You would be hard-pressed to find many folks who don't know Indiana Jones nowadays. The legacy
of the "Indiana Jones" films is enduring, thanks in part to it having no shortage of
memorable moments. Here are some of the most paused scenes in the "Indiana Jones" movies.
In the opening sequence of "Raiders of The Lost Ark," director Steven Spielberg
does an incredible job of letting us know exactly what Indiana Jones is all about.
There are puzzles, traps, betrayal, and a giant boulder hell-bent on smooshing our hero.
Indy navigates a sequence of deadly traps and arrives at the treasure he seeks.
We're then left in suspense as he stares down a grimacing, gold relic. The moment hangs in the
air for longer than expected, but rather than the hesitation making us anxious, we wait patiently.
We trust that Indy knows what he’s doing. Given that we only met this man minutes earlier,
it's quite an achievement. Plus, we get to find out what that sack full of sand is all about.
Indiana Jones presents himself as a fearless protagonist throughout the entire film series.
However, there's no denying the fear in his eyes when faced with a serpent.
"I hate snakes Jacque! I hate 'em!"
"Come on, show a little backbone will ya?"
The temple which houses the titular Ark is crawling with the slithery devils — a
setting befitting the dangerous power contained within the Ark of the Covenant.
Indy hijacks a portion of the Nazi dig site in the desert once he discovers the real location
of the Ark. There's a moment that follows when Indy falls to the ground and looks up to discover
he's face-to-face with a hissing cobra. He locks eyes with the creature before scrambling away,
and in that moment, you see the normally stoic action hero have a face of pure panic.
Even if you lock him in an ancient, snake-riddled throne room that hasn't been opened in thousands
of years, Indiana Jones will still find an exit — which in this instance is also
conveniently near a Nazi-occupied air strip. Good thing, too, because at this point in
"Raiders," it's been far too long since we've seen Indiana engage in fisticuffs. Fortunately,
our lust for action is satiated by a burly, mustachioed Nazi who is eager for battle.
Indy isn't always the top dog in a fight, but what he lacks in fighting prowess,
he makes up for in ingenuity. His enemy in this scene looks formidable,
but Indy always manages to find a clever way to overcome his opponent. However,
in this case, defeating this gladiator Nazi on the airstrip is entirely a matter of blind luck.
The series of events that has to happen for this Final Boss to go face-first into airplane
propeller blades borders is fantastically silly and truly a wonder to behold.
The Ark of the Covenant is shrouded in mystery for most of the first film.
We're left in the dark as to what exactly is contained within that beautiful, gold sarcophagus.
After Indy combats Nazis across the globe for over 90 minutes, it's time for the final reveal
of The Ark. With all we have emotionally invested in the journey, what lies inside
that ancient tomb best be mind-blowing ... and it lives up to that expectation.
When Marion is nabbed by the evildoers, Indy trails them atop a submarine, eventually arriving
at an isolated island. Indy doesn't do so well in foiling any plans and winds up tied to a stake on
a mountain top while the bad guys ceremoniously open The Ark. What's unleashed is an unholy wave
of destruction among the Nazis as the spirits whip around and annihilate anything that looks at them,
a viewing experience that continues to deliver the goods over and over again.
[Lots of screaming as faces melt]
The opening scene of "Temple of Doom" had a lot to live up to, considering the now-iconic boulder
chase scene in the first film. The second film in the series opens with a glamorous show tune with
lots of sparkly dresses. Moments later, in steps Indiana Jones: not clothed in his usual leather
jacket and fedora but in a fancy white tuxedo. There's an exchange taking place between Jones
and some shady characters. We don't exactly know what's being traded, but that's not the point.
The point is Harrison Ford looks sharp, and it's time for another adventure.
In acknowledgement of a successful deal, Indy lifts a glass of champagne and gulps
it down. The bad men begin cackling with laughter because our hero just drank
poison. The antidote is in an extremely durable vial that winds up being kicked
around the dance floor while the entire dining room erupts into chaos. Watching
Indy scramble about chasing the vial around the dance floor is a fun, comical experience.
When "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" was released in 1984, there was no such thing
as a PG-13 rating. Thanks to the nightmare fuel that was tossed on an entire generation
of kids who saw this PG-rated installment of "Indiana Jones", the Motion Picture Association
of America decided to create a rating to bridge the gap between PG and R ratings.
In "Temple of Doom," circumstances result in Indiana and his companions being stranded in
India after a plane crash. All roads force them to a society housing a dark secret — mostly a
mind-controlling shaman named Mola Ram, who leads an army of acolytes with aspirations
of world domination. Indy gets back-row seats to one of their ceremonies and
witnesses Ram use his bare hand to reach into a man's chest and pull out his heart.
He then holds the still-beating heart while the man remains alive long enough to be lowered into
a lava pit. As the man screams in agony below, the heart in Ram's hand bursts into flames.
It's a haunting image that certainly warranted a re-examination of our movie rating system.
In "Temple of Doom," Indiana Jones manages to escape his captors in a wild
mine cart ride that feels like Steven Spielberg's audition for Disneyworld.
The escape reaches a climactic moment when Indy and pals are surrounded by the baddies on a rope
bridge extending over a canyon. A river teeming with crocodiles lies several hundred feet below.
Out of safer options, he offers up a knowing glance to his sidekick, Short Round,
as he raises his sword to cut the bridge. He knows everyone, including him and his allies,
will be sent tumbling to the cliffside along with the collapsing bridge. It seems extreme,
but staring death in the face and smirking is just a part of daily life for Indiana Jones.
"Oh my God, oh my God is he nuts?"
"He no nuts - he's crazy!"
In "The Last Crusade", when Indy finally tracks down his abducted father's location,
he's betrayed by his would-be lover, Elsa. The subtlety with which Ford and Connery act out the
realization they both slept with the same woman is a rewatchable moment all in of itself here.
Father and son end up being tied up together as the Nazis rummage through all their research, but
the real fun begins when Connery fumbles a Zippo lighter and sends their lush prison up in flames.
Indy and his father are tied back-to-back against some chairs and are powerless to
escape as the entire room ignites into flames. The two men hop their way over to the fireplace
to escape the fire. While frantically trying to free himself from his restraints, Indy discovers
that the fireplace has a trap door leading to a Nazi command room. Not exactly the help they were
hoping for because the soldiers immediately open fire on them. What follows is a humorous sequence
of events involving deception and locking a bunch of Nazis in a makeshift furnace.
It's not easy to pick just one moment from this entire motorcycle chase in "The Last
Crusade". Everything works together beautifully to create an exciting,
action-packed sequence that's also modestly hilarious. Seeing the man who defined James
Bond in a dorky hat and glasses protecting his briefcase and umbrella while refusing to
acknowledge his son's awesomeness speaks to the essence of "The Last Crusade."
Indiana Jones and his father escape on a motorcycle with a sidecar,
but their would-be captors are in hot pursuit. After rolling through a barricade,
Indy grabs a flagpole and uses it as a lance to knock an incoming Nazi off his bike.
The loose bike zips off and crashes into several other pursuers. The final motorcycle
baddie is finished off when Indy uses the remaining fragment from his makeshift lance
and plunges it into his enemy's wheel spokes. The only acknowledgement he gets from his father
at this miraculous escape is an expressionless face as he winds up his pocket watch. Typical.
Those pesky Nazis always seem to find a way to stay on Indy's trail and bogart any of his
discoveries. This time, they kidnap his father in an attempt to force him to reveal the location of
the Holy Grail. Good thing Henry Jones Jr. can take a punch and still think straight; without
that presence of mind, pops would be squashed underneath the unforgiving tread of a tank.
Indy's father is being kept inside a tank guarded by truckloads of soldiers,
but Indy blasts his way through them all in order to help his dad get out of the musty military
vehicle. In a series of unfortunate events, Poppa Jones falls onto the treads and is about to be
whisked off to his death before Indy pulls out his trusty whip and latches it onto his father's leg.
Indy then has to hold on to the weight of a full-grown man while a Nazi jerk pummels his
kidneys. It's an action scene that proves Indiana Jones is the Alpha Archeologist.
All roads lead Indiana Jones, his companions, and their Nazi captors to a canyon housing a
centuries-old temple. Inside this temple is a series of booby traps that can only be navigated
with decades of research and some quick thinking. Behind all these contraptions lies the Holy Grail.
The Cup of Christ is known to be a source of immortality ... but there are some caveats.
After water from the cup heals Henry Jones Sr.'s gunshot wound, the flip-flopping Elsa picks it
up and begins excitedly proclaiming that glory is theirs. Her hubris causes her to forget the
ancient crusader's warning to never take the cup past the temple's seal. The earth rumbles,
and the ground breaks open to ultimately send Elsa falling to her doom. Indy also ends up
falling into the same crevice, but his father grabs his hand at the last moment. The Holy
Grail is barely out of reach on an opposite ledge, and Indy desperately reaches out for it, despite
his father's hand slipping. Connery injects serenity into the chaos and speaks softly -
"Indiana…
Let it go."
It's a statement that carries an extreme amount of weight. It means Father Jones' life's pursuit is
meaningless next to the life of his son.
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" had almost 20 years between its release and
1989's "The Last Crusade," and it was an absolute necessity that we hit the ground running. Steven
Spielberg made sure we got just that. The film opens in a government facility we all recognize
from the ending of the first film: a warehouse containing all sorts of secrets — the Ark of the
Covenant being one of them. Indy must not be very good at choosing his friends because he's betrayed
once again by his companion and forced to help the bad guys find the treasure they seek.
Indy winds up escaping, of course ... via a rocket cart determined to shatter the land speed record.
After that, he ends up in a small town, which he slowly realizes is a dummy town — that's about
to be on the receiving end of a nuclear bomb test. Indy hops inside a lead-lined
refrigerator, and the blast launches him far away, where he stumbles out
unscathed. How? Because he's Indiana Jones and we've still got the rest of the movie to go.
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