Touching up Crusade to make it even better

British Raider

British Raider

Well-known member
fedoraboy said:
The Frasier with Nazis thing is obviously tongue in cheek. Clearly this isn’t Frasier, but it’s a neat way of encapsulating how this film differs from the previous two - it is lighter, intentionally more humorous and the sparring dialogue between Connery and Ford is terrific and quite sophisticated by the standards of this series. I can’t get annoyed about a terrific film being compared to a terrific TV series. I really don’t think it’s meant as a criticism.
Click to expand...
Yes this 👍

In a way the Last Crusade was the essential direction to go in after the first two as its continued popularity seems to confirm.
 
michael

michael

Well-known member
did the brotherhood even kill one nazi with their ambush?

if they didn't --- i'd touch this film up by giving them at least a kill or two. they can't be THAT bad of a shot if they're capable of all their other shenanigans.
 
FordFan

FordFan

Well-known member
michael said:
did the brotherhood even kill one nazi with their ambush?

if they didn't --- i'd touch this film up by giving them at least a kill or two. they can't be THAT bad of a shot if they're capable of all their other shenanigans.
Click to expand...
They had the high ground, the element of surprise. Kazim and his men blew a 3-1 lead.
 
michael

michael

Well-known member
While I don't think it needs a touch up...and still not really a flaw...but more so a comment...

but can we all agree the Nazi soldiers and Turkish soldiers really did not give a sh*t about trying to obtain the grail. Sallah with one gun commanding them all....come on....

My guess is they were in awe of the power of the Grail and didn't want to mess with it anymore. So much for hired hands.
 
michael

michael

Well-known member
i'd remove the:

"this is your last chance!" "No Dr. Jones! It's yours!"

The back and forth is almost a gag at that point since you can't beat the line "my soul's prepared, how's yours."
 
R

Randy_Flagg

Well-known member
I'll start with a really minor one change: I'd tweak the escape from the circus train. I'm never quite sure if I'm not understanding it, or if it was not edited right, but why does Indy come running onto the tracks from the side? I assume he's supposed to have escaped through a trap door beneath the magic box, so he should be coming out from under the train. Just trim a second or two from the shot of Indy running away so that we don't see him running on from the side.
(Even then, the whole concept is a bit silly since why would the train have a trap door under the box? Presumably the box is unloaded from the train and used at the circus, so a trap door in the train would be completely pointless. But that's just nitpicking, and missing the spirit of this sort of movie.)

On a larger scale, I'd cut back on SOME of the humor throughout the film. Not all of it, of course, but enough to find a better balance so that it doesn't detract from the excitement. I think that was what disappointed me most about LC in 1989-- the tone of the movie was just TOO light-hearted and lacking in tension. I was hoping for something more similar in tone to Raiders or TOD (obviously there was a ton of humor in TOD, too, but it was offset by the darker elements and several scenes that really ratcheted up the tension in a way LC never did.)

Finally, as some other people mentioned, some scenes just felt surprisingly cheaply made at times. The prologue on the boat, for example, felt way too much like a soundstage. The motorcycle chase feels like what it is (i.e. something they added in quickly after the rest of the movie was done.) The biplane sequence effects were dodgy even for 1989. If they could get these up to the quality of some of the more impressive moments of the franchise, it would benefit the entire film.
 
Finn

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
Randy_Flagg said:
I'll start with a really minor one change: I'd tweak the escape from the circus train. I'm never quite sure if I'm not understanding it, or if it was not edited right, but why does Indy come running onto the tracks from the side? I assume he's supposed to have escaped through a trap door beneath the magic box, so he should be coming out from under the train. Just trim a second or two from the shot of Indy running away so that we don't see him running on from the side.
Click to expand...
While this does not explain how Indy made it from the box to the side of the tracks, the whole sequence is quite impressive from the perspective of filmmaking: the moment from Indy entering the magician's carriage to him running down the tracks is one continuous take. (And so the Indy that runs down the tracks is obviously not Phoenix, but a stunt person.) Yes, adding a cut or two like you suggested would likely add some narrative sense, but it's hard to blame editing when there's none.

Of course, there is a very simple trick they could have done without sacrificing the long take: tell the stunt person to start a moment earlier so that when Fedora yanks open the carriage door, Indy is already running down the tracks instead of coming from the side. And perhaps they did film takes like that, but ultimately settled for one that reveals Indy's escape to the audience the same time Fedora learns of it in-universe.
 
FordFan

FordFan

Well-known member
It's like trying to explain how Indy's bag strap got around the tank turret in the first place. Too good a sequence to break out the magnifying glass.
 
R

Randy_Flagg

Well-known member
Finn said:
While this does not explain how Indy made it from the box to the side of the tracks, the whole sequence is quite impressive from the perspective of filmmaking: the moment from Indy entering the magician's carriage to him running down the tracks is one continuous take. (And so the Indy that runs down the tracks is obviously not Phoenix, but a stunt person.) Yes, adding a cut or two like you suggested would likely add some narrative sense, but it's hard to blame editing when there's none.

Of course, there is a very simple trick they could have done without sacrificing the long take: tell the stunt person to start a moment earlier so that when Fedora yanks open the carriage door, Indy is already running down the tracks instead of coming from the side. And perhaps they did film takes like that, but ultimately settled for one that reveals Indy's escape to the audience the same time Fedora learns of it in-universe.
Click to expand...
I didn't even remember that it was all a single take. I don't think I've seen LC (or any of the original three films) since 2008, so my memory is sketchy. I just remember that Indy running in from the side always seems a bit odd.
But yeah, ultimately, it's definitely not something that ruined the movie for me, just something that wasn't quite right.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top