“Fortune and glory…”
This month marks the 30th anniversary of George
Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM.
After the rousing success of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK in
1981, which introduced the world to Lucas and Spielberg’s swashbuckling
archeologist, it was decided that a second film in the series would have to go
darker. And darker it went; as Indy finds himself in an adventure surrounded by
child slavery, black magic, and human sacrifice. If the whimsy of RAIDERS left
you feeling drunk, then TEMPLE OF DOOM was the sober-up.
Taking the tone of the series in an opposite direction also
meant giving Harrison Ford’s character some new sidekicks to deal with. Where
RAIDERS featured a strong heroine (Karen Allen’s Marion Ravenwood), DOOM went
in the other direction and gave Indy a perpetual damsel-in-distress. Where
Marion was a whiskey-guzzler with a mean right-hook, DOOM gives us a pampered
vocalist who is as out-of-place in a jungle as a fish out of water. The
character, Willie Scott, was brought to life by Kate Capshaw, who was in her
first major film role.
TEMPLE OF DOOM is indeed a dark film, but the whimsy of
RAIDERS is still present due to some thrilling set-pieces including a mine-car
chase, a fight in a swanky night club, and a breathtaking, climactic showdown
on a suspended bridge. The action sequences kept the dark tones at bay, and
just for good measure, Indy was given a young sidekick. Jonathan Ke Quan was
cast as the 11-year old Short Round; a wisecracking orphan who followed Indy
wherever he went.
The approach paid off for the INDIANA JONES franchise.
TEMPLE OF DOOM went on to gross over $300 million worldwide, and was the
third-highest grossing film in North America that year. It was the tenth
highest grossing film of all time at the time of its release. Dennis Muren and
Industrial Light and Magic’s visual effects department won the Oscar for Best
Visual Effects, and John Williams’ magnificent score was also nominated. Jonathan
Ke Quan would go onto a memorable role in THE GOONIES (1985), and Spielberg
would marry Kate Capshaw in 1991.
*
INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM is a film that often
gets a bad reaction. After all, its tone was a shock compared to RAIDERS, and
its memorable scene of a heart getting ripped out of a live person’s chest
caused problems with the MPAA’s Ratings Board (the film would be one of the
major catalysts for the creation of the PG-13 rating). But what is often
overlooked is the importance that this adventure plays in the life of Indiana
Jones. Although it was the second film in the series, the adventure of DOOM
actually takes place a few years before RAIDERS. And it is in this adventure
where Dr. Jones makes a dramatic turn from a fortune-and-glory hunting
archeologist to a man with a heart; a turn which is summed up in one iconic
shot of Indy in the mines where kidnapped children are turned into slaves.
It was an important turn for Indy the character and INDIANA
JONES the franchise, for once the sobering up of DOOM was over, it would be
time to get drunk on whimsy again in five years time with the arrival of the
third film, THE LAST CRUSADE. TEMPLE OF DOOM set Dr. Jones on a new path, and
on its own, is one hell of an adventure.
“You call him Dr. Jones, doll!”
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