on Amazon Prime and Paramount Plus. Also available for digital rental. JustWatch listing.
posted by DirtyOldTown (21 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Oh hey... with this post, I have made the [impressive?/ridiculous?/overbearing?/obsessive?] proportion of one out of all four FF movie posts ever made.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:09 AM on February 2, 2023 [33 favorites]


Congrats DOT!

Fun fact: The young Indy part in the beginning was filmed relatively close to where I was living at the time. So, we got to see the movie ONE WHOLE DAY before the world premiere. In the big city! The one that had two theaters! (Both with one screen only and almost always had the second run movies...)
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 10:44 AM on February 2, 2023 [2 favorites]


Best in the series, one of the best movies. Does everything it wants to and superbly, everybody has good chemistry, and the effects are dead on. I saw this in the theater as a kid and have loved it ever since; our old VHS copy was in terrible shape by the end.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:21 PM on February 2, 2023 [4 favorites]


The young Indy part in the beginning was filmed relatively close to where I was living at the time. So, we got to see the movie ONE WHOLE DAY before the world premiere.

Friends of mine own and operate two vacation/rental condos in Moab, and have stocked each one with DVDs of "movies filmed in this area". This is one, for the Young Indy parts filmed in Arches National park.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:00 PM on February 2, 2023 [3 favorites]


I said no camels!

Fun fact: the evil governor’s wife in RRR is the undercover nazi that both Joneses sleep with in this film.
posted by snofoam at 1:39 PM on February 2, 2023 [3 favorites]


Fun fact: the evil governor’s wife in RRR is the undercover nazi that both Joneses sleep with in this film.


Doody. That's her name: Doody. Alison Doody.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:41 PM on February 2, 2023 [3 favorites]


The Last Crusade is the weakest entry of the first three, IMO. It's bad enough that they threw Marcus and Sallah under the bus for comic relief. But that really isn't the Indiana Jones I know and love from Raiders and ToD. I understand why they would noble him up for the main plot. But the cold opening of the movie strongly implies that Indy was always on the up-and-up in his pursuit of archaeology, which he wasn't.
posted by Stuka at 2:45 PM on February 2, 2023


One of my favourite movies growing up. So quotable. Sean Connery playing very much against type, with glee.

The only thing missing is Marion Ravenwood/ Karen Allen.
posted by porpoise at 4:46 PM on February 2, 2023 [4 favorites]


I enjoyed watching this in theaters but as a 9-old-girl, it was also one of the first times I realized women had so little place in any of these stories. I was always happy to take what I could get but there was no one for me to identify with.

I kind of think the 5th one will ultimately be a mess but if some girl gets to see whoever Phoebe Waller-Bridge's character is and wants to be that, that's cool.

(Also, I kinda want to be Phoebe Waller-Bridge anyway.)
posted by edencosmic at 4:47 PM on February 2, 2023 [12 favorites]


I love this movie. I'm not going to claim it's a masterpiece or anything, but Sean Connery and Harrison Ford have hilarious father-son chemistry. Pay no attention to the actors' actual age differential!

If nothing else, "We named the dog Indiana" is an all time great dad burn.

I got the VHS from a McDonald's promotion, does anyone else remember that? I was very young and extremely impressed by the concept of a fast food video promotion. Better than joining the Columbia Records club, I suppose. (No need for an archaeologist to date this bag of bones, gonna drop the context clues for all to see, heh)
posted by the primroses were over at 5:20 PM on February 2, 2023 [3 favorites]


I much prefer this to ToD.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:34 PM on February 2, 2023 [4 favorites]


> Doody. That's her name: Doody. Alison Doody.

Listening to an episode of my favorite podcast, We Hate Movies, they mentioned her but one of the hosts got her name wrong and called her Allison Poopy, to which one of the other hosts was like, "That can't possibly be here name." Then he looked it up and realized he wasn't that far off.
posted by guiseroom at 6:37 PM on February 2, 2023 [2 favorites]


My husband and I love this movie. Raiders and ToD were scary but this one was fun. The repertoire between Ford and Connery is great. I will never get over Connery saying “she talks in her sleep” and the way he says “I thought I lost you!” when he thought Indy died was so moving. And my family members love saying “NO TICKET” to each other.
posted by kat518 at 6:45 PM on February 2, 2023 [2 favorites]


I will never get over Connery saying

GOOSH SHTEPPING MORONSH
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:53 PM on February 2, 2023 [3 favorites]


"How dare he!" *punch*
posted by Servo5678 at 7:14 AM on February 3, 2023


What time would Sean Connery arrive at Wimbledon?

Tennish.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:35 AM on February 3, 2023 [4 favorites]


I got the VHS from a McDonald's promotion

Hey me too! We got several VHS tapes that way - I think Field of Dreams and Addams Family.
This is my favorite Indy movie by far, but then I'm that guy who thought Crystal Skull was pretty decent, so don't take my word for it.

Temple of Doom was a disappointment for me after the excellent Raiders and I didn't know what to expect with this one. The small town I grew up in got a new theater 10 or so years after the (very) old one had closed and this was the fist movie shown there which added to the excitement. We didn't have to pack a lunch and hope the car made it there to see movies anymore! That shiny new theater just closed down about a week ago, but lucky for the people in my no-longer-small hometown there was a new theater open before that one closed this time around.

The chemistry between all of the actors in this is fantastic. There are so many great lines that I still say and hear in the wild today. "No tickets" "He chose poorly" "It BELONGS in a MUSEUM!" and a favorite in my family "Lost in his own museum, eh?" when someone says something that makes no sense.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 9:19 AM on February 3, 2023 [3 favorites]


Three and a half stars from Roger Ebert.
When “Raiders of the Lost Ark” appeared, it defined a new energy level for adventure movies; it was a delirious breakthrough. But there was no way for Spielberg to top himself, and perhaps it is just as well that “Last Crusade” will indeed be Indy's last film. It would be too sad to see the series grow old and thin, like the James Bond movies.

It's kinda nice to think that unlike Lucas other major series which now has many additional unnecessary appendages, a relatively weak middle was followed by a sound conclusion.
posted by StarkRoads at 11:22 AM on February 3, 2023


Needs to be included in any conversation about this movie: A Comparative Analysis of Two Drafts of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

This is a fascinating and illuminating comparison between Tom Stoppard's re-write of the screenplay and Jeffrey Boam's (penultimate) draft. It's really easy to see how much Stoppard improved the script with a more coherent structure, better pacing, increased tension, better-drawn characters, clarity of motivations, and the addition of wit -- often with only small, deft touches.
posted by theory at 12:07 PM on February 3, 2023 [9 favorites]


This is a fascinating and illuminating comparison between Tom Stoppard's re-write of the screenplay and Jeffrey Boam's (penultimate) draft.

Great link!
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:10 PM on February 3, 2023


Connery is playing Henry Sr. as too comically ancient to be seem plausible as an action hero.

Connery was 58 when this film was released.

Ford will be 81 summer.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:14 PM on February 3, 2023 [3 favorites]


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