In the 1980s, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas introduced audiences to a character who will forever be remembered as one of the greatest cinematic heroes of all time. Between Raiders Of The Lost Ark, 1984’s Temple Of Doom and 1989’s The Last Crusade, Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones was established as an indelible figure in pop culture history, and his legacy has lived on into the 21st century with two modern sequels.
But looking back on the classic trilogy, what are the lines and the scenes that made Indiana Jones a true legend? It’s exactly that question that will be addressed in this feature.
Stopping An Assassin With A Quick Crack Of His Whip
It takes just a matter of seconds in Raiders Of The Lost Ark for Indiana Jones to establish himself as a special hero. When a man quietly reveals a gun to try and take a shot at him in the movie’s opening sequence, Indy doesn’t take him down by firing off a gun of his own or showcasing some martial arts skills; he takes out his whip and disarms the assassin in seconds with a single crack.
Finding The Booby Trapped Stones In The Temple
Indiana Jones isn’t just any archeologist/treasure hunter; he is an exceptionally smart and adept archeologist/treasure hunter. Raiders Of The Lost Ark teaches us this very early on by showing instead of telling – with Indy brilliantly sniffing out booby traps in the Peruvian temple by pressing on a rigged stone with a staff.
“I Hate Snakes, Jock! I Hate 'Em!”
We love our heroes to be tough and brave in the face of adversity, but we’re also fond of when they have weaknesses and fears just like any of us. For Indiana Jones, this is where snakes come in, and it becomes a vital part of the character in the rest of the franchise.
The Reunion With Marion
Steven Spielberg makes phenomenal use of silhouette and shadow in all of his Indiana Jones films, but arguably the greatest of them all is the character’s reunion with Marion Ravenwood. The hero, with his iconic fedora on, appears larger than life when he arrives at the bar in Nepal – a perfect illustration of who he has become in pop culture in the decades since Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
Gun Beats Sword
If you’re in need of any one scene that quickly sums up the awesome attitude of Indiana Jones, there is no better choice than his showdown with a sword-wielding attacker in Raiders Of The Lost Ark. The would-be killer clearly has skills, and he would unquestionably be a threat in a fair fight where both sides are carrying matching weapons… but those aren’t the circumstances. Indy gives him a very specific lesson in the idiom “Never bring a knife to a gunfight.”
Using The Staff Of Ra To Find The Location Of The Ark
It’s always amazing when Indiana Jones brings legend to life (even when it’s fictional), and one is filled with a sense of awe when he uses the properly assembled Staff of Ra to find the true location of the Well of Souls.
Digging Right Under The Noses Of The Nazis
Indiana Jones pulls off some super bold moves in the original trilogy, and a highlight is him digging in the proper place and discovering the Well Of Souls within walking distance of the site where the Nazis are looking.
Facing His Greatest Fear To Protect The Ark
Raiders Of The Lost Ark does a fantastic job of foreshadowing by establishing Indiana Jones’ most powerful fear in an early scene, and it speaks a great deal to his character that he doesn’t let his terror stop him from getting the job done. When he sees that the Well of Souls is full of serpents, he doesn’t just dust off his hands and turn tail. Instead, he commits himself to the betterment of the world by attempting to protect the Ark Of The Covenant.
Knocking Down A Temple Statue To Bust Down A Wall
I get the sense that Indiana Jones would be crazy good at escape rooms, and the scene where he breaks himself and Marion out of the Well Of Souls is pure proof. While putting aside his greatest phobia, he figures out a way to avoid certain death by using a giant statue to bust down a wall. It’s unfortunate that he has to destroy some ancient artifacts and ends up disrupting a burial ground, but his heart is in the right place as he tries to stop the Nazis from acquiring supernatural power.
Indiana vs. The Nazi Mechanic
We love an extended mano a mano fight, don’t we, folks? One of cinema’s greatest is the showdown between Indiana Jones and the unnamed Nazi mechanic in Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Indy is physically outmatched in the conflict, but he is much better able to use his surroundings to his advantage. As the two men fight around the wheels and wings of a plane, only our protagonist has the situational awareness to avoid being slaughtered by an active propeller.
Going Under And Back Into A Truck As It Drives
This is perhaps the ultimate Indiana Jones action movement. He gets kicked out of the windshield of an in-motion truck, clings to the grill, ends up crawling underneath the vehicle, uses his whip to get dragged behind it, and then climbs back into the cab so that he can take out the driver. The cherry on top? The driver tries to pull off the same move as Indy, but he isn’t Indiana, so he just ends up dying.
“It's Not The Years, Honey; It's The Mileage.”
Given the longevity of the Indiana Jones franchise, it’s funny that the very first movie includes a line about his age and being worn down by his adventures – but it also sums up the ethos of the protagonist as a forever champion of history and ancient artifacts.
“Marion, Don't Look At It. Shut Your Eyes, Marion. Don't Look At It, No Matter What Happens!”
How does Indiana Jones know that not looking at the opened Ark Of The Covenant will allow him and Marion to survive the horrors that are unleashed? That isn’t ever made totally clear, but it says something about the reputation of the character that we fully accept it. Given his intellectual prowess and passion, it’s easy to believe that there was a point in his life when he read a special translation in an old book that warned him about the face-melting danger we watch unfold.
Hiding Behind The Rolling Gong To Avoid Gunfire And Jumping Out A Window Through A Number Of Canopies
Indiana Jones knows how to accept gifts from the universe when they are given, and he and Willie Scott get a bunch of them in the first scene of Temple Of Doom. First, Indy is protected from machine gun fire by a massive, rolling gong, and then, when he and Willie have to jump out of a window, their fall is softened by a series of canopies.
Jumps Out Of A Crashing Plane On An Emergency Raft And Slides Down A Mountain Into A River
Things don’t start off easy for Indiana Jones in Temple Of Doom, first he is poisoned and shot at, and then he has to improvise an escape from a pilotless plane – which he does with aplomb thanks to some nifty thinking with an emergency raft.
Risking His Arm To Save His Hat
It’s impossible to imagine Indiana Jones without his iconic fedora, but that would have been the case in both Raiders Of The Lost Ark and The Last Crusade had the adventurer not rescued the hat in the prequel Temple Of Doom.
“It's Okay, Kid. It's Me.”
It hurts one’s soul to see Indiana Jones under the thrall of Mola Ram and preparing Willie for sacrifice in Temple Of Doom, but everything becomes better in an instant when Indy quietly confesses to Short Round that he has his mind back – and he successfully uses duplicity to help win the day.
The Mining Belt Battle
Indiana Jones is a fighter who knows how to best take advantage of his environment, and he puts that skill to good use while dealing with a muscly opponent in Mola Ram’s army. Intelligent use of a pair of buckets leads to the guy dying like a Looney Tunes character.
Indiana Jones: Expert Mining Cart Driver
Most of us would probably act a lot like Willie Scott (which is to say mindlessly screaming) while the heroes try and make their great escape in the third act of Temple Of Doom, but Indiana Jones not only keeps his cool, but exposes a special skill: he’s really good at piloting a mining cart.
“Mola Ram! Prepare To Meet Kali... In Hell!”
In most situations, cutting down a rope bridge that you are presently standing on is a truly terrible idea, but Indiana Jones is a character you can trust when he takes extreme action – and he has the wherewithal to deliver a badass line in the process.
Boy Scout Indy Tries To Protect An Artifact
The Indiana Jones movie series primarily focuses on the eponymous character’s adventures as an adult, but the opening sequence of The Last Crusade shows that he has been a hero for history almost his entire life. Even as a kid he was trying to protect artifacts from those who don’t deserve to have them.
“It Belongs In A Museum!”
This line from The Last Crusade has become a meme/the subject of satire, but it is wonderfully emblematic of Indiana Jones’ ethics. He doesn’t seek personal fortune and fame; he simply wants artifacts of historical significance to be in the hands of people who can properly study them in order to achieve a greater understanding of their existence.
Finding The Catacomb Beneath The Library In Venice
Robert Langdon has nothing on Indiana Jones. In this particular sequence from The Last Crusade, he admittedly gets a leg up thanks to notes by his father, but he does a wonderful bit of puzzle-solving to discover the catacomb beneath the library in Venice, Italy.
“Don’t Call Me Junior!”
We can all get a bit indignant when our parents treat us like children, but a very small number get the opportunity to demonstrate their personal value and capability by gunning down a troop of Nazis while rejecting an infantilizing nickname.
Motorcycle Jousting
Indiana Jones has a lot of cool tricks up his sleeve (as I’ve highlighted in this feature), but this is arguably his most fun. Involved in a chase with a bunch of Nazis on motorcycles, Indy gets creative and uses a flagpole as a jousting lance. One would think that he would do quite well if he were to ever time travel back to the age of King Arthur.
“No ticket!”
Improvisational acting isn’t one of Indiana Jones’ greatest skills (see: his failing undercover act while invading the Nazi castle in The Last Crusade), but he certainly does a beautiful job covering after he throws Walter Donovan from a zeppelin window – as evidenced by everyone quickly presenting their ticket to him.
Stealing A Nazi Plane From A Nazi Zeppelin
It takes a lot of guts to sneak aboard a Nazi Zeppelin, but it takes even more guts to then join your father in stealing a plane that’s hitched to the vessel. That’s a thing that legends do, and Indiana Jones is most definitely a legend.
Races A Luftwaffe Plane Through A Tunnel
Long before Ethan Hunt battled with a helicopter atop a train in a tunnel in Mission: Impossible, Indiana Jones was being awesome and racing a car against a diving Luftwaffe plane in The Last Crusade. He shows some serious handling skills.
Winning In A Battle Of Horse Vs. Tank
On paper, a matchup between a guy on horseback and a bunch of Nazis in a tank shouldn’t register as a fair fight, but the equation changes when the guy on horseback is Indiana Jones. He uses not just nimbleness and speed to his advantage, but even executes some cartoon-like moves jamming the barrel of a gun with a rock.
Surviving A Tank As It Goes Over A Cliff
For a moment in The Last Crusade, it appears as though Indiana Jones might have died while atop a Nazi tank as it went off a cliff… but to actually think that is to underestimate the character’s awesomeness. Of course he survives by leaping off at the last second and climbing back up the cliff!
The Leap Of Faith
Throughout his adventures, Indiana Jones witnesses a lot of magical, unnatural things – so he arguably has a bit of an advantage in the temple of the Holy Grail in The Last Crusade. After all, he can believe that even though he doesn’t see a bridge that will let him proceed, it might be there. He still has to have serious intestinal fortitude to actually take the step, however, and he demonstrates it.
“That’s The Cup Of A Carpenter”
Cinema history is full of great puzzle-solvers, from Sherlock Holmes to Batman, and Indiana Jones is very much a guy you want to have working with you if you are dealing with a life-or-death brainteaser. He gets his big brain working when he has to pick out the Holy Grail from a sea of cups, and he ends up choosing correctly.
