Providing you aren’t a Star Wars or die sort of fan, Indiana Jones was some of Harrison Ford’s most memorable roles. I remember watching the original 3 movies when I was a kid and thinking they were awesome! Running from the huge boulder, escaping in mine carts, the holy grail, and that weird guy that could snatch out your heart… that stuff was amazing! Indiana Jones was definitely was a part of my childhood and everyone I talk to about the series doesn’t really have anything bad to say… That was, until the 4th movie hit us out of nowhere.

We could accept that an adventurous archeologist ran into strange things when he ventures into strange places, but when the guy survives a nuclear bomb by hiding in a refrigerator or when he discovered aliens is when I sort of checked out. I wasn’t disappointed with the last one, but I definitely was caught off guard for sure. Before the 4th film came out we can all pretty much agree that the trilogy was pretty solid. George Lucas really has is act together most of the time… After the Star Wars movies and Indiana Jones I suppose I can forgive Howard the Duck!

Before I get into the explanation frenzy, I have to say that my favorite part of the series was when that guy was doing all of that fancy crap with his sword before he was going to fight, and Indy just shoots him. That was priceless!

Lets get to some explanations.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): An adventurer archeologist is hired by the US to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazi’s.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984): Indy gets glowing rocks, saves some kids, and stops a cult in the process. KALI MA!

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989): Indy finds his dad and the Holy Grail while simultaneously defeating the Nazi’s in only 127 mins.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008): Indy finds out aliens have crystals for skulls and his son is a greaser.

Fun Facts

• To achieve the sound of thousands of snakes slithering, sound designer Ben Burtt stuck his fingers into a cheese casserole. This was augmented by applying wet sponges to the rubber on a skateboard.
• Raiders of the Lost Ark was originally intended as a small low-budget adventure, production costs tripled to $22 million and was 1981′s biggest grossing film.
• The opening scene in the lost South American temple is partly based on a classic Disney Ducks adventure written by the legendary artist Carl Barks, many of whose comic books have inspired George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Exploring a lost temple, Donald Duck, his nephews, and Scrooge McDuck must evade a succession of booby traps, like flying darts, a decapitating blade, a huge boulder, a tunnel flooded with a torrent of gushing water, etc., in the story “The Prize of Pizarro” (“Uncle $crooge” no. 26, June-August 1959), which hit the newsstands when Lucas and Spielberg, both avowed fans of that comic book, were respectively 15 and 12 years old. Another Barks story, “The Seven Cities of Cibola” (“Uncle $crooge” no. 7, September 1954), has a native American lost city and a valuable idol that triggers a giant round rock to smash everything in its way.
• Most of the body blows you hear were created by hitting a pile of leather jackets with a baseball bat.
• The crate in which the Ark is placed at the end of the movie has the number 9906753.
• Indiana Jones’ kangaroo-hide bull whip was sold in December, 1999 at Christie’s auction house in London for $43,000. His jacket and hat are on display at the Smithsonian.
• The film’s original title was “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Death” which was changed because it sounded too foreboding. It was retained as the film’s German title (“Indiana Jones und der Tempel des Todes”).
• Most of the cavernous mine where the mine cart chase takes place is miniature, with the walls made of painted aluminium foil.
• Kate Capshaw had to be taught how to scream.
• The “chilled monkey-brains” were made from custard and raspberry sauce.
• Temple of Doom and Gremlins (released the same year by Steven Spielberg) was the reason that the PG-13 rating was created.  Some of the scenes were too violent for a PG rating, yet it wasn’t harsh enough for a Restricted rating.
• When George Lucas met with Steven Spielberg to discuss a third Indiana Jones movie, he wanted to have it set in a haunted mansion. Spielberg had just finished Poltergeist (1982) and decided that he wanted to do something different. Lucas then came up with the idea of the Holy Grail and Spielberg added the idea of a father/son sub-story.
• M. Night Shyamalan and Tom Stoppard were each asked to pen a draft of the screenplay to Crystal Skull… Was that why there was a ‘Twist ending”?