Archaeology has always been a profession I found very interesting. However watching Raiders of the Lost Ark convinced me how dangerous the job could be, considering how many life-threatening situations Indiana Jones finds himself in on a regular basis.
It appears Harrison Ford’s globe-trotting fortune hunter is about to add to his collection of hair-raising obstacles in Indiana Jones and the Dial Destiny – which you can now purchase tickets to see at AMC Theatres when it comes out on June 30th. In partnership with AMC Theatres, and in anticipation of the franchise’s latest installment – which can also be seen in IMAX – we are counting down our picks for the toughest challenges that Indiana Jones has faced in his movies, ranked from least threatening to most frightening.
10. Sifting Through A Rat Infested Tomb (Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade)
While searching for his missing father (Sean Connery), Indy finds a catacomb underneath the Venice library where he was last seen that points him further in the direction of where to find the coveted Holy Grail. Unfortunately, in order to get to it, he and Austrian art expert Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody) must outmaneuver a horde of rats. While easily one of the most skin-crawling moments from 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indy is not bothered by the rodent swarm as much as Elsa and, especially, his musophobic father by merely the thought of it.
9. Stealing A Truck Carrying The Ark (Raiders Of The Lost Ark)
My personal all-time favorite scene from my personal all-time favorite movie, 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, follows Indiana Jones’ improvised attempt to intercept the Ark of the Covenant from a truck taking it to Cairo. In the process – after successfully boarding the truck by jumping onto it from horseback and throwing out the passengers – he is shot in the arm, thrown out the windshield, and dragged across a dirt road using his whip as a tether before managing to repossess the driver’s seat. Seeing him wince in pain from his gunshot wound as he finally drives to safety reminds us that he is human and surviving such an ordeal certainly put some miles on him.
8. Escaping The Thuggee’s Temple In A Mine Cart (Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom)
As for my favorite scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, it has to be a different type of chase: Indy, Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw), and Short Round’s (future Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan) temple escape via mine cart. A wrong turn puts them through an intense roller coaster involving a bed of lava beneath them and a death-defying jump over a gap in the track – all while being pursued by cult members – that Indy must stop manually when their brake gets damaged. Good thing Indy is quick on his feet (no pun intended) or they may not have made it out of the cart safely before the wall of water approaches.
7. Fighting A Hulking Nazi (Raiders Of The Lost Ark)
Despite clearly having no formal training, Indy has shown that he can hold his own in a fight, but with some adversaries proving harder to beat than others. Perhaps his toughest opponent comes from Raiders: a German airplane mechanic (English wrestler Pat Roach, who played multiple roles in the first three films) who catches Indy attempting to board a plane that the Nazis plan to use to transport the Ark. Despite a few valiant efforts to outmatch him in wits, Indy cannot outmatch him in fists and, after suffering enough pain, only comes out on top with the help of an airplane propeller that wastes the mechanic to a bloody pulp offscreen.
6. Outrunning A Rolling Boulder (Raiders Of The Lost Ark)
I do not believe there is a more iconic moment in the entire Indiana Jones franchise than the opening scene of Raiders – specifically when Indy just barely outruns a huge boulder chasing him out of a Peruvian temple holding the Golden Idol. The urgency of Indy’s situation was already high enough with the booby-trapped tomb crumbling to bits around him. Adding a 22-foot, several-ton rock tumbling towards him just a few feet away at every step makes it a breathless race against time.
5. Cutting A Rope Bridge To Defeat The Thuggee Cult (Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom)
When the aforementioned mine cart chase in Temple of Doom ends, the thrills certainly do not, because Indy, Willie, and Shorty still have the Thuggee Cult to contend with when they trap them on a rope bridge from both ends. The “crazy” idea that Indy comes up with to outwit the occultists is taking his machete to the bridge and cutting it in half, which sends many of his enemies to their deaths in the alligator infested waters below. By preparing for the split by wrapping rope around their feet, the trio manages to survive one of their deadliest obstacles.
4. Landing A Plane (Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade)
In The Last Crusade, when fleeing a Nazi zeppelin in an attached two-seater plane, Indy confesses to his father that, while he can fly, he does not know how to land. This ends up becoming a problem after Jones, Sr. accidentally damages the rudder with a built-in machine gun turret, but blames it on the Nazi pilots shooting at them. Despite having to crash into a quaint house in order to stop the plane, Indy manages to land the plane somewhat safely… which is something we certainly cannot say about his plane mishap from the previous installment.
3. Jumping Out Of A Plane (Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom)
In Temple of Doom, Indy still had no flight experience at all, which would not have come in handy anyway when he, Willie, and Shorty – while traveling from Shanghai – discovered that their pilots had abandoned their plane and that it was completely out of fuel. With no parachutes available, the trio is forced to use an inflatable lifeboat to jump out of the plane before it crashes into a mountain and ride it down a snowy hill into a river. Of course, it is very unlikely that the flimsy raft would have ensured a safe landing for our protagonists, which is exactly what makes this one of Indy’s most astonishing feats.
2. Reaching And Identifying The Holy Grail (Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade)
Out of all the obstacles that Indy has faced, I do not believe anything has intimidated me more, personally, than the challenge of wits that Indy must endure to save his wounded father’s life near the conclusion of The Last Crusade. After surviving a series of traps that test his theological knowledge and his faith, he is then forced to figure out which of the many chalices on display is the true Holy Grail after seeing what happens if you do not “choose wisely.” The horrifying effect that the false grail has on Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) is enough to put this challenge in second place.
1. Exploring A Snake-Filled Pit (Raiders Of The Lost Ark)
I ranked Indy choosing the right grail as high as I did because it is the most frightening obstacle in my eyes, but in Indy’s eyes, I cannot imagine anything worse than descending into an underground tomb crawling with snakes. Unfortunately, that is what he is forced to do in order to get his hands on the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders, with fire being his only ally against the slithering, venomous pests. A torch proves to be only so helpful when his worst nightmare comes true and he and Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) must figure out how to escape the pit when they become stranded inside by Belloq (Paul Freeman).
Some of you might be wondering, Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? Well, that is just our opinion of Indiana Jones’ greatest challenge, but that could very likely change when we see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny when it is released on June 30th. Be sure to purchase your tickets to see it at an AMC Theatres location near you!
