The Last Crusade is 30 years old.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It was the best OST presentation of all the 4 films. Wonderful album.

[Thor 7,490]

Just now, Jurassic Shark said:

 

That's one of JW's great strengths as a film composer.

 

Indeed. The last time this was in full force was HARRY POTTER III.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Put down ze gun, Doctor Jones! Put down ze gun or ze fraulien dies!

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

3 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Indeed. The last time this was in full force was HARRY POTTER III.

 

Really? I recall to be a tad disappointed in how some of the cues evolved, especially in the latter half.

 

...unless you're referring to the expanded edition.

[Thor 7,490]

You know I never refer to the expanded release; it's always and without exception the OST. Expanded releases don't exist in my world.

 

The OST of HARRY POTTER III is an endless stream of superb setpieces that segue in and out of each other, much like INDY III.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Last Crusade has a much better OST than HP.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Agreed!

 

Great dynamic range.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

On 5/24/2019 at 1:48 PM, Fabulin said:

I dream of a better CGI in TLC. The docked Zeppelin and the tank miniature falling off the cliff are just unbearable to watch. Where are the special editions when they are really needed? Maybe around the time of the next Indy movie they will try to make some super-hyper-re-release and fix those btw?

 

That being said, happy birthsday to my second favourite movie of all time.

Jesus Fucking Christ. Get over it.

[John 2,032]

The one VFX shot in Last Crusade that sticks out in my mind as crude is the scene where the Nazi officer is shaking his fist at the obvious greenscreen:

 

 

Other than that, visually the film looks good overall and the effects have aged well. 

[Fabulin 3,511]

.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Wheresh Marcush?

[A. A. Ron 1,742]

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has been my favorite film since my early teens. I don't really know why. It just hits me in all the right ways somehow. The humor works for me and the whole thing just makes me feel young and happy.

 

7 hours ago, Thor said:

Anyway, such a great album. One setpiece after the other, each with its own set of dramaturgy and structure, like individual, independent compositions. And all the setpieces come together well. And even my beloved 'religious sound' on display. In terms of the films, I will always put RAIDERS first. But in terms of the score, this is it! And that's not to the denigration of DOOM, which is also brilliant. CRYSTAL SKULL, the film, I liked better than most people I know, but found the score largely disappotining.

 

I wholeheartedly agree. Raiders and Doom are great -- Doom has the best recording of the Raiders  March -- but the Crusade OST is just flat out brilliant. It's one of the very first soundtrack albums that I actively sought out as a teenager and for the next couple years, it was one of very, very few soundtracks I wanted to listen to from beginning to end (along with LOTR). Crusade is also one of the first soundtracks that made me realize score releases typically aren't complete. I noticed right away that "The Boat Scene" and "Wrong Choice, Right Choice" weren't present. That didn't much diminish my enjoyment of the album, but I was still overjoyed to see both pieces released a year or two later.

 

I find your assessment of Skull very interesting @Thor because this is a score that I think proves album producers don't always know best. The album has LOTS of boring bits, yet omits LOTS of great material. The complete score makes it obvious to me that a much better album could easily have been assembled. Hell, it could have been shorter than what we got and still been better.

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

6 hours ago, Thor said:

You know I never refer to the expanded release; it's always and without exception the OST. Expanded releases don't exist in my world.

 

Expansion? What expansion are you talking about? 

[Quintus 5,399]

 

[publicist 4,643]

The movie's good for exactly two things: Connery and Ford plus Williams' grail theme(s).

 

I wondered why Williams in some cases - like here - didn't edit a thing even when it seemed most necessary and then micro-edited the hell out of Potter or TPM. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

That's three things.

 

What would you like to edit?

[publicist 4,643]

The lack of good album edits i don't exactly count as a plus point. I don't remember what i edited, just that it was bleedingly obvious the Keeper of the Grail cue goes out on a whimper and should have been edited together with Wrong Choice Right Choice (that i did).

 

 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

27 minutes ago, Quintus said:

 

 

Woher ist Joooones????

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Williams' approach to albums is "here's a quick sample of what I did".

[Thor 7,490]

7 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Expansion? What expansion are you talking about? 

 

The Indy box?

 

I once had an expanded boot of this too. Terrible. I actually crushed the CD-Rs and threw them in the trash bin.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

The extra music was awful!

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

43 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

The Indy box?

 

Ah, but I didn't think it existed in your world.

[Thor 7,490]

True. But sometimes, information from the outside world sneaks in.

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

I hate when that happens!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Mike Fitzgerald examines Tom Stoppard’s draft of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, to discover what it can teach us about screenwriting.

[Fabulin 3,511]

.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Will you take it easy?!

[TownerFan 4,983]

On 5/24/2019 at 8:41 PM, Jay said:

I'd love to see the cut that Williams scored to, finally see exactly what No Ticket and Keeping Up With The Joneses was specifically written for

 

The sequence which No Ticket was written for was originally longer. It involved a sort of cat-and-mouse chase of Indy with Gestapo agent (played by the great Pat Roach) together with a WW1 pilot.

 

Keeping Up with the Joneses was written for the car vs. plane chase. The cue would start right before Indy crashes the plane and then would continue until the scene on the beach. Williams' original approach to the "birds of Charlemagne" moment was essentially lyrical and non-comedic, but instead was scored with a sentimental rendition of the father-and-son relationship theme.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Most scenes work better without music.

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

That's only for you.

 

14 minutes ago, TownerFan said:

 

The sequence which No Ticket was written for was originally longer. It involved a sort of cat-and-mouse chase of Indy with Gestapo agent (played by the great Pat Roach) together with a WW1 pilot.

 

Keeping Up with the Joneses was written for the car vs. plane chase. The cue would start right before Indy crashes the plane and then would continue until the scene on the beach. Williams' original approach to the "birds of Charlemagne" moment was essentially lyrical and non-comedic, but instead was scored with a sentimental rendition of the father-and-son relationship theme.

 

How do you know all this - have you seen the extras?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

IMDB and Wiki have this info.

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

Is this why No Ticket was put on the bonus disc in the Indy box?

[TownerFan 4,983]

4 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

How do you know all this - have you seen the extras?

 

It's common information. The scene for the No Ticket cue (which was called "Intrigue on the Dirigible" on the manuscript) was cut late in the process. You can find it also in the Marvel comic book adaptation.

 

As for the Keeping Up with the Joneses, you can try to sync up the cue with the film and it works almost perfectly (I think the end was cut a little bit). I can understand though why Spielberg and Lucas asked JW to rewrite the cue.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It's good music, but maybe a little bit too...much for the scene, or for that point in the film? Sometimes it works better to have a little less of something.

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

Yes, he could have done less, and that he eventually did.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

1 minute ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Yes, he could have done less, and that he eventually did.

 

 

He didnt really do less, Spielberg just shut him up.

[TownerFan 4,983]

I think the music for the car vs. airplane chase works fine, but perhaps Spielberg and Lucas wanted to give it a more Hitchcock-ian feeling. The second half, with the lyrical statement of the father/son relationship theme for Henry's "birds of Charlemagne" exploit, was a different kind of move--intstead of playing the action, JW played the subtext, but perhaps everyone felt it was a stretch too far.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Without the exciting music maybe the character interplay between Indy and his dad play out a little more pronounced? I guess the music is fine in the scene, but without it, the scene works just as fine too.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

If a scene works fine without music, it doesn't need it and it shouldn't be there.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I guess the scene just works differently without the music.

[Quintus 5,399]

I don't like the cue in question anyway.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

6 minutes ago, Quintus said:

I don't like the cue in question anyway.

 

It feels somehow...slightly off. It's fine music, but it doesnt quite feel like it belongs with the rest of that score.

[Holko 9,516]

That opening brass comes on and just makes me cringe. Never liked the cue, liked it even less after I saw it synced up.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

What was Williams thinking? Spielberg and Lucas should have booted him out with his bullshit cue!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

31 minutes ago, Holko said:

That opening brass comes on and just makes me cringe. Never liked the cue, liked it even less after I saw it synced up.

 

I know! Wtf was that shit?!

[Jurassic Shark 12,052]

It's like it was written by his butler!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

When's this forum going to finally admit John Williams sucks?!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

4 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

It's like it was written by his butler!

 

Or Conrad Pope!

[Holko 9,516]

And Empire Strikes Back is hailed as a masterwork? Portions adding up to a fifth of the score are a complete misfire and the film is miles better off without them!

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

Great movie/score.  I love the music when Henry slaps Indy