Versus The Scarecrow: Eps 7 Part 1: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
VERSUS THE SCARECROW EPISODE SEVEN: SPECIAL EDITION: Nick and the Last Crusade of Raiders of the Lost Temple of Doom? I decided to challenge myself and really open the doors of my film knowledge and take on “The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide”. It’s 808 pages of movies and movie reviews from some of the most knowledgeable movie people you don’t know. It’s a book put together by a staff that praises, and destroys, some of our favorites and not so favorites. You can read the rest of my series here.
Just a quick refresher: each episode, I’m going to tackle three films from three different categories. Two films will be films I’ve never seen before and one will be one I’ve seen before or own. For the new films, well, new to me, I’m going to review them like a typical FTS review using the TOAST Rating system. But, for the films I’ve seen, I’m going give a quick paragraph or two about why I like or don’t like the film. We’ll try to include the poster and trailer for each film. “….and here. We. Go!”
In this episode we’re going to bend the rules a little bit. On September 15th AMC Theaters screened a marathon of all four Indiana Jones Films. I thought this was a tremendous opportunity because I had never seen these films before and what better way to experience them for the first time than on the big screen! Because the Scarecrow Movie Guide was published in 2004, it does not cover Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which I’m okay with. But weirdly enough, the book only covers The Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade films of the Indiana Jones Franchise. So I’m going to bend the rules a bit by reviewing The Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade, and I’ll reflect on Raiders of the Lost Ark as well as the marathon experience as a whole.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) Directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw and Jonathan Ke Quan. IMDB says: ”After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone. He agrees, and stumbles upon a secret cult plotting a terrible plan in the catacombs of an ancient palace.”
This “prequel” to Raiders of the Lost Ark begins with a very different feeling from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not only does it open with a big musical number, but it takes on a different mood when Willie Scott (Kate Capsha, aka Mrs. Steven Spielberg) tags along to Indy’s escape from the Chinese club and when we’re introduced to Short-Round. This combination of characters turn the movie into a B-Movie buddy cop romp that lessen the expectations set by Raiders. All of that changes when Indy’s true adventure begins.
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