Your FAVORITE Indiana Jones scene in the entire series...

Which of these scenes are your favorite?


  • Total voters
    55

Kai Hagen

New member
The flying wing is the most memorable. It's not because I liked it. I didn't like what happened to the big strong guy who fought honorably. When I was a kid, the guy who worked at the video store replayed the blood-spraying-on-the-swastika part over and over again. Another scene that he replayed several times was the opening of the ark. I'm surprised that I didn't get nightmares.
 

shazamtd

New member
My favorite scene in the series is the entire scene at the Raven. From the drinking game to the bar burning down. It has the introduction of Marion and Toht and a gunfight. I love it.
 

IAdventurer01

Well-known member
Probably my favorite frame is right at the beginning of the rock crusher scene, with Indy standing triumphantly, ready to take on anyone in his way. But that's just a brief shot, not a whole scene, so I can't give it my vote.

Last Crusade is my favorite movie overall, and I would have a really hard time choosing between the opening train chase and the tank chase. Both are excellent and there's nothing I would really change about them. However, neither gives the feeling of Indy as an unstoppable force (but still human), which is something I really look for in terms of finding my favorite scene.

However, I ultimately have to cast my vote with the truck chase in Raiders. Where it's positioned is very telling to its quality. Consider this: it's a new action sequence with no dialog that in immediately on the heels of the flying wing scene which is already a terrific action scene with very little dialog. Despite this, it manages to stay incredibly intense and exciting. It also manages to expose Indy as both vulnerable yet also keep him seemingly unstoppable - a rare combination that makes this quite possibly my favorite individual scene of anything ever.
 

Colonel Corey

New member
The Drifter said:
That was a model of the tank that went over the cliff. But, that whole chase scene is one of my favorites as well.


I'm so sorry. I have no idea why, but my sister got on here a while back and was posting a bunch of crap that wasn't true. :rolleyes:


Please excuse this. :eek:

Rocket Surgeon said:
Well, it started the day I saw Temple of Doom...;)

Where do you get gems like that?! They really drove it off the cliff? It's STILL there? How do you know this?!

To quote a great American (specifically North) That would be a revelation...

NAH...no way! I don't believe it!

Is THAT why you like it best?

Would it change if you found out it wasn't true like that guy Drifter claims?


:confused:


Hey, sorry for double posting everybody.


Anyway, I want to say sorry for this too. :( (Darn you big sister!)
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Dr. Gonzo

New member
Well, I'd really have to have a think about my favorite scenes in Raiders and Crusade cause there are so many good scenes...

Not that there aren't many good scenes in Doom but even when I was younger my favorite scene in Doom was always pegged as the whole spike room sequence.
 

Phlip

New member
What instantly comes to mind is the Temple of Doom trap room; just so brilliantly done with loads of humour throughout. :D
 

teampunk

Member
The scene in Raiders when Indy is on top of the mesa digging up the Ark. There's a storm brewing, it's windy, and he puts his hat on. So bad ass.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
teampunk said:
The scene in Raiders when Indy is on top of the mesa digging up the Ark. There's a storm brewing, it's windy, and he puts his hat on. So bad ass.

That is a great sequence.

The sun going down with Indy presiding over the diggers:

231.jpg


Then darkness, and the storm as a portent of mystery and danger:

232.jpg
 

kongisking

Active member
Montana Smith said:
That is a great sequence.

The sun going down with Indy presiding over the diggers:

231.jpg

Though, if we're to be honest with ourselves, this shot brings up the problem that Indy is putting on his hat as the sun goes down, thus creating his decidedly un-digger-like silhouette for the whole damned Nazi camp to see if someone were to just casually look over that direction.

See, even the crown jewel of the series has its occasional ludicrous bits. Suspension of Disbelief is a lovely thing...

Okay, enough ranting. I'll always consider the rope bridge scene in TOD to be unforgettably badass. I think that scene epitomizes Indiana Jones: he's in an utterly hopeless situation, out of options, facing certain death. The way he gets out of it is so insane, so ballsy, and so defiant of the odds that Han Solo himself would be proud. Seeing the movie for the first time as a kid, this was the most intense and impressive example of outsmarting the villains I'd ever seen. It sticks with me to this day.
 

Mickiana

Well-known member
kongisking said:
Though, if we're to be honest with ourselves, this shot brings up the problem that Indy is putting on his hat as the sun goes down, thus creating his decidedly un-digger-like silhouette for the whole damned Nazi camp to see if someone were to just casually look over that direction.

See, even the crown jewel of the series has its occasional ludicrous bits. Suspension of Disbelief is a lovely thing...

I disagree. When Belloq saw the activity from afar in the early morning light, he saw movement, a large enough box and the tripod thingy used to lift with. Indy was putting on his hat at dusk and they were still digging into evening.

If they were seen at that stage, the hat would not have been the giveaway. It is the fact that a whole crew was still working in an unusual area when everyone else on the site had finished work for the day. But they obviously had to take the risk.

Because it is just dawn when Belloq and the German officers see them, we assume it took all night to get the Ark out of the Well of the Souls. It is the fact that it took so long to get the Ark out that they were caught. They were caught because they had to work out in the open. Indy, hat on or not, was racing against time and having to do something in plain sight of the Germans and he didn't quite get away with it, in typical Indy fashion.

So, nothing ludicrous here. How dare you! Slap! :p
 

kongisking

Active member
Mickiana said:
I disagree. When Belloq saw the activity from afar in the early morning light, he saw movement, a large enough box and the tripod thingy used to lift with. Indy was putting on his hat at dusk and they were still digging into evening.

If they were seen at that stage, the hat would not have been the giveaway. It is the fact that a whole crew was still working in an unusual area when everyone else on the site had finished work for the day. But they obviously had to take the risk.

Because it is just dawn when Belloq and the German officers see them, we assume it took all night to get the Ark out of the Well of the Souls. It is the fact that it took so long to get the Ark out that they were caught. They were caught because they had to work out in the open. Indy, hat on or not, was racing against time and having to do something in plain sight of the Germans and he didn't quite get away with it, in typical Indy fashion.

So, nothing ludicrous here. How dare you! Slap! :p

*rubs cheek* I never meant to hurt you...

Anyway, I'm clearly nitpicking with this whole thing, but my point was that, in the event someone just happened to be outside at that hour and look over at the hill, it would seem suspicious seeing other diggers still working when everyone else is getting to bed, and if it happened to be Belloq looking over, he'd see Indy's silhouette and instantly alert Dietrich. And don't forget, those diggers were singing too, which would attract attention from the Nazis if indeed the camp was shutting down for the night.

It's a Fridge Logic moment, but it still works because 1) it IS a really cool shot, and 2) it IS a really cool shot, and most importantly 3) it IS a really cool shot. :gun:
 

Dr. Gonzo

New member
kongisking said:
It's a Fridge Logic moment, but it still works because 1) it IS a really cool shot, and 2) it IS a really cool shot, and most importantly 3) it IS a really cool shot. :gun:

It's NOT a fridge logic moment...

Firstly we don't see the rest of the camp, we only see five yards of the top of a hill, folks who assume that the rest of the camp is getting ready for bed are only doing just that, assuming... and when you assume you-- I think you get the rest. In fact in the hot desert it makes a great deal of sense to continue on working into the cool and early hours of the evening.

Secondly, see Mickiana's post, he's on the right track
Mickiana said:
I disagree. When Belloq saw the activity from afar in the early morning light, he saw movement, a large enough box and the tripod thingy used to lift with. Indy was putting on his hat at dusk and they were still digging into evening.

If they were seen at that stage, the hat would not have been the giveaway. It is the fact that a whole crew was still working in an unusual area when everyone else on the site had finished work for the day. But they obviously had to take the risk.

Because it is just dawn when Belloq and the German officers see them, we assume it took all night to get the Ark out of the Well of the Souls. It is the fact that it took so long to get the Ark out that they were caught. They were caught because they had to work out in the open. Indy, hat on or not, was racing against time and having to do something in plain sight of the Germans and he didn't quite get away with it, in typical Indy fashion.

So, nothing ludicrous here. How dare you! Slap! :p
As opposed to a Panavision telephoto lens perfectly focused sharply on silhouettes with a camera crane angle directly in front of a fading sun, a person's vision isn't very eagle eyed. In fact it would be extremely difficult to see the hat as nothing more than a slight brown blur at the distances observed in the film... in fact they'd probably just be colorless dark blurred figures.

At the very least calling that bit "ludicrous" is more than an exaggerated claim. In fact its the opposite of ludicrous, it's sensible he would take of that hot arab garb as night began to fall.

It would only be refrigerator logic in the sense that after seeing the film multiple times (over months/years) then thinking about that particular shot you say "hmmmmmmm" but then have the conversation we just had to realize, "wait never-mind, makes sense." But that's not Refrigerator logic.

Fridge logic is something that is near immediate after viewing a film, like within hours or the same day you saw the film (usually to do with a plot hole) and you go "huh?" "what?" "how?" "that doesn't make sense?" or "wait a minute..." like how Bruce Wayne some how gets back into a heavily surveiled and guarded Gotham (by both sides) with no money, no resources at his disposal and no help just in time near the end of The Dark Knight Rises. :p
 

Mickiana

Well-known member
Coolness abounds. It is forever a classic shot.

But, it is true there was nothing furtive about their movements up on top of the WOTS. They were walking around, sticking out like the Washington Monument, flinging dirt about, singing the top numbers of the Cairo Hit Parade which must have echoed around the whole dig site. A very large strange storm brewed directly overhead and no one in the main camp seemed to notice.

We do know Belloq was drunk on his family's label and trying to get into Marion's panties. Why zee Germans didn't notice, well, that's anyone's guess. Maybe it was Oktoberfest?

Regardless, that silhouette of Indy against the deep orange dusk is indelibly print on our psyches. It's actually making me rethink my choice of favourite scene...
 

Mickiana

Well-known member
I have to mention another scene here: When Indy and Sallah uncover the Ark and crate it.

Indy's sense of reverence and/or awe is well shown as he slowly approaches the stone cover and he takes the time to lay his arms on it. Sallah too is held by the moment. The shining mystery of the Ark is given to us briefly as they move it from its resting place of 3000 years.

As it is carried by them, the Ark is seen only in ominous close up or by its shadow and Indy's face as he lids the crate is almost of disbelief, at least of great wonder.

The scene imparts that feeling for the mystery of the Ark very well. It seemed almost ceremonial.
 
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