Putting a face to the name: Abner Ravenwood

Insomniac

Insomniac

New member
I know Abner Ravenwood is a character shrouded in mystery and I also know we may never see him in screen so this but what actor would you believe best play him?
My Abner Ravenwood has to be a actor with enough experience not the years the milage (old) and be able to take out a revolver only when he needs to and the man everything Indy knows his only real father figure.
Pretty much a generic 1940s serial adventurer.


Which brings up two names that I can think that come up are Clint Eastwood and Humphrey Bogart sadly Clint Eastwood is the only one still alive.
 
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Mickiana

Well-known member
I kinda pictured Abner as a very abstract professor type. Not physically imposing, moreso a dusty old academic who had no problem getting out into the field, but remained a man of books and consumed with his historical obsessions. Bogart could have pulled this off I think, but Clint comes across as too much of a hard ass. He's too big as well. I saw Marion's strength as something she developed in a bid to cope with having a father who was not really there for her and who was very distracted with his archaeology. Indy and Marion are similar in this way, while Abner obviously was not a survivor. I think in one story version he perished in an avalanche(?). When I first heard John Hurt was in Indy 4, I really did hope that he might be playing Abner (somehow not dead after all) as he seemed close to the type of character I had pictured in my mind. This hope of mine was fed by some rumours I read of him playing Abner. I'm not saying I've got the best impression of what Abner should be like, but it does seem to tie in character development with Marion and Indy.
 
Insomniac

Insomniac

New member
I agree with the whole unsupportive Marion deal but the "Hard Ass" clint might fit in with that.

I also believed the idea John Hurt could play him but was soon shot down.
 
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Mickiana

Well-known member
That's a good point. Being a hard ass could be a trait to fit in with Marion's sense of neglect. It would be interesting to see Clint trying this role. I believe he's got the sensitivity to do it and to help us, the audience, get past our preconceptions of him as a tough guy. I suppose Connery did that, shedding his James Bond image to play an academic. He previously did this also in The Name of the Rose. Clint would have to be careful not to physically upstage Harrison's Indy if he ever were to play Abner.
 
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Mickiana

Well-known member
I don't think I'd be any good trying to choose someone. Bogart (assuming he was around), Eastwood, Hurt and Brimley..... all are possible, but who would be the best?
 
Insomniac

Insomniac

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I agree there are so many experienced and talented actors that could fit the bill I would extremely love it if they made an indy with Abner in the for the fifth movie ... Hell I would love a fifth Movie!
 
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Mephisto

New member
Max von Sydow. Father Merrin was an archaeologist and played a mentor to Damien Karras. Indiana Jones and the Exorcism of Pazuzu.
 
WillKill4Food

WillKill4Food

New member
How's about this guy?
Fedora.jpg

...and I'm not talking about Finn.

Indiana Jones Wiki said:
Early drafts of The Last Crusade alluded to him being Abner Ravenwood, Indiana's mentor. However all references to this identity have been removed from the final cut, although he still appears more prominently than the other hunters with close-ups, and he is the only one who sympathized young Indy.
Click to expand...
 
Indy's Fist

Indy's Fist

New member
WillKill4Food said:
How's about this guy?
Fedora.jpg

...and I'm not talking about Finn.
Click to expand...

To me he IS Abner! Why they didn't just make him Abner is way beyond me. I mean it would stand to reason that Indy would draw inspiration from him especially if he later became Indy's mentor. Just look at him and listen to his lines. He's alot like Indy. My guess is that maybe Speilberg or Lucas thought that Abner would be used in an upcoming Indy story so they changed the character's name.
 
Stoo

Stoo

Well-known member
3 Faces of Abner

Ha ha. Spencer Tracy from "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." Not what I had in mind but funny, nonetheless. He was a scoundrel!

A pictoral display of Abner interpretations from legit/semi-legit sources:

1984, Marvel's "The Search For Abner":

1984_Abner_Marvel.jpg


1993, Hugh Fleming's "Lost Horizon" cover pitch to Dark Horse (Abner inspired by Wilford Brimley).

1993_Abner_LostHorizon.jpg


2001, "Emperor's Tomb" pre-production artwork.

2001_Abner_EmperorsTomb.jpg


Watch Wilford Brimley in the last 1/2 hour of "High Road to China". THAT is Abner!
 
Rocket Surgeon

Rocket Surgeon

Guest
Stoo said:
Ha ha. Spencer Tracy from "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." Not what I had in mind but funny, nonetheless. He was a scoundrel!
Click to expand...

Come on! He was a likeable upstanding family man who succumbed to temptation at the end of his career! It's not like he was running away with his secretary! He was bringing his wife and apparenty statuesque daughter!

Sounds like what we know of Abner...no?
 
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Mickiana

Well-known member
Being tempted by money or one's secretary are only as far apart as their consignments of punishment in hell (refer Dante's Inferno for specific geography). Tongue in cheek here, guys.

Spencer Tracy - fantastic idea! Couldn't he be digitally resurrected to play one more role?!!! If we are going to have Indy adventuring with the aid of the digital advent, surely this deceased great might then have a chance. He probably still has estates which, I imagine, might be amenable to the economic benefits.

As for Max, well, he's alive and still acting. He'd be great as a stern, serious and highly academic Abner. Spencer would be largely the same, but a bit more of a rogue.
 
Indy's Fist

Indy's Fist

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Wouldn't it be great for Indy to find Abner in the next movie alive and well? Also I wonder just how much truth there was that John Hurt was supposed to play Abner in KOTCS?
 
Webley

Webley

New member
Ed Grady.
He played Indys Professor befor. I think of him as Abner when I see him calling on Indy in class.
 
Stoo

Stoo

Well-known member
Nice one, Web! He must be the teacher in "Princeton 1916/Spring Break Adventure" (and not the one in "Curse of the Jackal/My First Adventure" or the professor in "Mystery of the Blues")? His parts are good and it's shame one of his best scenes was cut for the VHS/DVDs.:( I don't picture him as Abner but it's an interesting speculation.
 
kongisking

kongisking

Active member
WillKill4Food said:
How's about this guy?
Fedora.jpg

...and I'm not talking about Finn.
Click to expand...

I have always considered Fedora to be Abner. Just makes sense, seeing how similar he and Indy are. His smile as he watches the kid run from the trains shows that he is both very impressed and very interested in this kid. This is consistent with Marion's line "He loved you like a son." They both wear a similar outfit, for the luvva Mike! That PROVES that these two had a very close relationship even after the whole Cross mishap. And it makes Indy's betrayal of Abner's trust all the more cruel and tragic.
 
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