OK, so this post is kind of a revisitation of sorts but technically its also a new-ish one because I never actually directly labelled this one as the title of the film, plus plenty of new stuff is going to be written here and added ot it. So, the post in question is the 3rd film in the Indiana Jones franchise: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which is now almost 30 years old!
So, how has it fared after all these years???? Well, let's crack that whip and find out....
And yeah, you can expect the usual warning....
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
So, the film begins in 1912 when Indy was just a teenager (played by the late River Phoenix). Indy is on a boy scout trip with his class in Utah, where they break off into pairs look around the mountains. Indy goes into one of the caves and finds some robbers who are digging for artefacts, and they find a cross that belonged to Coronado, a historic Spanish explorer. Indy, believing its an important artefact that belongs in a museum, nabs the cross while the robbers aren't looking, and he flees as the robbers chase him.
Indy during the chase, makes his way onto a circus train, and after a close quarters fight with the robbers, he manages to escape with the cross (courtesy of a magic trap door) and runs home. Once Indy get's back home, the robbers call the local sheriff who comes around and forces him to give the cross back. The leader of the robbers, who dresses similar to how Indy dresses in the future, is impressed with his grit, and gives him his fedora.
The film the cuts to 1938 where Indy is on a ship fighting to get back the Coronado cross from its acquired owner (the man whom it was given to back in 1912 credited only as "Panama Hat" in the film and played by Paul Maxwell). In admist a fight, the ship is blown up and Indy escapes with the cross. Indy makes it back to his college in America and gives Marcus (Denholm Elliot) the cross to place in his museum.
As Indy leaves the college he is approached by some men who take him to meet an antiques collector, Walter Donovan, who tells him that he is on a quest to find the holy grail, and that Indy's father, Henry Jones Sr (Sean Connery) who was helping them with their research, has gone missing. Indy checks out his dad's home, but doesn't find him, but he remembers that he was sent a parcel, delivered to his office, which he opens and finds his dad's diary on the Holy Grail.
Indy then agrees to go to Venice with Marcus to meet up with Henry's Austrian colleague, Dr Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody). They go to a library where Henry was last seen, and Indy discovers from the clues in his father's diary that the tomb of one of the knights of the holy crusade is buried underneath the library.
Indy and Elsa go underneath the library into the catacombs and eventually find the tomb that Indy spoke of, and inside there is the skeleton remains of the knight, who has a shield, which Indy uses his crayon paper rubbing of the shield (which is only half complete) to complete the shield image. However as he does this, some men come down into the catacombs and set fire to the water (which is laced with petrolium).
Indy and Elsa managed to escape the catacombs to the surface and are given chase by the men on a speedboat, Indy eventually manages to fight one of them and forces him to answer why they are trying to kill him. The man, Kazim, tells Indy that he is a member of the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword, who are determined to keep the secret of the holy grail safe, Indy also asks if he knows where his father is being held, which the man eventually obliges, telling him that Henry is being held in a castle on the Austrian border.
Indy travels to the castle with Elsa, he manages to get inside and finds Henry (by crashing into his room using his whip to swing in through the windows!) who tells him that he sent his diary back to him so that it wouldn't fall into the Nazis hands, but he is appalled when he realises that Indy brought it with him. However Indy is taken in by a ruse set by Elsa who appears to be held hostage by a German colonel, Ernst Vogel (Michael Byrne), but its revealed she is working with the Nazis as is Donovan, who are basically there to get the grail diary.
Indy and Henry are soon tied up and left in the castle, while Donovan and Elsa leave. In an effort to escape the castle, Henry tries to use Indy's lighter to burn through the ropes, but he accidentally drops it, and it sets fire to the floor and soon the whole room. Indy and Henry eventually escape the castle and are given chase by the Nazis on a motorbike, but they evade them, afterward Henry explains to Indy that they need to get the diary back as it has vital information to help them find the Grail. Marcus meanwhile, who is hopelessly lost in Turkey, meets up with Sallah (John Ryhs Davies), and he has the grail map, which gives instructions to its location, but the Nazis soon capture Marcus.
Indy and Henry then go to Berlin to get the diary back, which Indy (dressed as a Nazi officer) takes them Elsa. As they try to leave Germany in a zeppelin, but they are soon intercepted by the Nazis again, and Indy and Henry escape in a small plane attached underneath the Zeppelin. After a dogfight with Nazi planes, Indy and Henry managed to land the plane and thwart the other plane, by Henry shooing a lot of birds with his umbrella, who fly right into the path of plane, causing the pilot to crash it into a mountain.
Soon after Indy and Henry travel to Hatay and rejoin with Sallah, as they go after Marcus, who is being held captive by the Nazis. Indy again soon gets involved in a fight in the desert with a Nazi convoy, as he takes on the Nazis in a tank (where Marcus is being held), and he rescues Marcus and Henry, and dives off the tank just before it goes over a cliff, killing Vogel.
The men eventually make their final journey to the canyon of the crescent moon, the location of the grail. Indy, Henry, Marcus and Sallah enter the temple and find Donovan is using volunteers to try and get pass the traps set to reach the grail, but they are all killed. Indy and the others are soon captured by Donovan's men, and Donovan forces Indy to get the grail, by shooting Henry in the chest. Indy now must use his father's grail diary in order to traverse the traps ahead of him in order to reach the grail and try and save his dad's life....
THOUGHTS
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade for me is easily the second best film in the Indiana Jones adventures (after Raiders) and after the breakneck pace and the gruesomeness of the Temple of Doom, the Last Crusade thankfully get's back to the tone of Raiders. Its also great that we are reunited with Marcus and Sallah from Raiders as well, who both help to keep the tone from the original as well.
Last Crusade is also very funny and witty in various scenes, as the screenplay was written by Jeffrey Boam (who wrote the screenplay for Lethal Weapon 2 that same year) there plenty of amusing lines of dialogue throughout. Its also a nice touch that we also get to see a bit of Indy's past, when we see him in the past as a young teenager, who makes the gutsy decision to steal the Coronado cross and try and escape from the group of robbers who dug it up in the caves.
However one of the things that also helps make Last Crusade work so well is the relationship between Indy and his father, Henry, as Indy grew up, Henry was so embroiled his work over the Holy Grail, that he had little or no time for his son at all. And there is a bitter tone from Indy, who clearly is not happy with the memories he had of his father in the past, and always refers to him in a negative light when he talks about him to Marcus, Elsa or anyone else in the film. But at the same time when he meets up with his dad again, he does still stand to the attention of his dad, when Henry says something, Indy says "Yes, sir!".
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section will contain spoilers!)
Performance wise, the Last Crusade definitely has alot to offer and the cast are all on great form.
Starting with Harrison Ford, who is great once more as Indiana Jones and by this time he had grown so comfortably into the part, and he has share of highlights and good scenes in the film.
And to start off there is the scene where Indy along with Marcus, meets with Elsa in Venice and they go off to a library to find clues that would lead to the tomb of a knight from the Holy crusades in the quest to find the holy grail. So, in the scene Indy works out that the tomb is actually somewhere within the library itself.
So, Indy says to Elsa "Dad wasn't looking for a book about the knight's tomb, he was looking for the tomb itself. Don't you get it? The tomb is somewhere in the library. You said yourself it used to be a church!". So, Indy points out the Roman numerals on the glass windows "Three. Three. Seven. Seven. Ten. And ten...!" however Indy can't see the numeral for ten, so he says to Elsa and Marcus "Look around for the ten". So, Indy looking around decides to go upstairs and he suddenly sees the Roman numeral for ten "X" and he says to Elsa and Marcus "Ten! X marks the spot!" contradicting what he said to his students earlier about "X never marks the spot!".
Another good scene is when Indy and Elsa start their romantic fling as Indy finds his room ransacked aswell as Elsa's. So, Elsa, looks shocked at her room and asks "What were they looking for?" and Indy produces the grail diary and says "This" and Elsa says "You had it? You didn't trust me" and Indy says to her "I didn't know you". Indy then says to Elsa "At least I let you tag along" and Elsa suddenly cross, says "Oh, yes! Give them a flower and they'll follow you anywhere!" and Indy annoyed says "Knock it off! You're not mad!" and Elsa spitefully says "No?!" and Indy says "No. You like the way I do things". Elsa then angrily says "It's lucky I don't do things the same way.You'd still be standing at the Venice pier!".
Elsa then starts to walk out the room but Indy grabs her and says "Look, what do you think is going on here?! Since I met you, I've nearly been incinerated, drowned, shot at, and chopped into fish bait! We're caught in the middle of something sinister here. My guess is Dad found out more than he was looking for. And until I'm sure, I'm going to continue to do things the way I think they should be done!". So, Indy then pulls Elsa roughly toward him and kisses her on the lips and Elsa, shocked says "How dare you kiss me!" and she kisses back passionately. Indy then says "Leave me alone. I don't like fast women!" and then start kissing again and Elsa kisses Indy's ear and says "And I hate arrogant men!". And as they lie down on a couch and begin making out, Indy looks, smiles and says "I love Venice!" and Elsa grabs his head, pulling him down and they start kissing again.
Then there is the silly but funny scene where Indy and Elsa arrive at the castle where his dad is being held and he pretends to be a Scottish Lord and Harrison Ford puts on the least convincing Scottish accent ever! And in the scene, Indy bangs on the front door and a butler let's them in and Indy says to him in a Scottish accent "And not before time! Did you intend to leave us standing on the doorstep all day? We're drenched!" and he feigns a sneeze over the butler and he says "Now look, I've gone and caught a sniffle!".
The butler then asks Indy "Are you expected?" and Indy says "Do not take that tone with me, my good man. Now buttle off and tell Baron Brunwald that Lord Clarence MacDonald and his lovely assistant...are here to view the tapestries!". Indy then turns to Elsa and says "Dear me, the man is dense. This is a castle, isn't it? There are tapestries?!". The butler then says to Indy "This is a castle, and we have many tapestries. But if you are a Scottish lord, then I am Mickey Mouse!". Indy turns to Elsa and says in an almost Russian sounding accent(!) "How dare he?!" and he suddenly spins round and knocks out the butler with one punch.
Another good scene from Harrison is when Indy and his dad, Henry escape from the Nazis at the castle in a motorbike side-car and Henry tells Indy that they should go after the diary which is now in the possession of the Nazis.
So, as they are about to head off to get Marcus, Henry objects and says "No, you're going the wrong way. We have to get to Berlin!" but Indy points to the other direction and says "Broady's this way!" but Henry tells him "My diary's in Berlin!". Indy insists "We don't need the diary, Dad. Marcus has the map!" but Henry then says "There is more in the diary than just the map" and Indy then switches off the bike and says "Alright, Dad. Tell me".
So, Henry tells Indy about his diary containing clues to dealing with the final challenge in locating the grail and they must face three deadly traps, however he can't remember what they are and he says he wrote them in his diary, so he didn't need to remember. So, Indy angrily says to Henry "Half the German army's on our tail, and you want me to go to Berlin?! Into the lion's den?!" and Henry says "Yes! The only thing that matters is the grail!". Indy then asks "What about Marcus?" and Henry tells him "Marcus would agree with me!" and Indy says to himself "Two selfless martyrs! Jesus Christ!" and this prompt Henry to suddenly slap Indy in the face and he warns his son "That's for blasphemy!".
Another funny scene is when Indy and Henry board a zeppelin to escape the Nazis, however its not long before the SS officer, Colonel Vogel (Michael Byrne) and his men show up searching for Henry. And Vogel moving around the zeppelin keeps showing passengers a picture of Henry asking if they have seen him and he soon moves up toward Henry, who is hiding himself behind a large newspaper. So, Vogel uses his baton to pull down the paper and he grins and says to him "Guten tag...Herr Jones!" but Indy (who disguises himself as a ticket inspector) comes up behind Vogel and says "Tickets please!". So, as Vogel turns around, he looks at Indy in surprise, who punches Vogel and throws him out the zeppelin and Vogel lands in a pile of luggage below and Indy afterward turns to the alarmed passenger and says "No ticket!" and they all suddenly panic and produce their tickets!
Another good scene is when the Nazis order the zeppelin to be turned back to Germany, prompting Indy and Henry to flee the zeppelin in a small biplane attached to the zeppelin and they take on two German fighters. So as they take to the skies in the plane, Henry says to Indy "I didn't know you could fly a plane!" and Indy tells him "Fly, yes! Land, no!". And after they fly off, Indy spots the fighters and he shouts to Henry "Dad, you're gonna have to use the machine gun! Get it ready!" and Indy notices the fighters and he yells to Henry "ELEVEN O'CLOCK! DAD, ELEVEN O'CLOCK!!" and Henry looks at his watch and asks "What happens at Eleven O'Clock!" but Indy explains by yelling "DAD! TWELVE, ELEVEN, TEN!! ELEVEN O'CLOCK!!! FIRE!!".
So, after Henry ineptly uses the machine gun and unwittingly shoots the biplane's tail, Indy is forced to make an emergency landing, so they crash land and get out and the German fighter planes continue to open fire at them and they take cover. Henry then says "Those people are trying to kill us!" and Indy yells back "I KNOW DAD!!" but Henry surprised says "Its a new experience for me!" and then Indy says to him "It happens to me all the time!".
Sean Connery, as unlikely a choice as he could be for the part of Indy's father, Henry Jones, works brilliantly well in the role, despite the fact in reality Connery is only 12 years older than Harrison Ford! But Connery plays Henry just right, with an almost dismissive sense of authority over Indy, and as a man who is so obssessed with his work, but despite all that they still share some nice moments together.
And Sean has his share of good scenes in the film also that include his first one, where Indy breaks into Henry's room where he is being help captive by the Nazis and Henry smashes a vase over Indy's head and suddenly moves into view for the first time and looks on at his son and says "Junior?!". And Indy looks a little dazed after being hit and he says obediently "Yes, sir!" and Henry grins at him and says "It IS you, Junior!" and Indy says to him "Don't call me that please!".
Henry then picks up a piece of the broken vase and he goes over to a table light and examines it and says "Late 14th century. Ming dynasty. Oh, it breaks the heart!" and Indy says to him "And the head! You hit me dad!". Henry looks pained and says "I'll never forgive myself!" but Indy, who believes that Henry is talking about him, says reassuringly "Don't worry, I'm fine". Henry looks at the vase again and then he smiles and says to Indy "Thank God!" and he crosses to him and they both smile together, as Indy is pleased that his dad appears to be concerned for him. However, Henry then indicates the vase "Its a fake! See, you can tell by the cross-section!" and he throws the piece of the vase down.
And this is followed by the funny moment where Henry reveals he posted his grail diary to Indy back home to get it as far away from the Nazis as he could only for them to be interrupted by Nazi officers. So, one of the officers asks "Dr Jones?" and both Indy and Henry says "Yes?" and the officer says "I will take the book now!" and they both ask at the same time "What book?" and the officer says "You have zee the diary in your pocket". Henry however laughs and says "You dolt! You think my son would be that stupid to bring my diary back here!" and Indy smiles nervously as Henry looks at him and he asks "You didn't did you? You didn't bring it, did you?" but it quickly dawns on him "YOU did!".
So, Henry angrily says "I should have mailed it to the Marx Brothers!" and Indy angrily says to him "Will you take it easy?!" and Henry spits back "Take it easy?! Why do you think I sent it home in the first place?! So, it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands!!". Indy then angrily says to Henry "I came here to save you!" and Henry shouts back "Oh yeah?! And who's gonna come to save you, Junior?!!!". Indy then shouts "I TOLD YOU...." and he suddenly grabs a machine gun from one of the officers and shoots the Nazis dad and he turns to his stunned father and says to him "...DON'T call me Junior!".
WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH REFERS TO A BIG SPOILER!!!
Another good scene is when after Indy has just discovered that Elsa is working with the Nazis, Indy and Henry are tied up with their hands behind their backs and taken into a room within the castle. So, Indy says quietly to Henry re: Elsa "How did you know she was a Nazi?" and Henry asks "What?" and Indy leans in and quietly repeats "How did you know she was a Nazi?" and Henry tells him "She talks in her sleep" and Indy looks stunned and Henry gives an awkward smile. Henry then says to Indy "I didn't trust her. Why did you?" and we suddenly hear a voice say "Because he didn't take my advice..." and we suddenly see Walter Donovan get up from a chair as he is also in cahoots with the Nazis to find the grail. And Henry says to Donovan "I misjudged you, Walter. I knew you would sell your mother for an Etruscan vase, but I didn't know you would sell your country and your soul to the slime of humanity!".
Then there is the scene where Indy and Henry finally share a quiet moment together on the zeppelin as they talk about how they have never seen each other and that Henry was never really there for Indy growing up. And Indy tells Henry that they had a lonely time growing up together without his mother (as she passed away) to which Henry replies "Actually, I was a wonderful father". Indy laughs and asks "When?" and Henry, taken aback says to him "Did I ever tell you to eat up? Go to bed? Wash your ears? Do your homework? No. I respected your privacy, and I taught you self-reliance!". Indy however becomes angry and tells Henry how he felt he was less important to him then people who were dead for hundreds of years and how they have barely spoken in 20 years. So, Henry puts his diary aside and says "Oh well, I'm here now! What do you want to talk about?" and Indy looks at him for a moment, speechless and he laughs and says "I can't think of anything!" and Henry says "Then what are you complaining about???!".
Then we have the scene where Henry attempts to rescue Marcus from the Nazis, who is being held captive inside a German tank. So, Henry tells Marcus "Its a rescue, old boy. Come one!" and before they can leave, Vogel appears with his men. And Vogel takes off his clothes and slaps Henry with them as he asks him "What does the diary tell you that it doesn't tell us?!" and Henry suddenly grabs hold of Vogel's hand firmly and he angrily tells him "It tells me that goose-stepping morons like yourself should try reading books instead of BURNING THEM!!".
WARNING: SPOILERS ARE IN THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH!
And last of all is Sean's final scene where Indy, Henry, Marcus and Sallah are set to head off on horses into the sunset. And after they leave the temple where the Holy Grail resides and having lost it when the temple collapses (and Elsa and Donovan have both been killed) Indy sadly looks toward the temple remains. And Henry says to him "Elsa never really believed in the Grail. She thought she found a prize" and Indy turns to him and asks "What did you find, dad?" and Henry smiles and says "Me? Illumination". And as they mount their horses, Henry asks Indy "What did you find, Junior?" and Indy looks annoyed but Sallah asks "What does this mean? This junior?!" and Henry tells him "That's his name" he points to himself "Henry Jones..." and points to Indy "Junior!". Indy however, annoyed says "I like Indiana!" and Henry tells him "We named the dog Indiana!" and Sallah laughs out saying "You were named after the dog?! Ha ha ha!!". Henry then finally says to Indy "After you, Junior" and Indy says "Yes, sir!" and he gallops off on his horse.
Up next is Julian Glover who puts in a fine performance as the devious collector, Walter Donovan, who is driven by his greed to find the Grail and he uses Indy and Henry in the process.
And Glover his some good moments too such as the one where after (SPOILER!!!!) Donovan has revealed his true colours as he is in cahoots with the Nazis just after Indy and Henry have both been captured. So, in the scene, Henry says to Indy re: Elsa "I didn't trust her. Why did you?" and then we hear a voice say "Because he didn't take my advice!" and then we see Donovan rise from a chair and Indy looks on angrily and says "Donovan!" and Donovan says to him "Didn't I warn you not to trust anyone, Dr Jones?".
Another good scene from Glover is when just after Indy and Henry have been left in the castle tied up together, Donovan get's into a car outside and he is handed a couple of telegram from a Nazi officer. So, Donovan reads the first one and says to Vogel "Well we have Marcus Broady and more importantly we have the map!". The officer then comes back with another telegram, which Donovan reads ""By the personal command of the Fuhrer. "Secrecy essential to success. Eliminate the American conspirators.". Donovan then turns to Vogel, who stands grinning by the car door, he says to him "Germany has declared war on the Jones boys!" and Vogel laughs and closes Donovan's door just before his car is driven away.
And last of all is the scene where Donovan and Elsa finally reach the temple where the Holy Grail is located but they are forcing to use Arab guards as volunteers to try and navigate past the deadly traps that lie in the way of the grail itself.
So, when Indy and the others are captured and taken to Donovan, Elsa surprised to see Indy still alive says "I never expected to see you again" and Indy grins and says "I'm like bad penny. I always turn up!". And Donovan says to Elsa "Back up, Dr Schneider. Give Dr Jones some room. He's going to recover the grail for us" and he says to Indy "What do you say, Jones? Ready to go down in history?" and Indy says "As what? A Nazi stooge like you?!". Donovan however has other ideas and says "
Is that the limit of your vision? The Nazis want to write themselves into the Grail legend... take on the world. Well, they're welcome. But I want the Grail itself. The cup that gives everlasting life. Hitler can have the world, but he can't take it with him. I'm going to be drinking my own health when he's gone the way of the dodo".
Donovan then pulls a gun on Indy and he says to him "The grail is mine and you're going to get it for me" and Indy trying to contain his anger says "Shooting me won't get you anywhere" and Donovan says "You know, Dr Jones? You're absolutely right!" and he instead turns and shoots Henry in the chest, who falls back on the ground. Elsa, distressed moves forward saying "No!" but Donovan shous at her "GET BACK!" and Indy tends to Henry for a moment before he get's up and makes to move on Donovan. Donovan however keeps Indy at gunpoint and shouts to him "You can't save him when you're dead! The healing power of the Grail is the only thing that can save your father now. It's time to ask yourself what you believe!".
Alison Doody is very good in her role as femme fatale character, Elsa Schneider, who at first appears to be on Indy's side but its not long before we find out where her real loyalties lie. Alison Doody herself was actually only 21 years old at the time of filming, which is surprising when you look at her as she does look that bit more mature (and pretty hot!).
And Alison has some good moments here aswell such as her first scene where Indy and Marcus just arrive in Venice and come off a pier. And as they do, Marcus asks Indy "How will we recognise this Dr Schneider?" and Indy says "I don't know. Maybe he'll recognise us" and we suddenly hear a female voice "Dr Jones?" and Indy turns around to see a beautiful woman with blonde hair, which turns out to be Elsa. So, Elsa says to Indy with a smile "I knew it was you. You have your father's eyes" and Indy moves forward to her and turns on his charm and says "And my mother's ears but the rest belongs to you". Elsa then smiles and says "It looks like the best parts have already been spoken for" and Indy smiles and Elsa looks to Marcus and asks "Marcus Brody?" and Marcus replies "Yes" and she introduces herself "Dr Elsa Schneider".
There is also the scene where Indy and Elsa have their one-night stand together but I have already mentioned that in Harrison Ford's section of the performances, so I won't mention it again here just to save time! However it is a very nicely played scene by both of them.
Another good scene is when Indy turns up to rescue Henry and after killing a few Nazi guards and taking a machine gun he enters another room to find Elsa being held at gunpoint by Vogel, who threatens to kill her. However, Henry tells Indy that Elsa is really a Nazi and they are bluffing him but Indy gives in and puts down his gun and Vogel let's go of Elsa, pushing her into Indy. Elsa looks at him and says softly "I'm sorry" and Indy says "No, don't be" but then she takes the grail diary from his pocket and steps back and with a wry smile says "But...you should have listened to your father!".
Then there is the scene where Indy and Henry have been tied up together, sitting on chairs with their backs away from each other and Elsa looks to Indy, who glares at her angrily. So, Elsa says to him "Don't look at me like that. We both wanted the Grail. I would have done anything to get it. You would have done the same" but Indy says to her "I'm sorry you think so" leaving Elsa a little stung. However, Elsa brushes it off and moves in close to Indy and says to him softly "I can't forget how wonderful it was" and Henry says "Thank you, it was rather wonderful!" and Indy turns his head to look at Henry in disbelief but Elsa grabs his face and gives him one last kiss and she says to Indy "That's how Austrians say goodbye!" and she leaves.
And last of all is the scene where Indy and Henry head to Berlin to retrieve the diary from Elsa and Indy disguises himself as a Nazi officer at a book burning rally, Elsa however looks on, quite upset as she witnesses many German members of the public, throw piles of books onto fires. And as Elsa walks off sadly, Indy suddenly comes up from behind and says "Fraulien, Doctor?!" and Elsa looks stunned and asks "How did you get here?!". Indy then roughly starts to search her pockets and says "Where is it?! I want it!" and he takes out the diary from her jacket pocket and Elsa asks "You came back for the book?! Why???" and Indy walks away and says "My father didn't want it incinerated!". Elsa taken aback, says "Is that what you think of me? I believe in the Grail, not the swastika!". Indy angrily then says "But you stood up to be counted with the enemy of everything that the Grail stands for! Who gives a DAMN what you think?!!!" and Elsa shouts back "You do!!". Indy then grabs Elsa by the throat and threatens her "All I have to do is squeeze..." and she says tearfully "All I have to do is scream..." and Indy after a second, let's her go.
Denholm Elliott is also really good once again as he returns to his role as Marcus Brody, except this time rather than coming across as an intelligent capable scholar, he is more made out to be a bumlbing fool. Or rather its more just that Marcus is simply out of his depth in the situation as he is not a field man like Indy is, and Indy also recalls how Marcus one time got lost in his own museum!
And Elliott has some good moments too in the film that include the scene where Indy and Marcus head over to Henry's house and find it ransacked. And Marcus says to Indy as they enter "Dear God! The old fool! What has he gotten himself into now?" and Indy suddenly realises the package he recieved in the post is Henry's grail diary, which he opens up. Indy then looks around and at a picture of on the wall of a knight and he asks Marcus "Do you believe, Marcus? Do you believe the grail actually exists?". Marcus then replies "The search for the Cup of Christ is the search for the divine in all of us. But if you want facts, Indy, I've none to give you. At my age, I'm prepared to take a few things on faith". Indy then looks grave and says quietly to Marcus "Call Donovan, Marcus and tell him I'll take that ticket to Venice now" and he walks off and Marcus says to himself "I'll tell we'll take two".
Then there is the scene where after Indy narrowly avoids death at the hands of the brothers of the crucible sword, regroups with Marcus back at Marcus' hotel room and they look at the rubbing of the inscription from the knight's shield in the catacombs of the library. So, as Indy tries to piece together where exactly the grail would be located, Marcus says "Your father would know. Your father did know!" and he takes the grail diary and opens it "Look. He made a map. He must have pieced it together from clues scattered through the whole history of the Grail quest. A map with no names. Now, he knew there was a city with an oasis due east, here. He knew the course turned south through the desert to a river, and the river led into the mountains, here. Straight to the canyon". Marcus then shuts the book and says excitedly "He knew everything except where to begin! The name of the city!" and Indy says "And now we know".
And lastly there is the funny scene where we find out that Elsa and Donovan are working with the Nazis to find the grail and they capture Indy and Henry together and they intend to find the missing pages of the diary, which Indy gave to Marcus. So, Donovan says re: Marcus "He sticks out like a sore thumb! We'll find him" and Indy says "The hell you will!" and that Marcus has friends in every town and knows all the local customs and languages and can blend in and disappear and with any luck "he's got the grail already". However we then cut to a bewildered looking Marcus, who is in Iskanderun and he shouts to the locals that surround him "Does anyone here speak English? Or even ancient Greek?" and people keep offering him things. Marcus is then offered food by a local and he says "No, thank you, madam. I'm a vegetarian" and he says to himself "Does anyone understand a word I'm saying here?!".
John Ryhs-Davies also makes a welcome return in his role as Sallah, who appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark alongside Denholm Elliott and here he slips effortlessly back into the part as if he had not been away.
And I will mention for time only one of his scenes and its the one where Sallah turns up at Iskenderun to meet a bewildered and lost Marcus. So, Sallah greets him warmly and says "Mr Brody!" and Marcus says "Oh, Sallah! What a relief!" and Sallah says "Marcus Brody, sir! But where is Indy?" and Marcus tells him "Oh, he's in Austria on a slight detour. But don't panic, everything's under control". However they are then met by two German officials (really Nazi officers in disguise) and one of them warmly greets Marcus and says "The director of the Museum of Antiquities has sent a car for you" and Marcus smiles and says "You're servant, sir" and Sallah says "And I'm his". And as they start to follow the two Germans, Marcus pleased says to Sallah "My reputation proceeds me" but Sallah warns him "There is no museum in Iskenderun".
A then one of the Germans spins round and asks them for their papers suddenly. So, Sallah nervously bluffs them and he says "Papers? Of course" and he says quietly to Marcus "Run" but Marcus doesn't catch on. So, Sallah produces a newspaper and says "Papers. Got it here. Just finished reading it myself" and again he says to Marcus "Run" but Marcus still doesn't quite understand Sallah and says "Yes?". Sallah then shows the Germans the paper ""Egyptian Mail," morning edition!" and he once says to Marcus "Run(!)". Marcus finally catches on and says "Did you say...." and Sallah suddenly puts his paper up to one of the Germans' faces and punches him and shouts "RUN!" and he pushes the Germans over a stall and he desparately tries to lead Marcus away from them. Sallah the sees a truck nearby, which has a ramp down and he grabs Marcus and shouts "Quick! Find the back door! Find the back door!". So, Marcus goes up inside the back of the truck only for some locals to then close up the ramp and shut the truck's door and the truck drives off, leaving Sallah dispondent.
And last of all is Michael Byrne, who is very good in his role as the ruthless SS Officer, Colonel Vogel, who leads the Nazi quest to find the Grail. Byrne most likely because of his looks often has played German/Nazi soldier roles in the past and he even appeared in another film with Harrison Ford, "Force 10 from Navarone" back in 1978.
And I will quickly mention two of Byrne's scenes with the first one being where Indy and Henry are left tied up in the castle and Elsa says her goodbye to Indy by giving him a passionate kiss and she says to Indy "That's how Austrians say goodbye" and she leaves. However, Vogel then walks to Indy and says to him "And this is how we say goodbye in Germany, Dr Jones!" and he hits Indy on the head with his baton, which causes Indy's head to hit Henry's head aswell and Vogel walks out, leaving the Jones's reeling.
And lastly there is the scene where Henry tries to rescue Marcus from the Nazis as he is being held captive in a German tank, however they are both caught by Vogel's officer. So, Vogel orders his men to search Henry and he says to him as he takes off his gloves "Search him. What is in this book? That miserable little diary of yours. We have the map. The book is useless. And yet you come all the way back to Berlin to get it!". Vogel then slaps Henry with his gloves "Why?!" What are you hiding? he slaps him again and then he asks "What does the diary tell you that it doesn't tell us?!" and Henry tells him that Nazis should read books instead of burning them.
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
As for the direction, well its another sterling effort by Steven Spierlberg, who does an excellent job here and he keeps the pace of the film moving along nicely and he does a great job at eliciting fine performances from the cast and does well at building the relationship between Indy and Henry. At times perhaps the tone of the film is a bit overtly comical, but I think Spielberg helps keep it just about right enough to keep the overall tone in tune with the original film.
As for the music score, John Williams once again provides an excellent one, which features the familiar and memorable Indy theme but also it adds plenty of new tracks that have plenty of atmosphere, excitment and even a bit of emotion here and there. Its not quite in the same league as Williams magnificent score for Raiders but its still a very fine effort and let's face it, John Williams lesser scores often tend to be better than some composers very best works (no offence!).
FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
As for the flaws...well yeah OK, The Last Crusade has a few worth mentioning.
For starters I think one of the problems I had with the film was to do with the idea of Henry sending his Grail diary to Indy and its not so much that he sent it in the first place but its more a case of why didn't he include a written note with it to warn him what has happened to him?! I mean that would have made alot more sense! But of course it is done this way to build up the mystery and suspense of Henry's disappearance but even so I can't help but think, Henry could have written a quick note saying "I sent this book back so the Nazis don't get it. I've been captured so watch out!". Would that have been so difficult?!
Further to this point, given that Henry was captured by the Nazis, how did he manage to even send the diary back in the first place?! I can only imagine that he did it before he was captured and he sussed out what was going on but if that was the case again why didn't he include a written note to warn Indy what happened?! Achh anyway, it all worked itself out in the end I guess!
I also felt that the section where Indy tries to save Marcus from Vogel and the other Nazis in the tank, was also a bit long and drawn out as it takes a bit too much time for Indy to eventually get him out of there. It also leads into the really daft bit where Indy has his fight with Vogel ontop of the tank, Henry is knocked off his feet and nearly ends up being crushed under the tank's rails but Indy uses his whip to grab hold of him, so he doesn't but meanwhile he does this, Vogel is beating up Indy and Sallah soon arrives in the nick of time to save Henry! I mean convenient or what?!
Another strange moment in the film is when Indy and Henry are on the zeppelin, it suddenly turns around to take them back to Germany on order of the Nazis. However as Indy and Henry make their escape, Indy says "I thought it would have taken them alot longer to figure out the radio was dead". Right, what does he mean by that? Does that mean Indy somehow managed to get to the radio on the zeppelin and sabotage it?! And even if he did, that means there would be no way for the pilots of the zeppelin to contact the Nazis to alert them about the Jones being onboard! So, I don't quite get the reference and how the zeppelin would recieve orders to be turned about unless the radio WAS working! Not unless of course they repaired it, which yeah OK, is a possibility.
And lastly I found it a bit daft how in that scene near the end where Elsa makes the mistake of trying to take the grail out of the temple, only for it to cause the temple to being collapsing around them and Elsa ends up falling to her death as her greed to reach for the grail overtakes her and Indy loses his grip on her. And as Indy nearly befalls the same fate, dangling over a chasm, he tries to reach for the grail, which lies on a bit of rock nearby him and Henry holds onto him. However as the violent quaking carries on, it suddenly softens and stops when Henry calls Indy "Indiana" for the first time in the film and he says to him re: the grail "Let it go" and Indy let's himself be pulled up by Henry and they escape the temple. Again its a rather strangely convenient moment that was worked into the film as if the temple is allowing for Henry to reach to his son and convince him to let go of his desire for the grail, just long enough for Henry to pull him up! Yeah OK, that sounds a bit daft in itself maybe but if you watch the scene, you might get what I mean.
Anyway, that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, to sum up, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a very enjoyable and solid entry in the franchise and it was a pity that it would be followed up by the mediocre "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" almost 20 years later. The casting of Sean Connery is a great choice and he and Harrison Ford share a great father/son chemistry onscreen together even though there are only 12 years between them in real life!
The film is also ably backed up by a solid cast with Julian Glover and Alison Doody both being standouts here and its also great to see the return of Denholm Elliot and John Rhys-Davies in their roles as Marcus and Sallah. And Spielberg's direction is once again great and he confidently handles the film's action aswell as the humour and John Williams again provides an excellent score here.
And despite any of its niggling issues to do with its plot, they are still don't detract from what is a highly entertaining movie, which easily remains the second best in the Indy quadrilogy. And we can only hope that just maybe we might get one more Indiana Jones film from Harrison Ford, although now at the age of 75, he is just a bit too old to be doing big fight scenes, so he might need a zimmer frame for the next one if they get round to it! Regardless of that though it would be good if they could work in a way to do one last Indy movie with Ford before long.
Right, so that's it for now and I will be back most likely next month now with another post.
So, until the next one its bye for now!
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