Indy Marathon - Sunday 5/18

[tracilicious]

Ok, so maybe I have no taste in movies, or maybe it's because I saw ToD as a kid and it scared the crap out of me, or maybe it's because I saw Last Crusade before Raiders...but Last Crusade is by far my favorite.

[innerSpaceman]

Urban legend, Gemini Cricket. At least as far as I can glean from every scrap of Making Of I've ever read. Hmmm, I don't think I've ever watched the DVD extras, though. Maybe I'll check into some of that.


The screaming mummies is, I suppose, a sound-trick that just worked way better than mummies making no sound. I guess there's really no orchestral score either ... so I give sound and sound effects a lot of leeway.

[katiesue]

The History Channel and History International have been showing the Young Indy series in two hour blocks for the last few months.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

This guy really nailed the character.

[CoasterMatt]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

This guy really nailed the character.

I thought he was dressed as Rick Wakeman.

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by CoasterMatt

I thought he was dressed as Rick Wakeman.

Ooooo Liszt-O-Mania flashback!

[Ghoulish Delight]

It's a matter of perspective I suppose. By that definition I'd consider the stones a MacGuffin because, from Indy's perspective, it could have been replaced. Indy didn't go into the Temple out of some need to find those stones. Substitute any one of a zillions artifacts that might have peeked his interest and he would have gone. There was no personal pull for those particular objects.

Compared to Raiders and Crusade where Indy expressed a clear personal investment in the object of pursuit in both. If it were anything else, Indy wouldn't have been as interested.

[innerSpaceman]

I guess the Shankara Stones are the most Maguffinish by the textbook defintion, and certainly that's another reason why I dislike ToD ... because they didn't bother to integrate the Maguffin into the story. It could have been anything that brought fertility to the Village and had RaveScene GlowyDiamonds effects when brought together on the dance floor.

So I retract. While any powerful supernatural Jewish artifact embodying God's Mighty Power would have done, the truth is there's probably very little on that particular menu other than the Ark of the Covenant.

Similarly, though I think the Holy Grail was used to less effect, perhaps only the Fountain of Youth could have provided a similar substitute for that particular story ... and not as apt a metaphor for the film's Father-Son element as the Holy Grail (though I think that metaphor was under-explored).


So I concede the nature of the Maguffin ... but not its dramatic purpose. The movies are better to the extent Indy, pardon the expression, joneses for the item, and fights like hell (over and over again) to get it.