Rocket Surgeon
Guest
Part One
Originally Posted by The New York Times
TV REVIEW; 'HEROES AND SIDEKICKS,' SPECIAL TONIGHT ON CBS By JOHN CORRY
Published: November 27, 1984
''HEROES and Sidekicks - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,'' the CBS special on Channel 2 at 8 tonight, is really about two things: movie heroes and their pals, and the glories of the Stephen Spielberg-George Lucas film. The connection between the two is that the swashbuckling archeologist Indiana Jones has a sidekick, and that this is in the great Hollywood tradition. In fact, it seems to be the apotheosis of the tradition.
Jones's sidekick, Short Round, ''is the perfect sidekick,'' William Shatner, the narrator, says, ''loyal and funny.'' Short Round is played by a 12-year-old Vietnamese boy, Ke Huy Quan, who, in one of the excerpts we see from the Spielberg-Lucas film, says, ''Okey dokey, Dr. Jones,'' and clearly is prepared to risk his life for Harrison Ford.
This kind of thing, as Mr. Shatner tells us later, ''is as much a part of our heritage as the flag, mom and apple pie.'' That thought may be unsettling, but for the moment let it pass. Meanwhile, CBS slips in a few ringers - Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance, for example - but for the most part the heroes and sidekicks are male.
Thus we see some of the great sidekicks: Gabby Hayes, Walter Brennan, Andy Devine, Nigel Bruce, even Leonard Nimoy - Mr. Spock to Mr. Shatner's Captain Kirk. The hero- sidekick relationship seems to center on male bonding. Much of this is amusing. ''Friendship,'' we are told, ''is more important than marriage.''
And indeed, women do not figure in any of the film excerpts, other than as intruders. Women are silly. We see Kate Capshaw pouring perfume over the elephant she's riding in ''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'' because he smells bad. When she's not doing dumb things like that she's being rescued by Indiana and Short Round.
In its way, this is provocative stuff. ''Heroes and Sidekicks'' claims that Hollywood's heroes and sidekicks celebrate ethnic, cultural and even age diversities, and that mutual respect is what their relationships are all about. On the other hand, the heroes we see are all white Anglo- Saxons. Short Round is in the tradition of Tonto: devoted to the hero, but unlikely ever to marry into his family. Chewbaca in ''Star Wars,'' even Mr. Spock, or the characters played by the movie actor Mantan Moreland are part of the tradition, too.
Meanwhile, we also see film clips of Indiana Jones in action. As he was in ''Raiders of the Lost Ark,'' he is menaced by brown people and yellow people. (When they are not being menacing, they are standing around in crowds.) Anglo-Saxon pluck and daring must win out over machetes, bolos and swords. Short Round seems to be in there as a counterpoise and an expression of liberal sentiment. He proves that brown or yellow people need not be dangerous; they may be loyal and funny instead. ''Heroes and Sidekicks'' ignores Sabu, but he made a career of playing sidekicks like that.
''Heroes and Sidekicks,'' although it certainly doesn't mean to, suggests there is a contradiction between what our film makers say they believe, and what their films may show. By and large, the Hollywood community is liberal.
The Center for Media and Public Affairs in Washington measured some of this in a study in 1982. In the study, which also was sponsored by several universities, 104 members of the Hollywood creative community, most of them making television films, and most of them earning more than $200,000 a year, identified their political positions and what it was they believed. Some 75 percent said they were left of center politically; more important, they said they would like to rearrange the social order. They wanted consumer groups and intellectuals to be the dominant forces, with blacks and feminists next.
But how do we reconcile this with the images of the heroes and sidekicks that we see on the movie and television screen? Probably we cannot, except to note that progress is being made. Gunga Din, the quintessential sidekick, had to die for the white men in the regiment. Short Round, presumably, will only be sent back to school.
''Heroes and Sidekicks - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'' is a Robert Guenette production, in association with Lucasfilm. The executive producers are Sid Ganis and Frank Marshall.
Last edited:
You have almost the entire thing. (There were 1 or 2 noticeable cuts). 47 minutes versus my 18 mins.