Discuss Chapter 3 - I Like Ike (DVD chapter by chapter discussion)

YouNeverKnow said:

I just watched this clip on YouTube and it makes me like the fridge scene even more. To everyone who thought the scene was unbelievably stupid, you have to remember that Indy was educated by very stupid information.

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Very interesting, indeed...

The Fridge becoming a "favourite" now?

Glad to see almost everyone liked the sequence.
It's really the best part of the movie, and the only one memorable.

After that, it still works pretty well until they fly to Peru.

I remember watching the movie for the first time and being excited because it was delivering and promising a great second half. And then... the horror.

Kingsley said:

The Fridge becoming a "favourite" now?

Glad to see almost everyone liked the sequence.
It's really the best part of the movie, and the only one memorable.

After that, it still works pretty well until they fly to Peru.

I remember watching the movie for the first time and being excited because it was delivering and promising a great second half. And then... the horror.

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Actually I'd save the cemetery part too... Then from the jungle I agree with you, except that I would not certainly consider Doomtown a favourite, as said before I disliked that sequence.

Udvarnoky said:

"Sure, great, don't wait for me!" was the funniest line in the movie. Ford was superb in this sequence.

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Yeah I like that- I love the way he's turned really childish and almost petty because Indy's never perfect and he can't think of anything cleverer to say! Having him run after them is a nice little touch too- makes the audience realise how much danger he's in when he considers that the people he's trying to escape from are his only hope for survival.

WeAreGoingToDie said:

But then where would the action and suspense be?? It's the Adventures of Indiana Jones, not the Scenic Hikes of Indiana Jones.

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I think I've seen that series- except they called it 'Young Indiana Jones' or something...

Kingsley said:

After that, it still works pretty well until they fly to Peru.

I remember watching the movie for the first time and being excited because it was delivering and promising a great second half. And then... the horror.

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What did you think of the Cemetary scene? I think it was the best part of the film after the Area 51/Doom Town sequence.

Great stuff, the escape. I particularly dig how the rocket sled takes Indy (and us) from the tension-filled edge-of-your-seat warehouse fight ? to the emptiness of Indy being all alone out in the middle of nowhere, in the nighttime desert.

The entire Doomtown sequence ? perfect! From Indy running into the house asking if they have a phone ? to him looking up at (and being dwarfed by) the mushroom cloud - showing Indy in a changing world. Love every second of it.

The Doomtown sequence is a prodigy of Spielberg's planification. It's like a mini-movie from the sunset to the mushroom cloud. It could work as a silent short film.

The rocket sled reminds me the old high tech of the Flying Wing so the entire concept works very well for the saga.

i agree - this whole "chapter" is awesome. i even love the fridge bit ...

Okay, this is a long chapter. This whip stunt looks a little awkward. It's almost like the soldier willingly gives up his gun. It would have been nice to see Harrison actually whip the gun in one shot, like in the documentary. Unfortunately the whip becomes underused in this movie.


Here we're giving some back-story about Mac and Indy's relationship. I like Mac for most of this movie. He provides a nice link between the good guys and the bad guys. There are some nice humorous moments here with the lowering and rising of the guns and the "I like Ike" line.


Indy escapes. If there's one thing I love about Indiana Jones movies, it's when Indy escapes the villains and starts creating havoc. For the next few scenes, everything is perfect. Indy is climbing things, jumping from things, driving, being shot at, and the Raiders March is playing all along.


I really like this stunt. It reminds me of the leap onto the tank in Last Crusade. It was probably a stunt man, but he really moves around like Harrison.


When I heard that the warehouse from Raiders was going to be in this movie, I worried about how they would handle the Ark. But, the way they used it here was perfect. The whole theme behind the Ark was that it was always out of reach. Whenever Indy though he had finally captured the Ark, it was always taken away. There's a certain humor in that he once again comes so close to capturing the Ark, but he doesn't even know it's there!


The "You don't know him!" line from Mac reminds us not to underestimate Indy, even if he is a little older this time. Indy continues to wreck havoc and evade the enemy, but I feel like things are getting a little too fast now. Indy is swinging out of a truck and hopping along thin beams of wood within seconds.


And if you blink for a moment, you're suddenly in a completely different environment.


It's nice to see the physical rivalry between Dovchenko and Indy that consummates throughout the movie. Dovchenko plays two parts in this movie: The "second in command", like Dietrich or Vogel and the "big brute" like the German mechanic or the big Thugee. I like that they combined those two roles for Dovchenko.


Now, the prairie dogs. I don't have a problem with them. This scene always got a laugh in theaters, but I think it might have been better just to have two prairie dog scenes. The one in the beginning of the Nevada sequence, and the one at the end of the Nevada sequence. It's like a preface and a bookend.


It's almost bizarre to see the rugged old look of Indy's clothing against the pristine new look of the 1950s suburb, but this scene is supposed to be bizarre.


I love the surreal comedy in this scene. I find the mannequins hilarious, especially this one. Watching them melt and burn is both funny and terrifying.


As the numbers count down, Indy becomes more and more desperate. I find it interesting that there is no music at all in the entire scene. The silence adds an extra layer of dread.


I don't have a problem with the fridge itself. I find it funny that they kept that idea from the early scripts. But I thought that steps could have been taken to lower the absurdity. Having the fridge fly in the exact same direction as the car is a little silly. And then to make it bounce around like crazy was a little too much. It might have been better to have the fridge coast along the ground or make it land in a soft sand pit or something.


The Nevada sequence ends with iconic imagery. John Williams music returns to remind us that this is a different time period for Indy, one which deals with "the destroyer of worlds". The whole "Communists + Atomic Bombs + Aliens + Paranoia + 1950s B movies" idea is starting to make sense.

spiralout said:

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Indy's run through the crates always reminds me of Raiders.

I agree that Indy whipping the gun was poorly staged. It makes the action look fake, which takes away from the fact that Harrison really did the stunt.

spiralout said:

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This is one of my favorite Doom Town shots. It perfectly sums up the surreal quality of the entire sequence.

James said:

Indy's run through the crates always reminds me of Raiders.

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Likewise. I've seen the movie 5 times now, and I still get chills when they show him runnning through the crates and start to climb them.

James said:

I agree that Indy whipping the gun was poorly staged. It makes the action look fake, which takes away from the fact that Harrison really did the stunt.

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It's sad to see that one whip-gag in this sequence didn't end up in the movie, although it was planned (in the pre-viz), and even shot (as seen in the documentary): Indy pulling a soldiers gun to the side, so that he shoots one of his own men.

Still I think that the action in this chapter is the best (and most Indy-like) in the whole movie.

Actually, I think he uses his whip quite a lot in this movie, I don't recall it used that much in Last Crusade really.

My friend always laughs when Irina gets pushed out the jeep by Indy and hits them boxes. It is odd we only see Indy physically harm her once, though I think that is more than he ever does to Belloq and Donovan I think?

I really like the way she gets shoved out, and the scene cuts to the explosion of crates.

Its my favorite opening sequence in ANY movie
Even beats Raiders however, Raiders come seriously close.

OK I have to say this chapter put all my fears at ease about the movie until they were ruptured again later on(not bashing just saying)

When I first learned that the movie took place in 1957, and involved Army personnel, I was pumped. My father was serving in the Army in 1957 and I wanted to see the movie with him and discuss if things were accurate and just get a chance for him to tell some stories.

Jumping back a few years, I asked my parents for a gun one year for Christmas. I was 12 or 13 and after asking for it in June I totally forgot about it. You can imagine how surprised/excited I was when on Christmas morning I woke up and saw a rifle under the Christmas tree. My dad explained that it was the same model fire arm that he had qualified on when he was in the Army. A .30 caliber carbine.

Now back to the present, I was eagerly waitng for the movie and my thoughts were really hoping that somehow, someway Indy might pick up a carbine and use it. Similar to LC with the German sub machine gun in Castle Brunwald.

When Indy started to make his escape my hopes were soaring that he'd pick up the carbine and he did! Holy Crap!!! Finally I own a screen accurate Indy gun! THe KOTCS trading cards have a card with the photo of Indy aiming. In fact the title of the card is Indy Takes Aim. My favorite card out of the set. Anyway the movie could hae ended right there and I would have been very very happy.

Unfortunately my Dad passed away a month before Indy IV came out. F*****g cancer. I never got to discuss the movie with him or more importantly talk about some of the things he had done in the Army. So as cool as the scene is, it has a painful undertone for me. Sorry for the long post. Great chapter.

Little Indy said:

Unfortunately my Dad passed away a month before Indy IV came out.

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I am very sorry to hear that. I managed to drag my dad into the theatre in May. He had seen the other three on tape as far as I can remember and seemed to enjoy it (I told him that Harrison Ford is exactly his age, amazingly enough)...

This whole chapter is probably one of if not the best sequence in the film and one of my favorites of the whole series.

Beautifully done!

Doomtown was awesome, and very bizarre and completely outrageous.

Warehouse escape was kick ass.

The only thing I would have changed was the whip stunt. Looked better in Special Features.

My favorite of all the movies. I love that little moment when Indy realizes that the gun has fired off and that it's a chance to escape. And seeing him climb the crates, being shot at, swinging with the whip (and missing the jeep) is absolutely perfect. And it's the only the second time that we get to hear the music that's played right there (the other time was when he was running to Jock in Raiders)- and it's also my favorite music of the entire series. I always have to go back and watch it three or four times when I'm watching the DVDs. They knocked that one out of the park, IMO.

I also really like the Doomtown scene. It's so bizarre and colorful and not Indy that it somehow works. And of course, Indy's ingenuity and resourcefulness let him live to fight another day. "Oh, that can't be good at all."

spiralout said:

Indy escapes. If there's one thing I love about Indiana Jones movies, it's when Indy escapes the villains and starts creating havoc. For the next few scenes, everything is perfect. Indy is climbing things, jumping from things, driving, being shot at, and the Raiders March is playing all along.

I really like this stunt. It reminds me of the leap onto the tank in Last Crusade. It was probably a stunt man, but he really moves around like Harrison.

And if you blink for a moment, you're suddenly in a completely different environment.

I don't have a problem with the fridge itself...

The Nevada sequence ends with iconic imagery. John Williams music returns to remind us that this is a different time period for Indy, one which deals with "the destroyer of worlds". The whole "Communists + Atomic Bombs + Aliens + Paranoia + 1950s B movies" idea is starting to make sense.

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the first two are the best parts of the movie imo -- i almost cheered when those scenes played in theaters (I had to restrain myself).

it wasnt a stunt man leaping trucks i believe sir, i believe harrison did all his stunts in those scenes.

i love the change of sceneary, and crash through the glass ceiling/window (especially the chain swing and kick).

i looooove the fridge, its a classic indy gag. it gets WAAAAAY too much flak.

the mushroom cloud scene is iconic imo, love it, love KOTCS