Last, but certainly not least.
by Hunter Isham
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' Indiana Jones adventure series is collectively my favorite movie, but I know that's cheating just a little bit. I love all four of the films, some more than others, and perhaps in time I will write about each of them for the blog. For now, I'll keep my bursting admiration to the one film I'd likely pick to have on a desert island for eternity: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Most film series can't manage to make a good sequel, let alone a great "threequel," but then again the Indy series has long stood as one of the great cinematic sagas. The original 1981 adventure, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is often cited as the best of the bunch, as well as one of the best films of all time, and I have often agreed with that assessment, but 1989's The Last Crusade is an unbelievably fun, heartfelt thrill ride.
Like no other Jones film before it, Last Crusade aims to give the audience more of a personal story for Indy. Opening the film in 1912, a teenaged, boy scout Indiana (well played by River Phoenix) decides to rescue an, "important artifact [that] belongs in a museum," from some robbers, a sequence that provides a great deal of background on Jones' character, with everything from his aversion to snakes to how he acquired his iconic brown fedora played out with just the right mix of gleeful action. We get a brief, off-camera introduction to the elder Dr. Jones, and then we flash forward, setting the rest of the film in motion. As with all Indy adventures, Jones is out to find what Spielberg and Lucas call a certain "McGuffin," an object that moves the story along, and as the titular crusade implies, he's on the hunt for the Holy Grail. Indy's father Henry is the family Grail expert, but he's been kidnapped, so Indiana himself must pick up where the trail went cold, all the while searching for the only family he has left.
Last Crusade, rather than giving Indy another leading, romantic interest, focuses the heart of the film on the near-estranged relationship between the doctors Jones, exploring Henry's obsession with the Grail and his son's resentment for that life-long work. Having already appeared in Raiders and 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, there is simply no question that Harrison Ford is perfectly suited to what has arguably become his most beloved and iconic role, and one would think that casting Sean Connery, James Bond himself, as the daring archeologist's father would be a no-brainer. It is indeed brilliant casting, but not because Connery delivers the same charm and panache he brought to Bond, but rather because he makes Dr. Henry Jones a stuffy, bumbling fellow who is more at home with a book than with a bullwhip. He turns out to be the perfect cinematic companion for Indy, providing constant comic relief as they bicker and attempt to fight off the Nazis (this is, after all, an Indiana Jones film), as well as often imparting deep hurt and regret, both for not having been there for his son and for not being appreciated as the father he managed to be. Ford, given a character from his past to play off of (something not seen since Karen Allen's Marion in Raiders), makes the already human character of Indiana more vulnerable and relatable than ever before. Anytime these two icons share the screen, the result is simply cinematic magic.
As much as Ford and Connery make Last Crusade the great film that it is, the rest of the cast is equally excellent. Denholm Elliott and John Rhys-Davies, both returning to their respective roles of Marcus Brody and Sallah from Raiders, provide a good deal of comedy as friends and accomplices to the Jones boys, especially as the film heads into its final act, and the two become key players in a wonderful action sequence. Brody in particular becomes hilariously incompetent at times as this film frees him from his university-bound part in the earlier film, giving the audience a glimpse at an academic even less-suited to raucous field work than Henry. The rest of the cast is filled out with fine performances by Allison Doody, the initial love interest for Indy when he travels to Venice, and Julian Glover as the man who hires the Joneses. The villainous Nazis are portrayed with the proper pulpy evil and occasional daftness that a film such as this requires of them.
The Indiana Jones franchise is one that's always given the audience some great characters to join for adventures, but of course these films wouldn't be the blockbusters they are without fantastic action, and Spielberg once more does not disappoint. From the prologue's playful chase, moving from horseback to a circus train, to the final tricks and traps of the Grail's resting place, every bit of spectacle is top-notch. We get boat chases through Venice, a bi-plane dogfight, and a masterful duel between Indy and a tank, among so many other heart-racing set-pieces. That episode with the tank remains one of the more ambitious moments of the entire franchise, following several characters moving from place to place in constantly changing circumstances, yet Spielberg never once loses the audience, keeping everything important on the screen and easy to follow. The director has a great story by Lucas and Menno Meyjes to work with, and an even better screenplay that provides the tender character moments. Jeffrey Boam, a writer on a couple of the Lethal Weapon movies, is the film's only credited writer, although Spielberg has stated that an uncredited Tom Stoppard is responsible for nearly all of the film's dialogue. Whether one wrote the characters while the other handled the action is unimportant, because no matter how it was accomplished, they achieved a perfect balance between emotion and excitement.
Although Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford are considered the Indiana Jones brain trust of writer, director, and actor that is key to making these films possible (and there's no denying that), the one other individual whose contributions to the series are just as significant and incomparable is none other than composer John Williams. With Raiders, Williams established yet another classic theme for a franchise-to-be, and the globe-trotting nature of the films has allowed him to bring new sounds and themes into each installment, creating a definite musical DNA that connects the three (and eventually four) films whose locations and plots are essentially isolated from each other, but are undoubtedly part of the same universe. Aside from the usually great themes for different locales and villains, Williams provides a father and son theme, doubling as a theme for the Grail, that completes the bond between Indiana and Henry, and which makes the heart-tugging finale a truly moving moment on film.
I didn't warn you at the beginning of this review as I have done in the past that my zeal for certain movies, as well as their respective casts and crews, can spawn a long and winding road of admiration. As the About page notes, action/adventure is my favorite genre, Harrison Ford is my favorite actor, and as pointed out when I began this review, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is my favorite movie of all-time. I've stated the more "professional" reasons for this film's excellence, but my love of this movie is more deeply rooted. George Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy is what first made me consider a career in filmmaking may be something I'd like, but Lucas' collaboration with Steven Spielberg (who as you may know has become may favorite director since that time) is what made me fall for movies. Hard. Here were action/adventure spectacles populated with charming, funny, romantic, vile, and evil characters, people who seemed as real as anyone despite the fantastical stories to which they belonged.
My favorite of this series has changed over the years, but I eventually settled on The Last Crusade because of its undeniably moving story. Although the other Indiana Jones films have given us characters we can see, and feel for, as real people, this third installment is the most human. Others may consider Raiders of the Lost Ark the true masterpiece of the series, and it is a film I consider to be flawless, meanwhile viewing Last Crusade as great, but perhaps just a little bit of a retread. To be inventive three films in can be a daunting task, but I think Last Crusade's luster may only be diminished when viewed in the shadow of its earlier counterpart. Standing on its own, and as a worthy successor, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is the thrilling, heartfelt film to which all blockbusters should aspire. Go ahead and, as the film's tagline declares, "have the adventure of your life keeping up with the Jonses." I promise you won't regret it; I know I haven't. 10/10
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