Indiana Jones Movie Reports

Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

BY ROGER EBERT / May 24, 1989

Cast & Credits

Indiana Jones: Harrison Ford

Henry Jones: Sean Connery

Marcus Brody: Denholm Elliott

Elsa Schneider: Alison Doody

Young Indy: River Phoenix

Sallah: John Rhys-Davies

Paramount Presents A Film Directed By Steven Spielberg. Executive Producers George Lucas And Frank Marshall. Written By Jeffrey Boam. Edited By Michael Kahn. Photographed By Douglas Slocombe. Music By John Williams. Running Time: 125 Minutes. Classified PG-13.

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There is a certain style of illustration that appeared in the boys' adventure magazines of the 1940s - in those innocent publications that have been replaced by magazines on punk lifestyles and movie monsters. The illustrations were always about the same. They showed a small group of swarthy men hovering over a treasure trove with greedy grins on their bearded faces, while in the foreground, two teenage boys peered out from behind a rock in wonder and astonishment. The point of view was always over the boys' shoulders; the reader was invited to share this forbidden glimpse of the secret world of men.

"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" begins with just such a scene; director Steven Spielberg must have been paging through his old issues of Boys' Life and Thrilling Wonder Tales, down in the basement.

As I watched it, I felt a real delight, because recent Hollywood escapist movies have become too jaded and cynical, and they have lost the feeling that you can stumble over astounding adventures just by going on a hike with your Scout troop.

Spielberg lights the scene in the strong, basic colors of old pulp magazines. When the swarthy men bend over their discovery, it seems to glow with a light of its own, which bathes their faces in a golden glow. This is the kind of moment that can actually justify a line like It's mine! All mine! - although Spielberg does not go so far.

One of the two kids behind the boulder is, of course, the young Indiana Jones. But he is discovered by explorers plundering an ancient treasure, and escapes just in the nick of time. The sequence ends as an adult claps a battered fedora down on Indiana's head, and then we flash forward to the era of World War II.

The opening sequence of this third Indiana Jones movie is the only one that seems truly original - or perhaps I should say, it recycles images from 1940s pulps and serials that Spielberg has not borrowed before. The rest of the movie will not come as a surprise to students of Indiana Jones, but then how could it? The Jones movies by now have defined a familiar world of death-defying stunts, virtuoso chases, dry humor and the quest for impossible goals in unthinkable places.

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.

Even in this third adventure, some of the key elements are recycled from "Raiders." This time, Indy's quest is to find the Holy Grail, the cup Jesus Christ is said to have used at the Last Supper.

(To drink from the cup is to have eternal youth.) The Holy Grail reminds us of the Ark of the Covenant in the first film, and in both cases the chase is joined by Nazi villains.

The new element this time is how Spielberg fills in some of the past of the Jones character. We learn his real name (which I would not dream of revealing