KotCS: Homages, Similarities, and References

Nathan Drake

New member
How many did you catch? Besides some of the obvious ones (Ark cameo, Marcus/Sr. references, the Junior line) the main ones I noticed were:


- Both LC and KOTCS had a motorbike chase where at one point the son is laughing at the misfortune of one of their pursuers, but recieve a disaproving glare from the father.

- The "none of them were you" line - even though Willie and Elsa replaced Marion in the later films, they were never as popular with viewers as the original heroine.

- The "knife to a gun fight" and "bad feeling about this" lines.

- The heroes in National Treasure also followed riddles to reach the goal.

- The flesh eating ants were very similar to the scarabs in both Mummy films.

- The traitor hording the treasure at the end of the film only to die when the temple collapses also happened in the first Mummy film.

- El Dorado was featured in the 2007 video game Uncharted.

- The opening scene for both the original Tomb Raider and it's 2007 remake featured an atomic bomb being detonated at a nuclear test site in the 1950s. In the original scene, the explosion causes Queen Natla's metalic prison to go flying in the air and crashing outside the blast zone (much like the fridge). The remake version features a dummy town.

- Area 51, the "grey" aliens and a UFO all appear in Tomb Raider III.

- The "well" and the platform stairs goes into the wall was very similar to the Tomb of Ancients in Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.


There's probally more but those are the ones off the top of my head. Any other adventure movies that were either referenced or had similar scenes to this one?
 

Nathan Drake

New member
Another one I just remembered is the IJ & the Infernal Machine video game which had the retracting stairs in the Peru bonus stage, a UFO and Russians.
 

Goodsport

Member
Indy telling Mutt that he had fought with Pancho Villa when he was around Mutt's age. I nice nod to The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. :)


-G
 

CaliforniaJones

New member
I can't for the life remember the line after having seen it twice. But the FBI agent (Neil Flynn) repeats his last line in the scene . Both times I saw it I kept thinking about the guy in Raiders repeating "top...men".
 

Blue_Scholar

New member
CaliforniaJones said:
I can't for the life remember the line after having seen it twice. But the FBI agent (Neil Flynn) repeats his last line in the scene . Both times I saw it I kept thinking about the guy in Raiders repeating "top...men".

we'll be looking at you closely, very closely

something to that effect
 
50's B-Movie nods!

Like or hate the film…there are many, many allusions to other films in "Crystal Skull." The skull itself was basically neither good nor evil. It was just a power which, like the A-bomb, could be used for differing purposes. And it boosted IQ's by imparting the knowledge of the aliens. It could destroy a human mind if you got too big of a dose. Sound familiar? Probably not to most of you. To a classic film nerd like myself…you bet! Anyone remember the "Brain Boosting" device in "Forbidden Planet" that imparted the knowledge of the Krell? Also, remember Leslie Neilson and Anne Francis getting married at the end of "Forbidden Planet"? Remember the ancient spacecraft unearthed by subway workers in "The Quatermass Experiment," and how the glowing eyes of the skeletal reawakened aliens had strange hypnotic powers? Remember the skin tight jumpsuit, Page Boy haircut, and severe look of Patricia Laffan in "Devil Girl from Mars"? There are an awful lot of allusions to other fifties sci-fi films in this Indy epic.

But I'm too tired to write any more. I’m not entirely convinced that this was the right route to take an archaeological adventure series like Indiana Jones, but the nods were rather cool.
 
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James

Well-known member
The ants were probably a nod to stuff like The Naked Jungle and Them!, while the UFO reminded me of Earth vs. The Flying Saucers. The latter is one that Lucas has frequently used to describe his B movie concept for the film.

And this kind've applies here...the novel describes the underground city as a giant electrical plant, and I immediately pictured the type of advanced subterranean complex found in Forbidden Planet.

I also wondered if the sandpit was intended as a nod to Invaders From Mars. Spielberg has mentioned his love for that film in the past, and it featured a very infamous sandpit...
 

Avilos

Active member
The obvious one is Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Where Aliens grow replacements for Human beings. They look just like the person whose life they have taken over. This was clearly a metaphor for the paranoia of the Red Scare and McCarthyism. The idea that your best friend, next door neighbor, or even a family member could be secretly plotting against not just you, but the whole country.

Spalko's plan for the Skull plays into the paranoia of the time. But clearly Mac's betrayal of Indy as well. Which is compounded by the fact that Mac's true loyalties are never clear.
 

Nathan Drake

New member
Welcome to Doom Town

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1996 EDITION - NUKE THE FRIDGE (well a metalic object with a person inside anyway)

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Little Grey Men

area51tr4.jpg

area51tr3.jpg


Flying Saucer

f_Area517m_24c6f8e.jpg


AREA 51
f_HighSecuritm_5ef3992.jpg


Evil bobbed nemesis with a stereotype accent (wonder why the redesign at 1:28 also seems familiar?)


200px-Tomb_Raider_Natla.png

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James

Well-known member
The Man From Planet X (1951)
Orellana's golden mask is modeled after this B movie alien.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ISSVM6EPtI

The Naked Jungle (1954)
Them! (1954)

Big damn ants!

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956)
The main inspiration for the "Saucermen From Mars" script. The ufo shot is most likely a direct homage to this Ray Harryhausen classic. (It's worth noting that Hugh Marlowe is basically dressed as Indy- sans fedora- during the movie's finale.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsQDQDcDXgI

Treasure Island (1950)
Spielberg told John Hurt that Oxley would be the film's "Ben Gunn" character.

Invaders From Mars (1953)
This features the most notorious sandpit of all 1950s B movies. The underground alien lair/ship was accessed by falling through the sand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgDD-uyHNFs

The Ten Commandments (1956)
Spielberg referred to the Amazon washing away Akator as "the Ten Commandments moment".

Tarzan Triumphs (1943)
The obvious Tarzan homage could've been inspired by this entry. It features Tarzan and his son trying to keep Nazis from conquering a lost city. The Nazis are hoping the city's resources will aid them in winning the war. At one point, Tarzan is assisted by a treeful of spider monkeys that helps him outwit the Nazis. (Also features a scene where a Nazi aircraft is downed by a flock of birds flying up into its propellers!)

Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Extras dressed as Bogart, Walter Huston, and Tim Holt during the Peruvian marketplace scene.

The Wild One (1953)
Mutt's introduction in the film.

Forbidden Planet (1956)
The knowledge of an ancient alien race proves too much for human minds to grasp.

King Solomon's Mines (1950)
Several sequences in KOTCS remind me of this 1950s adventure film, particularly Chauchilla Cemetery.
 
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Violet

Moderator Emeritus
Both of Marion's first scenes in Raiders and KOTCS involve Indy and Marion bickering about the past and Marion's life being threatened by a villain.

Indy translating and working out Ox's letter is a lot like Indy working from his Dad's diary to find the second marker and the Holy Grail.

Both the Crystal Skull and the Sankara Stones have already been technically found by someone who isn't Indy. Indy for the most part, spends his time trying to keep both items away from the baddies or stealing it back from them when they have it.

Both Spalko and Mola Ram used psychic/supernatural things on Indy.

The Crystal Skull's full power really only works when joined with the rest of the Crystal Skulls and skeletons, much like the Sankara Stones being the most powerful when all the stones are together.

The powers of the Crystal Skull and the Sankara stones are not clearly defined, and can do more than one power all at the same time!

In both the Raiders and KOTCS ending, Marion and Indy walk away arm-in-arm to points unknown (alright, perhaps not completely unknown... a bar in Raiders and perhaps to a honeymoon in KOTCS?)
 

jonesissparrow

New member
1950s B movie references in KOTCS

Let me see if I could count the genres within, since KOTCS is probrably more ecclectic in homages than the other three:

The Soviets - Spy and war B movies

Mutt - Biker movies

Indy - Adventure movies of the 50s like Secret of the Incas

Marion - Rebel movies (because she is a mother to a Rebel son like in those Teensploitation films)

(A bit of a homage to the Rock and Roll and carsploitation movies in the beginning.)

Crystal Skull - Sci - Fi movies like The Blob,The Thing, etc. which was done nicely in the graveyard sequence almost feel like a scene that could be played at a drive-in.

Ants, the graveyard warriors, and Indy gazing into the skull is a reference to the Horror movies.
 

jonesissparrow

New member
RaideroftheArk said:
You pretty much nailed it. What about...

Ox- Wide Eye crazy prophet knowing more than our hero's.

Yeah he kind remind of shell shock people in the horror and sci-fi films especially the little girl in THEM!
 

vf wing

New member
I'm beginning to see KOTCS as a tribute to one of the ultimate b-movies: Alien. Aside from the fact that the new Indy flick features alien(s):

1) John Hurt is a member of both casts.

2) Mac's frequent references to "Jonesy". The same term is used to refer to Ripley's cat Jones.

3) Dean Charles Stanforth is listed in the credits as "Dean Stanton", a rather obvious nod to Harry Dean Stanton, another Alien cast member.

Of course, Alien drew heavy influence from Star Wars, so it's about time Ridley Scott got a tip of the hat from George!
 

Yure

Well-known member
Don't forget "Atomic Cafe", right at the start, a very popular montage film about the atomic era.
 
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