The Indiana Jones Trilogy (4 DVD Box Set)

The Adventures of Indiana Jones consists of the first three films of the George Lucas-Steven Spielberg collaborative creation, 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Rounding out the set is the Bonus Material disc, which includes making-of documentaries, featurettes, trailers, and links to the Indiana Jones DVD site.

Raiders of the Lost Ark, by far, is the best of the three films. Inspired by the serial films of the 1930s and '40s, it was actually one of the two projects conceived by George Lucas in the 1970s after he wrapped up American Grafitti in 1972. One was a space-fantasy adventure inspired by Flash Gordon, and the other was the more Earthbound archeologist/adventurer named (at first) Indiana Smith. Of course, Lucas developed the Star Wars concept first, but even as he and Spielberg were vacationing in Hawaii in the summer of 1977, Lucas pitched his idea of the raiders of the Lost Ark as the two filmmakers built a sand castle on the beach.

Based on a concept by Phil Kaufman, Lucas' story and the screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan pit the daring archeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) against Nazis and Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman), a rogue French archeologist who has a habit of crossing paths with Indy and often beating him to other coveted relics. Hired by the U.S. government to locate an item called "the headpiece of the staff of Ra" after Army Intelligence intercepts a Nazi message which ties the piece to Abner Ravenwood, a former mentor of Indy's, our hero deduces that the Germans are really looking for the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Soon Indy is in a race against time and a horde of Nazi spooks and soldiers to find one of the greatest religious artifacts of all time before it can be taken to Adolf Hitler himself. Aided by his mentor's daughter (and former lover) Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and his loyal Egyptian friend Sallah (John Rhys-Davies, who has also starred as Gimli in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy), Indy risks life and limb on his daring raid for the Lost
Ark.

1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, with a story by Lucas and a screenplay by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, is a darker chapter in the series. On a quest for several missing Sankara stones in India, Indy and his companions Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) and Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) encounter a dangerous cult of Thugees based in Pankot Palace. Its very scary scenes (including a really gross banquet and a human sacrifice) earned Temple of Doom one of the first PG-13 ratings. It's still quite a thrill ride, but many fans consider this as the weakest and least involving film in the Indiana Jones series.

Audiences fared better with 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Spielberg, working from a screenplay by writer Jeffrey Boam and a story by Lucas and Menno Meyjes, harkened back to the first Raiders film and evoked its mixture of thrills, chills and laughs and added a father-and-son dynamic with the casting of Sean Connery as Dr. Henry Jones, Sr. Although once again Indy faces off against Nazis on a search for a religious relic -- in this case, the Holy Grail -- and there are cliffhangers galore, it's the relationship between Connery and Ford's characters that makes Last Crusade more than a pale rehash of the first movie. Starting with a prologue featuring the late River Phoenix as young Indiana Jones (which explains our hero's choice of outfit, his phobia of snakes, and the scar on his chin) and ending with a ride-off-into-the-sunset credits sequence, Last Crusade is one of the best adventure movies ever made.

With great casts, amazing stunts and effects, thrilling scores by John Williams, and deft directing by Spielberg, these three films defined adventure films in the 1980s and their popularity still resonates more than 20 years after the premiere of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

About the DVDs: I think they are good. They have been digitally remastered and given the "royal treatment" by Lucasfilm and Paramount. The menus are astonishing, and the sound mix is good. I can only speak for myself and not for other fans who, judging by other reviews, have been disappointed by this collection of long-awaited films. True, there is no audio commentary by George Lucas and/or Steven Spielberg, but no DVD of a Spielberg film (and I have several in my collection) has that feature. It's something Spielberg hates doing ("Now, in this scene, watch how I cleverly made a reference to Raiders' famous 'Indy-shoots-the-guy-with-the-sword!' ") and it's not really necessary, even for students of film. I have discovered that director's commentary is worthwhile if the director and others involved in the track actually have something meaningful to say.