Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
by Robbo
Posted on 12 May 2021
Rating -
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas.
It is the third instalment in the Indiana Jones franchise with Harrison Ford reprises his role as the titular character, while Dr Jones Senior is portrayed by Sean Connery.
Other cast members featured include Alison Doody, Julian Glover, River Phoenix as a young Indiana while Denholm Elliott and John Rhys-Davies reprise their roles from Raiders of the Lost Ark as Marcus Brody and Sallah respectively.
The film starts with a 13 year old Indy (Phoenix) horseback riding with his scout troop in Arches National Park in Utah. While exploring caves Indy comes across a group of grave robbers who have found the cross of Coronado, their leader dressed in a brown leather jacket and fedora. Indy steals the cross hoping to donate it to a museum and heads home with the gang of robbers in pursuit.
This part of the film also explores the origin of Indy’s scar on his chin, use of a bull whip and fear of snakes.
Jones escapes but the local sheriff makes him return the cross to the robbers, who immediately turn it over to a mysterious benefactor wearing a Panama hat. Impressed with the boy’s bravery, the leader of the robbers gives Jones his fedora.
Fast forward to 1938 where Indy fights ‘Panama Hat’ for the cross on a ship off the coast of Portugal. Indy retrieves the cross and manages to escape overboard before the ship explodes and donates the cross to Brody’s museum.
Indy is informed by Walter Donovan (Glover) that his father, Henry Jones Sr (Connery) was searching for the Holy Grail but has disappeared in Venice.
Indy returns home to pack for Venice and whilst opening the mail finds his father’s Grail diary. Concerned for his father’s safety, he rushes to Venice where he meets his father’s colleague Dr Elsa Schneider (Doody).
Using information in the Grail diary they are able to piece together the location of a marker that would reveal the location of the Grail.
Indy and Elsa are pursued by the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword, a secret society whose mission is to protect the Grail.
Jones and Elsa capture Brotherhood member Kazim. When Jones explains that his only goal is to find his father, not the Grail, Kazim tells them Henry’s location.
Indy and Elsa head to a Nazi-controlled castle in Austria where Henry is being held. Indy finds Henry and frees him only to be quickly captured by SS Colonel Ernst Vogel.
He learns that both Elsa and Donovan are Nazis who are using the Joneses to find the Grail for them.
Henry and Indy escape the castle, head to Berlin to retrieve the Grail diary and mount a mission to retrieve the Grail.
The Last Crusade is my second favourite of the Indiana Jones franchise as I feel it recaptures the lighter comedic elements from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The chemistry between Ford and Connery is electric, both bouncing off each other and eliciting great performances. You could really imagine them as father and son although the age gap was only 12 years. A son’s relationship with an estranged father is a familiar Spielberg theme.
The opening of the film is worthy of the franchise, a rollicking chase through a circus train where you learn about the origins of the character.
The action sequences are well orchestrated, as expected, particularly the rescue of Henry and Marcus from a tank by Indy on horseback.
The overall story is similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark, a race to retrieve a religious artefact before it falls into the hands of the Nazi’s, but neither Indiana nor his father is preoccupied with finding the Grail or defeating the Nazis, rather both are seeking a better relationship with each other.
I really do love this film and would urge anyone to see it.
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