100 Movies Every Catholic Should See #14: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Directed by Steven Spielberg. Story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes. Screenplay by Jeffrey Boam.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was to mark the end of a trilogy that friends Steven Spielberg and George Lucas began almost 10 years earlier when they cooked up the idea for Raiders of the Lost Ark while making a sand castle on a beach in Hawaii (or so the legend goes). The film can almost be seen as a capstone to the old ways of cinema, a last gasp of fresh air before the plunge into digital filmmaking in the decade to come. It is also by far the most personal of the Jones films, portraying an estranged father-son dynamic that is reminiscent of Spielberg’s own distant relationship with his father (as seen in the director’s latest film The Fabelmans, which serves as a pseudo-autobiography of sorts). But curiously enough, The Last Crusade stands as a surprisingly nuanced meditation on faith, fatherhood, and forgiveness, all while respectfully and reverently portraying Church history and iconography.

Like the Bond films that inspired them, each Indiana Jones film begins with a knockout action sequence that sets the tone for the rest of the film, and almost serves as a “mini-movie” that stands apart from the main story, while also setting up key characters that will appear later. Raiders begins in the jungle of Peru and sets up the main villain for later, while Temple of Doom begins in Shanghai and introduces the romantic interest and sidekick. The Last Crusade not only opens with a different location from the rest of the film but a different time period altogether, opening in Arizona in 1912. Spielberg’s family moved to Arizona when he was young, where he joined a Boy Scout troop with whom he would make some of his earliest home movies. So, too are we re-introduced to a young Indiana Jones, who cuts away from his Boy Scout Troop’s hike to spy on some prospectors who discover a golden cross that once belonged to Coronado himself. So ensues a delightful chase scene (featuring one of John Williams’ most memorable scores) that not only gives us a lot of key background on the typically mysterious Jones but also introduces the most memorable character in the series since Marion Ravenwood: Henry Jones Sr. (Sean Connery).¹

Gone too soon: River Phoenix gives a fantastic performance as a young Indy for the film’s opening sequence. Harrison Ford was instrumental in Phoenix’s casting as they had starred together a few years earlier in The Mosquito Coast (1986).

Dr. Henry Jones Sr. serves as a professor of medieval studies at Princeton University, and since Indiana was a boy has been obsessed with lore surrounding the Holy Grail, with the younger Jones remarking that it may have served as an escape for his grieving father after the sudden passing away of Mrs. Jones. The plot of the film begins when the elder Jones disappears, and Indiana takes off immediately with his friend and confidante Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) to find him, on a journey that takes them to both Venice and a castle in Scotland. Jones Sr. has been presumably kidnapped because of his extensive knowledge of the Holy Grail; however Indy and Brody begin their journey with the upper hand when they find the professor’s “Grail Diary” in his ransacked study. As Jones pores over the diary and realizes that his Dad’s “hobby” may actually lead them to the Cup of Christ itself, he suddenly pauses and turns to ask Marcus if he really believes that the Grail exists, to which his friend replies:

“The search for the Cup of Christ is the search for the divine in all of us. But if you want facts, Indy, I have none to give you. At my age, I’m prepared to take a few things on faith.”

It’s a profound moment accentuated by Spielberg’s trademark slow zoom from mid-focus to close-up, and is reminiscent of a similar speech Brody gives in Raiders, also before Indy sets out on his quest. But it’s also the perfect set-up for the conclusion of Indiana Jones’ spiritual arc, that actually begins with Temple of Doom rather than Raiders.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, despite being the second film in the franchise, actually takes place in 1935, a full year before the events of Raiders in 1936. It’s a curious choice, but it works well as the character is actually quite different from the protagonist we find in the first film. He’s far more selfish, willing to take a singer (who ends up being the love interest for both Indy and Spielberg, who married the actress, Kate Capshaw) hostage just to get the one-up in a negotiation with his enemy at the beginning of the film. He’s not completely out for himself, having taken in Short Round (recent Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan) as an accomplice of sorts after learning he’s an orphan, but to paraphrase Indy from later in the film, he’s really only in it for “fortune and glory”. By the end of the film however, after saving hundreds of slave children from the savage Thuggee cult, he begins to soften a little, and his relationship with singer Willie Scott and Short Round is prototypical of the family he will end up desiring down the road.

In Raiders, he reunites with his future wife, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and rues the death of her father, Abner, who was just as much like a father to him. The quest also leads him to encounter the Ark of the Covenant, and despite his initial doubts he ends up witnessing the awesome power of God when it is dramatically unleashed upon the Nazis who dare opened it. If we’re watching the movies in chronological story order, at this point he’s moved from Eastern paganism to Judaism. Not bad for one year.

The Last Crusade takes place two years after Raiders, and takes Indiana on a journey of Faith that will force him to reckon with Christianity. At the climax of the film, Henry Sr.’s life is in critical danger, and the only thing that can save him is the saving power of the Grail, which is only a few “trials” away from both Indy’s grasp but also the encroaching Nazis. The three trials encompass the “The Breath of God”, “The Word of God”, and the “Path of God.” The first lesson teaches humility and the second represents knowledge of Divine Revelation, both needed to complete the third and final trial of faith, portrayed literally when Jones takes a step off a cliff onto a path he cannot see. So it is that in the spiritual life you need both an understanding of God’s Word as written in the Bible but also humility in order to truly make the “Leap of Faith”. And after discovering this newfound faith, Indiana ends up choosing his father over “fortune and glory,” and they ride off into the sunset together. It was only through making a spiritual journey that the younger Jones was able to forgive his father, and despite potentially undermining this whole re-contextualization, the fourth film, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, at the very least completes Indy’s arc when he settles down with Marion and his own estranged son, Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf).

From Fortune and Glory to Faith and Family: whether intentional or not, Spielberg and Lucas created a franchise that not only paid tribute to the serials and B-movies of their childhood but also tells a unique story of the grand adventure that can lead to Faith.

1. The scene with the elder Henry’s introduction in the prologue also briefly spotlights their family dog, also named Indiana: this Malamute is actually based on George Lucas’ real-life dog named Indiana who, to paraphrase Indy, he had “very fond memories of”. Indiana was also the inspiration for Chewbacca, as, just like Han Solo, a young Lucas would often ride his car with his dog riding “shotgun”