Thirty five years ago today, the third installment of the hugely successful Steven Spielberg/George Lucas franchise kickstarted the glorious 1989 summer movie season. "Batman", "Ghostbusters II", "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", "Lethal Weapon 2", and "When Harry Met Sally..."(just to name a few) were right around the corner. This was nirvana, the distillation of everything the decade stood for, and everyone was cashing out(the holidays would bring "BTTFII" and "Christmas Vacation"). But we're here to talk about Indy III. Spielberg, feeling apathetic over "Temple of Doom", insisted that the threequel be closer to "Raiders" in spirit and tone, and rejected multiple scripts. The Holy Grail came, literally and figuratively, from late screenwriter Jeffrey Boam("Innerspace", "The Lost Boys"), and a father-son subplot that supplied plenty of humor and heart. "Last Crusade" could be the most all-around satisfying film in the series, and was my proper introduction to the ultimate '80s hero. Join me as I explain in great detail why you should be showing it to the little ones in your life.
River Phoenix, of "Stand by Me" fame, gets us off to a great start in 1912, Utah, as a teenaged Indy disrupts a group of graverobbers as they dig up the cross of Coronado. One of them has a cool fashion sense. Harrison Ford actually recommended his onscreen son in "The Mosquito Coast" for this pristine prologue, made more special by Phoenix's tragic demise in 1993 at age 23. An inspired George Lucas would find a way to keep Indy's adventures going on television without his busy director/star combo. "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" was his primary pursuit from 1991-96.
Ford's familiar face brings us to the present day, 1938, as Indy makes one last play for the cruxifix off the Portuguese coast. It belongs in a museum. Like the first two films, we're catching up with Jones in the middle of another hair-raising episode, a very effective re-introduction. Indy barely survives a boat blow-up on a stormy night. His old rival 'Panama Hat'(Paul Maxwell) does not.
We're back in a cozy classroom with Marcus Brody(Denholm Elliott) to re-establish those "Raiders" vibes. You should recognize gray-haired Julian Glover from "The Empire Strikes Back". Walter Donovan is an American businessman who hires Indy to find the Holy Grail. Or is he? Henry Jones Sr. is already on the quest but has gone missing. His diary, sent to our hero in the mail, contains all of his lifelong research.
Blonde beauty Alison Doody is Elsa Schneider, an Austrian archaeologist, and was only 22 years old when she met Dr. Jones in Venice. That just wouldn't happen today. 'X' marks the spot at the library that leads to catacombs and an ancient shield with the inscription 'Alexandretta'. Oh, and 2,000(disease-free) rats, continuing an Indy tradition, and Ford wasn't afraid of them either. His father, a less adventurous bookworm, wouldn't have made it past the rats. Just as progress is made, we've got company.
A mysterious gang, the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword, has worn to protect the location of the Grail. That means trying to kill Indy and Elsa. I love how there's an action sequence for each mode of transportation. A narrow escape in a motorboat on the Venice canals ends in an uneasy truce between Indiana and leader Kazim(Kevork Malikyan). He offers the whereabouts of Jones Sr. in exchange for his freedom- an Austrian castle under Nazi control. "Why do you seek the Cup of Christ? Is it for His glory, or for yours?" This movie is already awesome.
Remember when the hero got to have sex? Look at the way Elsa looks at Indy. Big-budget movies are so chaste now.
Speaking of sex, that brings us to the original 007, Sean Connery at the 47-minute mark. Best Supporting Actor for 1987("The Untouchables"). Sexiest Man Alive for 1990. As soon as Ford and Connery are in the same frame, you're in movie heaven. We go from very-good to great. Spielberg's masterstroke was securing Connery, a full-circle moment as James Bond was among the franchise's earliest inspirations(Gregory Peck was the back-up plan). "Dad"! "Junior"! It's a one-time only meeting of masculine icons.
Elsa is a Nazi(who talks in her sleep). So is Donovan. They have the diary. I guess Indy has no choice but to get along with his Dad. The villainous colonel Vogel(Michael Byrne) also played a German opposite Ford in 1978's "Force 10 from Navarone", and an English would-be rapist in 1995's Best Picture "Braveheart". Mind blown!
It's a "Raiders" reunion, as Sallah(Jonathan Rhys-Davies) finds Brody failing to blend in and disappear. He got lost in his own museum. The Nazis intercept the sidekicks, and abduct Marcus.
Indy and his Dad are tied up in a burning dining room. What a great visual. They escape, of course, in a motorbike with a sidecar, another great visual(Spielberg understands this medium). This pursuing Nazis can't keep up with the Joneses. This is a highly-enjoyable ten minutes that ends with a testy exchange and an acknowledgment of Indy's unseen mother. Henry Sr. is obsessed with the Grail, so it's off to Berlin, the lion's den.
The Nazis weren't burning books anymore in 1938, nor did they have high-ranking females in their dastardly ranks at the time. Doesn't matter. A disguised Indy gets the diary back from Elsa and considers killing her. Hitler's autograph was a nice bit of black comedy- late Scottish actor Michael Sheard played the role five times(!) in his career.
Indy ejects Vogel from the departing Zeppelin, another. Playwright/screenwriter Tom Stoppard polished some of Ford and Connery dialogue exchanges. These duo have unresolved issues. Henry isn't hearing any twenty-five year old complaints about his parenting skills on this most-important quest. If you're a diehard fan, you've surely heard that the two acting titans went without pants to increase their comfort during this scene. The trilogy received a highly-successful DVD release in 2003 that was loaded with extras.
The Zeppelin is turning around, but the Joneses aren't going back to Germany. It just can't be overstated how great the Ford-Connery chemistry is. Harrison hasn't got as much facial hair in '88, to hide the fact that there's only a twelve-year age difference. Yes, the 46 year old Ford, who squeezed in "Working Girl" a few months earlier, was a late bloomer. We get a plane crash, a car crash, two downed Nazi fighter pilots, and some helpful pigeons in this five-minute sugar rush. Indiana Jones and his father have escaped. Is Junior starting to admire his old man?
Here we go. The desert tank. The action centerpiece of a movie filled with them. This was actually the first week of filming, and felt like a deliberate effort to match the truck scene in "Raiders". Indy and his Dad find Sallah and Marcus, but first must battle a small German army in a variety of crowd-pleasing ways, with another wonderful John Williams score enhancing everything we see. Spielberg's most important collaborator is 92 years old as I write this, and there will simply never be another like him. Btw, would Steve still be a multi-billionaire world-beater without his three-time Oscar-winning editor Michael Kahn? Like the legendary D-Day sequence in "Saving Private Ryan", this is a dazzling display of his talents.
No Time to rest, we're so near the end.
Indy entered our movie-going lives by entering an ominous booby-trapped cave, so it's very fitting that his original run of adventures concludes the same way. Now is a good time to mention Douglas Slocombe, cinematographer on all three films, and production designer Eliot Scott, who joined the team on "Temple of Doom".
Perfect.
Seeing "Last Crusade" in the theater at nine years old
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