The funniest thing about this film is that Short Round is the only person Indy openly likes consistently throughout the whole series. He lets him wear his hat, he protects him, and never argues with him. He likes short round more than his own son
To this day I still tear up when Shorty says "Indy, I love you." Most stuff like that would seem cheesy in most films but Ke Huy Quan is so genuine in his performance. A fine actor even at that tender age.
I was about the same age as Short Round when I first saw the movie so in a way I viewed the story though his eyes. I wanted so much to have a father figure like Indy since my real one was a terrible person.
I remember how the women in that game all had the power to jump extra high and the spots where they needed to jump were marked with bright pretty pink flowers. Ya know, like in the movie! It seems kinda sexist now that I think about it, but oh well it’s a baby game ig
Surprised they didn't discuss the framing of the scene where Indiana Jones could leave, but instead comes back for the kids. When he returns, the kids are pushing a minecart and the light of the cart itself reveals the silhouette of Indy's return. So it's a bit of a callback to the silhouette usage in the first movie, but this time it's portrayed in classic heroism style. It's one of my favorite shots of all the movies.
Agreed. That hero shot is awesome. He punches the guy so hard he slides across the ground. We could have talked about almost every shot in the film, but the video can't be 3 hours long. Thanks for watching our programming!
@@RedLetterMediaI'm glad Rich gave a mention of the dual shot that showed Short Round using the exact same punch and backhand combo on the maharajah as Indy was using on the foreman. It was another clue into how well they knew each other, that he knew how to fight just like Indy, after Indy started looking after this orphan boy. I was a little Chinese boy the same age as Short Round when I saw Temple of Doom and Short Round made me feel validated decades before representation became a Hollywood buzzword. I think that shot was also the loudest reprise of the Raiders fanfare in the movie up to that point. It was the moment when the Indy ass kicking vibe was firing on all cylinders.
Rich is right, Short Round was always going to be the getaway driver because Dan Aykroyd says that Indy's assistant booked the plane for 3 people. Since I doubt Wu Han planned on kidnapping Willie or getting shot we can assume the original 3 were going to be Indy, Short Round, and Wu Han.
Yes, there is a deleted scene or part of that scene where Short Round asks about Wu Han and is told he won't be joining them. Also you can tell Short Round was going to be the getaway driver because he was pulling up to the entrance to the club to pick them up, but was surprised by how they got in the car.
Short Round was planned to be there. Indy got three plane tickets: one for himself, one for the friend that got shot, and one for short round. Willie took the place of the guy who was shot
Hopefully Mike eventually let's Rich talk about Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Lord knows he's has earned his chance to talk about it considered all the bad Trek the man's been forced to talk about in the past.
Quite frankly having no nostalgia for Temple of Doom I barely consider it any better than Skull, yes nuking the fridge is very stupid, but so is surving an airplane fall with a raft. I think CGI is the only tie-breaker between those two movies, as in it allowed Spielberg to go as dumb and as lazy as possible with skull
@@felipeaguena5289 The tone is entirely different though. Temple has silly moments but it’s mostly done in a serious way. Crystal is so cartoony, like the scene with Shia swinging on vines with monkeys. And it tops it off with CGI aliens, it’s incredibly goofy, I don’t see how Temple is anywhere on the same level.
I'm half Indian and saw Temple of Doom at a cinema in Fiji while on holiday. Saw a Hindu statue shop and immediately got a statue of Kali. Got back to Australia and resumed school after the holidays and was swamped by kids asking about the food. Because they all watched it too, and thought that's what we eat. The whole point was that they were a cult eating that weird stuff, as most Hindus are vegetarian for a start. But I had to convince a lot of people that they weren't popular Indian dishes.
@@lawton6123 Chilled? Any Indian will tell you that Monkey Brains should be served piping ho... oh... uh... I mean, I don't know what you're talking about.
Based on vegans in the usa i really dont think Indians are vegetarians. Theres 14 vitamins you cant get from vegetables because plants dont make or need them. You can only get them from animals like chickens pigs or cows or any animal at those levels on the food chain. But ive never been to india and i dont feel like trying to prove this. Maybe indians are some kind of evolved human that can process plants at the same level as goats and cows. Even though both those animals stomachs are way different then ours and in goats way more powerful.
I think there was a line in the novelization (and probably in the movie that was cut) where Indy points out the weird food as a sign that something is wrong a the palace.
As a Sri Lankan this is both a weird and awesome movie. The main villagers of the village Indie first goes to are some of the well know (in that time) actors in Sri Lanka. The old man (D.R. Nanayakkara) and the old woman (Denawaka Hamine) are two of my favorites and they were famous for their comedic performances.
@@mem1701movies I watched the scene again and I cannot make it out clearly either. One dish looks like it's yellow rice. But I have no idea about the awkward looking grey dish (which also attracts flies? 😅). And the insulting comment is that the villagers are offering food and by not accepting, it could look like she is ungrateful. It's not related to any specific food.
I never watched it as a kid because my parents hated it, so I only watched it as an adult. It’s good, but I have zero connection with it like I do with Raiders and Last Crusade.
My opinion of temple of doom is that it has the highest highs and lowest lows out of the og trilogy. It’s by far the most chaotic Indiana Jones movie and it stands out as unique when you compare it to the other two. Also shortround is the best Indian Jones sidekick ever, and one of few people that indie really cares about. Fuck Shia labeouf, indie should have adopted shortround as is son. My fav will always be the last crusade for obvious reasons, but the entire OG trilogy is gold. EDIT: also, it took me years to realize that temple of doom was a prequel to raiders of the lost ark.
A lot of it comes from the limitations of shooting with models causing you to design your shots so the camera behaves realistically. You can see this in the first Pacific Rim - because they made sure none of the camera moves in the robot fights would be impossible for a physical camera to make if the scene were real, everything feels way more real.
@@kyleowsen I know you said a lot, so to add a counter example look at Fincher specifically the long shot in Panic Room, the impossible camera movements don't make that feel any less real.
What I love about this film, apart from the fact that it's totally insane, is that Harrison Ford is all in for it. He really puts 100% enthusiasm into his performance here.
I've never understood the lack of enthusiasm from Harrison Ford in recent years. If you're not enjoying it, just retire! I'm not sure if I have an excess of laziness or a lack of greed, but to me not having to work is the ultimate luxury, and unless Harrison Ford has a Nick Cage level of compulsion to buy ridiculously expensive stuff he's surely got more money than he could ever spend?
@korganrocks3995 Harrison Ford I've noticed hates the stuff he's most known for. But if it's a good script, he will actually try. Everything else is just a paycheck for him.
@@parisulki729 He didn't like the Han Solo role, but it doesn't show at all imo, not even in TFA. He was more animated in that than anything I've seen in two decades before that.
@@psykomancer4420 Yeah somehow Short Round manages to avoid a lot of the "annoying kid" cliches while also kicking a seriously disproportionate amount of ass.
Oh god, Temple of Doom is getting the prequel treatment of getting undue respect in the face of even shittier sequels. Short Round was annoying even as a kid.
@@TheYeti6000well, this movie, alongside Gremlins, was responsible for the creation of the PG-13 rating. It's difficult to imagine how movies were classified more than 40 years ago
No matter the shortcomings of this movie, the scene where Indy’s silhouette appears in the cave and you know he’s about to kick so much ass is possibly one of the greatest Indiana Jones moments
"Shorty's parents were killed in...some incident where Shorty's parents died" that is some genuinely touching context for Indy and Short Round's relationship
The movie says Shorty's parents were killed when the Japanese bombed Shanghai. I don't think you need much more explanation than that. Seems totally plausible to me. Orphans created in war. We see it all the time. I can totally buy how a child whose parents were killed would be to drawn to Indy as a surrogate father figure.
Short Round definitely is. He asks Indy were Wu Han is, and they have 3 tickets for the plane, and Willy can take one sheet Wu Han is dead. Att the very least, Short Round was planned to be part if the getaway, keep the engine running or something.
It was the 30's, childrens were trained to fight commies back then. They were nothing but very young and small people back then. Today they are those delicate flowers for 3 or 4 decades we have to protect from the world. It was less irresponsible than what we doing with our childrens now, just look the achievements in economy in the 30's, 40's and 50's and look it now!
Really the kid is the best part of the movie, particularly if you have kids as he has the most realistic dialog and action to actual children I've seen in a film.
Mike's analysis of the exposition scenes in Temple of Doom being intercut with comedic clips, compared to the serious exposition scenes in Raiders and Crusade, is one of the most astute and sophisticated bits of film criticism I've seen in a long time. I love these guys.
It’s incomprehensible to me that the same person who made that incredibly insightful observation also thinks Indy randomly fell into a cab driven by his sidekick.
There are actually 3 Wilhelm screams in the movie. There's also Mola Ram's death at the very end. And Willie Scott's first name is "Wilhelmina" and she screams all throughout the movie, which might be another Wilhelm scream reference.
I remember watching this movie as a kid and knowing that it takes place in India, I was very confused when the extras all started speaking sinhala. I realized later that they filmed it in Sri Lanka and pretended it was India. What's awesome is that the lines in Sinhala are not just random shit; when that woman is grabbing at Short Round I think she was saying something like "I lost my son, please come be my son".
Ke Hu Kwan's performance as Short Round is classic. Virtually every line he says is still quotable to this day. The way he idolizes Indy - that was me when I was 10.
For real. Everything he does and line he delivers just feels so authentic. I think every single little boy who watched this movie imagined themselves being short round, I know I did.
But wouldn’t you much rather have a character who is constantly insulting our hero Indy for being old, decrepit, bigoted, patriarchal, dumb, etc? Apparently Disney bet almost half a billion dollars that audiences want their hero’s torn down rather than idolized.
Temple of Doom is highly under-appreciated. All of the set pieces and action sequences are fantastic and memorable (night club opening, mine cart chase, bridge sequence), and the tone is so dark, adventurous, and bold. Indiana Jones walks straight into a pulpy horror film and it’s entirely awesome. Raiders is an all-time classic, and Temple is Raiders on steroids. While The Last Crusade has its many high points and the Ford/Connery banter is fun, but it’s clearly a return to the Raiders-esque aesthetic after the controversial Temple. But that dark and edgy side of Temple is what engages me the most and keeps me coming back to it. Not to mention, the sweet bond between Indy and Short Round brings some real heart to the film, contrasted with its darker moments.
So fun fact: part of the mix of sounds used to create the Millenium Falcon stalling sound was the startup of a Sopwith Camel (WW1 biplane). So *technically,* it was more accurately used in Temple of Doom.
@@FrozenGoblin that means the Han Solo film should really have been Smokey and the Bandit in space. I mean, I liked Solo, but Smokey and the Bandit in space would have been awesome.
Setting Temple before Raiders also allows Indy to be even more of a gray-area character morally at the start of this story. He didn't find Nurhachi or the stones for his museum, but for fortune and glory. He threatens an innocent woman, gets his friend Wu Han killed, and endangers the life of some poor orphan boy. After this adventure, we can begin Raiders with Indy having learned his lesson and gone legit.
It's something I never paid attention to as a kid but as I've aged and looked back I appreciated it a lot more. Especially with the added context of Last Crusade where you see young idealistic Indy with the "it belongs in a museum!". Probably applying my own feelings and logic to explain something they didn't intend but for me it shows how youthful idealism can fall by the wayside as you lose sight of what really matters in the pursuit of your own goals.
@@TalooFoH Take the whole original trilogy chronologically and Indiana has an arc in regards to the artifacts he searches for. In 1912 he feels strongly that the Cross should be displayed publicly in a museum, but is helpless against grave robbers for a private collector. By 1935 he he's sunken to grave robbing for a gangster's private collection. And he's thinking "screw this Indian village, I'm selling the Stones for Fortune and Glory" before he has his change of heart. 1936 - 1938 he's back on the straight and narrow, trying and failing twice to bring artifacts to the museum (the Idol and the Ark), then finally succeeding with the Cross.
I saw this movie as a child. It scared the living shit out of me for years. Was it the graphic violence? The child slave labor? The human heart? The bug scene? Nope! It was when Indie turned evil for like 10 minutes. That scared the hell outta me for some reason 😂
That part didn't scare me, but I clearly remember it upsetting me when I was a kid. Even though he went back to normal later, the thought that he effectively lost to the bad guys in that moment really bothered me.
This one didn't bother me much. I was about eight when I first saw it, which is honestly way too young, and I mostly found it too intense. _Raiders_ however, when I did finally see it at a more appropriate age, scared the shit out of me due to the face melting scene. I do still think _Doom_ is my favourite of the three.
My daughter LOVED Temple of Doom when she was young. It was Raiders that bothered her - Indy was meaner in that movie (more of an anti-hero) and the violence was less cartoonish. (The fight in Marion's bar has some shockingly brutal, realistic violence!) Indy scared her in that film. She thought Temple was scarier over-all, "but it's a FUN scary."
I remember in one of Ebert's reviews of an Indy film he points out that Marion is every adolescent boy's (the audience for adventure serials) idea of a cool girl: she drinks and fights like a boy, and she's brave and always down for adventure, but she's still pretty and needs to be rescued sometimes. Willy, by contrast, is every boy's nightmare: she's stereotypically fussy and cowardly, she complains and whines all the time, and she doesn't want adventure at all. But she's still pretty and needs to be rescued!
She's the opposite of cowardly, though. Despite being terrified she still goes down into the tunnel past corpses and a horde of bugs to save Indy and Short Round from being crushed. She kills 3 men during the mine cart chase, and when Short Round nearly falls through the bridge, she overcomes how terrified she is of the bridge and how high up they are to rescue the kid.
I hadn't twigged, but yeah, she's the everyman character. She's the only one who seems to realise just how batshit crazy the whole scenario is and reacts appropriately to it. And I'd agree that she does show courage; she's just completely out of her depth for nearly everything which happens.
I think the reason Spielberg wasn’t as thrilled about Temple of Doom was he was coming off a loss on best director for ET and was sick of getting crap from critics that he only made popcorn flicks - case in point, right after Temple, he made the Color Purple because he wanted to be seen as a “serious” filmmaker.
Fun fact: that lightsaber sound effect can also be heard in the Fellowship of the Ring in the scene where orcs cast swords for Saruman's new army. I guess the lightsaber on/off sound comes from the world of forging (water evaporating upon coming into contact with hot metal?) and not the other way round :D
This is my favorite Indy film. The darkness and weirdness better reflects the spirit of old pulp magazine adventure stories than film serials, and I really appreciate that.
@@knownpleasures I woudn't go as far as saying he's disowned it. In any case, remember that artists are not necessarily the best judges of their own work.
Indy was long after my time (born in the late 90s) but temple of doom was the first one I ever watched (my mom forced me to watch it lol) and it's my guilty pleasure favorite. I like the 3rd one more, but If I could only save one it might be this one. The guy pulling the heart out of the guy's chest is still out of this world!
@@AndI0td763 I’ve heard people say this a lot and I agree. Indiana Jones has to be the first (or one of) examples of a movie that got a “family friendly” rating simply because of the goodwill they generated with the first. The dark Knight also comes to mind as an R flick that was kid friendly
@@AndI0td763 it really was! for example my parents were fine with me watching it because it was PG but years later when goldeneye n64 came out they didn't want me playing it because it was MA haha, (australian ratings) not familiar with us
I like this movie because it seems the best-executed attempt Lucas and Spielberg made at capturing the vibe of those old serials. Lots of things give me that impression , like the over-the-top action scenes, the cheesiest acting of the trilogy, Indy's nonchalant attitude to Willie's hysterics, and a strong reference to the Gunga Din movie.
Spielberg was with Amy Irving during Temple of Doom. The two had a son together around this time (or within a year or so). Depending upon who you believe, Steven was not ready to grow up and face the responsibility of fatherhood. Also, Temple is a prequel because even though they thought Indy and Marion should be together, they didn't want to explain why she wasn't in the film! And FYI, the first 20 minutes of Temple is just all the set pieces they did not use in Raiders. They were written during that film's production.
Yeah, there are some... interesting opinions regarding Spielberg's parenting. You only have to see the path one of his other kids took as soon as they reached adulthood to start wondering.
@Repo-Man Without Indy's involvement Marion likely gets killed in Nepal after giving Toht the necklace. She's a loose end at that point. Or gets abducted, might have learned useful info abou the Ark from her father. Gets dragged along, and likely ends up dying in the desert after refusing Belloq. And the Ark gets flown straight to Germany in the flying wing, probably a lab somewhere where they eventually figure out how to use it safely. And Henry Sr dies in Castle Brunwald or possibly somewhere out in the desert, Indy never sees him again nor has their relationship repaired. So no, Indy absolutely had an impact.
@@MrPicklerwoofShe did say in interviews she was groomed and abused outside of her family. Also 1 out of 7 kids turning out a little rough is not terrible odds as parenting is concerned
It’s a magnificent film. Pure entertainment that smashes along like a rollercoaster. It has so many top tier sequences and iconic moments, it’s just great. The really don’t make em like this anymore..
I love how the movie draws from all the other big genres of the 30s and paints them with the adventure serial brush: Musicals, gangsters and haunted houses.
Dude I had the idol temple from the beginning of raiders and it had a release that would make the boulder roll down the hall after indy. It was glorious
shoutout to lego indiana jones for xbox 360, that shit slapped. I had the double game case that came with kungfu panda which i remember being pretty good for a kids movie game
I'm with Mike. This is one of my favorite movies of all times and the quintessential Indy adventure. When I learned through the Internet that some people actually disliked it, I just couldn't believe it.
@@aaronsarchive82 These are all classics I just don't think anything has ever been as bizarrely just like, not even close to the word as this. It's like his brain put all the syllables in a blender and reproduced them in an instant.
Rich's genuine excitement seeing the Vomitory album was so cool to see... Usually old people have disdain for the metal subculture, so it's nice seeing a geriatric with an open mind!
As someone who's always loved this movie, I really am just happy to see so many fans that appreciate and understand it for the moody adventure serial throwback it is. Mola Ram was always my favorite villain for Indy, the fight on the bridge is one of the best in cinema, absolutely love how hard Indy goons up on the thuggees, and the fact Short Round and Willie are always like, *there* and dealing with the situation in their own way is super underlooked, like the fact these dudes made it is super nice, it's good. At the very end, after the darkest adventure in the series, you have Indy setting aside his selfish desires to help this little village in the middle of nowhere, and it's sweet at that very end. It's a nice contrast, close to being my favorite ending for one of these.
Mike’s deranged conspiracy theory that Short Round was never planned to be with Indy in the Shanghai mission is hilarious. Wouldn’t Indy be surprised to see a kid he knows randomly driving the car he fell into? Because when he tells Shorty to “step on it,” he seems pretty unsurprised by his presence.
Also Dan Aykroyd tells Indy that he, "spoke with your assistant and managed to secure 3 seats." So unless he had planned to kidnap Willy, the seats were arranged just prior to the club scene and were for Indy, Short Round, and the guy who died (who I suspect was the assistant).
Temple of Doom has one of my very favorite scenes. It's the one where Indy is fighting that thugee on the rock crusher. They're both trying to kill eachother, and at one point the thugee's clothing gets caught in the machinery and he starts getting pulled in about to be crushed and he starts screaming to Indy for help, and even though they were just trying to end one another, Indy starts trying to help save him because damn... what a rough way to go. The thugee died anyways, but I always appreciated that both of them got horrified about what was about to happen next and that Indy was decent enough to try to not let that happen.
I'm sure I'm not the only one yelling at Rich that Mythbusters showed that the life raft is absolutely plausible for survival. The crash test dummy impact patches were all in the green, and it landed upright. It's a hard hit, but you might well walk away.
In regards to the score weaving in characters' themes, a surprising example of that in a more modern movie was Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The 4 monsters each had their own distinct themes and instruments that would constantly show up in the score whenever the focus was on one of them in an action scene. The movie had a heap of problems but the music was excellent.
Not having seen it myself, I'm guessing they still mixed the music under the sfx didn't they? That's another big problem with modern movies: not only are scores unmemorable, but they mix them low enough that you can't even make them out over everything else happening in the scene.
Short Round essentially became a treasure hunter like Indy. He sends a message to Indy (in The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones) where he's still looking for The Peacock's Eye - the diamond Lao Che had - in September 1957... which is over 20 years after Temple of Doom. So don't worry Rich... he's still kicking around. I'd recommend The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones, by the way - it's one of those wonderful tie-ins they do that's entirely in character, and it's a lot of fun. Lots of references to the expanded universe, from the Young Indy TV show, to the books (Deidre gets name-checked, which is a DEEP cut) to the video games (Fate of Atlantis FTW).
Marion’s my favorite, but I like the idea of Indy having a companion in Willie who is less up to the task than his other female companions. The idea of Indy being saddled with a gangster’s Moll on an adventure is such a fun contrast.
And also, if your first film has Marion Ravenwood as the female lead, who's up there with Princess Leia as a cool, spunky, competent, kind of badass character, then you can get away with going for the complete opposite of hat in this film. As you say, the contrast is refreshing and imo at least, she's still a fun character. And she does end up more courageous by the end. After all, Marcus exists in this universe, and he's cowardly, befuddled, meek and basically incompetent.
@@TheGeneralDisarray Another point that people often overlook is that *it has to make sense that we never see Willie again.* She's not Indy's girlfriend a year later. Is that surprising? No, because this movie makes it clear that they aren't really suited for each other and that if they hooked up it wouldn't last. She's a fling, but Indy's lifestyle is a total turn off for her, and she wouldn't have any interest in going on more adventures. Once she gets back to civilization, she's never leaving a city again.
In college, I had a roommate from India who had never seen this movie and he thought it was hilarious. He loved the depiction of worshipping Kali. He said that real Kali worship on certain holidays involved getting hammered on whiskey and having sex.
@@theresaurus9820 it's offensive because of the cultural context and minoritized status of indians in the west, it's not part of any systems of oppression experienced by someone who grew up with india's domestic media.
During the pre-production of Raiders, Steven Spielberg was dating actor, Amy Irving and had set her to be the female lead in Raiders. But Amy Irving ended up getting romantic inviolved with Willie Nelson while making Honeysuckle Rose, which broke up her relationship to Spielberg for a while, therefor Karen Allen got to play the part instaed. It's also the reason why Kate Capshaw's character was given the name Willie Scott named after Willie Nelson.
Y'know, you guys made a point about the dance scene with the footage being reversed, saying that it's weird, but it's still cool, and I kinda feel like that's a summary for the entire movie. It's weird as all get-out, but it's still fun and cool at the same time. It doesn't make sense, but it's still a blast regardless. Also, Rich, don't worry. Later tie-in Indiana Jones novels specified that Shortie grew up and went to school in America, with Indy paying for it from the money he gets from his various archaelogical shenanigans. With that in mind, I'm just gonna say it: HE should be the one to inherit the fedora, not 'Mutt' Williams.
Oh, don't worry. They make sure to tell the audience that Mutt gets killed in Vietnam and he's divorced from Marion in the Dial of Destiny (after they got "happily married ever after" in the Crystal Skull), so not only is he a deadbeat dad, his kid is also dead, AND he's sad and lonely and divorced. Because KK absolutely HATES fathers apparently. Also yes short round is in the movie. They're that desperate.
ToD is such a feast for the eyes in terms of how color, light and shadow is used in the photography. I know Spielberg thinks it's "too subterranean" but the opening sequence and the jungle scenes have more color in them than all of Last Crusade, which is mostly earth tones.
Spielberg can stuff it about this movie. It was always my favorite as a kid, followed by Raiders. I also loved Last Crusade, but I appreciated the darker tone of Temple of Doom more. I think kid movies should be extremely dark in spots. We don't have to traumatize kids, the good guys should always win the end in kid movies, but I do think kids should be made aware of the cruelty that exists in the world via the media they consume. A few movies that did this extremely well that I remember from my own childhood were An American Tail, Pinocchio, The Secret of NIMH, and of course Temple of Doom. The Iron Giant also gets an honorable mention. I can't really think of a greater message to present to small children than that of a sentient weapon of mass destruction deciding it doesn't want to be a gun or hurt people, because violence is always the wrong choice.
Speaking of musical cues, they use the exact same music of the Cairo swordsman when he versus the swordsmen in TOD. And then, when Indy doesn't have a gun, they use the marketplace incidental music. It's such a cool musical reference!
Guys, how did you not get how the greenery returns to the village. It's the fact that the damned up water is released. It takes Indy and company time to travel back to the village. Though the stones do have magical properties, it's still portrayed as somewhat superstitious in the movie that they associate the lack of water with the stones.
@@xunqianbaidu6917 Not immediately. Like he said, travelling back with all those kids probably took at least twice as long as getting there in the first place. Also, magic rock. Also, its a movie.
@@jbard9892you can’t join into an autistic level discussion on the near-meaningless timescale of fictional flowers growing and then pull a “its just a movie” at the end. You’re either in, or you’re out.
James Bond, a pinch of Tintin, a dash of Allan Quatermain, it was a rich, exotic broth. Hence the immense Worldwide success of the original trilogy. And the fourth one.
Fun fact: there was originally a line by Indy in the dinner scene where he and Short Round talk about how Indian Hindus don't typically eat meat, so there must be something up and they are trying to scare them away. But they decided to cut it because they felt it gave away the surprise of the temple.
It did seem obvious to me when I was about 13. You see Chattar Lal eating normal food with a fork, and the way the guy is smiling at 'chilled monkey brains' made it totally seem like an intentional gross out for the white and English guests. If you really hated someone who was a vegan and they were coming over for dinner, would you make big tomahawk ribeyes? Absolutely.
@@kaiserruhsam These movie novelizations were great, because quite often, they were written based on an earlier script draft than what was actually shot (or shot, but edited out of the movie), so they often include some of the scenes that only years later saw the light of day with some special edition, or not at all.
As a kid that was VERY much into reptiles, it always bothered me that they used alligators for the bridge scene, because there are no alligators in India, or almost anywhere else in the world outside of North America. It wasn't until now that I really thought about it, and realized they probably could have found some crocodile farm or a crocodile-themed tourist attraction to film in in Sri Lanka if they wanted to, so it must have been a conscious choice to use alligators specifically because that's how old timey serials would have done it. Also it probably helped if it was cheaper that way.
@@nn-dj2nu Google search results are full of AI generated bullshit these days, don't trust some random page. The only alligators on the planet are the American one and the almost extinct Chinese one. I know it's probably confusing because apart from the head they look very similar but alligators aren't crocodiles.
Short round was Indiana Jones getaway driver. He was the one who had the tickets and in the original screenplay there’s a line where short round asks Indy where the partner who was playing the waiter is, before Indy tells him he didn’t make it. Short round then says, don’t worry doctor Jones, I protect you now
Mad respect to Rich for not calling out Mike on his "slabe labor" mispronunciation of slave labor, when he knows damn well they would call him out on it. Not only that they would point it out in editing with a subtitle and replay once or twice. Good job Rich.
Mike didn't correct Rich when Rich was talking about how James Bond didn't want Spielberg to direct a James Bond movie so he can show some restraint. Roat Shore though
I was a teacher for a decade and would show Temple of Doom to students to teach about the 5 act structure, genre, tone, etc. Out of every film I ever showed my students (elementary and middle school kids) this was by far their favorite. It blew their minds. Also fun fact, I have Kate Capshaw's previous cell number and constantly get her phone calls and messages still. I like to mess with people sometimes and pretend I'm her.
@@KasumiKenshirou Most of the time it's politicians reaching out for donations, sometimes some random filmmaker trying to get through to Spielberg. But whoever it is, I like to tell them, "Anything goes".
Steven Spielberg was married to Amy Irving before he married Kate Capshaw. Amy Irving was the voice of Jessica Rabbit singing. She is an actress. When they got divorced, she got (at the time) one the largest divorce settlement in Hollywood b/c Steven was openly cheating on her w/ Kate. Like your content, just filling in some blanks for you. Cheers
I was in the cinema preview night in 1984 at age 12 and Mike is 100% right! We havent even mentioned it's the first movie he speaks many languages which ultimately saves his life. It's his archeological knowledge that bears Mola Ram not just the brawn. Btw Tarantino named Doom his favorite Spielberg movies after Jaws.
It was my favorite Indiana Jones movie as a wee dumb child. It had the least amount of talking and was the funniest. It also definitely felt more like a cartoon like, "Tune in next time to see where Indy ends up next!" which appeals to a kid. Also, at least when I was a child, I didn't think the eating scene was intended to depict normal Indians. I thought they were eating like that as foreshadowing for their weird cult.
It's funny hearing people getting bent out of shape when demon worshippers are portrayed in a barbaric light. I never had the impression as a kid that Hindus would eat monkey brains either.
Normal Indians didnt take it to heart, i watched this movie as a kid at my Indian Babysitters house, with her Indian family, nobody thought it was real and nobody was insulted, everyone thought it was funny, thats what i remember.
I grew up in the southern us watching this movie in the 90's so not a bastion of cultural understanding but as far as I could tell everyone interpreted it as weird cult stuff and a big sign something was wrong. I think that scene was supposed to feel more like foreshadowing than a wacky gross-out gallery but I'm just some shmuck criticizing Spielberg on the internet.
The raft stunt is legit, it looks ridiculous sure but Mythbusters did it on an episode and it actually worked and was 100% survivable. One of their best episodes.
@@ThePeejRR I'm pretty sure that's how it worked out, yeah. I seem to remember Adam being particularly emphatic that it's a horrible, horrible idea despite being survivable.
@@ThePeejRR Even then that was if you turned the raft into a makeshift parachute first. Though I think you might be able to argue that a giant raft crashing into a flat california field is a little different than a smaller raft crashing onto an angled snowy hill.
The weird thing about the dinner scene is that in the script Indiana Jones outright states that the people here would never be eating food like that, but for whatever reason they left the line out so it just comes off as another movie from the time where the joke is "Indian people eat craaaaaazy food!"
I think that might have been in the novelization. I don't think it was in the script. Also, remember when Willy Scott puts perfume all over the elephant because it stinks? Later in the Dinner scene there is a moment when she smells the large indian guy next to her and then she pours perfume on him.
@@umk986 and you might remember, Willie is *kind of a bitch*. She has the most unrealistic standards and expectations for everything in her life and even the smallest thing out of order is given an attempt to be corrected rather bluntly. Guy probably smelled fine, or more realistically, a *little* sweaty from living a life where he actually has to get up and do things.
When people freak out in disbelief over the fridge scene in Crystal Skull, I always remember the tremendous but unbelievable section where they survive the plane crash and the sequence that follows. Its just part of Indiana Jones, and it is amazing.
@@bencarlson4300You should watch Film Theory. MatPat actually found Indy had a 50/50 chance of surviving the fridge, which is better than falling out of a plane.
If the studio thought they could make a billion dollars. I wouldn't put it past them to wheel out a hundred year old Harrison Ford, with saliva dribbling from his mouth and put a whip in his hand and his Stetson hat on while hes sat in his wheelchair surrounded by a supporting cast of woke, feminist actresses (sorry actors), with a script that is more concerned with pushing their politics than a good action, adventure story with a element of the supernatural and biblical legend.
One of my favorite things about this movie/Indiana Jones since I was a kid was how appreciative Indy was when the village gave them food and that he was respectful of their culture and hospitality.
Yeah they show what Indian food is supposed to look like: I always thought the weird food at the palace was the first indication something isn’t right at this place.
@@SerpentineJack99there was a line cut from the script where indy remarks on what they're eating and is suspicious because its not food that real Hindus eat. Which would have solved a lot of cultural issues later tbh
@@devseddar2124 Maybe they thought it was too on the nose? But Indy going along with it to not arise suspicion makes more sense. I guess the joke was the British guy was so ignorant he didn't know this was wrong.
@@devseddar2124 I'm pretty sure that there's a lot more significant "cultural issues" than not exactly knowing what Hindus eat. At least whatever it is that they eat, it's a zillion times more trustworthy than meat magically made out of plant. 🤢🤮🤮
Just rewatched this one about a week ago. This movie does not stop. The last hour is a continuous thrill ride with each set-piece transitioning to the next perfectly. Hard to believe people didn't like this on release.
I had all three Indiana Jones, Mad Max and Alien movies on VHS cassettes. Epic quest, post apocalyptic and space-horror adventure. Watch them all the time.
Growing up an Indian kid in Ohio, it was always weird to be connected with Temple of Doom (cause I hadn't seen it), but now I love the hell out of the movie. It's got the best of the pulp comics/adventure serials of the 1930s. Indian actor Amrish Puri is great as Mola Ram! And Ke Huy Quan's Oscar win makes it even more interesting to see his talent from a young age. edit: Mola Ram..prepare to meet Kali..in HELL! (dude every Indian loves that scene)
I dated an Indian girl about 20 years ago. She came to my family's house for Christmas dinner and I had just gotten the Indiana Jones DVD box set as a gift. So after dinner, she and I watched Temple of Doom. I notice at one point, she's laughing at the movie, seemingly at nothing because nothing funny was happening. I asked her what was so funny and she said, "That guy just said (whatever it was I don't remember)." I was like, DUH, she speaks Hindi. She understands everything they're saying. I got her to translate everything for me. Wild experience.
@@bujharvard9313 Oh yeah, when Mola Ram is torturing people he's just saying random words like 'torture' 'pain' 'blood' so anyone who speaks Hindi would be laughing
Yeah, Marion had to survive years by herself in Nepal, and while we don't get any backstory about Elsa, the catacomb scenes and the boat chase made it clear that she had been in some hairy situations before. Willie was a nightclub singer and probably a courtesan who was totally out of her element when she had to go adventuring.
Judging by my own experience, I think if you were a kid when this came out, it was your favorite. It was gory and scary in a kid-friendly way, if that makes sense. As a kid, to me the gore in Raiders was scarier, while Doom felt like a Saturday Morning Cartoon I wish existed.
It's fun watching teenage male best friends grow up together. You still have to constant ripping on each other but after so many years it's beyond endearing. Love you guys, keep up the great work of just making each other laugh over movies.
I always, even as child, just assumed that Short Round was Indy's driver (not specifically a get-away driver) while he was in Shanghai. But, knowing each other, Short Round wasn't surprised to see Indy falling out of a window as most of his adventures tend to go sideways at some point.
A big reason why so many people of a certain age prefer Temple of Doom so much is because in 1991 McDonald's and Paramount had a promotion where they handed out VHS tapes with Happy Meals, and while supposedly all three Indy films were handed out, 90% of locations only had Temple of Doom. (There was also an Addams Family VHS, Charlotte's Web, Land Before Time, Wayne's World and a few others) So basically every kid born after 1984 to 1990 had a VHS copy of Temple of Doom and watched it continuously during the 90's.
Temple of Doom is unironically my favorite Indy film, and it has been since it came out. I was 8 years old at the time, and it appealed to me in so many ways. We got it on Beta as soon as it came out and we've watched it (in one format or another) every New Years Eve as a family movie marathon since then. I love it so much that I once named a dog Short Round, and my university pub quiz team name was "Nice Try Lao Che."
Temple of Doom, or "Falling to your death: the Movie" is far and away my favorite Indy film. Love the soundtrack, and I am pretty sure I jolt myself awake because of invasive thoughts about falling off of heights because of this movie. This was also one of my movies "at Grama's house" that all the kids watched on repeat for years every holiday. The Grama's House movie list for us was: 1. Temple of Doom 2. Three Amigos 3. Walk Like a Man 4. Harry & the Hendersons 5. Howard the Duck 6. Spies Like Us 7. Mannequin
The reverse-splits in the opening dance never struck me as odd because the sequence makes no sense to begin with (outside of Spielberg wanting to take a stab at directing a musical sequence). Willie runs inside the mouth of the dragon and suddenly the stage is orders of magnitude larger than the space shown could ever allow, and then when she runs out the mouth of the dragon at the end, it is apparent that nobody in the club would have been able to see anything that happened in between anyways. It's like she ran inside a TARDIS to watch a dance routine for her own benefit before deciding to pop back into the main story again!
Spielberg wanted to channel Busby Berkeley. It made no sense, but I loved it, and I tried to learn the whole tap number in my basement. Without owning the VHS yet. I was working off the “making of” video. God I was OBSESSED with this movie. 😂
Mike, you’re one of the only other people I have seen who said that Temple of Doom was a formative, life-changing experience. It made me want to be a storyteller. It’s my favorite Indy, my first, and I’m just so glad that you appreciate it in a lot of the same ways. I’m still laughing about your not realizing that Shorty is meant to be working with Indy. Kate Capshaw is hilarious and I think her performance is underappreciated. I also think the boat scene could have worked if it were done better. Rich, I agree. I need to know Shorty lives. Great episode, guys. Respect.
The raft scene was the one that completely took me out of the film, even as a kid I was no way they survived that. The weird thing is years later watching mythbusters they tried it for real and to everyone's surprise it turned out it can work as an effective parachute who knew
People always bring up the raft fall when shitting on the fridge nuke, as if they're comparatively bad beats. But I mean it's mostly a practical effect, you can visibly see the raft is wind-affected, no one knows how parachutes work anyway, so it's pretty plausible - as far as movie stunts go. Nuking the fridge, however, absolutely everyone can tell you why that's bullshit tip-to-toe and there's no verisimilitude or ambiguity to lean on. "It's lead-lined tho!" yeah the radiation part is not actually much of a factor here.
@@TaurususA human body would be a spread of strawberry jam inside that nuked fridge, regardless of radiation and lead lining. The raft is implausible but perfectly doable at the right angle and timing. Also, “nobody knows how parachutes work” lmao.
@@itsd0nkwell yes, there's more media exposure for nukes and their consequences than for the in and outs of parachutes - in media they just work and perfectly save anyone who has one
Enjoy the LPs! Tried to send a lovely variety. The last one is an electronic artist from Italy called MASTER BOOT RECORD. Title / name on the spine.
I never thought I’d see a MBR LP in a RLM video, cheers
I knew that looked familiar! I don't listen to a lot of metal, but MBR is fucking incredible.
This might be a bit redundant to say, but you guys rock!
What a crossover
I fucking never expected that MBR crossover but I enjoyed it.
The funniest thing about this film is that Short Round is the only person Indy openly likes consistently throughout the whole series. He lets him wear his hat, he protects him, and never argues with him. He likes short round more than his own son
Well, they do argue about cards and whether Short Round is cheating.
Yes, that's why he hires him to drive the car he'll need to escape a hardened criminal syndicate. He's just looking out for him 😂
Someone watched the mr Sunday movie’s video I see
I still really like the dynamic between Indy and Short Round. I kinda hope we get a cameo or something from him in the new one
@@jnormile9924*movies
I’m convinced one of the main reasons Mike makes videos is so he can unfold a random piece of paper and read from it
He's trying to pass as a boomer.
Paper unfolding supercut when
he's like an old man
Who wouldn't?
You don't mess with what works.
To this day I still tear up when Shorty says "Indy, I love you." Most stuff like that would seem cheesy in most films but Ke Huy Quan is so genuine in his performance. A fine actor even at that tender age.
💯
Then the scene when he gives Indy his hat and they hug it out. “Indy my friend.” It’s heartwarming.
I was about the same age as Short Round when I first saw the movie so in a way I viewed the story though his eyes. I wanted so much to have a father figure like Indy since my real one was a terrible person.
@@seanh9037 same :)
@@seanh9037 The dynamic between the two is really great.
I always appreciated that in the LEGO Indiana Jones game, Willie's power was screaming and it would stun enemies and shatter glass.
I was about to say the same thing!😂
That's great!
I remember how the women in that game all had the power to jump extra high and the spots where they needed to jump were marked with bright pretty pink flowers. Ya know, like in the movie!
It seems kinda sexist now that I think about it, but oh well it’s a baby game ig
Holy shit i had forgotten that and the flowers indicating the classic female high jump! That was my favourite game as a kid!
Makes perfect sense for these games, I love it :D
Surprised they didn't discuss the framing of the scene where Indiana Jones could leave, but instead comes back for the kids. When he returns, the kids are pushing a minecart and the light of the cart itself reveals the silhouette of Indy's return. So it's a bit of a callback to the silhouette usage in the first movie, but this time it's portrayed in classic heroism style. It's one of my favorite shots of all the movies.
Agreed. That hero shot is awesome. He punches the guy so hard he slides across the ground. We could have talked about almost every shot in the film, but the video can't be 3 hours long. Thanks for watching our programming!
Yeah, the cinematography and framing on this 'old' adventure films is top notch. Spielberg was great.
@@RedLetterMedia Yes, it can be 3 hours long. We'll watch.
@@RedLetterMediaI'm glad Rich gave a mention of the dual shot that showed Short Round using the exact same punch and backhand combo on the maharajah as Indy was using on the foreman. It was another clue into how well they knew each other, that he knew how to fight just like Indy, after Indy started looking after this orphan boy. I was a little Chinese boy the same age as Short Round when I saw Temple of Doom and Short Round made me feel validated decades before representation became a Hollywood buzzword.
I think that shot was also the loudest reprise of the Raiders fanfare in the movie up to that point. It was the moment when the Indy ass kicking vibe was firing on all cylinders.
@@theplothickensbut they don't want to edit that
Rich is right, Short Round was always going to be the getaway driver because Dan Aykroyd says that Indy's assistant booked the plane for 3 people. Since I doubt Wu Han planned on kidnapping Willie or getting shot we can assume the original 3 were going to be Indy, Short Round, and Wu Han.
Yes, there is a deleted scene or part of that scene where Short Round asks about Wu Han and is told he won't be joining them. Also you can tell Short Round was going to be the getaway driver because he was pulling up to the entrance to the club to pick them up, but was surprised by how they got in the car.
Dude, how did you get away with the talk about Wu Han, without a context warning?!
For some reason, I remember Short Round being Wu Han's little brother. Idk where I picked that up from though...
So, WuHan would escape???
Did Wu Han had a cold??
Sorry but my humor is wierd, and sometimes dark.
Mikes dementia must be really getting bad as the entire scene is incredibly obviously setup that Short Round was the getaway driver.
Short Round was planned to be there. Indy got three plane tickets: one for himself, one for the friend that got shot, and one for short round. Willie took the place of the guy who was shot
When I was young I assumed short round worked for and was possibly related to indies friend / contact who got shot .
The 80s were truly glorious! Back when child slavery and human sacrifice was just good wholesome family movie viewing.
LaL
LiL
The 1970's did it better with Bad News Bears and Paper Moon lol.
Yup! Instead of it being hidden away now to keep the economy going!
As opposed to today when it's wholly ignored because it gives us iPhones.
Mike constantly ripping out Rich's heart is the real Temple of Doom
Best comment award for today.
Hopefully Mike eventually let's Rich talk about Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Lord knows he's has earned his chance to talk about it considered all the bad Trek the man's been forced to talk about in the past.
Kali maaaa 🫀👋
Thanks for making me laugh during lunch.
The real temple of doom was inside us all along
1984 Spielberg not caring (Temple) vs. 2008 Spielberg not caring (Skull) is a testament to the greatness of 80's Spielberg.
Skull wasn't 15 years ago already! Sheesh.
It’s so weird to me how Spielberg went from Munich in 2005 (which is a masterpiece in my opinion) to Crystal Skull as his next project.
Crystal skull has Indiana Jones surviving a nuclear explosion 💥 by hiding in a fridge! Brilliant
Quite frankly having no nostalgia for Temple of Doom I barely consider it any better than Skull, yes nuking the fridge is very stupid, but so is surving an airplane fall with a raft. I think CGI is the only tie-breaker between those two movies, as in it allowed Spielberg to go as dumb and as lazy as possible with skull
@@felipeaguena5289 The tone is entirely different though. Temple has silly moments but it’s mostly done in a serious way. Crystal is so cartoony, like the scene with Shia swinging on vines with monkeys. And it tops it off with CGI aliens, it’s incredibly goofy, I don’t see how Temple is anywhere on the same level.
I'm half Indian and saw Temple of Doom at a cinema in Fiji while on holiday. Saw a Hindu statue shop and immediately got a statue of Kali. Got back to Australia and resumed school after the holidays and was swamped by kids asking about the food. Because they all watched it too, and thought that's what we eat.
The whole point was that they were a cult eating that weird stuff, as most Hindus are vegetarian for a start. But I had to convince a lot of people that they weren't popular Indian dishes.
I don't believe you. I had chilled monkey brains at the local indian restaurant last night. The lamb korma was nice though
@@lawton6123 Chilled? Any Indian will tell you that Monkey Brains should be served piping ho... oh... uh... I mean, I don't know what you're talking about.
Based on vegans in the usa i really dont think Indians are vegetarians. Theres 14 vitamins you cant get from vegetables because plants dont make or need them. You can only get them from animals like chickens pigs or cows or any animal at those levels on the food chain. But ive never been to india and i dont feel like trying to prove this. Maybe indians are some kind of evolved human that can process plants at the same level as goats and cows. Even though both those animals stomachs are way different then ours and in goats way more powerful.
I think there was a line in the novelization (and probably in the movie that was cut) where Indy points out the weird food as a sign that something is wrong a the palace.
Most Hindus are non- vegetarians lol
As a Sri Lankan this is both a weird and awesome movie. The main villagers of the village Indie first goes to are some of the well know (in that time) actors in Sri Lanka. The old man (D.R. Nanayakkara) and the old woman (Denawaka Hamine) are two of my favorites and they were famous for their comedic performances.
I had no idea, this is great movie trivia! Thanks for sharing 👍
Amazing information!
What food did they eat on that leaf? I could never make out what it was that insulted them and embarrassed Indy food.
@@mem1701movies I watched the scene again and I cannot make it out clearly either. One dish looks like it's yellow rice. But I have no idea about the awkward looking grey dish (which also attracts flies? 😅). And the insulting comment is that the villagers are offering food and by not accepting, it could look like she is ungrateful. It's not related to any specific food.
@@V.H.Silva89 I still don’t know but someone elsewhere mentioned before that it was bat guano with undigested berries
I didn't learn until much later in life that Temple was disliked. It 100% was my favorite Indy movie as a kid.
I never watched it as a kid because my parents hated it, so I only watched it as an adult. It’s good, but I have zero connection with it like I do with Raiders and Last Crusade.
It wasnt indy, it was a huge production
My opinion of temple of doom is that it has the highest highs and lowest lows out of the og trilogy. It’s by far the most chaotic Indiana Jones movie and it stands out as unique when you compare it to the other two.
Also shortround is the best Indian Jones sidekick ever, and one of few people that indie really cares about. Fuck Shia labeouf, indie should have adopted shortround as is son.
My fav will always be the last crusade for obvious reasons, but the entire OG trilogy is gold.
EDIT: also, it took me years to realize that temple of doom was a prequel to raiders of the lost ark.
I'll be honest, it is my least favourite. I'd rank Crystal skull higher
@@the-np4mr damn, thems fightin words
The pacing and timing of this episode is fantastic
Nice
But the Rich miniature looks SO fake.
The pacing and timing of copying this comment word for word from one hours before is fantastic lol
Nc
Be gone bot
its kind of amazing how much more real a bunch of floppy dolls in a minecart are compared to CGI
A lot of it comes from the limitations of shooting with models causing you to design your shots so the camera behaves realistically.
You can see this in the first Pacific Rim - because they made sure none of the camera moves in the robot fights would be impossible for a physical camera to make if the scene were real, everything feels way more real.
And much, much cheaper.
@@kyleowsen I know you said a lot, so to add a counter example look at Fincher specifically the long shot in Panic Room, the impossible camera movements don't make that feel any less real.
To add on to your point, cave chase allows for minimal bright lights so it`s much easier to hide.
What I love about this film, apart from the fact that it's totally insane, is that Harrison Ford is all in for it. He really puts 100% enthusiasm into his performance here.
I've never understood the lack of enthusiasm from Harrison Ford in recent years. If you're not enjoying it, just retire! I'm not sure if I have an excess of laziness or a lack of greed, but to me not having to work is the ultimate luxury, and unless Harrison Ford has a Nick Cage level of compulsion to buy ridiculously expensive stuff he's surely got more money than he could ever spend?
@korganrocks3995 he always been like this! He hated playing in Star wars! Like, come on
@korganrocks3995 Harrison Ford I've noticed hates the stuff he's most known for. But if it's a good script, he will actually try. Everything else is just a paycheck for him.
@@parisulki729 He didn't like the Han Solo role, but it doesn't show at all imo, not even in TFA. He was more animated in that than anything I've seen in two decades before that.
@@DaBeezNeez He certainly doesn't hate the Indiana Jones role, per his own words.
It's ironic that the "dark and gruesome" Indy film almost inevitably ends up as every kid's favorite. It's just a fun movie.
It helps that he had a kid sidekick who was pretty freaking cool.
@@psykomancer4420 Yeah somehow Short Round manages to avoid a lot of the "annoying kid" cliches while also kicking a seriously disproportionate amount of ass.
@@okankyoto he was the best actor and character in the movie.
Oh god, Temple of Doom is getting the prequel treatment of getting undue respect in the face of even shittier sequels. Short Round was annoying even as a kid.
@blank-vj1mc Temple of Doom is nowhere near the level of the prequels. It's just a fun movie that isn't as good as the other two.
As a ten year old this was the greatest movie ever. The cult heart scene was seared into my brain
Completely bonkers that this movie is PG. Child slavery what a great wholesome thing for the whole family to enjoy!
Kali maa....KALI MAAAAAA
@@TheYeti6000well, this movie, alongside Gremlins, was responsible for the creation of the PG-13 rating. It's difficult to imagine how movies were classified more than 40 years ago
@@TheYeti6000and all the animal visera 💀
In the UK we never got to see the full uncut heart scene until the early 00's
No matter the shortcomings of this movie, the scene where Indy’s silhouette appears in the cave and you know he’s about to kick so much ass is possibly one of the greatest Indiana Jones moments
I have always said that that shot is about as perfect as it gets
"Shorty's parents were killed in...some incident where Shorty's parents died" that is some genuinely touching context for Indy and Short Round's relationship
It's always terrible when a fatal incident involves death.
Killed to death. What a way to go. 😢
RIP in peace to them
indy drove over them.
shorty could just say they're dead to avoid talking about them being holed up in some opium den...
The movie says Shorty's parents were killed when the Japanese bombed Shanghai. I don't think you need much more explanation than that. Seems totally plausible to me. Orphans created in war. We see it all the time. I can totally buy how a child whose parents were killed would be to drawn to Indy as a surrogate father figure.
i 100% believe Indiana Jones, the grubby and most irresponsible man, would ask a child to be his getaway driver
Short Round definitely is. He asks Indy were Wu Han is, and they have 3 tickets for the plane, and Willy can take one sheet Wu Han is dead. Att the very least, Short Round was planned to be part if the getaway, keep the engine running or something.
It was the 30's, childrens were trained to fight commies back then. They were nothing but very young and small people back then. Today they are those delicate flowers for 3 or 4 decades we have to protect from the world.
It was less irresponsible than what we doing with our childrens now, just look the achievements in economy in the 30's, 40's and 50's and look it now!
Exactly! For me, that was the most believable part of the movie
Really the kid is the best part of the movie, particularly if you have kids as he has the most realistic dialog and action to actual children I've seen in a film.
Agreed. Sorry Mike Rich wins this one
Mike's analysis of the exposition scenes in Temple of Doom being intercut with comedic clips, compared to the serious exposition scenes in Raiders and Crusade, is one of the most astute and sophisticated bits of film criticism I've seen in a long time. I love these guys.
Last Crusade is just.... Kinda there. You have to give credit to ToD for really swinging for the fences.
It’s incomprehensible to me that the same person who made that incredibly insightful observation also thinks Indy randomly fell into a cab driven by his sidekick.
I've always thought that Raiders was technically darker in overall tone.
@@joelfinkelstein7476 Couldn't agree more.
It certainly is nice to watch film reviewers who aren't just hack frauds.
There are actually 3 Wilhelm screams in the movie. There's also Mola Ram's death at the very end. And Willie Scott's first name is "Wilhelmina" and she screams all throughout the movie, which might be another Wilhelm scream reference.
That’s actually pretty funny, I had never realized that. Is she credited as such in the movie? Is there any actual reference to her name in the movie?
The cut away to "he taught me how to scream" KILLED ME 🤣
RLM editing at its finest 👌
I remember watching this movie as a kid and knowing that it takes place in India, I was very confused when the extras all started speaking sinhala.
I realized later that they filmed it in Sri Lanka and pretended it was India.
What's awesome is that the lines in Sinhala are not just random shit; when that woman is grabbing at Short Round I think she was saying something like "I lost my son, please come be my son".
Ke Hu Kwan's performance as Short Round is classic. Virtually every line he says is still quotable to this day. The way he idolizes Indy - that was me when I was 10.
“This is no time for love”
For real. Everything he does and line he delivers just feels so authentic. I think every single little boy who watched this movie imagined themselves being short round, I know I did.
But wouldn’t you much rather have a character who is constantly insulting our hero Indy for being old, decrepit, bigoted, patriarchal, dumb, etc? Apparently Disney bet almost half a billion dollars that audiences want their hero’s torn down rather than idolized.
"Hold on to your potatoes!"
It goes both ways, the respect and love Indy has for Short Round is great to watch. He even lets him wear his hat!
Temple of Doom is highly under-appreciated. All of the set pieces and action sequences are fantastic and memorable (night club opening, mine cart chase, bridge sequence), and the tone is so dark, adventurous, and bold. Indiana Jones walks straight into a pulpy horror film and it’s entirely awesome. Raiders is an all-time classic, and Temple is Raiders on steroids. While The Last Crusade has its many high points and the Ford/Connery banter is fun, but it’s clearly a return to the Raiders-esque aesthetic after the controversial Temple. But that dark and edgy side of Temple is what engages me the most and keeps me coming back to it. Not to mention, the sweet bond between Indy and Short Round brings some real heart to the film, contrasted with its darker moments.
Definitely
It's honestly jarring to hear that the people who actually made it didn't like it because it's such a favorite of mine
Nicely said.
So fun fact: part of the mix of sounds used to create the Millenium Falcon stalling sound was the startup of a Sopwith Camel (WW1 biplane). So *technically,* it was more accurately used in Temple of Doom.
That's kind of funny. I think a lot of people forget that the Millennium Falcon is the Star Wars equivalent of a 16-wheeler.
That is a rare instance of a truly fun fact. Thank you.
@@FrozenGoblin that means the Han Solo film should really have been Smokey and the Bandit in space. I mean, I liked Solo, but Smokey and the Bandit in space would have been awesome.
Setting Temple before Raiders also allows Indy to be even more of a gray-area character morally at the start of this story. He didn't find Nurhachi or the stones for his museum, but for fortune and glory. He threatens an innocent woman, gets his friend Wu Han killed, and endangers the life of some poor orphan boy. After this adventure, we can begin Raiders with Indy having learned his lesson and gone legit.
Yeah but it is what is is.
Never thought of that, but good theory - makes me like this movie a slight bit more!
It's something I never paid attention to as a kid but as I've aged and looked back I appreciated it a lot more. Especially with the added context of Last Crusade where you see young idealistic Indy with the "it belongs in a museum!". Probably applying my own feelings and logic to explain something they didn't intend but for me it shows how youthful idealism can fall by the wayside as you lose sight of what really matters in the pursuit of your own goals.
@@TalooFoH Take the whole original trilogy chronologically and Indiana has an arc in regards to the artifacts he searches for.
In 1912 he feels strongly that the Cross should be displayed publicly in a museum, but is helpless against grave robbers for a private collector.
By 1935 he he's sunken to grave robbing for a gangster's private collection. And he's thinking "screw this Indian village, I'm selling the Stones for Fortune and Glory" before he has his change of heart.
1936 - 1938 he's back on the straight and narrow, trying and failing twice to bring artifacts to the museum (the Idol and the Ark), then finally succeeding with the Cross.
11:00 i love how mike intentionally creates a montage of all of the worst moments from crystal skull over rich defending it lol
LMAO
I was never aware people didn't like Temple of Doom... movie rules so hard in every way.
I saw this movie as a child. It scared the living shit out of me for years. Was it the graphic violence? The child slave labor? The human heart? The bug scene? Nope! It was when Indie turned evil for like 10 minutes. That scared the hell outta me for some reason 😂
That part didn't scare me, but I clearly remember it upsetting me when I was a kid. Even though he went back to normal later, the thought that he effectively lost to the bad guys in that moment really bothered me.
@@Musing_Macabre exactly why is spooked me too
This one didn't bother me much. I was about eight when I first saw it, which is honestly way too young, and I mostly found it too intense. _Raiders_ however, when I did finally see it at a more appropriate age, scared the shit out of me due to the face melting scene. I do still think _Doom_ is my favourite of the three.
My daughter LOVED Temple of Doom when she was young. It was Raiders that bothered her - Indy was meaner in that movie (more of an anti-hero) and the violence was less cartoonish. (The fight in Marion's bar has some shockingly brutal, realistic violence!) Indy scared her in that film. She thought Temple was scarier over-all, "but it's a FUN scary."
I don’t even remember that
I remember in one of Ebert's reviews of an Indy film he points out that Marion is every adolescent boy's (the audience for adventure serials) idea of a cool girl: she drinks and fights like a boy, and she's brave and always down for adventure, but she's still pretty and needs to be rescued sometimes. Willy, by contrast, is every boy's nightmare: she's stereotypically fussy and cowardly, she complains and whines all the time, and she doesn't want adventure at all. But she's still pretty and needs to be rescued!
She's the opposite of cowardly, though. Despite being terrified she still goes down into the tunnel past corpses and a horde of bugs to save Indy and Short Round from being crushed. She kills 3 men during the mine cart chase, and when Short Round nearly falls through the bridge, she overcomes how terrified she is of the bridge and how high up they are to rescue the kid.
@@JohnSilverHawkinsShe's still annoying, though.
@@jlev1028nah - she’s a fun stand in for the audience seeing how bonkers it all is.
@@JohnSilverHawkins nice. There is no courage without the presence of fear first. Willie has an arc.
I hadn't twigged, but yeah, she's the everyman character. She's the only one who seems to realise just how batshit crazy the whole scenario is and reacts appropriately to it. And I'd agree that she does show courage; she's just completely out of her depth for nearly everything which happens.
I think the reason Spielberg wasn’t as thrilled about Temple of Doom was he was coming off a loss on best director for ET and was sick of getting crap from critics that he only made popcorn flicks - case in point, right after Temple, he made the Color Purple because he wanted to be seen as a “serious” filmmaker.
Fun fact: that lightsaber sound effect can also be heard in the Fellowship of the Ring in the scene where orcs cast swords for Saruman's new army. I guess the lightsaber on/off sound comes from the world of forging (water evaporating upon coming into contact with hot metal?) and not the other way round :D
Huh, never noticed that in Fellowship, thanks!
I believe it's water being poured on dry ice, per Ben Burtt in some documentary somewhere. I'd have to look it up.
It wasn't a lightsaber sound. It's the sound of Kate Capshaw's character sharting in fear.
"His sidekick should be a virginal, young princess" is such a bitterly divorced take, I'm laughing so hard.
This is my favorite Indy film. The darkness and weirdness better reflects the spirit of old pulp magazine adventure stories than film serials, and I really appreciate that.
What’s really annoying is that Spielberg has disowned it
@@knownpleasures Spielberg can kiss my ass. If he doesn't want it I'll take it.
@@knownpleasureshas he really? What about crystal skull?
I really love it too. Still not quite my favorite but it hit just right for me at that age
@@knownpleasures I woudn't go as far as saying he's disowned it. In any case, remember that artists are not necessarily the best judges of their own work.
I was also a Temple of Doom kid. I think there's something about how subversive it feels. It was so scary and gross, but also goofy and funny.
Temple of Doom is the one we watched most as kids
Indy was long after my time (born in the late 90s) but temple of doom was the first one I ever watched (my mom forced me to watch it lol) and it's my guilty pleasure favorite. I like the 3rd one more, but If I could only save one it might be this one. The guy pulling the heart out of the guy's chest is still out of this world!
This was a PG-13 before it existed. So at the time it almost felt like watching a R-rated indiana jones. It was a thrilling movie to watch.
@@AndI0td763 I’ve heard people say this a lot and I agree. Indiana Jones has to be the first (or one of) examples of a movie that got a “family friendly” rating simply because of the goodwill they generated with the first. The dark Knight also comes to mind as an R flick that was kid friendly
@@AndI0td763 it really was! for example my parents were fine with me watching it because it was PG but years later when goldeneye n64 came out they didn't want me playing it because it was MA haha, (australian ratings) not familiar with us
It makes sense that Mike says this movie shaped his brain, considering how good he's gotten at tearing the heart out of Rich Evans.
I like this movie because it seems the best-executed attempt Lucas and Spielberg made at capturing the vibe of those old serials. Lots of things give me that impression , like the over-the-top action scenes, the cheesiest acting of the trilogy, Indy's nonchalant attitude to Willie's hysterics, and a strong reference to the Gunga Din movie.
Goongas?
Return of the Jedi throne room also references Gunga Jin, Lucas must love that movie
As a huge death metal fan, the Metal Blade-Redlettermedia crossover almost made me fall out of my chair. that was surreal
Spielberg was with Amy Irving during Temple of Doom. The two had a son together around this time (or within a year or so). Depending upon who you believe, Steven was not ready to grow up and face the responsibility of fatherhood. Also, Temple is a prequel because even though they thought Indy and Marion should be together, they didn't want to explain why she wasn't in the film! And FYI, the first 20 minutes of Temple is just all the set pieces they did not use in Raiders. They were written during that film's production.
Yeah, there are some... interesting opinions regarding Spielberg's parenting. You only have to see the path one of his other kids took as soon as they reached adulthood to start wondering.
But...why wasn't Marion in the last crusade then?
Who gives a flying fuck about "Steven's" private life? It's none of your business.
@Repo-Man Without Indy's involvement Marion likely gets killed in Nepal after giving Toht the necklace. She's a loose end at that point. Or gets abducted, might have learned useful info abou the Ark from her father. Gets dragged along, and likely ends up dying in the desert after refusing Belloq. And the Ark gets flown straight to Germany in the flying wing, probably a lab somewhere where they eventually figure out how to use it safely.
And Henry Sr dies in Castle Brunwald or possibly somewhere out in the desert, Indy never sees him again nor has their relationship repaired.
So no, Indy absolutely had an impact.
@@MrPicklerwoofShe did say in interviews she was groomed and abused outside of her family. Also 1 out of 7 kids turning out a little rough is not terrible odds as parenting is concerned
It’s a magnificent film. Pure entertainment that smashes along like a rollercoaster. It has so many top tier sequences and iconic moments, it’s just great. The really don’t make em like this anymore..
I'm with Rich. I always thought Short Round was Indy's getaway driver. It was set up
Obviously.
Of course he was and I'm genuinely surprised anyone thought it was not a set up.
You mean Roat Shore.
I love how the movie draws from all the other big genres of the 30s and paints them with the adventure serial brush: Musicals, gangsters and haunted houses.
Lucas kept pushing a haunted house idea and Spielberg hated it. He finally gave Lucas the castle in 'Crusade' to placate him.
@@cowetascore8476I believe Lucas wanted the entire 3rd film to be in that castle. Just straight up Scooby-Doo shit 😂
This movie gave us (together with Raiders) some of the best LEGO sets ever made: I'll always cherish it for this.
Dude I had the idol temple from the beginning of raiders and it had a release that would make the boulder roll down the hall after indy. It was glorious
lolll dont get me started i regret passing up the raiders truck set as a kid
I especially like the period vehicles sets because Lego didn't do many at the time. The Shanghai chase was my favorite!
shoutout to lego indiana jones for xbox 360, that shit slapped. I had the double game case that came with kungfu panda which i remember being pretty good for a kids movie game
I'm with Mike. This is one of my favorite movies of all times and the quintessential Indy adventure. When I learned through the Internet that some people actually disliked it, I just couldn't believe it.
Roat Shore is the absolute peak of Rich mispronouncing things. I have no idea how he got there. My face hurts from laughing at this so much.
"Skost" is still a classic.
Folding Chable
Timestamp?
@@SomeGuyTHPS 44:55
@@aaronsarchive82 These are all classics I just don't think anything has ever been as bizarrely just like, not even close to the word as this. It's like his brain put all the syllables in a blender and reproduced them in an instant.
Rich's genuine excitement seeing the Vomitory album was so cool to see... Usually old people have disdain for the metal subculture, so it's nice seeing a geriatric with an open mind!
As someone who's always loved this movie, I really am just happy to see so many fans that appreciate and understand it for the moody adventure serial throwback it is.
Mola Ram was always my favorite villain for Indy, the fight on the bridge is one of the best in cinema, absolutely love how hard Indy goons up on the thuggees, and the fact Short Round and Willie are always like, *there* and dealing with the situation in their own way is super underlooked, like the fact these dudes made it is super nice, it's good.
At the very end, after the darkest adventure in the series, you have Indy setting aside his selfish desires to help this little village in the middle of nowhere, and it's sweet at that very end. It's a nice contrast, close to being my favorite ending for one of these.
Temple of Doom was always the most memorable to me. It made quite an impression seeing that as a kid.
Mike’s deranged conspiracy theory that Short Round was never planned to be with Indy in the Shanghai mission is hilarious. Wouldn’t Indy be surprised to see a kid he knows randomly driving the car he fell into? Because when he tells Shorty to “step on it,” he seems pretty unsurprised by his presence.
I KNOW RIGHT!! How do you not see short round as the escape vehicle
Short Round wasn't Indy's get-away driver. Indy wasn't there to pull a heist. Short Round was simply Indy's driver.
Also Dan Aykroyd tells Indy that he, "spoke with your assistant and managed to secure 3 seats." So unless he had planned to kidnap Willy, the seats were arranged just prior to the club scene and were for Indy, Short Round, and the guy who died (who I suspect was the assistant).
@@Col_Fragg It was always possible the business will turn into a heist.
Yeah that entire part seemed like dementia speaking.
Temple of Doom has one of my very favorite scenes. It's the one where Indy is fighting that thugee on the rock crusher. They're both trying to kill eachother, and at one point the thugee's clothing gets caught in the machinery and he starts getting pulled in about to be crushed and he starts screaming to Indy for help, and even though they were just trying to end one another, Indy starts trying to help save him because damn... what a rough way to go. The thugee died anyways, but I always appreciated that both of them got horrified about what was about to happen next and that Indy was decent enough to try to not let that happen.
He was the same actor who got shredded by the propeller in the first film.
Thugee? You mean thug?
@@Mindboggles That's actually where the term "thug" came from.
@@zombiTroutin good ole brown face
@@Mindboggles go look the thugee up, pretty cool story
I'm sure I'm not the only one yelling at Rich that Mythbusters showed that the life raft is absolutely plausible for survival. The crash test dummy impact patches were all in the green, and it landed upright. It's a hard hit, but you might well walk away.
I would take a life raft over nothing ...
In regards to the score weaving in characters' themes, a surprising example of that in a more modern movie was Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The 4 monsters each had their own distinct themes and instruments that would constantly show up in the score whenever the focus was on one of them in an action scene. The movie had a heap of problems but the music was excellent.
Not having seen it myself, I'm guessing they still mixed the music under the sfx didn't they? That's another big problem with modern movies: not only are scores unmemorable, but they mix them low enough that you can't even make them out over everything else happening in the scene.
Short Round essentially became a treasure hunter like Indy. He sends a message to Indy (in The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones) where he's still looking for The Peacock's Eye - the diamond Lao Che had - in September 1957... which is over 20 years after Temple of Doom. So don't worry Rich... he's still kicking around.
I'd recommend The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones, by the way - it's one of those wonderful tie-ins they do that's entirely in character, and it's a lot of fun. Lots of references to the expanded universe, from the Young Indy TV show, to the books (Deidre gets name-checked, which is a DEEP cut) to the video games (Fate of Atlantis FTW).
Thanks. Just ordered it.
Marion’s my favorite, but I like the idea of Indy having a companion in Willie who is less up to the task than his other female companions. The idea of Indy being saddled with a gangster’s Moll on an adventure is such a fun contrast.
And also, if your first film has Marion Ravenwood as the female lead, who's up there with Princess Leia as a cool, spunky, competent, kind of badass character, then you can get away with going for the complete opposite of hat in this film. As you say, the contrast is refreshing and imo at least, she's still a fun character. And she does end up more courageous by the end.
After all, Marcus exists in this universe, and he's cowardly, befuddled, meek and basically incompetent.
@@TheGeneralDisarray Another point that people often overlook is that *it has to make sense that we never see Willie again.* She's not Indy's girlfriend a year later. Is that surprising? No, because this movie makes it clear that they aren't really suited for each other and that if they hooked up it wouldn't last. She's a fling, but Indy's lifestyle is a total turn off for her, and she wouldn't have any interest in going on more adventures. Once she gets back to civilization, she's never leaving a city again.
In college, I had a roommate from India who had never seen this movie and he thought it was hilarious. He loved the depiction of worshipping Kali. He said that real Kali worship on certain holidays involved getting hammered on whiskey and having sex.
Hey hey now that's something I can get behind.
Finally, a god that gets me.
Then he’s a privileged and probably fair skinned Indian. This movie *is* grossly offensive. Period.
@@theresaurus9820 it's offensive because of the cultural context and minoritized status of indians in the west, it's not part of any systems of oppression experienced by someone who grew up with india's domestic media.
@@kaiserruhsam Any Indian person who’s not white or lives in luxury would rightly condemn this movie.
During the pre-production of Raiders, Steven Spielberg was dating actor, Amy Irving and had set her to be the female lead in Raiders. But Amy Irving ended up getting romantic inviolved with Willie Nelson while making Honeysuckle Rose, which broke up her relationship to Spielberg for a while, therefor Karen Allen got to play the part instaed. It's also the reason why Kate Capshaw's character was given the name Willie Scott named after Willie Nelson.
Y'know, you guys made a point about the dance scene with the footage being reversed, saying that it's weird, but it's still cool, and I kinda feel like that's a summary for the entire movie. It's weird as all get-out, but it's still fun and cool at the same time. It doesn't make sense, but it's still a blast regardless.
Also, Rich, don't worry. Later tie-in Indiana Jones novels specified that Shortie grew up and went to school in America, with Indy paying for it from the money he gets from his various archaelogical shenanigans. With that in mind, I'm just gonna say it: HE should be the one to inherit the fedora, not 'Mutt' Williams.
Oh, don't worry. They make sure to tell the audience that Mutt gets killed in Vietnam and he's divorced from Marion in the Dial of Destiny (after they got "happily married ever after" in the Crystal Skull), so not only is he a deadbeat dad, his kid is also dead, AND he's sad and lonely and divorced. Because KK absolutely HATES fathers apparently. Also yes short round is in the movie. They're that desperate.
@@NateTheScot Hes in the movie to remind you an Indy/Short Round team up isn't there to happen because they hate their own fans
I need them to make a Disney + Christmas special of Harrison and Ke Huy Quan just hanging out. They can just take my monye
@@laserbeamlightningwhy, it would suck
Please, please, please, I wish this is real.
Mike trying to force his headcanon about short round and Rich not buying it was both hilarious and cute.
There also isn't any cameo of short round in the new movie, guess we will never know what happened to him.
Short round probably found his own shorty
Indy definitely got Shorty killed
ToD is such a feast for the eyes in terms of how color, light and shadow is used in the photography. I know Spielberg thinks it's "too subterranean" but the opening sequence and the jungle scenes have more color in them than all of Last Crusade, which is mostly earth tones.
Earth tones, people. Browns and beige, and mother of pearl.
Spielberg can stuff it about this movie. It was always my favorite as a kid, followed by Raiders. I also loved Last Crusade, but I appreciated the darker tone of Temple of Doom more. I think kid movies should be extremely dark in spots. We don't have to traumatize kids, the good guys should always win the end in kid movies, but I do think kids should be made aware of the cruelty that exists in the world via the media they consume. A few movies that did this extremely well that I remember from my own childhood were An American Tail, Pinocchio, The Secret of NIMH, and of course Temple of Doom. The Iron Giant also gets an honorable mention. I can't really think of a greater message to present to small children than that of a sentient weapon of mass destruction deciding it doesn't want to be a gun or hurt people, because violence is always the wrong choice.
Speaking of musical cues, they use the exact same music of the Cairo swordsman when he versus the swordsmen in TOD. And then, when Indy doesn't have a gun, they use the marketplace incidental music. It's such a cool musical reference!
True, but since Temple is a prequel that would mean Indy got it right the second time. His pistol is gone for this, the first time.
Guys, how did you not get how the greenery returns to the village. It's the fact that the damned up water is released. It takes Indy and company time to travel back to the village. Though the stones do have magical properties, it's still portrayed as somewhat superstitious in the movie that they associate the lack of water with the stones.
@@xunqianbaidu6917 Not immediately. Like he said, travelling back with all those kids probably took at least twice as long as getting there in the first place. Also, magic rock. Also, its a movie.
@@xunqianbaidu6917 if took then several days to get to the palace
I love the non-realism of that and many other parts of the movie. Makes it feel like a modern-day fairy tale.
@@jbard9892you can’t join into an autistic level discussion on the near-meaningless timescale of fictional flowers growing and then pull a “its just a movie” at the end. You’re either in, or you’re out.
The village turned green before Indy got the stone back there anyways
You can feel so much the Tintin influence in the Indiana Jones movies, which are both amazing.
James Bond, a pinch of Tintin, a dash of Allan Quatermain, it was a rich, exotic broth. Hence the immense Worldwide success of the original trilogy. And the fourth one.
It makes sense that Spielberg was the one to eventually make a Tintin movie
Fun fact: there was originally a line by Indy in the dinner scene where he and Short Round talk about how Indian Hindus don't typically eat meat, so there must be something up and they are trying to scare them away. But they decided to cut it because they felt it gave away the surprise of the temple.
It did seem obvious to me when I was about 13. You see Chattar Lal eating normal food with a fork, and the way the guy is smiling at 'chilled monkey brains' made it totally seem like an intentional gross out for the white and English guests. If you really hated someone who was a vegan and they were coming over for dinner, would you make big tomahawk ribeyes? Absolutely.
that stayed in the novelization that exists for some reason
@@kaiserruhsam These movie novelizations were great, because quite often, they were written based on an earlier script draft than what was actually shot (or shot, but edited out of the movie), so they often include some of the scenes that only years later saw the light of day with some special edition, or not at all.
Of course, wouldn't wanna give away the surprise of the temple in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
They should have included that line. Would have saved millions of Hindu kids in the west from the bullying that scene motivated
As a kid that was VERY much into reptiles, it always bothered me that they used alligators for the bridge scene, because there are no alligators in India, or almost anywhere else in the world outside of North America. It wasn't until now that I really thought about it, and realized they probably could have found some crocodile farm or a crocodile-themed tourist attraction to film in in Sri Lanka if they wanted to, so it must have been a conscious choice to use alligators specifically because that's how old timey serials would have done it. Also it probably helped if it was cheaper that way.
They are betting on the fact that most people won't notice because they don't know the difference. As a Florida boy I felt the same way.
"Willing suspension of disbelief"... its hard to do sometimes, lol
a quick google search shows that there are alligators and crocodiles almost everywhere on the planet, including india 🤔
@@nn-dj2nu not those alligators. Those are American alligators I think
@@nn-dj2nu Google search results are full of AI generated bullshit these days, don't trust some random page. The only alligators on the planet are the American one and the almost extinct Chinese one. I know it's probably confusing because apart from the head they look very similar but alligators aren't crocodiles.
Short round was Indiana Jones getaway driver. He was the one who had the tickets and in the original screenplay there’s a line where short round asks Indy where the partner who was playing the waiter is, before Indy tells him he didn’t make it. Short round then says, don’t worry doctor Jones, I protect you now
Aww, I wish that had been left in.
Mad respect to Rich for not calling out Mike on his "slabe labor" mispronunciation of slave labor, when he knows damn well they would call him out on it. Not only that they would point it out in editing with a subtitle and replay once or twice. Good job Rich.
It's because Rich probably developed a stutter, Mike is just a smug idiot, and that's not worth arguing with
Mike didn't correct Rich when Rich was talking about how James Bond didn't want Spielberg to direct a James Bond movie so he can show some restraint. Roat Shore though
Rich is too nice to sink to Mikes level
Did he say 'slabe labour'? It sounded right the one time I noticed him saying it
I was a teacher for a decade and would show Temple of Doom to students to teach about the 5 act structure, genre, tone, etc. Out of every film I ever showed my students (elementary and middle school kids) this was by far their favorite. It blew their minds.
Also fun fact, I have Kate Capshaw's previous cell number and constantly get her phone calls and messages still. I like to mess with people sometimes and pretend I'm her.
You should just scream "INDYYYYYYYYYY!!!!" into the phone over and over.
@@KasumiKenshirou Most of the time it's politicians reaching out for donations, sometimes some random filmmaker trying to get through to Spielberg. But whoever it is, I like to tell them, "Anything goes".
Awesome dude, just awesome
That’s why she never returns my calls!
@@Reb3nga I'm very close to changing my number though as it's become a nuisance and not worth the anecdote lol
I love last crusade personally, really impacted me as a kid, idk just love that whole holy grail story and the father son dynamic was big for me.
Seeing those two pouring over Heavy Metal Album covers makes the episode. The Indiana Jones talk is just an added bonus.
Two elderly people discussing a film with Harrison Ford in it is just what I needed today
Rich isn't elderly. He's got a spiderman shirt on.
@@davidm2031 My bad, he is so young and hip!
@@MrMr-ws3tv laugs in Rich Evans
You can't have people reminiscing about seeing a movie from 1984 as kids if they weren't kids in 1984.
Steven Spielberg was married to Amy Irving before he married Kate Capshaw. Amy Irving was the voice of Jessica Rabbit singing. She is an actress. When they got divorced, she got (at the time) one the largest divorce settlement in Hollywood b/c Steven was openly cheating on her w/ Kate. Like your content, just filling in some blanks for you. Cheers
Jesus Steven
I was in the cinema preview night in 1984 at age 12 and Mike is 100% right! We havent even mentioned it's the first movie he speaks many languages which ultimately saves his life. It's his archeological knowledge that bears Mola Ram not just the brawn. Btw Tarantino named Doom his favorite Spielberg movies after Jaws.
It was my favorite Indiana Jones movie as a wee dumb child. It had the least amount of talking and was the funniest. It also definitely felt more like a cartoon like, "Tune in next time to see where Indy ends up next!" which appeals to a kid.
Also, at least when I was a child, I didn't think the eating scene was intended to depict normal Indians. I thought they were eating like that as foreshadowing for their weird cult.
It's funny hearing people getting bent out of shape when demon worshippers are portrayed in a barbaric light. I never had the impression as a kid that Hindus would eat monkey brains either.
Normal Indians didnt take it to heart, i watched this movie as a kid at my Indian Babysitters house, with her Indian family, nobody thought it was real and nobody was insulted, everyone thought it was funny, thats what i remember.
I grew up in the southern us watching this movie in the 90's so not a bastion of cultural understanding but as far as I could tell everyone interpreted it as weird cult stuff and a big sign something was wrong. I think that scene was supposed to feel more like foreshadowing than a wacky gross-out gallery but I'm just some shmuck criticizing Spielberg on the internet.
Doom was my favorite as a kid specifically because of all the horrifying things happening in the temple
Sounds like you understood the movie then!
The raft stunt is legit, it looks ridiculous sure but Mythbusters did it on an episode and it actually worked and was 100% survivable. One of their best episodes.
Didn't the data show that, yes you could survive, but you'll wish you were dead from the physical trauma of such impacts?
@@ThePeejRR One of Indy's best attributes is his luck
@@ThePeejRR I'm pretty sure that's how it worked out, yeah. I seem to remember Adam being particularly emphatic that it's a horrible, horrible idea despite being survivable.
@@aexcezz9573 Yep. I always viewed there luckily being an updraft that slowed their decent.
@@ThePeejRR Even then that was if you turned the raft into a makeshift parachute first. Though I think you might be able to argue that a giant raft crashing into a flat california field is a little different than a smaller raft crashing onto an angled snowy hill.
The weird thing about the dinner scene is that in the script Indiana Jones outright states that the people here would never be eating food like that, but for whatever reason they left the line out so it just comes off as another movie from the time where the joke is "Indian people eat craaaaaazy food!"
Yeah, in reality, the weird food is a reason they know something is wrong completely.
I think that might have been in the novelization. I don't think it was in the script.
Also, remember when Willy Scott puts perfume all over the elephant because it stinks? Later in the Dinner scene there is a moment when she smells the large indian guy next to her and then she pours perfume on him.
@@umk986 and you might remember, Willie is *kind of a bitch*. She has the most unrealistic standards and expectations for everything in her life and even the smallest thing out of order is given an attempt to be corrected rather bluntly.
Guy probably smelled fine, or more realistically, a *little* sweaty from living a life where he actually has to get up and do things.
It's fine. It totally feels like something from an adventure serial.
Let's be fair, it's not supposed to be seen as normal for their culture, it's supposed to be another way of showing that they're depraved Thugees.
When people freak out in disbelief over the fridge scene in Crystal Skull, I always remember the tremendous but unbelievable section where they survive the plane crash and the sequence that follows. Its just part of Indiana Jones, and it is amazing.
The raft sequence is like a documentary compared to the nuke fridge
@@bencarlson4300You should watch Film Theory. MatPat actually found Indy had a 50/50 chance of surviving the fridge, which is better than falling out of a plane.
God, I feel old. Can you imagine an Indiana Jones 6? A 100 year old Indy using the internet for the first time?
Indiana Jones 7: The Search for Pizzagate
Indiana Jones 8: I have Fallen Down and I Can't Get Up.
Indiana jones and the temple of Jeffery Epstein
_Indiana Jones and the Gorge of Goatse_
If the studio thought they could make a billion dollars. I wouldn't put it past them to wheel out a hundred year old Harrison Ford, with saliva dribbling from his mouth and put a whip in his hand and his Stetson hat on while hes sat in his wheelchair surrounded by a supporting cast of woke, feminist actresses (sorry actors), with a script that is more concerned with pushing their politics than a good action, adventure story with a element of the supernatural and biblical legend.
One of my favorite things about this movie/Indiana Jones since I was a kid was how appreciative Indy was when the village gave them food and that he was respectful of their culture and hospitality.
Yeah they show what Indian food is supposed to look like: I always thought the weird food at the palace was the first indication something isn’t right at this place.
@@SerpentineJack99there was a line cut from the script where indy remarks on what they're eating and is suspicious because its not food that real Hindus eat. Which would have solved a lot of cultural issues later tbh
@@devseddar2124 Maybe they thought it was too on the nose? But Indy going along with it to not arise suspicion makes more sense. I guess the joke was the British guy was so ignorant he didn't know this was wrong.
"You're insulting them and you're embarrassing me."
@@devseddar2124 I'm pretty sure that there's a lot more significant "cultural issues" than not exactly knowing what Hindus eat. At least whatever it is that they eat, it's a zillion times more trustworthy than meat magically made out of plant. 🤢🤮🤮
Just rewatched this one about a week ago. This movie does not stop. The last hour is a continuous thrill ride with each set-piece transitioning to the next perfectly. Hard to believe people didn't like this on release.
Dude just smashing the turbo button
I think this movie is the reason they created the PG-13 rating. People were taking young kids to the movie and it freaked them out
@@Justen1980Yeah, it was specifically this movie and Gremlins.
I had all three Indiana Jones, Mad Max and Alien movies on VHS cassettes. Epic quest, post apocalyptic and space-horror adventure. Watch them all the time.
Growing up an Indian kid in Ohio, it was always weird to be connected with Temple of Doom (cause I hadn't seen it), but now I love the hell out of the movie. It's got the best of the pulp comics/adventure serials of the 1930s. Indian actor Amrish Puri is great as Mola Ram! And Ke Huy Quan's Oscar win makes it even more interesting to see his talent from a young age.
edit: Mola Ram..prepare to meet Kali..in HELL! (dude every Indian loves that scene)
Puri chewed up every scene he was in, nobody else could have sold it like that. “Drop them, Dr. Jones. Dey will be found. YOU WON’T!”
Amrish Puri was pure genius in this. he is hands down the best Indy opponent.
Hold on lady we go for ride.
I dated an Indian girl about 20 years ago. She came to my family's house for Christmas dinner and I had just gotten the Indiana Jones DVD box set as a gift. So after dinner, she and I watched Temple of Doom.
I notice at one point, she's laughing at the movie, seemingly at nothing because nothing funny was happening. I asked her what was so funny and she said, "That guy just said (whatever it was I don't remember)."
I was like, DUH, she speaks Hindi. She understands everything they're saying. I got her to translate everything for me. Wild experience.
@@bujharvard9313 Oh yeah, when Mola Ram is torturing people he's just saying random words like 'torture' 'pain' 'blood' so anyone who speaks Hindi would be laughing
I also like Willie. She isn't some adventure lady she's a lounge singer she's supposed to be out of place.
Yeah, Marion had to survive years by herself in Nepal, and while we don't get any backstory about Elsa, the catacomb scenes and the boat chase made it clear that she had been in some hairy situations before. Willie was a nightclub singer and probably a courtesan who was totally out of her element when she had to go adventuring.
But even in the context of the film it’s annoying as hell. She’s the Jar Jar of the Indiana Jones movies.
Willie is definitely my favorite out of the three ladies
This.....
@mikavirtanen7029 she's definitely the most entertaining for that reason alone. The other two are just generic while Wilie felt unique
This was easily the most popular Indy VHS in our street's rotation as 80s/90s kids. Mike's friend Rich Evans not appreciating the raft was so sad.
Judging by my own experience, I think if you were a kid when this came out, it was your favorite. It was gory and scary in a kid-friendly way, if that makes sense. As a kid, to me the gore in Raiders was scarier, while Doom felt like a Saturday Morning Cartoon I wish existed.
From my experience, if you didn't see it as a kid, it's not very good (apart from some excellent set pieces).
It WAS my favorite as a kid (80's baby here)!!😆😆 I still love it, though as I got older I finally appreciated Raiders of the Lost Arc😉.
I didn’t like the gore and the big bad guy, but you’re right, to me this film _is_ Indiana Jones and the other ones barely register for me.
Can’t believe you talked about Ben Burt’s incredible sounds without mentioning the iconic Indy punching sounds.
It's fun watching teenage male best friends grow up together. You still have to constant ripping on each other but after so many years it's beyond endearing. Love you guys, keep up the great work of just making each other laugh over movies.
Having only ever seen Doom on a CRT off of VHS or broadcast TV, seeing it in HD and widescreen makes me realize just how great it looks.
I always, even as child, just assumed that Short Round was Indy's driver (not specifically a get-away driver) while he was in Shanghai. But, knowing each other, Short Round wasn't surprised to see Indy falling out of a window as most of his adventures tend to go sideways at some point.
A big reason why so many people of a certain age prefer Temple of Doom so much is because in 1991 McDonald's and Paramount had a promotion where they handed out VHS tapes with Happy Meals, and while supposedly all three Indy films were handed out, 90% of locations only had Temple of Doom. (There was also an Addams Family VHS, Charlotte's Web, Land Before Time, Wayne's World and a few others) So basically every kid born after 1984 to 1990 had a VHS copy of Temple of Doom and watched it continuously during the 90's.
Really? I would say Wayne's world was the least family friendly (swearing and sex jokes/references) of those movies.
I had that tape 🤣
Rich reaching for Star Trek and Mike pulling away was so funny
Temple of Doom is unironically my favorite Indy film, and it has been since it came out. I was 8 years old at the time, and it appealed to me in so many ways. We got it on Beta as soon as it came out and we've watched it (in one format or another) every New Years Eve as a family movie marathon since then. I love it so much that I once named a dog Short Round, and my university pub quiz team name was "Nice Try Lao Che."
'Crystal Skull doesn't exist.' you can sense the anger in Mike's voice
Temple of Doom, or "Falling to your death: the Movie" is far and away my favorite Indy film. Love the soundtrack, and I am pretty sure I jolt myself awake because of invasive thoughts about falling off of heights because of this movie.
This was also one of my movies "at Grama's house" that all the kids watched on repeat for years every holiday.
The Grama's House movie list for us was:
1. Temple of Doom
2. Three Amigos
3. Walk Like a Man
4. Harry & the Hendersons
5. Howard the Duck
6. Spies Like Us
7. Mannequin
I didnt know anyone else watched walked like a man as a staple of their childhood. Good stuff.
The reverse-splits in the opening dance never struck me as odd because the sequence makes no sense to begin with (outside of Spielberg wanting to take a stab at directing a musical sequence). Willie runs inside the mouth of the dragon and suddenly the stage is orders of magnitude larger than the space shown could ever allow, and then when she runs out the mouth of the dragon at the end, it is apparent that nobody in the club would have been able to see anything that happened in between anyways. It's like she ran inside a TARDIS to watch a dance routine for her own benefit before deciding to pop back into the main story again!
Spielberg wanted to channel Busby Berkeley. It made no sense, but I loved it, and I tried to learn the whole tap number in my basement. Without owning the VHS yet. I was working off the “making of” video. God I was OBSESSED with this movie. 😂
Mike, you’re one of the only other people I have seen who said that Temple of Doom was a formative, life-changing experience. It made me want to be a storyteller. It’s my favorite Indy, my first, and I’m just so glad that you appreciate it in a lot of the same ways. I’m still laughing about your not realizing that Shorty is meant to be working with Indy. Kate Capshaw is hilarious and I think her performance is underappreciated. I also think the boat scene could have worked if it were done better.
Rich, I agree. I need to know Shorty lives.
Great episode, guys. Respect.
The raft scene was the one that completely took me out of the film, even as a kid I was no way they survived that. The weird thing is years later watching mythbusters they tried it for real and to everyone's surprise it turned out it can work as an effective parachute who knew
I never cared. All part of the fun. I get it though.
People always bring up the raft fall when shitting on the fridge nuke, as if they're comparatively bad beats. But I mean it's mostly a practical effect, you can visibly see the raft is wind-affected, no one knows how parachutes work anyway, so it's pretty plausible - as far as movie stunts go. Nuking the fridge, however, absolutely everyone can tell you why that's bullshit tip-to-toe and there's no verisimilitude or ambiguity to lean on. "It's lead-lined tho!" yeah the radiation part is not actually much of a factor here.
It was like the Gong scene at the beginning of the film. It’s just a dumb action flick, who cares?
@@TaurususA human body would be a spread of strawberry jam inside that nuked fridge, regardless of radiation and lead lining. The raft is implausible but perfectly doable at the right angle and timing. Also, “nobody knows how parachutes work” lmao.
@@itsd0nkwell yes, there's more media exposure for nukes and their consequences than for the in and outs of parachutes - in media they just work and perfectly save anyone who has one