Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade [DVD] [1989] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Indiana Jones teams up with his father to try and locate the Holy Grail. Something that the Nazis are again particularly interested in themselves.

We didn't know it at the time, but every Indiana Jones fan on the planet presumed that The Last Crusade was to be the final film to feature the intrepid archaeologist. As it turned out, another film would surface in 2008, but casting that aside {as many would like to do}, Last Crusade should, and is, judged as the trilogy closer it was meant to be.

In 1988 Steven Spielberg was deep into bringing Rain Man to fruition, all thoughts of Indiana Jones had gone by the wayside with the harshly judged part two, Temple Of Doom. In stepped George Lucas to politely remind Spielberg that they had an agreement to make another Indiana Jones picture, Spielberg no doubt obliged and humble, passed on his Rain Man work to Barry Levinson who promptly bagged himself an Oscar for the film. It can be guessed that Spielberg was probably grouchy around this period, but he needn't have worried, because The Last Crusade provided a much needed hit for not only himself {post Empire Of The Sun}, but also Lucas {Willow} and Harrison Ford {Frantic}.

I mention the run up to this picture because it explains a lot on why the film is pretty much a retread of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, something that some detractors find unforgivable. Yet Last Crusade is still an immensely enjoyable adventure picture, with Spielberg proving that he was still capable of a popcorn bonanza. Using the Raiders formula and moving away from the dark flourishes of Temple Of Doom, Last Crusade is actually the simplest film of the three, but still it manages, courtesy of a sparkling casting decision, to become the most entertaining of the original trilogy. Is it better than Raiders? Of course not, but it positively rips along with sparky dialogue and an agenda of cliffhanging suspense like the adventure films of yore.

In comes Sean Connery as Dr Jones Senior, and its the pictures trump card, because the magnificent interplay and obvious rapport with Ford {cool as a cucumber} is there for all to see. It's this what drives the film on thru it's more mundane and picture filler sequences, showcasing two top wily professionals with care and consideration to their craft. The casting of Alison Doody as the main female is a poor one, and one only has to look at her subsequent career post Crusade to see she wasn't up to the task here. Bonus comes in the form of the River Phoenix prologue, Phoenix as the young Indiana paves the way for the jaunty path that Crusade takes, whilst simultaneously giving us a nice little back story from which to launch the adventure.

Made for $48 million, the film went on to gross $474,171,806 Worldwide, now that's a lot of people who evidently were happy with Raiders Of The Lost Ark 2! And I gleefully count myself amongst that number. 9/10

this is a brilliant film.they dont make em like this anymore.harrison ford is brilliant as indiana jones the man was born to play the part.one of the other contenders for the part was tom selleck he might be a good actor but i cant imagine anyone else but ford in the role.casting sean connery in the part of indys dad was a brilliant choice.the original and best bond as indys dad was the icing on the cake.this is one of those films that everybody remembers.i still like hearing indys dad saying junior.and indy saying i told you dont call me junior.after shooting the nazis.the kind of stuff cinima was made for.they captured lightening in a bottle with the indiana jones movies

After having taken a definitively dark turn in 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, director Steven Spielberg and executive producer George Lucas decided that the third installment of the series should be thrilling, lighter in tone and more upbeat and humorous. In other words, they wanted to recreate the Saturday-matinee serial fun of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Lucas, Menno Meyjes and screenwriter Jeffrey Boam wrote a story that once again sent the archaeologist/adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) on the quest for another legendary artifact -- the Holy Grail. And to avoid the inevitable “ho hum, been there, done that” syndrome that sequels often suffer from, they decided to include a father-son dynamic to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Although Last Crusade follows the basic structure -- borrowed from the James Bond series -- of the other movies by starting the film with the end of a previous adventure before introducing the main storyline, the film tweaks the formula by showing us Indy’s first big adventure…in 1912 Utah, when the future archaeology professor is a Boy Scout (literally) living with his widowed father, Henry Jones. While on a Boy Scouting sojourn in the mountainous desert, young Indy (River Phoenix) wanders into a cave and sees a group of ruffians pilfering the long-lost Cross of Coronado. “That cross is an important artifact,” Indy says to a fellow Boy Scout. “It belongs in a museum.” Indy sends his friend for help, steals the Cross of Coronado from the ruffians, but ends up being chased as he attempts to escape on foot, horseback and even a circus train. In this interlude, Indy acquires most of the traits established in the earlier films -- his fear of snakes, his affinity for the whip (and the origins of the scar on his chin) and, yes, his choice of the leather jacket and snap-brim fedora. (One of the best scenes in the series: the handsome rogue who was hired to find the Cross by the collector known in the credits as “Panama Hat” tells Indy, “You lost today, kid. But that doesn’t mean you have to like it.” And in a show of admiration for the kid’s spunk and courage, takes off his hat and places it on Indy’s head. Spielberg holds the camera on the hat, and in the blink of an eye, we flash forward 26 years and to the conclusion of Indy’s search for the Cross of Coronado.)

After this exciting prologue, The Last Crusade gets underway when American millionaire Walter Donovan (The Empire Strikes Back’s Julian Glover) commissions Indy to find the missing leader (and his important papers) of Donovan’s Holy Grail recovery team. Several clues have been found near Ankara, clues that might lead to the location of the legendary cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper -- a cup that also caught some of His blood at the Crucifixion. According to Grail lore, anyone who drinks from it will be granted eternal life, and Donovan is determined to find it. Indy temporizes, telling Donovan that his father is the real expert on the Grail, only to be told that Professor Henry Jones (Sean Connery) is the missing team leader.

Soon, Indiana Jones, his friend and boss Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott), Elsa Schneider (Allison Doody) -- a young, sexy Austrian archaeologist who works for Donovan -- and Indy’s friend Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) set off on a quest to find Henry Jones, Sr., his Grail Diary…and the legendary Grail itself. And before The Last Crusade ends, Indiana Jones must confront thousands of rats, an order of knights sworn to protect the Grail and the relentless forces of SS Colonel Vogel (The Sum of All Fears’ Michael Byrne) who want to take the legendary artifact to Adolf Hitler himself.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, with its crisp script, thrilling music by John Williams, fine directing by Spielberg and a convincing chemistry between Ford and Connery, is one of the best action films made in the 1980s, and its recent release on DVD proves that it, like the other films in the series, has aged well.