Indiana Jones’ father, Henry Jones, goes missing while he was on a quest to find the Holy Grail. Before he went missing, Henry sent Indy his Grail diary so that way it won’t fall into the wrong hands. Henry spent his life writing down every clue and discovery that could lead to the Holy Grail in that diary. Indiana feels he can use the diary to help him find his father by going on the same path Henry did.
Blaine: George Lucas wanted the third “Indiana Jones” film to be about a haunted castle, but Steven Spielberg didn’t want that because he felt that he already did a haunted house movie when he wrote “Poltergeist”. So George went with his second idea and that was the Holy Grail. Steven wanted there to be a father and son story between Indiana Jones and his father. So Steven mixed the two ideas together and thought that the father’s obsession should be the Holy Grail and while Indiana and Henry go on this journey to find the Holy Grail they become closer than they have ever been before.
Because James Bond inspired the idea of Indiana Jones it felt clear to Steven that Sean Connery should play Indy’s father, Henry Jones Sr. and Sean was very delighted that Steven had only him in mind to be the father of Indiana Jones, but at the same time he wasn’t sure if he was the right person because he is only twelve years older than Harrison Ford, but he got over it. I like Sean Connery’s performance in “The Last Crusade” because he brings a different personality to this character compared to how he performed as James Bond. Plus he is one of those guys with a great voice and he says his lines really good. I think his most famous line in “The Last Crusade” is Junior because that’s what he calls his son and he says that a lot. In “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” it is revealed that Indiana Jones’ real name is Henry Jones Jr. George Lucas’ dog’s name was Indiana and they put that Henry Jr. got the name Indiana from his dog in the film.
George also wanted to give a background story of how Indiana got the taste for adventure and excitement. How he became afraid of snakes, why he uses a whip and how he got the hat. And so “The Last Crusade” started off with Indiana when he was a fourteen year old boy coming across these grave robbers digging up an ancient artifact which he feels it belongs in a museum. Young Indiana Jones was played by the late River Phoenix. River had worked with Harrison Ford before on a movie called “Mosquito Coast” and during that time he studied Harrison on what it takes to be a great actor like him. Steven had his eye on River Phoenix ever since “Stand By Me” and Harrison recommended that River be young Indiana Jones because he was a talented rising actor at the time and Harrison felt that River looked a bit like him at that age. They did a screen test of River and he did a perfect job.
Steven wanted to bring back the spirit of “Raiders” into “The Last Crusade”. It does have a similarity to “Raiders” like towards the beginning of the film it shows Indiana teaching a class after returning from an adventure he was on and the girls are still staring at him because they are in love with him, but this time Indy was in a really good mood because he successfully got the artifact that he went out to retrieve. Marcus shows up in Indy's class to see how things went just like he did in “Raiders” only this time Indy has good news. John Rhys-Davis and Denholm Elliot returned as Sallah and Marcus Brody after “Raiders” because Steven missed working with them. Steven wanted Marcus to be more apart of the adventure because he stayed behind in “Raiders” and he made Marcus more of a funny figure than the father figure he was in “Raiders”. Because the last "Indiana Jones” film, “Temple of Doom”, was so dark Steven felt they should make “The Last Crusade” more humorous and have a ton of gags. My favorite gag in the movie is when Indiana Jones finds out that both he and his father have slept with the same woman and Indy shows this shocking look on his face and is having an awkward moment LOL.
Julian Glover went in to audition for a German sergeant that he felt he was suitable for, but he didn’t get the part. The next day, Julian got a call saying they wanted to offer him the role of Walter Donovan, the main villain of the movie. So he went in to be interviewed, did this American accent and got the part. Julian said it was the happiest experience of his life.
There have been three different females in the “Indiana Jones” movies. The first woman I would say was perfect, the second one was a real handful and the third one ended up being a bad guy who dies at the end. Alison Dooby went in to audition for the part of Elsa, the third Indiana Jones woman, and she was thinking she would never get the part because she was 21 at the time and Irish and they needed a 29 year old Austrian. But she was called back after her audition to do a screen test and Steven thought she was perfect. Alison spent a lot of time working on the Austrian accent because that was the most important thing for her role. Time had passed and the next thing she knew she was on the set shooting “The Last Crusade”. Alison was scared because she had never done a movie where it required her to do physical work like running through Venice in high heels and jumping onto a boat in those shoes. Alison also had never driven a boat before and she had to take lessons. She would bump the boat into walls, but lucky thing for her there was no series damages. Venice was really crowded when they got there to shoot because during the summertime people like to go there, but they were able to shoot through the tourists.
Steven and the others were running out of ideas for creepy crawlies until rats came up. The rats are what I hate the most out of the creepy crawlies that have been in the “Indiana Jones” trilogy because my worst fear is rats. I gotta say Alison was very brave to do that scene with all those things crawling around, especially when they are pulling on her hair. I could never ever do a scene like that. She actually had no problem with the rats and Harrison Ford wasn't bothered by them at all. They had animal handlers and 2,000 rats were brought to the set. And they used mechanical rats for when it came to the scene where the Tomb gets set on fire.
Steven had felt that there wasn’t enough action so he came up with the motorcycle chase scene. There was no tank sequence in the script and George Lucas told Steven he wanted to see a World War I tank in the movie. George couldn’t think of an idea for a scene that involved a tank, but Steven did and he did the sequence in storyboard instead of words. They went to a museum to look at different tanks. The tank sequence was scheduled to be shot in two and a half days, but instead it took eight because there was a lot of ideas added to it of how it should go. Harrison Ford thought that scene was very original of having Henry Sr. and Marcus Brody being held captive inside the tank and Indiana doing everything he can to stop it and get them out of there. Harrison did his own stunt work when he is hanging on to one of the tank’s guns and being dragged.
Al Khazneh is one of the most elaborate temples in the ancient Arab Nabatean Kingdom city in Petra, Jordon. It was used for the entrance to the temple that is holding the Holy Grail. My dad said the place is known as The Treasury. It is the most famous monument at Petra. You reach it by walking through The Siq a mile long gorge. As you walk to the end of The Siq you suddenly see The Treasury.
Robert Eddison, the actor who played the Grail Knight, did a wonderful job with the way he said his lines. It makes me want to play the knight. Towards the end of the film, the Grail place falls apart and the Grail falls along with Elsa. Indiana grabs onto to her and she tries to go for the Grail. Then she falls and then Indiana falls and is in the same position Elsa was in. Henry Sr. grabs onto to Indy and Indy feels he is close enough to grab the Holy Grail. Through the whole movie, Henry has been calling Indy “Junior" and he really hates that. But then, for the first time, Henry calls his son Indiana, the name he prefers more. Henry calls him Indiana because he knows he’ll listen to him when he is trying to save his life. Indy’s father has finally reached out to him and that is what Steven Spielberg loved the most about that scene. The ending shows that Indy and his father, Henry, have now become close like a father and son should be. In the end Indiana and his friends go riding into the sunset and Steven thought that was the best way to end the “Indiana Jones” trilogy.
My rating on “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” is five out of five stars.
