Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

• Directed by Steven Spielberg
• May 24, 1989 (US)
• Based on characters created by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman

When his father goes missing, Indiana Jones must search for his father who is searching for the Holy Grail.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is yet another great film in the Indiana Jones series. It’s a high stakes story with skin of the teeth escapes. With the characters of Brody (Denholm Elliott) and Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) being strong presences throughout, the humor is much more significant in this than any of the predecessors making Last Crusade much closer to an action comedy than the previous two were.

We get actual background on Indiana (Harrison Ford). Previously he was a blank slate with nothing beyond the events of the particular film to inform us on the character. Did anybody really think Indiana was his actual name? Not that you needed a biography of the character to make the first two to work. Not only do we get where Indiana comes from, but we meet his father Henry Sr. (Sean Connery) and get a peek at Indy’s childhood.

Though Sean Connery was only a few years older than Harrison Ford, somehow you buy that he is Indy’s dad in this. That’s acting. That’s what acting does. But they play well off each other and have a dynamic that fits with what the relationship is supposed to start out as. Henry is just about everything Indy is and that causes much of their friction. But he is more than that. He is also a man of some faith as his search for the Grail is more than just finding an important artifact or even a consuming passion.

The Grail is just a McGuffin to tell the story of a father and son overcoming their differences. Neither quite understands the other. Indy viewed his father as being cold and maybe even distant while Henry viewed his son as perhaps not all he could be. What they learn though is that their perceptions were not 100% accurate nor were they blameless in the situation.

And once again Indiana Jones faces off against Nazis. These are his perfect villains. He was born of the movie serials of the 40s and 50s. World War II and its immediate aftermath are what gave birth to the character and without Nazis this fictional universe just doesn’t feel right. Not that Temple of Doom is bad but when his foe is ultimate human evil the movies work much better.

Aiding the Nazis in their quest (though not revealed officially at first) is American businessman Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) seeking a bit of immortality. Why nobody thinks a rich man looking to live forever and expending a great deal of resources to do so might NOT be evil is beyond me. Nobody seeking immortality for themselves

Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody), while working for the bad guys, demonstrates a little more complexity. She may be working for the Nazis in German government but she’s not pure evil. There are moments where she seems to regret or even be bothered by what’s being done in the quest for the Grail and to Indy. I would call her bad but not evil. Bad people have a limit. Evil has no bottom.

The special effects more or less hold up. There are a few that show their age a very small amount on Blu-ray but overall this movie looks as good now as it did then. The only one that falls flat (and it fell flat back in the day) is when they toss SS Col. Ernst Vogel (Michael Byrne) onto the pile of luggage and he stands up with the blimp turning away. You can see how the two shots were merged. You could see it then and you can really see it now. I kind of wish when they release movies on Blu-ray, they would clean up effects like that.  Not do new effects, but just fix those kinds of issues.

That’s not to say it’s all bad. The moment when Walter Donovan starts rapidly aging stands right up there with the melting of Major Arnold Toht (Ronald Lacey) in Raiders. It’s not done with CGI so it’s broken down in sections but it feels so intense and shocking. It is a very jarring moment done with practical effects.

Spielberg at this point showed he knew how to do action and adventure. And the panning zoom type shot that he’s known for is employed frequently here, but he’s perfect for the film. This is an incredibly believable world. It helps that history is mixed with fiction but there are no leaps of logic and what they make up feels as if it could be real based on what they set it in.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a great adventure film that is thrilling for all ages. It’s fun and exciting and could have served as a fantastic cap on the Indiana Jones series. You will not go wrong with this.