Is your favorite the same as the best?

Is your favorite the same as the best?

  • Yeah, they're the same.

    Votes: 7 50.0%
  • Nope, different.

    Votes: 7 50.0%

  • Total voters
    14

Ajax the Great

New member
With the Indy flicks, I've always had to distinguish between best and favorite. If I had to rank them in terms of quality, I'd probably say Raiders, ToD, LC, and CS. In terms of my favorites, Raiders and ToD are reversed.

So how bout you? is your favorite Indy film the same as the best?
 

Stoo

Well-known member
"Is your favorite the same as the best?" Sorry, Ajax, but this is an extremely STUPID question.:whip:

AjaxCleanser_thumb.jpg


As for my favourite, yes, it's the BEST and it's called "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark".:p
 

indyclone25

Well-known member
the same my best and favorite is indiana jones and the raiders of the lost ark, i think most people would say that raiders would be the best cause its what started the franchise .
 

Ajax the Great

New member
Stoo said:
"Is your favorite the same as the best?" Sorry, Ajax, but this is an extremely STUPID question.:whip:



As for my favourite, yes, it's the BEST and it's called "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark".:p

Maybe I should have reworded this. When I say favorite, I'm talking in terms of rewatch-ability. While I say that Raiders is the best of the four, Temple is my favorite. I have a lot more fun watching and re-watching it, over and over again.

I don't think the Indy films are the best of all time. I'd put a good 4 or 5 movies ahead of Indy in terms of quality - BUT, Indy will always be my favorite.

Upon reflection - you're right. This thread is really stupid.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
They are different for me, actually. I'm fairly certain that <I>Raiders of the Lost Ark</I> is the superior film achievement, and not just because it's first: it's the most focused, the most tonally consistent, and takes it's time giving a pretty full range of characters some good, talky sequences.

And yet it's <I>Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade</I> that I'm still unable to push out of the slot of being my favorite. It's the father and son story, yes, but I still find enormously compelling the way that (in my read, anyway) it revises the first film's story of irrevocable into a story of redemption (things like the Chacopoyan Idol/Cross of Coronado parallel, the obsessions of Indy's father figures, the discontent that's communicated in shots like this:

079.jpg


At any rate, I disagree, and I wouldn't be so quick to concede your idea, Ajax - it's not a stupid question. It's ultimately the question of why do you find one of the films somehow more compelling than the others, even though most would agree that Raiders is still the best.
 

Ajax the Great

New member
Raiders has a really great pace to it. It effectively alternates between breakneck action and interesting sections of exposition so that you're always absorbed. That contrasts with ToD, which crams a smaller amount of exposition right at the beginning of the movie, and then plays like a rollercoaster. While I think the Raiders approach is more cinematically sound, the Temple approach is just irresistible. LC is a tricky movie for me. I find the exposition to be really, really dull - the Donovan's apartment scene is especially painful for me. And while I agree with your note about the discontent, I thought that the screenplay overplayed it. Indy just seemed annoyed through the entire movie. The only redeeming quality LC has for me is the ending 30 minutes. They move the father son relationship from Indy hating his dad to Indy coming to understand his dad. And the tank chase, Holy Grail sequence, and sunset ending make up what I think is the best Indy finale. But the first 90 minutes of LC are just not exciting for me.

But I never really noticed the discontent, although I've always liked that brief sequence in the Jones office. I'll have to watch again to see that a little more throughout the movie.
 

Dr.Jonesy

Well-known member
Ajax the Great said:
Raiders has a really great pace to it. It effectively alternates between breakneck action and interesting sections of exposition so that you're always absorbed. That contrasts with ToD, which crams a smaller amount of exposition right at the beginning of the movie, and then plays like a rollercoaster. While I think the Raiders approach is more cinematically sound, the Temple approach is just irresistible. LC is a tricky movie for me. I find the exposition to be really, really dull - the Donovan's apartment scene is especially painful for me. And while I agree with your note about the discontent, I thought that the screenplay overplayed it. Indy just seemed annoyed through the entire movie. The only redeeming quality LC has for me is the ending 30 minutes. They move the father son relationship from Indy hating his dad to Indy coming to understand his dad. And the tank chase, Holy Grail sequence, and sunset ending make up what I think is the best Indy finale. But the first 90 minutes of LC are just not exciting for me.

But I never really noticed the discontent, although I've always liked that brief sequence in the Jones office. I'll have to watch again to see that a little more throughout the movie.

I can kinda see what you mean.

In my opinion, if LC didn't have that Tank Chase, Holy Grail sequence and sunset ending, it'd probably be my least favorite of the 4. Those scenes make the film for me. I find most of the movie, especially the first 90 minutes, to be tonally dull and strung out. It feels a little lifeless to me. And it's almost aware of it.

But that's just me.
:hat:
 
Last edited:

NickTurner

Active member
Is there a devil Indy icon? Because playing devil's advocate, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the best Indy movie.....

...technically!

It seems like everything is on screen exactly as the filmmakers wanted and there are no continuity errors, (at least no obvious ones), no sloppy editing, missed cues, fudged lines, TV antennae, villainous props, 22 shot revolvers, matte lines, bad lighting or visible stunt harnesses!
 

Ajax the Great

New member
NickTurner said:
Is there a devil Indy icon? Because playing devil's advocate, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the best Indy movie.....

...technically!

It seems like everything is on screen exactly as the filmmakers wanted and there are no continuity errors, (at least no obvious ones), no sloppy editing, missed cues, fudged lines, TV antennae, villainous props, 22 shot revolvers, matte lines, bad lighting or visible stunt harnesses!

Just because the film matched the filmmaker's vision doesn't mean that the movie is the best Indy flick. If the vision behind the movie isn't good, then the movie based on it won't be good either, regardless of how true it is to the vision.

That's actually what scares me about CS. I feel like the filmmakers wanted it to be like that.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Indy's brother said:
My favourite isn't "Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark". It's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" It is also the best.
Mine too. I was just goofing around.:D
Ajax the Great said:
Maybe I should have reworded this. When I say favorite, I'm talking in terms of rewatch-ability. While I say that Raiders is the best of the four, Temple is my favorite. I have a lot more fun watching and re-watching it, over and over again.
I guess you've changed your mind because, in another thread, you wrote that "Raiders" was your favourite film of all time.
Ajax the Great said:
I don't think the Indy films are the best of all time. I'd put a good 4 or 5 movies ahead of Indy in terms of quality - BUT, Indy will always be my favorite.
Only 4 or 5 movies which are better? You must not have seen very many then!:eek:
Ajax the Great said:
Upon reflection - you're right. This thread is really stupid.
Since no question is stupid then maybe I should have reworded my comment, too. It is a SILLY question.

Attila the Professor said:
At any rate, I disagree, and I wouldn't be so quick to concede your idea, Ajax - it's not a stupid question. It's ultimately the question of why do you find one of the films somehow more compelling than the others,
Ultimately, it is a Yes/No question.;)
Attila the Professor said:
...even though most would agree that Raiders is still the best.
Most but not all. Which film is "best" is a matter of opinion. Heck, I still remember the "Crusade" review in our local newspaper the day after it came out (John Griffin, Montreal Gazette). The headline read, "Spielberg saves his best for last." According to him, your favourite Indy film is the best. Now do you see how silly the question is?
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Stoo said:
Most but not all. Which film is "best" is a matter of opinion. Heck, I still remember the "Crusade" review in our local newspaper the day after it came out (John Griffin, Montreal Gazette). The headline read, "Spielberg saves his best for last." According to him, your favourite Indy film is the best. Now do you see how silly the question is?

Heh, well, Griffin is wrong.

Seriously though, it's a valid point, and maybe I'm reading the evidence in the way that best advocates for my own position, but the word "best," to me anyway, has pretensions to objectivity, to recognitions of craftsmanlike proficiency and consistency just as much as artistic elevation. Certainly, the judgement of best-ness is a subjective one, but it usually - or ought to, anyhow - take into account some overview of well-informed opinions, a collection of subjectivities. "Favorite," on the other hand, is much more bald-faced about being a subjective judgment.

Now, that's not a slur on subjective judgments or on the idea of having favorites. As I said above, I think the great value in articulating what our favorites are is in recognizing what speaks to us as individuals, and is in many respects a more interesting question than that of what we consider to be best. They're aiming for different things.

But then, I also distinguish perfection from greatness as aims in art, too. (Greatness, incidentally, is the higher of the two, in my mind. It's more alive, and more complex. Perfection doesn't allow that much complexity.)

(Remind me sometime not to go the Raven when I'm in the middle of writing a paper on Jung or any other German.)
 

Ajax the Great

New member
Stoo said:
I guess you've changed your mind because, in another thread, you wrote that "Raiders" was your favourite film of all time. Only 4 or 5 movies which are better?
I'm not sure that I changed my mind, but I definitely learned to separate my obsession from my critical judgment. I've seen a good number of movies, and I'm working on expanding, but I still think that Raiders would get into my top 10.

Stoo said:
Which film is "best" is a matter of opinion. Heck, I still remember the "Crusade" review in our local newspaper the day after it came out (John Griffin, Montreal Gazette). The headline read, "Spielberg saves his best for last." According to him, your favourite Indy film is the best. Now do you see how silly the question is?

I'm not talking about which one you think is best. I'm talking about whether that film also happens to be your favorite. For instance, I think Citizen Kane is phenomenal. That doesn't mean that it's my favorite movie to watch. My question was posed because I'm interested in whether a similar difference exists within the Indy series.

Ultimately, what you judge to be the "best" film does not imply that it is your "favorite" film.
 

IAdventurer01

Well-known member
Ditto @ Attila, for the most part.

Raiders is the best, given that I gauge such things on artistic merit. Raiders just does the best in that category - it's solid and well rounded in humor, action, intrigue, romance, etc.

However, Last Crusade has long been my favorite. I know some criticize it for not being as deep or "dark" as Raiders, but I've always loved the pure joy-ride that's Crusade.
 

RaideroftheArk

New member
I always felt that Raiders was the best. So much so that if someone asks me if I think a perfect movie exists I usually state, "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

However, Temple is my personal favorite. "Fortune and Glory Kid, Fortune and Glory." Gives me goosebumps to this day.
 
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