Indiana Jones Week: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Welcome back readers to Day 2 of Indiana Jones Week and we will catch up with Dr. Jones in just a moment.  There are many how feel this next installment is goofy, racist and in general a waste of cinema.  Point of fact it is fairly racist, there are some quite silly moments but all in all, it is not a bad film.  Zombie Lake was a bad film.  With this in mind there are a few aspects to this movie that I found...distasteful but we shall soldier on.  This is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

DOWN IN FRONT, LADY!!!

Indiana Jones: Mola Ram! Prepare to meet Spoiler... in Hell!






Our story takes place a year before Raiders in 1935.  Why is that?  No clue at all but we are in Shanghai listening to a rendition of Cole Porter's Anything Goes on an elaborate sound stage and after witnessing its scope and depth it magically shrinks down to a center stage in a small night club.  PHYSICS!!!!   So Dr. Jones is at a table with Lao Che (Roy Chiao of Game of Death II, The Protector, Heart of a Dragon, Bloodsport and Dragons Forever) a mobster of ill repute wanting the remains of the Emperor Nurhachi when Lo Che pulls a double cross on Indy getting him to drink a poison, Indy takes Lao Che's singer/girlfriend Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw of Private Affairs, Internal Affairs, Black Rain, Love at Large, Space Camp and Due East) hostage and demands the antidote.

A big fight ensues, guns blazing, people panicking and Indy escapes with Willie out a window and they whisk themselves into a car chase gun battle with a 12 year old boy at the wheel, name of Short Round (Jonathan Ke Quan of The Goonies, Together We Stand, Breathing Fire, Head of the Class and Encino Man).  Boarding a cargo plane out of Shanghai our trio have been left in a plane with no more fuel and it barreling down at the Himalayan Mountains.   Diving out of the plane in an inflatable raft clearly some 500 feet above, they all manage to stay in the boat, only to dive over a 600 foot high cliff, splash down some rapids and no one is worse for wear.  Screw you Physics!!!

Hi, we're collecting for the Red Cross.

Sloshing to shore in a small Indian Village, the local holy man explains to Indy that raiders from the long abandoned Pankot Palace has been stealing their children and claimed their sacred Sivalinga stone (stone given to by Shiva as example of the universe and comprised of diamond), the villagers believe to ward off evil and cease droughts.

Indy goes to investigate the palace, having Short Round and Willie tag along; which can only lead to more fight sequences, chases, gun battles and some sword choreographing.  Indy must battle an ancient and evil cult in order to save those enslaved to the cult's will.

Here are some facts about the film now.  This film was made a prequel so Nazis were not the villain every time around.   Kate Capshaw was cast as Indy's love interest because Lucas felt Indy needed a different  girl every film.  Health guru and fitness expert Jake Steinfeld ran Ford through a strict dietary and physical exercise program for him to bulk up for the role.  The irony is Ford had herniated his back during the fight scene with the Thuggee assassin in the bedroom, production was shut down until his operation was a success and a lot of the later fight scenes were handled by stuntman Vic Armstrong.

To give the Kali worshipers a greater terrifying presence, the writers added Aztec human sacrifice, European devil worship and Satanic themes to the film to pep it up.  Even with its level of blood, death scenes and gory effects this somehow stayed at a PG rating rather than a R.

North India refused to let Spielberg film in their region because they felt the script was racist and offensive,  the government demanded a rewrite and that they would oversee all changes.  Spielberg moved the production to Sri Lanka and used an fair amount of matte paintings and 1/16 scale models to create the mountain range.

The club in Shanghai was called Club Obi Wan.  Yes Lucas and Spielberg are nerds.

The Tropicana is proud to present: Legions of Hell!!!