Netflix recently added everyone’s favorite adventure movies to their ever expanding 
library: Indiana Jones. From the moment my family watched Raiders of the Lost Ark with me, I was hooked. (My first experience with an adventure story was in 7th or 8th grade when my class read Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. This book was also much enjoyed.) With Netflix’s recent additions, I began to think about why I liked the Indiana Jones movie so much. Thinking of other adventure stories, I think of Disney’s National Treasure and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, The Mummy, Laura Croft: Tomb Raider, and The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice (among the others). These movies are all entertaining as well, but there is something that sets Indiana Jones easily above the rest.
So, shall we take an adventure to discover what makes an adventure story truly mesmerizing?
The Adventure Story
If you ask any of a number of dictionaries, there isn’t really a concrete definition of an adventure story. Some dictionaries might say “a story about an adventure,” but that’s about as helpful as a Phillips head screwdriver with flat head screws. Definitions that several dictionaries will give you if you search “adventure story” are:
Story: a piece of fiction that narrates a chain of related events.
Thriller: a suspenseful adventure story or play or movie. (This is a terrible definition for an “adventure story” because it uses “adventure” in the definition…)
Saga: a narrative telling the adventures of a hero, family, or group of people, often about the people of Iceland. (My thoughts on Njal’s Saga are a post in themselves…)
So, as you can see… there isn’t a great definition of adventure story. A “story” can be anything. A “thriller” can be its own genre of writing and movie (see Alfred Hitchcock’s “Dial M for Murder” if you’re interested). A “saga” brings to mind the Odyssey or the Iliad… which certainly are adventures, however, they’re not Indiana Jones.
The best “definition” that I can offer for an “adventure story” is:
A high-intensity, fast-paced story that includes dangerous, often physical, action which follows a character and his or her companions, beyond their normal lives, to achieve a goal.
In my humble opinion, Indiana Jones certainly fits the bill. So, with a much more concrete definition identified, we can proceed.
The Adventures
Raiders of the Lost Ark
To say that the first installment of the Indiana Jones series is a humble beginning is entirely inaccurate. The first installment is a slam dunk action-packed adventure that includes all parts of our definition of an adventure story.
We have from the get-go a high-intensity, fast-paced, dangerous, and physical story. To highlight a few examples: Indy is almost flattened by a giant rolling boulder booby trap; he is almost shot and burned to death in a remote Himalayan bar; he is seemingly sealed in a millenniums old chamber (sans the Ark of the Covenant); is almost blown up in a flying wing plane while fighting a giant and saving his beloved Marion; and is almost vaporized(?) by the Ark of the Covenant itself. There are many, many more instances in just this one movie, but you should watch it for yourself.
Indy is not alone on his adventure! He has his good friends Marion, Marcus, Sallah, and others to help him on his way. Marcus and Sallah often serve as comic relief characters, which also make the movies very funny (especially in The Last Crusade) but, in Raiders, Marion is key.
While we learn that Indy hasn’t seen Marion for a while, and they didn’t leave each other on the greatest of terms, she becomes, perhaps, the most beloved “Jones girls” of the series. Marion herself has a wide array of abilities, especially her ability to drink anyone under the table. She can be both damsel in distress as well as capable helper, but most significantly loved by all.
If you haven’t seen the movies, and haven’t caught on, the goal for the first movie is to discover the lost Ark of the Covenant and keep it from the Nazis. As Amy Farrah Fowler reveals in an episode of The Big Bang Theory, the Nazis would have found the Ark (and died) whether Indiana Jones was involved or not, however, as many have said, sometimes the journey is as enjoyable as the destination. And I think that is one of the best parts of Raiders; the climactic scene when the Nazis open the Ark is awe-inspiring, but the watcher has a heck of a good time watching Indy fighting the Nazis to get there, especially since Indy is “making it up as he goes.”
The Temple to Doom
One thing that is often missed about The Temple of Doom is that it is a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Our beloved directors did not want the Nazis to be the antagonist a second time in a row. This time, however, things was a little more creative. Our antagonists, providing Indy with many high intensity and physically dangerous action and us with endless entertainment, are the members, both willing and unwilling, of the Thuggee cult.
The Thuggees are an entertaining, dangerous, and exciting creation, but also brought criticism upon the movie. The Thuggees praised the goddess Kali as a rather demonic destroyer that desired human sacrifices. Kali is a Hindu goddess, and is a destroyer, but a destroyer of evil forces… things that she does destroy allow for goodness to reign. Furthermore the movie helped to garner the creation of the PG-13 movie rating. I would say that that was an appropriate move since not everyone was prepared to see someone have their still beating heart ripped out of their chest and then be lowered into a lava pit as well as several characters being whipped as a punishment and/or torture.
Moving on.
The goal of out dearest Indiana Jones for The Temple of Doom was to recover a mystical stone that helped to protect a village in Northern India. The people of the village believe that members of the Thuggee cult were responsible for the theft of the stone as well as the kidnapping of all the children from the village. Village elders believed that Indy, “Jones girls” Willie Scott (surely an homage to the Wilhelm Scream given how much she shrieks in the movie), and sidekick Short Round were sent by Shiva to bring back the stone and the children. The Sankara stone, Sivalinga, as Indy explains and as is revealed throughout the movie, is one of five and could bring both life and destruction to those possessed them all. Indy also reveals that the stone would bring fortune and glory if he found any one of them… so off they go to Pankot Palace and a whole lot of trouble.
As I have already said, the Thuggees bring plenty of high-intensity and physical danger to Indy and company. Most notably through a booby trap that Indy discovers that almost crushes and stabs himself and Short Round to death. Luckily, they are saved by Willie after she gets over being a diva for a moment and confronts a room full of bugs. Later, Indy is almost crushed to death again, however this time in a rock crushed while fighting a behemoth of a child chain gang overseer. Lastly, Indy, Willie, and Short Round come close to their demise in an epic mine cart chase and are almost washed out of the mine in a deluge of water from a storage reservoir.
One of the most interesting things about The Temple of Doom is the mine cart chase itself. Production only had so much space at the location of filming. The relatively short length of actual track was lit differently each time the carts passed through to create the illusion that it was another section of track. Furthermore, several scenes were created using stop-motion models. Watching the movie, you might never notice the difference unless you know what to look for.
The Last Crusade
The Last Crusade tackled perhaps the ultimate adventure: the quest for the Holy Grail. I think it is important to recognize that while Indy is on yet another adventure, it is also a quest. The thing about quests is that the hero of the quest often unexpectedly finds more or less than what he or she is actually looking for. In The Last Crusade, Indy not only finds (and quickly looses) the Holy Grail, but he also heals his relationship with his father. With the action, comedy, and the deeper story between Indy and his dad make for a very round movie.
It is interesting to recognize that Indiana Jones is largely a flat character. Throughout Raiders of the Lost ark and The Temple of Doom, Indy’s character stays the same: he wins some, he loses some, he get the girl, and he achieves his goal. While he also does this in The Last Crusade, Indy’s father adds another dimension that the other movies did not have.
The high-intensity, fast-paced, dangerous. and physical action of the movie brings back elements of the previous two, but also adds a certain amount of humor. Indy’s father, played by the one-and-only Sean Connery, helps to add that humor in the burning castle’s rotating fireplace, in the motorcycle side car, the zeppelin, using his umbrella to disturb a flock of seagulls to crash a plane, and simply in the dynamic between the two characters. Additionally, the Nazis have returned and the “Jones girl,” Dr. Elsa Schneider, is one of them… if only Marion were back in the picture…
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not going to say much about The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. While it’s, surprisingly, a little over ten years old, its making and action are just… different from the original three adventures. It is certainly an interesting movie and brings back the Ark of the Covenant as well as our beloved Marion, however the spirit, shall we say, of the movie is missing. Perhaps my final words will help flesh out what I mean.
So, Why is Indiana Jones the True Adventurer?
The biggest reason Indiana Jones is the true adventurer is because all the stunts except a very few, actually had to be performed by a human person. To a certain extent, the danger was real for the actors and stunt doubles.
For example, Harrison Ford and his stunt double were actually dragged behind the truck carrying the Ark of the Covenant. A trough was dug for the truck to drive over so there would be enough clearance for a person to fit underneath. Other stunts were not as dangerous, but still physically demanding, like swinging from place to place on a whip, running across train cars, and getting into choreographed fist fights.
Another element that makes the Indiana Jones movies true adventures is the element of magic in each movie. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, we witness the power of God. In The Temple of Doom we witness the power of Kali, while misappropriated, and voodoo. In The Last Crusade we see the power of the Holy Grail. The element of magic brings a sort of romance to the movies that other adventure movies lack.
So, what do you think? Is Indiana Jones the true adventurer, or does someone else deserve the title? Personally, I don’t think anyone can compare!
-Snicket’s Servant
Snicket's Servant 