Indiana Jones

Raiders, Temple, Crusade or Crystal Skulll?

  • Total voters
    4
  • Poll closed .
W

william kent

Well-known member
indiana-jones-and-the-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull-2008-a-recap-part-2-splash-21.jpg
 
sufi

sufi

lala
i watched the start of RotLA the other day, i wanted to re-visit those classic opening scenes. The pre-title chase in the "peruvian" rainforest looked clunky, and highly contrived, and the cairo scenes were obviously nowhere near - painting cosmopolitan 30's Egypt as a dusty desert town

unlike for example these luscious opening shots filmed in the same era in the gorgeous early islamic mosque of Ibn Tulun
or these gritty establishing scenes also from 1977 at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem

By the time they made Raiders in 1981, perhaps emulating the way StarWars created an alien world in the Tunisian countryside, the producers went for studio inauthenticity rather than situating their story in the real middle east - they chose to tell a simplistic tale about cartoon Nazis and treasure with white folk galivanting around exotic orientalised backdrops like a Carry On film - the whole thing stinks of sexism and white supremacism, surprise surprise - the next episode in India was even worse in that respect iirc

& these were the most iconic sequences in the whole series? i found it all rather disappointing, not up to my memory of it, and not impressive to modern viewers

did they do a re-make yet? who would/will star? could this coloniaist "explorer" figure even find relevance in this day and age?

it was nice to see Denholme Elliot though, always a twinkle in his eye
 
Murphy

Murphy

cat malogen
The archaeologist's spade
delves into dwellings
vacancied long ago,

unearthing evidence
of lifeways no one
would dream of leading now,

concerning which he has not much
to say that he can prove:
the lucky man!

Knowledge may have its purposes,
but guessing is always
more fun than knowing.

We do know that Man,
from fear or affection,
has always graved His dead.

What disastered a city,
volcanic effusion,
fluvial outrage,

or a human horde,
agog for slaves and glory,
is visually patent,

and we're pretty sure that,
as soon as palaces were built,
their rulers,

though gluttoned on sex
and blanded by flattery,
must often have yawned.

But do grain-pits signify
a year of famine?
Where a coin-series

peters out, should we infer
some major catastrophe?
Maybe. Maybe.

From murals and statues
we get a glimpse of what
the Old Ones bowed down to,

but cannot conceit
in what situations they blushed
or shrugged their shoulders.

Poets have learned us their myths,
but just how did They take them?
That's a stumper.

When Norsemen heard thunder,
did they seriously believe
Thor was hammering?

No, I'd say: I'd swear
that men have always lounged in myths
as Tall Stories,

that their real earnest
has been to grant excuses
for ritual actions.

Only in rites
can we renounce our oddities
and be truly entired.

Not that all rites
should be equally fonded:
some are abominable.

There's nothing the Crucified
would like less
than butchery to appease Him.

CODA

From Archaeology
one moral, at least, may be drawn,
to wit, that all

our school text-books lie.
What they call History
is nothing to vaunt of,

being made, as it is,
by the criminal in us:
goodness is timeless.
Click to expand...
 
W

william kent

Well-known member
sufi said:
did they do a re-make yet? who would/will star? could this coloniaist "explorer" figure even find relevance in this day and age?
Click to expand...
They're currently shooting a fifth one over here with Ford still in the lead. Apparently it's Nazis again, but it's set in the 60s, there are gonna be a bunch of flashbacks and it ties in with NASA and the moon landing.

There are rumours they might do further films with Chris Pratt as a younger Indy, but who knows.
 
W

william kent

Well-known member
sufi said:
By the time they made Raiders in 1981, perhaps emulating the way StarWars created an alien world in the Tunisian countryside, the producers went for studio inauthenticity rather than situating their story in the real middle east - they chose to tell a simplistic tale about cartoon Nazis and treasure with white folk galivanting around exotic orientalised backdrops like a Carry On film - the whole thing stinks of sexism and white supremacism, surprise surprise - the next episode in India was even worse in that respect iirc
Click to expand...
Yeah, Temple of Doom's definitely the worst in that regard. The locals are all portrayed as either harmless simpletons or bloodthirsty cultists, Willie screams and cries about breaking a nail, bugs etc the whole time whilst finding Indy irresistible and Short Round's just this weird caricature.
 
C

catalog

Well-known member
Temple of Doom was always my favourite when I was a kid. I remember watching it at Christmas with all the family, my cousin assuring me that it was far better than Raiders of the Lost Ark at the point where they launch the dingy from the plane.

Snake surprise!
 
Murphy

Murphy

cat malogen
version said:
Yeah, Temple of Doom's definitely the worst in that regard. The locals are all portrayed as either harmless simpletons or bloodthirsty cultists, Willie screams and cries about breaking a nail, bugs etc the whole time whilst finding Indy irresistible and Short Round's just this weird caricature.
Click to expand...

and monkey brains
 
W

william kent

Well-known member
I love Connery in Last Crusade, but I think Raiders edges it for me because the Ark's more mysterious than the Grail and Belloq's a great villain. Raiders also has the best theme; love the little callback when they see the painting of the Ark on the wall of the tomb in Crusade.

 
sufi

sufi

lala
catalog said:
Was gonna add "Chilled monkey brain" what a classic.

Also the really big scary guy.
Click to expand...
version said:
I love Connery in Last Crusade, but I think Raiders edges it for me because the Ark's more mysterious than the Grail and Belloq's a great villain. Raiders also has the best theme; love the little callback when they see the painting of the Ark on the wall of the tomb in Crusade.

Click to expand...

have you watched any of them recently?
 
C

craner

Beast of Burden
sufi said:
i watched the start of RotLA the other day, i wanted to re-visit those classic opening scenes. The pre-title chase in the "peruvian" rainforest looked clunky, and highly contrived, and the cairo scenes were obviously nowhere near - painting cosmopolitan 30's Egypt as a dusty desert town

unlike for example these luscious opening shots filmed in the same era in the gorgeous early islamic mosque of Ibn Tulun
or these gritty establishing scenes also from 1977 at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem

By the time they made Raiders in 1981, perhaps emulating the way StarWars created an alien world in the Tunisian countryside, the producers went for studio inauthenticity rather than situating their story in the real middle east - they chose to tell a simplistic tale about cartoon Nazis and treasure with white folk galivanting around exotic orientalised backdrops like a Carry On film - the whole thing stinks of sexism and white supremacism, surprise surprise - the next episode in India was even worse in that respect iirc

& these were the most iconic sequences in the whole series? i found it all rather disappointing, not up to my memory of it, and not impressive to modern viewers

did they do a re-make yet? who would/will star? could this coloniaist "explorer" figure even find relevance in this day and age?

it was nice to see Denholme Elliot though, always a twinkle in his eye
Click to expand...


Yeah, fuck Jones.
 
C

catalog

Well-known member
sufi said:
have you watched any of them recently?
Click to expand...
I watched raiders recently with neice and nephew, they both got bored before the end. Loses itself at the digging point I think, it all gets a bit bogged down. The very end is still good.

Not seen temple of Doom in a while, not sure i would manage it all the way through
 
sufi

sufi

lala
It's hard to be objective about what has become like a template for adventure films - i think that was what speilberg and lucas were aiming at - gathering influences, and a bit of retcon aimed at creating a sort of archetype (that has obvious symbolic and metaphorical connections to the US role in the world at that point in history, and to the 80's US view of their role in the world during the WWII), and they were really successful - the memes for HF doing various antics are still very recognisable and carry meaning even 40 years later,

the films themselves though don't particularly shine - i guess the magpie creation of the character resulted in something that persists, perhaps by obscuring the original characters it was derived from
 
W

william kent

Well-known member
They're all clunkier than I remember, but still fun. That Tintin film Spielberg did a few years ago was cut from the same cloth, lots of globetrotting, fistfights and chase scenes.

 
W

william kent

Well-known member
Hitler dodges a bullet in Raiders when they decide to open the Ark before taking it to Berlin. We could have been treated to an Inglorious Basterds-esque scene of the entire Nazi high command having their faces melted.

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