Robin & Marian

Anyone think Indy 5 could take a cue from the 1976 film Robin and Marian? Not the romance aspect but the part where the hero doesn't want to feel old. He doesn't want to truly settle down and go quiet into the night. He wants to be the man of legend, the hero he once was.

Imagine an Indy film where, for the first time, Indy isn't thrown into the adventure (to rescue someone), nor is he asked to go on an adventure (for the government) nor does an adventure simply fall in his lap like TOD--He actively seeks it out.

It's a new era and Jones really sees the world changing. It's the early 1960s (1960-1963 at most)--Far far removed from his "era", the 1920s-1930s. The world is forgetting men like him. The world is moving past men with hats. He's married. But he doesn't want to settle down quietly into old age, and he's tired of the constant reminders of it--The aches, the pains, the lines on his face. He wants to prove to HIMSELF that he's still Indiana Jones. That there's still a place in the world for him. That time and the world truly hasn't passed him by. And most of all, he's damn bored with the drudgery of being an Associate Dean and Married. He misses the thrill. He misses the risk. For a man who has rescued the Ark from the Nazis, given the Sankara Stones back to their rightful owners, found the Holy Grail, discovered Ancient Aliens, reignited his relationship with his father and gained a family--what is the ultimate quest?

Indy might've gotten married to Marion at the end of KOTCS...But knowing Indy do we really think he could accept being quietly married, a boring old sod of a Professor, for too long? Think of a gambler. If he gets even that WHIFF of an adventure, of an artifact or something beyond anything he's ever found....He'd grab the hat in a minute.

It'd be less action oriented, more cerebral. A reflection of the changing times, but not in the Cartoonish American Graffiti way of KOTCS. Deeper. The glamorous Kennedy era of the early 1960s. There can still be action, but it'd be realistic. No tank chases or truck chases anymore; Maybe a big spectacle at the end where it's presumed Jones loses his life--His fate left unknown, a mystery like so many of the artifacts and forgotten lands he's pursued.

A lovely post. (There's some discussion of Robin & Marian here, but I feel like it used to come up even more in the old days. I've never seen it, so I couldn't say exactly where.)

It's an interesting idea, that of Indy going out on an adventure because he's bored and misses putting on the jacket. Certainly, he would need to stumble upon something that would raise the stakes and bring us into the whole of the narrative, but it's certainly an interesting entry point. I might still prefer the idea of him leading a dig at least a little bit, because it's a big part of his job that we've never seen on film and pretty rarely in any other format, but they're two notions that could fit together. (Indy's supposed to be the serious leader of a dig/expedition, but keeps doing a little bit more than he's supposed to. It's got potential. Could give us an interesting sidekick, or even just a good way to frame Mutt's involvement, if he is along for the ride.)

And, of course, if he stumbles across something bigger than he bargained for, that someone else is after too, well...

I always thought he wouldn't fade into oblivion, but would carry on his academic work with field trips, like the one in which he was interrupted at the beginning of CS. I never thought he yearned for the excitement of his adventures, but was just forced into them for one reason or another. But of course a quiet semi retirement teaching and digging up pottery isn't the stuff of his watchable exploits. The adventure for Dr Jones is just a necessity for an end goal, acquiring the prize or helping someone. I liked that about CS. He was that real archaeologist in the beginning, digging up pottery in Mexico, but then forced into another adventure involving international politics and mystical relics. He's good at both and I think he would prefer to be an academic only in his older age, but of course trouble comes to find him.

Mickiana said:

I always thought he wouldn't fade into oblivion, but would carry on his academic work with field trips, like the one in which he was interrupted at the beginning of CS. I never thought he yearned for the excitement of his adventures, but was just forced into them for one reason or another. But of course a quiet semi retirement teaching and digging up pottery isn't the stuff of his watchable exploits. The adventure for Dr Jones is just a necessity for an end goal, acquiring the prize or helping someone. I liked that about CS. He was that real archaeologist in the beginning, digging up pottery in Mexico, but then forced into another adventure involving international politics and mystical relics. He's good at both and I think he would prefer to be an academic only in his older age, but of course trouble comes to find him.

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I think the field trip idea is a great one, if only as a reason to get Indy, an aged professor who has no realistic business willingly going on a crazy quest, abroad...where trouble will inevitably find him.

Raiders112390 said:

Anyone think Indy 5 could take a cue from the 1976 film Robin and Marian? Not the romance aspect but the part where the hero doesn't want to feel old. He doesn't want to truly settle down and go quiet into the night. He wants to be the man of legend, the hero he once was.

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I don't recall the film too clearly, but I remember a sense of poignancy. This is where the Indy series is in danger of approaching On Golden Pond: fixated on age and aging, which is something the youth will want to try and ignore.

Indy would have to drag himself out of the black pit despair quickly...

Raiders112390 said:

Imagine an Indy film where, for the first time, Indy isn't thrown into the adventure (to rescue someone), nor is he asked to go on an adventure (for the government) nor does an adventure simply fall in his lap like TOD--He actively seeks it out.

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...he would have to make himself valuable to society once again.

Raiders112390 said:

It's a new era and Jones really sees the world changing. It's the early 1960s (1960-1963 at most)--Far far removed from his "era", the 1920s-1930s. The world is forgetting men like him. The world is moving past men with hats.

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The world of men with hats won't be over until the 1970s, but the world certainly has changed.

Will Connery's Bond be a part of Indy's universe? Dr. No (1962) and From Russia With Love (1963) will be grabbing the headlines, and making Indy's adventures old-fashioned by harsh comparison. Indy really is in a different league now, but at the same time we wouldn't want him to up his game and become an international gadget-hungry super-spy. So what could Indy do to make himself relevant without becoming a Bond clone?

Sometimes an anchronism actually is hopelessly out-of-date. Indy's time was the period from the Great War through the golden age of the 1930s and into the Second World War. After this the world has changed. Technology, travel, satellites, space flight - all these erode the mystery and romance of earlier years. The pulp world is forgiving, and we can imagine the supernatural in remote and wild places. With the Cold War and the UFO scares (fear of the advance of enemy technology), the supernatural in KOTCS became associated with aliens.

The further Indy is pushed forward in time the further he's removed from the element that made him so popular. The more he becomes a hero of the Bond-era, the less Indiana Jones he becomes. If he's fighting to overtake the shadow of the new world he isn't the inspiring force he once was.

The desire to have an Indiana Jones film which progresses into the 1960s is tantamount to greed. Nothing can withstand too much gluttony before it explodes!

I could actually see something like this working, but not entirely as the OP suggested.

Since reading this thread last night, I've had ideas popping into my head since then.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you ?Indiana Jones and the Spear of Life?

The year is 1965, Indy and Marion have been married for 10 years. They've been a good 10 years, but since Indy got married his adventures have slowly dwindled to the point where they're non existent. He hasn't even gone on a dig in almost a decade. He now leads a very mundane life (compared to what it used to be): early to bed, early to rise, goes to work and is home by supper with boring dinner parties on the weekends. Though Indy does enjoy aspects of his life, inside a little voice tells him he hates the old man he's become. He jogs and hits a heavy bag at the university gym to stay active and fit; however Indy is now nothing more than old, stuffy Prof. Henry Jones Jr. with his tweed suits and bow ties. Or at least that's how the students and younger faculty have come to view him.

While Indy had never really minded this perception, he always had a nagging feeling that his life was missing something. He misses going on excavations, he misses the thrill, the adventure. All of this comes to a head when a new and much younger professor of Archeology arrives at the university. He's right around the age Indy was in ROTLA, but he?s nothing at all like Indy. Whereas Indy aggressively sought artifacts and was generally considered a "grave robber" for his tactics, this new professor is more passive and always seeks approval from whatever government before commencing a dig. This new professor has actually read up on Indy and largely disagrees with Indy's methods of obtaining artifacts. This new professor is more in tune with the younger generation's viewpoint (some of which seems foreign and careless to someone of Indy's generation), and he receives the attention and popularity that Indy once garnered.

Needless to say, Indy and the new guy don't see eye-to-eye. In fact Indy can't stand him because this new professor doesn't act like a professor, more like a student. He never wears a suit and treats the students like friends not pupils. Plus, the female student body swoons over the new guy much like they used to swoon over Indy. This makes him feel old and out of place. Indy is becoming fully aware that his era has come and gone and there's no room for guys like him in this new and strange time.

Then one day, a wealthy man around Indy's age from a European country approaches Indy and the new guy to lead an expedition in Israel searching for what they believe to be the spearhead that pierced the side of Christ. Indy at first turns the man down saying he "doesn't do that anymore", but both men plead with Indy to go on what would be the adventure of a lifetime (or you know, just one more for Indy). Indy agrees to think it over. Secretly, his insides are jumping at the chance for another adventure, but he's hesitant because it wouldn't jive with his current life.

That night at dinner, Indy is quieter than usual (deep in thought). Marion senses this and they talk about the opportunity. Indy doesn't think he should go, but Marion has known about Indy's growing resentment toward his everyday life and thinks one more dig would be just the trick to lift his spirits. Indy insists that it's not who he is anymore, but Marion reminds him that he's Indiana Jones not Prof. Henry Jones Jr. and talks him into going.

At the airport, we see another stark contrast between the new and old. The new professor has all sorts of luggage while Indy simply has an old duffel bag filled with everything he needs . Of course we get the classic map shot that shows the plane's route from America to the Middle East.
Once at the dig site, the new professor and students joke about Indy's wardrobe (behind his back, or so they think) prompting Indy to leave his fedora in his tent. Indy watches as the younger professor mostly leads the dig (even though Indy is the senior faculty member). Indy has resigned himself to the fact that he's no longer useful or needed.

At some point, they uncover a hidden temple and this is where we see a glimpse of who Indy really is. Indy insists that the others follow his lead into the temple due to the fact that there are probably booby traps; however the younger professor scoffs at the notion and accuses Indy of being over-dramatic. The students end up following the younger professor and in their careless exploration, a student triggers a trap and is injured. No one except Indy knows how to treat the injury and once the student has been tended to, Indy orders all of them to wait outside while he and the other professor continue on. At this point, the younger professor shows his inexperience by becoming nervous and wants to turn back. Indy reminds him of why they?re there and so they continue. They come to the room of the temple that holds what they?ve been looking for: the actual spearhead that pierced Christ?s side. As they?re looking it over, Indy explains the myth surrounding the spear. According to legend, the spearhead will make the army that wields it invincible (or so the story goes). As they?re leaving, the new professor again scoffs at the myth?s validity and accidentally triggers another trap. Now it?s a race to get out as the temple around them caves. As they run, the new professor being (pushed from behind by Indy) screams for his life prompting Indy to give an ornery ?SHUT UP AND MOVE OR YOU WON?T HAVE A LIFE TO SCREAM ABOUT!?

Escaping by the skin of their teeth, Indy and the newbie are greeted by their European benefactor who?s shown up (with an armed entourage), demanding to see the spearhead. Indy knows something?s up, but newbie is just confused. The mysterious man reveals himself to be a former bodyguard of Hitler?s who is dedicated to finishing what his furor started. While the newbie begs to reason, Indy slyly slips away to his tent. He opens his duffle bag and takes out his holstered Webley .38 and his whip. He looks up at his fedora just before we cut away to?

The Nazi is lining up the students and newbie to be executed by his men. Newbie is pleading for Nazi to rethink this. A henchmen approaches Nazi with information that ?Dr. Jones is nowhere to be found.? Nazi, being fully aware of who Indy is, orders his men to stay alert. Just as a henchman is about to shoot the students with a machine gun, a figure appears just slightly off screen and the whip extends around the barrel, yanking it as the henchman fires in the opposite direction of the students. The Nazi glares in annoyance and under his breath hisses ?Jones.? The camera pans out to show for the first time in the film Indiana Jones standing triumphantly, boldly. Fedora perched on the top of his head, satchel slung over the opposite shoulder, whip in one hand and his loaded Webely in the other.

A student yells ?Dr. Jones look out!? as a henchman shoots at him, Indy returns fire while dodging behind some rocks. Older and out of action for years, Indy is panting but he still has gas in the tank. A fire fight ensures with the students caught in the middle. A henchman almost gets the drop on Indy but Newbie tackles him before he can fire. The Nazi uses this as a distraction to escape with the spear. Indy almost gives chase, but decides to help the students get to safety. After they?re taken care of, Indy and a reluctant Newbie go after the Nazi, knowing full well that he?ll use the spearhead first chance he gets.

That?s all I?ve got so far. I know this was a very long post, but if anyone made it to the end, what did you think?

Also some notes:
-Though, I went into heavy detail about Indy?s current life, onscreen it would only be 15-20 minutes of showing him as restless. The rest of the movie would be action/adventure in the tone of Raiders/LC.

-Newbie wouldn?t be as annoying as he seems. He?s just a different type of guy from a different era than Indy?s used to. He would be Indy?s sidekick for the film and he would definitely pull his weight as the adventure went on.

-While Indy would be the center of the action, we?d see a more cautious Indy who?s aware that he?s not as spry as he used to be. However, he uses his wits and experience to compensate. For example in LC, Indy jumps from a horse onto a tank. In my story, Indy would get close enough so that he could grab on and step onto whatever platform.

-I wanted to make the antagonist the same age as Indy for several reasons:
1. They?re both men clinging to a time that has come and gone.
2. It would make the fisticuffs scene more realistic. Two tough-as-nails old guys duking it out makes more sense than Indy trying to fist fight a younger opponent (and winning).

-I don't know how to fit Mutt into this if at all.