Favorite parts of the Darabont script
- Thread starter Robyn
- Start date
Violet
Moderator Emeritus
I liked the Skull's power at the end of the film, where everyone but Marion is tempted by their heart's desires and Indy gets his head out of the cloud, (para-phrasing here I don't remember the exact words) he tells Marion that she's all he wants and they escape.
To me, that works a lot better than what was executed at the end of KOTCS, which I thought was too much of a CGI ripoff of Toht and the Ark Ghost in Raiders. I just love the idea of the Skull having the power to grant deep dark desires. It's a different power to the other artefacts and you'll find that generally the whole series of MacGuffins have different powers along with the obligatory destructive powers.
I also like how Indy has to prove himself to Marion throughout the script. It gives for great character and relationship development between the two.
To me, that works a lot better than what was executed at the end of KOTCS, which I thought was too much of a CGI ripoff of Toht and the Ark Ghost in Raiders. I just love the idea of the Skull having the power to grant deep dark desires. It's a different power to the other artefacts and you'll find that generally the whole series of MacGuffins have different powers along with the obligatory destructive powers.
I also like how Indy has to prove himself to Marion throughout the script. It gives for great character and relationship development between the two.
Robyn
New member
Violet Indy said:
I agree Violet! When I first read it I didn't like the idea of the Aliens sucking Indy into the cloud, but what I did love was Indy taking control of what he really wanted and choosing Marion, and it was so awesome when Indy takes his gun out and shoots the alien! and breaking the skull! The character development and character interaction was so a million times better in the Darabont script, I also liked Indy having to win Marion back like you said! I also thought the wedding was done much better in the Darabont script
here is some of that scene:
((MARION
Indy, please! Don't leave me!
She can hear all their voices garbled like drowning men in
the cloud of dreams ? mingling, echoing, overlapping, wanting,
working toward a crescendo:
INDY'S "ZONE"
INDY
...anything?
ALIEN VOICES
ANYTHING. CHOOSE.
INDY
I want...I want...
It takes everything he's got in him, but he pulls his eyes
away from all the wonder before him...and turns, looking back
to Marion. Their eyes meet. His smile to her is beautiful,
both sad and joyful, because in his heart he knows, and his
look says it all ? he wants Marion.
And suddenly: WHUMP! Indy is released from the dream cloud,
slamming to the cold stone floor. Marion rushes to him and
drops to his side, both of them looking up as...
Indy's eyes desperately go to Marion's rifle. He grabs it
from her, sits up, works the bolt...
INDY
Cover your eyes.
MARION
Why?
INDY
'Cause I dunno what's gonna happen.
...and he shoulders it, taking careful aim at:
The Crystal Skull. Sitting atop the Crystal Skeleton...
TURNER
JONES! NO!
(Indy glances over)
This could be ours! Think of the
power! Think of the possibilities!
INDY
I am!
...and BLAM! Indy pulls the trigger.
THE CRYSTAL SKULL
is shot right between the eyes, EXPLODING into a fantastic
shower of spinning crystalline fragments ?
? and an incredible amount of ENERGY erupts as the glowing
light is released. The essence of the Gods. It pours upward
from the shoulders of the Crystal Skeleton, caroming off the
ceiling and blazing in all directions. The dream cloud vanishes
with a CONCUSSIVE BANG, slamming Yuri to the floor.
like living fire ripping through
the air above our heroes' heads, careening off walls, blazing
into the column of alien seats and CRACKLING down through its
machinery like live current...
The creature reaches down, wraps a hand around Oxley's throat,
and lifts him into the air. It brings Oxley face to face,
vapor swirling between their mouths as it starts to suck
Oxley's life force out...
INDY (O.S.)
Hey.
...and the alien pauses, turning. Indy is shouldering the
carbine, taking careful aim, finger on the trigger ?
INDY
Welcome to Earth.
? and BLAMlBLAM!BLAMlBLAMl He empties the clip
in into the creature, driving it back into the shadows. Oxley
drops to the floor. Indy dashes in, grabs him...
MARION
Move it, Jones!
INDY
you're the boss!))
Now that was a cool scene!
Robyn
New member
*sorry I had to double post but it wouldn't fit in my other post*
I would have loved to see this scene as well, would have been so cool to see:
((Indy looks around, sees Marion's plane way the hell down there.
He rolls his plane, into a steep dive to catch up with her.
MARION'S PLANE
is pretty much shot to pieces by now, flying via miracle,
sputtering and trailing smoke. Worse yet, we're still in a
steady dive toward the jungle below. Marion's tugging on her
stick, trying to pull it back, but the weight of Renaldo's
body on his stick is preventing her.
Indy's plane zooms in from above, matching her dive as he
shouts at the top of his lungs:
INDY
PULL UP! PULL UP!
MARION
I WOULD IF THERE WEREN'T A DEAD GUY
ON THE STICK!
INDY
WELL, TRY HARDER!
He points frantically at the jungle below — there's a lot of
green rushing up to meet us!
Marion braces her feet on the instrument panel, straining
with all her might. The stick begins to move. Renaldo's body
flops back as the stick rises...
...and her plane levels out just above the trees, heading
straight for a cliff.
INDY
HARD LEFT! HARD LEFT!
Marion throws the stick hard left, making an extreme 180 degree
turn with Indy on her tail.
Both planes level out (back in the direction they came), sailing
along some ten or twenty feet above the jungle canopy — it's
scary and spectacular, a rollercoaster ride without the rails.
MARION
NOW WHAT?
INDY
CAN YOU FLY?
MARION
DOES ONE LESSON COUNT?
INDY
OKAY, PLAN B! GRAB THE SKULL! I'LL
GET MY WING UP TO YOUR COCKPIT! YOU
WINGWALK OVER TO ME AND WE FLY
AWAY!
MARION
YOU CALL THAT A PLAN?
INDY
YOU GOT A BETTER ONE?
MARION
WHY DON'T YOU COME TO ME?
INDY
UH, LET'S SEE...COULD IT BE BECAUSE
YOUR PLANE IS SHOT TO PIECES AND
WILL FALL APART AT ANY MOMENT? NO?
OKAY, HOW ABOUT I CAN'T FLY AND
WINGWALK AT THE SAME TIME? AM I
GETTING WARMER?
(off her look)
LOOK, EITHER DO IT OR DIE ARGUING!
He points. She looks and sees a RIDGE OF SHEER GRANITE rising
out of the jungle dead ahead. She hastily reaches behind the
seat to retrieve the skull. Indy starts easing the plane in —
— but his attention suddenly snaps ahead as he sees:
Yuri is dropping toward the trees by parachute with a BURP
GUN in his handsl Yuri OPENS FIRE, tracking the planes as
they go ripping by him, EMPTYING THE CLIP into Indy's engin
Then he drops into the trees, gone.
Beat. Indy leans to one side and peers ahead at the engine,
which seems to be doing fine — until the entire cowling
abruptly BURSTS INTO FLAMES. Indy looks over to Marion:
INDY
NEVER MIND! I'LL COME TO YOU!
Marion nods frantically. The granite ridge is looming. Nursing
the last few seconds of life from his flaming engine, Indy
drops altitude, his wheels now kissing the treetops...
...and he veers under Marion. With mere moments to spare, he
reaches up and grabs hold of her landing gear as his plane
drops out from under him, leaving him dangling.
The abandoned plane impacts nose-first into the trees below his
feet, cartwheeling through a spectacular, fiery disintegration.
INDY
PULL UP! UUUUP!
Marion heaves back on the stick with all she's got, fighting
for every inch of altitude. For a moment it doesn't look like
they're going to make it, but they do clearing the ridge by
mere feet. Unfortunately, the ridge proves to be —
A JUNGLE PLATEAU
— where Marion's plane is suddenly chewing through the
treetops like a hedge trimmer with wings.
INDY
is holding on desperately to the landing gear, getting swept
relentlessly through the branches. SWARMS OF MONKEYS are
shrieking and jumping out of the way.
THUMP! indy looks down and finds a SHRIEKING MONKEY clinging
in terror to his chest and screaming in his face. Indy SCREAMS
back, equally startled. The monkey jumps for it, vanishing
back into the trees as:
The plateau suddenly drops away and the plane soars out over
a thousand-foot drop with indy still holding on.
MARION
wrestles the stick, looking frantically over the sides.
MARION
INDY! INDY!
A trembling hand appears at the edge of the forward cockpit,
followed by a second hand. Indy's face rises up, looking like
he's been dragged down ten miles of bad road. Marion lights
up with a cocky grin, exceedingly proud of herself:
MARION
Hah! Not bad flying for one lesson,
huh, Jones?
INDY
The monkey pooped on my chest.
She doesn't understand what that means, and he's too tired to
explain. He hauls himself painfully over the side into
Renaldo's cockpit, tosses a glance back over his shoulder...
INDY
I'll take it from here.
...and the engine dies the instant he takes the stick. The
huge wooden propeller stops...
INDY
Oh, perfect.
...and they drop from frame like a brick.
VARIOUS ANGLES
Indy wrestles the plane in a dead glide, dropping fast,
desperately looking for a place to set down. He dead-sticks
it toward a clearing, trying to line up for a landing.
INDY
Hang on!
The landing gear tears off as they clip a tree and belly-skid
in. The wings are ripped off by passing tree trunks, then the
plane finally comes to a stop. All things considered, it's a
pretty damn good landing. Indy looks stunned that he pulled it
off. He tosses a cocky smile over his shoulder at Marion...
...but she points. He turns forward to see FLAMES ERUPTING
from the engine. A mad scramble. He leaps from his cockpit.
INDY
Quick! The skull!
She tosses him a knapsack and jumps down. They race away from
the plan and:
BOOM! The plane EXPLODES, sending a FIREBALL into the sky and
knocking them both flat on their faces, Marion pries her nose
off the ground, looks back at the plane. It's an inferno.
MARION
I suppose we can walk from here.
INDY
(facedown, muffled)
That might work. If the compass and
map weren't in the plane.
Indy rolls painfully onto his back, barely able to move. He
sees his whip lying within reach in a tangle of wing wreckage.
He snags it with his fingers, pulls it toward him, groaning
with each little movement.
MARION
What's the matter, Jones? Mileage
finally catching up with you?
INDY
It ain't the mileage, sweetheart.
It's the years. ))
I would have loved to see this scene as well, would have been so cool to see:
((Indy looks around, sees Marion's plane way the hell down there.
He rolls his plane, into a steep dive to catch up with her.
MARION'S PLANE
is pretty much shot to pieces by now, flying via miracle,
sputtering and trailing smoke. Worse yet, we're still in a
steady dive toward the jungle below. Marion's tugging on her
stick, trying to pull it back, but the weight of Renaldo's
body on his stick is preventing her.
Indy's plane zooms in from above, matching her dive as he
shouts at the top of his lungs:
INDY
PULL UP! PULL UP!
MARION
I WOULD IF THERE WEREN'T A DEAD GUY
ON THE STICK!
INDY
WELL, TRY HARDER!
He points frantically at the jungle below — there's a lot of
green rushing up to meet us!
Marion braces her feet on the instrument panel, straining
with all her might. The stick begins to move. Renaldo's body
flops back as the stick rises...
...and her plane levels out just above the trees, heading
straight for a cliff.
INDY
HARD LEFT! HARD LEFT!
Marion throws the stick hard left, making an extreme 180 degree
turn with Indy on her tail.
Both planes level out (back in the direction they came), sailing
along some ten or twenty feet above the jungle canopy — it's
scary and spectacular, a rollercoaster ride without the rails.
MARION
NOW WHAT?
INDY
CAN YOU FLY?
MARION
DOES ONE LESSON COUNT?
INDY
OKAY, PLAN B! GRAB THE SKULL! I'LL
GET MY WING UP TO YOUR COCKPIT! YOU
WINGWALK OVER TO ME AND WE FLY
AWAY!
MARION
YOU CALL THAT A PLAN?
INDY
YOU GOT A BETTER ONE?
MARION
WHY DON'T YOU COME TO ME?
INDY
UH, LET'S SEE...COULD IT BE BECAUSE
YOUR PLANE IS SHOT TO PIECES AND
WILL FALL APART AT ANY MOMENT? NO?
OKAY, HOW ABOUT I CAN'T FLY AND
WINGWALK AT THE SAME TIME? AM I
GETTING WARMER?
(off her look)
LOOK, EITHER DO IT OR DIE ARGUING!
He points. She looks and sees a RIDGE OF SHEER GRANITE rising
out of the jungle dead ahead. She hastily reaches behind the
seat to retrieve the skull. Indy starts easing the plane in —
— but his attention suddenly snaps ahead as he sees:
Yuri is dropping toward the trees by parachute with a BURP
GUN in his handsl Yuri OPENS FIRE, tracking the planes as
they go ripping by him, EMPTYING THE CLIP into Indy's engin
Then he drops into the trees, gone.
Beat. Indy leans to one side and peers ahead at the engine,
which seems to be doing fine — until the entire cowling
abruptly BURSTS INTO FLAMES. Indy looks over to Marion:
INDY
NEVER MIND! I'LL COME TO YOU!
Marion nods frantically. The granite ridge is looming. Nursing
the last few seconds of life from his flaming engine, Indy
drops altitude, his wheels now kissing the treetops...
...and he veers under Marion. With mere moments to spare, he
reaches up and grabs hold of her landing gear as his plane
drops out from under him, leaving him dangling.
The abandoned plane impacts nose-first into the trees below his
feet, cartwheeling through a spectacular, fiery disintegration.
INDY
PULL UP! UUUUP!
Marion heaves back on the stick with all she's got, fighting
for every inch of altitude. For a moment it doesn't look like
they're going to make it, but they do clearing the ridge by
mere feet. Unfortunately, the ridge proves to be —
A JUNGLE PLATEAU
— where Marion's plane is suddenly chewing through the
treetops like a hedge trimmer with wings.
INDY
is holding on desperately to the landing gear, getting swept
relentlessly through the branches. SWARMS OF MONKEYS are
shrieking and jumping out of the way.
THUMP! indy looks down and finds a SHRIEKING MONKEY clinging
in terror to his chest and screaming in his face. Indy SCREAMS
back, equally startled. The monkey jumps for it, vanishing
back into the trees as:
The plateau suddenly drops away and the plane soars out over
a thousand-foot drop with indy still holding on.
MARION
wrestles the stick, looking frantically over the sides.
MARION
INDY! INDY!
A trembling hand appears at the edge of the forward cockpit,
followed by a second hand. Indy's face rises up, looking like
he's been dragged down ten miles of bad road. Marion lights
up with a cocky grin, exceedingly proud of herself:
MARION
Hah! Not bad flying for one lesson,
huh, Jones?
INDY
The monkey pooped on my chest.
She doesn't understand what that means, and he's too tired to
explain. He hauls himself painfully over the side into
Renaldo's cockpit, tosses a glance back over his shoulder...
INDY
I'll take it from here.
...and the engine dies the instant he takes the stick. The
huge wooden propeller stops...
INDY
Oh, perfect.
...and they drop from frame like a brick.
VARIOUS ANGLES
Indy wrestles the plane in a dead glide, dropping fast,
desperately looking for a place to set down. He dead-sticks
it toward a clearing, trying to line up for a landing.
INDY
Hang on!
The landing gear tears off as they clip a tree and belly-skid
in. The wings are ripped off by passing tree trunks, then the
plane finally comes to a stop. All things considered, it's a
pretty damn good landing. Indy looks stunned that he pulled it
off. He tosses a cocky smile over his shoulder at Marion...
...but she points. He turns forward to see FLAMES ERUPTING
from the engine. A mad scramble. He leaps from his cockpit.
INDY
Quick! The skull!
She tosses him a knapsack and jumps down. They race away from
the plan and:
BOOM! The plane EXPLODES, sending a FIREBALL into the sky and
knocking them both flat on their faces, Marion pries her nose
off the ground, looks back at the plane. It's an inferno.
MARION
I suppose we can walk from here.
INDY
(facedown, muffled)
That might work. If the compass and
map weren't in the plane.
Indy rolls painfully onto his back, barely able to move. He
sees his whip lying within reach in a tangle of wing wreckage.
He snags it with his fingers, pulls it toward him, groaning
with each little movement.
MARION
What's the matter, Jones? Mileage
finally catching up with you?
INDY
It ain't the mileage, sweetheart.
It's the years. ))
bennihana123
New member
I liked the warehouse chase a lot better in the Darabont draft. Just reading it made me feel excited!
Lance Quazar
Well-known member
bennihana123 said:
All the action sequences are better! My fav is the rooftop chase near the beginning.
Robyn
New member
Millions said:
It's a really fun read!
Much more fun than the kotcs novel I think!http://file.sunshinepress.org:54445/indiana-jones-4.pdf
Darth Vile
New member
Overall I didn't prefer the Darabont script... but I did really like the "Indy on the run" first act. Something I'd like to see explored fully in another movie.
The action scenes are more extense in the Darabont's draft because it's an early project. It's like the long circus train scene from LC that in the first drafts was longer (Passengers, calliope, tiger etc...). When you make a movie you have to cut those things.
I prefer Koepp's script: the opening is a great improvement with the idea of Roswell instead of a plutonium theft and Indy inside the trunk.
I prefer Koepp's script: the opening is a great improvement with the idea of Roswell instead of a plutonium theft and Indy inside the trunk.
Lance Quazar
Well-known member
Wilhelm said:
I just re-read the opening of the Darabont draft, as this thread sparked my interested.
Man, I can't disagree more. The Darabont ending is SO much better.
That said, I DO think that the Darabont villains are a little boring - both Yuri and Belasko.
Spalko was a better IDEA for a baddie - though the execution of the character was crappy.
Still, I would have much prefered Darabont's version in every other respect.
I think that after several drafts with Darabont the script would have been very similar to the final movie in terms of structure and characters. Spielberg works very closely with the writer, dictating complete scenes in a tape recorder.
Maybe Lucas didn't like the dialogue because it was too referencial, but the general plot and action scenes were created by Spielberg-Lucas-Darabont.
Maybe Lucas didn't like the dialogue because it was too referencial, but the general plot and action scenes were created by Spielberg-Lucas-Darabont.
Jonesy9906753
Well-known member
well done script compared to the final product,
but i keep wondering
what could've made this movie better?
Could it have been made better?
should it have even been done? or left on the shelves indefinitely?
i found myself anticipating it from the mid 90's up into the last coming months
until its release.And as spoilers unfolded,I began to realize KOTCS was very much phoned in by most of the actors in it,had a very weak ending and a more inacurate mcguffin storyline than the sankara stones in TOD(which people need to stop bagging on i think).I mean they pretty much insinuate that humans were too stupid to build such marvels as the temple in KOTCS and that Higher beings brought this to them,But cite the pyramids in Egypt,those were built by human hands and they are definitely worth traveling to to gaze upon.I dunno,im sayin this just for the sake of arguing ya know?
but i keep wondering
what could've made this movie better?
Could it have been made better?
should it have even been done? or left on the shelves indefinitely?
i found myself anticipating it from the mid 90's up into the last coming months
until its release.And as spoilers unfolded,I began to realize KOTCS was very much phoned in by most of the actors in it,had a very weak ending and a more inacurate mcguffin storyline than the sankara stones in TOD(which people need to stop bagging on i think).I mean they pretty much insinuate that humans were too stupid to build such marvels as the temple in KOTCS and that Higher beings brought this to them,But cite the pyramids in Egypt,those were built by human hands and they are definitely worth traveling to to gaze upon.I dunno,im sayin this just for the sake of arguing ya know?
Rocket Surgeon
Guest
So far so good! I've had it for some time but I guess I'm saving it for that oneday when I need a real Indy boost. The Museum chase was pretty good, not sure how much I like the Indy Marion reunion in the bar, we'll see...
Lance Quazar
Well-known member
Jonesy9906753 said:
Wow, I whole-heartedly agree. I have always hated that "Chariot of the Gods" bull**** that implies that humans were too stupid to do anything on their own.
We didn't need help learning farming, irritgation, art, architecture....we learned to do that because we're smart.
Odd, I never thought I'd see an Indiana Jones movie that hated archaeology.
It's not just a bad movie, it's an insulting one, as well.
Robyn
New member
Lance Quazar said:
Absolutely agree with your post!
Rocket Surgeon said:
I'm curious to hear your opinions are on the rest of the script too(when you're finished reading it) I guess I'm not sure whether I like the bar scene either, that is one of the things about about the Darabont script that needs tweaking, Marion is just a tad bit too aggressive at times, and I'm thinking Marion being the one who left Indy is a little out of character for her, I just can't see her doing that lol
Don't get me wrong the Darabont script wasn't perfect, and nothing is gonna ever make me like aliens in an Indy movie, but overall, I thought the Darabont script was a lot more fun, the character development was much better, and the actions scenes excellent
Last edited:
Lance Quazar
Well-known member
ronicle said:
Thanks! But I meant to say I thought the opening of the darabont draft was much better.
I actually don't like the ending of the Daranbont script all that much. I don't like the weird alien "visions" or whatever, particularly "ghost Hitler." The only part I do like is the President being turned into a frog. But even that's a bit silly.
Then again, KOTCS' ending also sucks. So it's a toss up in that department.
Regarding the villains, I honestly don't see how a Spalko-esque villain could have worked given the structure of "City of the Gods".
I think Yuri was better than Mac, though. I hated Mac's going back and forth in KOTCS, it was just ridiculous.
It was so obvious Belasko was going to be a bad guy, though, since Indy and Marion just had to get together. I wasn't crazy about how Indy was playing second banana in someone else's expedition.
But the Marion/Indy stuff in "City of the Gods" is miles and miles better.
I don't quite know how you could have had an external bad guy like Spalko while keeping the elements of "City of the Gods" that did work, like the way Marion was involved.
Though "City of the Gods" was not quite perfect, though, the solution was not to scrap it and start over with the VASTLY inferior KOTCS. Sigh....
Robyn
New member
Lance Quazar said:
Oh yea, I knew you didn't mean to say you liked the ending better, and I still agree with everything you say! I too thought the ghost Hitler thing was retarded, but like you say the way the kotcs alien thing was executed sucked as well... and also agree with you about Mac, his character was as annoying as hearing Willie scream.. and also like you said I too didn't like the alien visions thing, but what I did like was the "welcome to earth" and then Indy gunning the alien down.. but I know everyone would have just complained that it was a Sigourney Weaver*Aliens* ripoff... I still and always will say that aliens don't belong in an Indy film.. it really topped off the "cringe moment" when they showed the space ship! So maybe aliens do exist.. that doesn't mean they can belong in any movie..
on a side note, I always thought Spalko was sort of a weak villain, she wasn't scary, Spalko fits into the Belloq/Donoven role, but kotcs is missing a Toht type character.. I don't mean disgusting like Mola Ram, just someone you know the other characters could actually be afraid of, like the way Marion was afraid of Toht