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Description: The third installment in the widely beloved Spielberg/Lucas Indiana Jones saga begins with an introduction to a younger Indy (played by the late River Phoenix), who, through a fast-paced prologue, gives the audience insight into the roots of his taste for adventure, fear of snakes, and dogged determination to take historical artifacts out of the hands of bad guys and into the museums in which they belong. A grown-up Indy (Harrison Ford) reveals himself shortly afterward in a familiar classroom scene, teaching archeology to a disproportionate number of starry-eyed female college students in 1938. Once again, however, Mr. Jones is drawn away from his day job after an art collector (Julian Glover) approaches him with a proposition to find the much sought after Holy Grail. Circumstances reveal that there was another avid archeologist in search of the famed cup — Indiana Jones' father, Dr. Henry Jones (Sean Connery) — who had recently disappeared during his efforts. The junior and senior members of the Jones family find themselves in a series of tough situations in locales ranging from Venice to the most treacherous spots in the Middle East. Complicating the situation further is the presence of Elsa (Alison Doody), a beautiful and intelligent woman with one fatal flaw: she's an undercover Nazi agent. The search for the grail is a dangerous quest, and its discovery may prove fatal to those who seek it for personal gain. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade earned a then record-breaking $50 million in its first week of release.Amazon.com: Not as good as the first one, but better than the second. That’s been the consensus opinion regarding Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the final installment in Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ original adventure trilogy, throughout the nearly two decades since its 1989 theatrical release. It’s a fair assessment. After the relatively dark and disturbing Temple of Doom (1984), The Last Crusade (1989) recalls the sheer fun of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). With its variety of colorful locations, multiple chase scenes (the opening sequence on a circus train, with River Phoenix as the young Indy, is one of the best of the series, as is the boat chase through the canals of Venice), and cloak-and-dagger vibe, it’s the closest in tone to a James Bond outing, which director Spielberg has noted was the inspiration for the trilogy in the first place; what’s more, it harkens back to Raiders in its choice of villains (i.e., the Nazis--Indy even comes face to face with Hitler at a rally in Berlin) and its quest for an antiquity of incalculable value and significance (the Holy Grail, the chalice said to have been the receptacle of Christ's blood as he hung on the cross). Add to that the presence of Sean Connery, playing Indy’s father and having a field day opposite Harrison Ford, and you’ve got a most welcome return to form. Special features include a six-minute introduction by Spielberg and Lucas, who discuss the grail as a metaphor for bringing Indy and his estranged father together and agree that Crusade is the funniest of the three films; "Indy’s Women," an American Film Institute tribute with leading ladies Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw, and Alison Doody each discussing her character (Capshaw candidly describes Temple of Doom’s Willie Scott as "whiny, petulant, and annoying"); "Indy’s Friends and Enemies," a look at the films’ various villains and sidekicks; plus storyboards and photo galleries. --Sam Graham
Customer Reviews:
- Hi,I'm George and want your money: The Indiana Jones Trilogy is a landmark in movie entertainment.Years ago fans around the world bought the first installment of all DVDs in a box set and where pleased.Now the fourth film is ready for release and HAPPY GEORGE tries again to enlarge wealth.The new discs will arrive in more or less additon of strange specials,which doesn't justify the price.It is your choice to buy these films but i would suggest to prove the difference between the old and this new edition.
And then you can see how this new edition sucks.
But once again my name is George.....
- New Last Crusade Special Collector's Edition due out May 13th, 2008!: The details of new DVD editions of the three classic classic Indiana Jones movies with all-new special features have been announced. They'll be available separately for the first time on DVD, or as a set. They were previously only available on DVD as a set.
The new releases will coincide with the new movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which comes out on May 22nd. They'll have new special features designed to introduce new Indy fans to the old movies, as well as to introduce old fans to the new movie.
The Indiana Jones movies are George Lucas's recreation/update of the serialized adventures of the 1930s and '40s. Made in the '80s and set in the '30s, they feature Harrison Ford as a mild-mannered archeology professor who moonlights as an adventurous seeker of priceless antiquities. This takes him to exotic locations across the world, and gets him in some very tight spots of the kind that only a movie hero could get into, or out of. He invariably finds himself opposed by dangerous men with evil plans for the powerful objects only he has the skills to recover. There are elaborate set pieces with creepy critters, ancient traps, fights with weapons from bare hands to airplanes and tanks, and sometimes supernatural forces. Along the way Jones manages to have some romance too. Humor is a big part of the fun.
This is the third in the series, after Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It begins with a teenaged Indy trying unsuccessfully to save an artifact from thieves, during which we get background on his signature fedora, bull whip, fear of snakes and his father. Then we jump to 1938, when Indy learns his father, played by Sean Connery, has gone missing while searching for the Holy Grail, which the Nazis have designs on for world domination. Joining with a somewhat dim museum owner and the beautiful woman Indy's father had been working with, Indy has close calls in Venice, Austria, and Turkey as he closes in on the Grail and, in the end, bonds with dad.
This one returns to the lighter tone of Raiders, after the somewhat darker Temple of Doom, and perhaps exceeds Raiders in its emphasis on humor (though I still find Raiders funnier). It's fun to see Ford and Connery working together. As always there are very involved set pieces, including a tank battle, an intricate plot full of mystery and action, and some magic. And critters: this time thousands of rats.
If you don't want the whole set and don't want to wait until May, you could get a used copy of the old Last Crusade DVD (people sell them out of the sets). The difference is in the extra features. The bonuses from the old set are on their own disc, so what you get when you buy just the old Last Crusade DVD is pretty bare. The new release, on the other hand, has the following, all new:
-- "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: An Introduction" by director Steven Spielberg and creator/producer George Lucas
-- "The Women: The American Film Institute Tribute," in which the three Indiana Jones women (Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw and Alison Doody) reunite for a discussion
-- "Friends and Enemies," in which Spielberg, Lucas and Indiana Jones writers discuss how they created the original characters, and a look at new faces in the new movie
-- storyboards: the opening sequence
-- DVD galleries of illustrations, props, production stills and portraits, FX/Industrial Light and Magic stuff, and promotion/marketing materials
-- "Lego Indiana Jones," a demo and trailer for a game based on the trilogy
If you like a few extras, you'll probably prefer this new DVD, though maybe not enough to upgrade from the old one, or to wait until May. I like audio commentaries, myself, and since they're easy to produce and tend to bring out points not covered in other features, I subtract one star for a special edition without any, but I look forward to the rest. If you don't care about commentaries, this may be a five-star DVD for you.
There have been rumors of deleted scenes, but none are included.
Some will want to wait for a high-def release, which makes sense if you have the equipment or plan to get it. Many speculate that a Blu-ray release will come out for Christmas, but that's sheer guesswork.
There's also some speculation that an even better edition with all four movies will soon supersede this new DVD. They may bundle the four together, but I doubt that there will be a better edition of this movie soon, if ever, on standard DVD. Keep in mind that the previous set came out over four years ago, and if not for the new movie, that would probably be the only release during the decade of standard DVD. The next upgrade may be high-def only, and may not happen for a while.
If you do want the whole trilogy (highly recommended), the new release is here, the old set is here. If you want to pick up one of the others from the new set, the new edition of Raiders of the Lost Ark is here, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom here.
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