• A strong film- certainly in the archives and closer to the top 10 of 1989 than the bottom of the archives but I think the 3rd strongest of the films- certainly visually
  • Bond and Indiana Jones are together here and it’s a great chemistry between Connery and Ford
  • Love the in medias res opening and iconography with the origin stories of the hat and whip
  • The Paramount pictures mountain logo graphic match with Monument Valley is inspired- Spielberg says he goes back to watch The Searchers often
  • The River Phoenix/train set piece in monument valley is spectacular
  • We don’t have divorce here which is rare for Spielberg but we have father issues
  • The blueprint isn’t original- we follow the same movie as Raiders with the father here (Connery) subbing in for the absent professor (Karen Allen’s father)—it’s also the bond blueprint in many respects—it’s religious in subject matter, Nazis are the villains, and we have the original supporting cast back from Denholm Elliott (who is a boob now in this film) and John Rhys-Davies. Alison Doody is a stunner as the girl—she actually was a Bond girl in A View To a Kill in 1985
  • Connery comes in 48 minutes in and he’s hilarious- it’s a great comic pairing and a well-written part. I was laughing at it all.
  • Love the line by Michael Byrne (who is terrifying) who says “this is how we say goodbye in Germany” with the big punch in the face
  • Trademark loud punch sound effect
  • Plotting issues- the Nazis tie the Jones’ up and then leave the room—it’s hard to get past
  • Again, like the two previous films the narrative has an absolute juggernaut of a forward momentum- truly inspired
  • Love the off into the sunset final shot
  • R/HR border