James said:
Frank Marshall talks about this kind of thing in the new Indy magazine. He points out the establishing shot they re-used for the University, and how Spielberg made a point to film that teaching scene just like he did in Raiders. So it wouldn't surprise me if Spielberg was using the airfield fight as a guide.
People complained about Spielberg's involvement in KOTCS, but I'm very pleased with the efforts he made to remain true to the originals. You can also tell he's clearly enjoying himself during the behind-the-scenes footage...constantly thinking of little touches to add here and there. For example, I thought it was interesting that Marion's forceful wedding kiss wasn't scripted- but suggested by Spielberg after the first take.
Interesting. I personally thought that the re-use of the Raiders ES was a bit too much. It was interesting to see how deeply certain images get ingrained into your subconscious and how they evoke a very strong and immediate emotional response, though.
I think that you can pretty much tell from the behind the scenes features on all of Spielberg's movies that a lot of the details sticking out, you find interesting or maybe even weird originated in his direction. Just one example for that is Harrison Ford's delivery of the
"it's a date. You eat 'em" line. I think I read somewhere that Spielberg asked Ford to dub the line that way. Ever since I read/heard that I even think that the nervous movement of Indy's fingers when he's about to cross the weight-responding arrow-trap in Raiders was Spielberg's idea.
I also can't imagine Spielberg commiting to a project and only working on it half-heartedly, especially as far as the work on set is concerned. It's a weird thing to imagine Spielberg on a movie set, in his element, and not acting out his instinct and passion to make the best of each scene. The question may rather be what he deems "best" and how his impulses and ideas of what is "best" for Indy Jones have changed over the years. I suppose that some of the scenes where I was having the feeling he had sort of cut around the action (are those the scenes that are confusingly described as "lazy" by some people?) where intended to be that way.
Are there any more interesting things Marshall talks about in the interview?
Back on topic:
It's as if they had decided to just go back to basics and do the most simplistic fistfight. Over the time the fight scenes in the movie became more and more complex involving complicated moving set pieces. The main idea behind the surrounded-by-ants-fisticuff really seems to be to go back to Raiders.
In the end, though, it lacked some actual suprises and twists. The thing about the scene I like most is when it cuts to Spalko killing the ant, which is a wonderful moment and lends the whole sequence some ...uhm...juice.
