40th Favorite Movie - The Indiana Jones Series

Make sure you have read the first post in this series ("My 50 Favorite Movies") before you read on...

In that I am the Creator of this list, I am naturally the one who sets the rules. And according to my rules, I can categorize an entire series as one movie as I have done here, or just focus on one or two movies of a series and act like the others don't exist, which I will be doing later.

If I had to rank them, I would rank the Indiana Jones movies like this:

1. Raiders
2. Crusade
3. Temple

which seems to be how most people rank them, although for some it looks more like this:

1. Raiders
2. Crusade


(this space represents a large gap)


3. Temple

I guess most people were disappointed by Temple of Doom, but I wasn’t. Yeah, all Kate Capshaw did was scream the whole way through it… and it was definitely darker than the other two, with the beating hearts getting ripped out of people’s chests and voodoo dolls and the kidnapped children being used as slaves. But it was still a good adventure flick. I saw it in the theater when I was in the 4th grade, sat in the front row, and loved it - especially the chase with the railroad car. Something strange I remember about the first time I saw it: my class that year was taking an overnight field trip on a sea ship and we were all learning how to tie complex knots. I actually took a rope into the theater and was practicing the “monkey’s fist” during the movie. Don’t know why I remember that. I guess I was a multi-tasker before we knew what that was.

There is no need to discuss plot and acting and all that stuff because you have all already seen these movies. But I have to mention John Williams’ score. That guy is “simply the best”. Bethany and I were watching Superman Returns the other night and the only thing I liked about the movie was the music, which was the same theme Williams wrote for the original 1978 Superman film. Just a few of the other hummable scores he has written: ET, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Harry Potter, Close Encounters, Home Alone, Catch Me If You Can… let’s just say the guy picked the right profession.

You may have heard that there is an Indiana Jones 4 in the works, to be released in 2008. Harrison Ford will be joined by Sean Connery once again and Natalie Portman is rumored to be in it. Marion (from the first film) and Sallah are also said to be in it. Hopefully Lucas and Spielberg will make a worthy addition to a one-of-a-kind series.

P.S. Tom Selleck (from Magnum P.I.) was originally offered the role of Indiana - as was Nick Nolte but he too turned it down. So the next time you are trying to think of things to be thankful for in life, there you go.