The summer of 1981 saw the release of American cinema’s most enduring franchise “Indiana Jones.” Releasing five films in a little over 40 years, the character has maintained his status as a cultural zeitgeist. The classic image of a whip-cracking archaeologist origins are far from desert ruins, instead found at the bar with a martini with “James Bond.”
The original film began with director Steven Spielberg’s interest in making a Bond film. Though his pitch was turned down, he worked with contemporary and friend George Lucas to bring his idea to screen.
The result was “Indiana Jones,” a swashbuckling throwback to classic serial films of the 1930s. These films were frequently characterized by action, romance and the supernatural and often presented the adventures of a charismatic leading man.
Indiana Jones has never been subject to an ever-rotating cast of leading men. Instead, the series has remained quite contained with leading man Harrison Ford and his stuntman Vic Armstrong’s contributions to the character.
Since its inception, “Indiana Jones” has seeped into the modern consciousness, inspiring parody, music, video games and even films like “Guardians of the Galaxy.” But what is the appeal of the films?
Take “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” a pre-war adventure film that involves a race to find the ark of the covenant. The globe-trotting adventure shows Indiana’s budding romance with Marion, entering bare-knuckle fights and occasional moments of slapstick. Poignant moments of Cronenberg-esque horror also appear with a shocking surprise.
In a sense, the film occupies multiple quadrants of interest, and the genres each meet fans somewhere in the middle, that makes the movie both niche and widescreen. Spielberg’s attention to action often reaches near Rube Goldberg levels of setup. The action becomes one sequence in a chain of events that justifies each moment with an interwoven series of escalating events.
The most prominent example of this is in the truck chase. Indiana must retrieve the ark from a moving truck while dealing with the driver, passengers and other vehicles. The scene is set off with Indiana chasing the truck, climbing into the cabin, getting knocked out and climbing back in again. In between, he is shot, gets into fights and must keep the truck on the road. It’s a scene that deserves attention.
Often the cold-opening of a film is used to foreshadow the plot elements. This was made popular with the Bond films, and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” continues this tradition with the famous boulder scene. The opening presents the visual devices and the protagonist of the film. Throughout the franchise, the films often open in medias res, imitating the experience of watching serial films in the cinema by seeing the final chapter of a separate story before the next one begins.
These elements became the blueprint for “Indiana Jones” films moving forward. Cold opens, clean action and genre elements helped Spielberg and Lucas realize their dreams of directing a Bond film in an American analog. Their original trilogy of “Indiana Jones” films stands the test of time as one of cinema’s best.
Given this legacy, there have been attempts at follow-ups like the poorly-received “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” and more recently, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” The fifth installment, directed by James Mangold, looks to wrap up the journey of Indiana Jones in one final globetrotting adventure to foil the plots of former Nazi scientists enlisted by the U.S.
How this final chapter will turn out is up in the air, but there is hope with Mangold’s filmography, his prioritization of practical effects and a return to the series’ classic villains. The film promises to be a pure nostalgia trip, if not a full-fledged return of everyone’s favorite whip-cracking archaeologist.
Benjamin Ervin is a senior studying English literature and writing at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Benjamin know by emailing him be425014@ohio.edu.
