"Latter-day Nazis" I'm glad this was abandoned!

Flannery10

New member
I kinda got tired of Nazis all the time (besides I'm german and always thought it to be funny, that the German speaking guys had a heavy american accent), now I can't judge it anymore, since I don't speak Russian
 

Avilos

Active member
Hammy Skillet said:
Nazis.

Soviets.

What's the difference besides the accents and insignia on their uniforms?

As far as how they are presented in the Indy universe - there is none. .

That is BS! You have not seen the movie yet so how do you know how the Soviets will be presented?
 

joelwatts

New member
Hey, cool down.... I think somebody needs to relax with an OJ and a McMuffin.

I think everyone who has read this thread should make it a point to substitute McMuffin for McGuffin in every post they make from here on out. It'll really throw the newcomers for a loop.
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Remember that Darabont wrote "a couple of drafts." Due to conflicting statements about what villains he included, I theorize he used Nazis first, then Soviets.
 

Hammy Skillet

New member
That is BS! You have not seen the movie yet so how do you know how the Soviets will be presented?

I do know that Indiana Jones is high on adventure and low on the political commentary. I do know there is NO difference between the average thugee lacky and the average Nazi lacky besides the superficial stuff.

Indy goes up against inconcivable odds to recover an ancient artifact before it can be used by his evil foes in their plans for world domination.

Which movie did I just describe? Exactly. The formula is always the same, but I'm not knocking that. It's a popular formula. I like the formula. The excitement and originality of each film is found in the twists and turns along the way. We KNOW where we're going to start and we KNOW where it's going to end. We KNOW the villans are going to be presented in a over the top cartoonish way. The "Nazis" we see in the Indy films are hardly true to life historic studies. The thugees that we see in ToD never even existed. Each of them fill the same role, just as the Soviets will, it's only the exterior trappings that will change.

Also:

McMuffin!
McLovin!
McGuffin!
 

oki9Sedo

New member
commontone said:
Actually, several dozen high-ranking Nazis fled to South America in U-boats when the war was lost. There are theories that they tried to continue the Nazi plan and formulate a comeback, especially seeking vengeance against the Soviets. Of course, there are wild theories that Hitler and Eva Braun were among those that landed in Argentina. This is probably just conspiracy nonsense, but many Nazis did in fact end up in South America.

If they hadn't already used them a few times before, it could have been cool. Who knows, maybe we'll see a Nazi or two in the new movie, hiding out in Peru.

Oh don't get me wrong commontone, I think having Nazis hiding in South America in the 1950s would have been fantastic, but not when Nazis had been the villains twice already.
 
There undoubtedly were plenty of higher ranking nazis who fled to south america after the war - I know the German community here in Buenos Aires and up into the provinces further north and they confirm it.

Besides, I visited several regions of the jungle in Peru a couple of years back and saw not only elderly german residents but also elderly japanese residents. The locals I met confirmed it, the whole area of amazon jungle just east of the andes in the lands surrounding the peruvian/bolivian/brazilian frontiers were preferred refuges of fleeing japanese as well as nazi bigwigs.

So it would have been believable enough to mean I'd take a Darabont script with this element in it ahead of a nathanson/koepp effort with soviet foes ANY DAY; I marginally prefer soviets, but the rest of Darabont's writing would surely have been vastly superior to Koepp. And also, aren't soviet foes a little hackneyed in terms of hollywood movies also??

You have to add in Moedred's point that there were a couple of Darabont drafts too, the latter of which may well have used soviets.

My point being, to me, ultimately who the bad guys are is less important in an Indy movie as they do share similar characteristics, as pointed out by others - an unarguable statement really. Even if Nazis a third time would have been less welcome than a whole new enemy this wouldn't detract sufficiently from a Darabont script to make a Koepp effort more desirable.

And no, I haven't seen any of either script, but judging from their body of work, only Darabont has shown he has the ability to write trully classy dialogue and develop characters fantastically.
 

commontone

New member
It's worth pointing out that the Nazis would have been different if they were used a third time, as refugees in South America. They wouldn't have been the uniformed, goose-stepping, swastika flag-waving powerful force they were in the other movies. They would be bitter, defeated exiles, a full-blown secret society. A whole different animal from either the war time Nazis or Soviets, really.

Who knows, maybe they wouldn't have even called them Nazis. The "Freimaurer Syndikat" or something. But then, that's kind of similar to the Thugees...argh.
 
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oki9Sedo

New member
commontone said:
It's worth pointing out that the Nazis would have been different if they were used a third time, as refugees in South America. They wouldn't have been the uniformed, goose-stepping, swastika flag-waving powerful force they were in the other movies. They would be bitter, defeated exiles, a full-blown secret society. A whole different animal from either the war time Nazis or Soviets, really.

Still Nazis for a third time out of four films, though. Its too much. A little variety makes things more interesting. I think the Russians are a great alternative for a 1957 adventure.
 

Indy's Sidekick

New member
Look the same to me.

That would be great if that line made it into the movie.

Soviets could be very good, though they've been a bit overused. Part of what made the Nazis great was that they are associated directly with Hitler in people's minds. The Soviets however, took up a much bigger portion of history under various leaders. Oh well. It's a good move overall.
 

Zorg

New member
Like the Nazis are associated with Hitler, so are the Soviets associated with the Cold War... even more scary in many ways. The threat of nuclear war and all that.
 

SterankoII

New member
It's worth pointing out that the Nazis would have been different if they were used a third time, as refugees in South America. They wouldn't have been the uniformed, goose-stepping, swastika flag-waving powerful force they were in the other movies. They would be bitter, defeated exiles, a full-blown secret society. A whole different animal from either the war time Nazis or Soviets, really.

Notorious is a good example of a movie using post WWII Nazis. The problem is that whether they were in power or after Hitler's death Nazis are still an overused as villains.
 

JerryKing

Member
I'd really rather see post-war Nazis - heck, even a hunt for a surviving Hitler - than aliens in the Indy universe... :(

Of course, if there really are aliens in KotCS, the some of the ol' nazi stuff will be there, if only spiritually, so to say... after all, the whole "alien" nonsense is based on von Daeniken, and that lunatic is essentially an open racist, likely with thinly veiled Nazi sympathies. :sick:
 
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