Mini Review #4: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Altogether I would have to give Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade a 4.5 out of 5. This is because not only is it the third movie to everyone's favourite archeologist, but because it has action, it has adventure and it has some humour as we watch Indy try to find the Holy Grail with his father. On top of getting to see Harrison Ford play the role of Indiana Jones again, we also get to see Sean Connery play the role of his father. And I would have to say that the two of them come together for the perfect father, son duo in this movie making that one of the main reasons that this movie did so well on my charts. Also Steven Spielberg was the one to direct and I mean who doesn't love a good Spielberg movie. Almost all of his movies are just amazing and they usually score quite high in my books as well as many other people's.

Although this probably isn't the best of the Indiana Jones, it is still probably the funniest and is always the one that I remember most when people talk about Indiana Jones. As well as we get to learn a lot about Indy in his childhood and we get to see why he has things like his scar, why he uses a whip, where he gets his hat and why he is afraid of snake. All in all, I would have to say that this is probably my favourite movie that we have watch this semester in media.

Fun Facts About Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:

• Two thousand rats were bred for the production (they had to be bred specially as ordinary rats would have been riddled with disease).
• Harrison Ford nominated River Phoenix to play him as a teenager. When describing how he prepared for playing the role, Phoenix explained that he didn't really base his portrayal on the Indiana Jones character, but on Harrison Ford. So he observed Ford out of character before acting his part.
• Harrison Ford cut his chin in a car accident in Northern California when he was about 20. In the movie, this cut is explained by young Indiana Jones cutting his chin with a whip.
• Most of the uniforms worn by the Nazis in the Berlin book burning scene are authentic WW2 uniforms and not costumes. A cache of old uniforms was found in Germany and obtained by costume designer Anthony Powell to be used in the film.
• Sean Connery and Harrison Ford wore no trousers during the shooting of the entire Zeppelin sequence (mainly because it was filmed in a very hot studio and Connery didn't want to sweat too much).
• When Professor Jones Sr. scares the "seagulls" to fly up and stop the plane, they are in fact pigeons, and not seagulls, as seagulls cannot be trained. Looking closely, one can also see that there are a number of 'cut out' seagulls in the sand, which do not move as the others do.
• When Indy's bag is caught on the gun and is being dragged along the wall no stuntman was used, Harrison Ford did it himself the crew just went along with shovels tipping dirt and clay on him from above
• The production had two tanks for the tank chase scene; one of them was made of aluminum. The whole chase took about 10 days to film, instead of the projected two days.
• Unable to keep his hat on during the scene where he was chasing the tank on horseback despite trying glue, tape, and newspaper wedges, Harrison Ford pretended (in a "Making Of" special) to staple the hat to his head.
• Baking soda was applied to Sean Connery to create Henry's bullet wound. Vinegar was applied to create the foaming effect as the water from the Grail washes it away.
• Stop motion animation was used for the shot of the German fighter's wings breaking off as it crashes through the tunnel. The tunnel was a 210 feet model that occupied 14 of ILM's parking spaces for two months. It was built in eight-foot sections, with hinges allowing each section to be opened to film through. Harrison Ford and Sean Connerywere filmed against bluescreen; the sequence required their car to have a dirty windscreen, but to make the integration easier this was removed and later composited into the shot. Dust and shadows were animated onto shots of the plane miniature to make it appear as if it disturbed rocks and dirt before it exploded.