I posted this in another thread but since this is appropriate I thought I'd share it here too for those who still hate the fridge scene:
That was a joke. If your as old as the filmmakers and not 14, you'd know that in the 50's the government promoted the ridiculous "Duck and Cover" routine in schools. For those who don't know what that is, basically in the event of all out nuclear war you just crawl under your school desk and let the blast pass over you. There's even a cartoon with a turtle of all things singing a little tune (it's on youtube I bet).
My dad always said they did it so everybody who got nuked was in a neat pile of dust after the blast. Easy to clean up.
Also back then, fridges were made of die cast steel and not plastic like they are today. They also had latches like car doors, which if you were inside, were impossible to open. Many kids in the 50's actually died from locking themselves in the fridge.
The Doomtown scene is a joke that plays on both of these. That's why they made a point to show the fridge is "lead lined" and that the latch on the door breaks when the fridge crashes down in the desert so Indy can get out. Later the General says to Indy "don't you know it's dangerous to climb into one of those things?". They acknowledge the joke right there!
Unfortunately a lot of references in KOTCS are limited to those who lived in the 1950's or those very aware of their history and pop culture references. Of course he couldn't live, but you can't live when your heart is ripped out and a yellow raft would actually pop from a large fall or shred when it hit the ground and slalomed through coarse snow. It's a movie, not a documentary.
EDIT- Here are links to validate this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_a...rl]http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5073.html
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has received reports of numerous suffocation deaths involving children who crawled inside latch type freezers, clothes dryers, combination washer/dryer units, picnic coolers, ice boxes in campers, and
old-style latch type refrigerators. Most of the victims were four to seven years old. In all cases,
the doors could not be easily pushed open from the inside. In some of the incidents associated with clothes dryers, the appliance was accidentally turned on while the child was inside.
Frequently, the children were playing "hide-and-seek" and the appliance or chest provided a deceptively good place to hide.
When the door slammed shut, the tight fitting gasket on most of the appliances cut off air to the child. This, along with the insulated construction of the appliance, also
prevented the child’s screams from being heard. But abandoned appliances are not the only items involved with accidents like these. Entrapment deaths have been reported in products in use or stored in the kitchen, laundry room, basement, or garage. Deaths also have occurred in ice boxes located in campers parked outside the home.
For the
past forty years, the Federal Refrigerator Safety Act has required that refrigerators be capable of being opened from the inside.