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Favorite Indiana Jones trek/map cues


Bellosh

Favorite Trek/Map cues from the Indiana Jones Films  

35 members have voted

  1. 1. Favorite Map/Trek cues

    • A Thought for Marion / To Nepal - Raiders of the Lost Ark
    • Flight to Cairo - Raiders of the Lost Ark
    • Map / Out of Fuel - Temple of Doom
    • The Elephant Ride (aka Short Round's Theme) - Temple of Doom
    • X Marks the Spot - The Last Crusade
    • Journey to Austria - The Last Crusade
    • The Journey to Akator - Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
      0
    • Ride to the Nazi Hideout - Raiders of the Lost Ark
      0


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A staple of the Indy films are the map/trek music.  The cues are kind of popular enough to not have to post them.  Wasn't gonna flood it with youtube links, but feel free to post your favorite moments.  Also, 'The Elephant Ride' isn't necessarily a 'map' cue, but it is a trek cue.  I also omitted 'Flight from Peru' from Raiders because 90% of the cue isn't traveling to a new place, in case anyone was wondering.

 

My favorite is easily The Elephant Ride aka Short Round's Theme.  I think it's a brilliant (not sure if intentional) foreshadowing of Short Round saving the day when everything goes to shit in the actual temple.

 

A close second is X Marks the Spot.  I absolutely love that cue.  Sets up the adventure to come.

 

Third would be Flight to Cairo.  The statement of Marion's theme in it is why I love JW so much, the way he effortlessly uses his themes he creates.

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Whoops yup it autocorrected to admitted.

 

1 hour ago, crumbs said:

What about that really uninteresting map cue in KOCS where they journey from Peru to... elsewhere in Peru?

 

Lol honestly forgot that one 😂

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I chose Short Round's theme, because it is the most complete musical experience.  It sort of has an unfair advantage over the others, which are more brief, mostly statements of the Raiders march.  But Short Round's Theme is perfectly exotic and adventurous.  Plus anything that easily counters with the Slave Children theme gets an automatic win.

 

I'd like to give a nice honorable mention to the lovely use of the "B" Theme in the Journey to Akator from KOTCS.  Too bad it just leads into a recycle of Flight from Peru.

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24 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

Lol honestly forgot that one 😂

 

And no one would blame you! Easily the worst of the lot.

 

I'm really hoping Williams returns to the roots of the trilogy when it comes to map cues. They should be score highlights!

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4 minutes ago, crumbs said:

 

And no one would blame you! Easily the worst of the lot.

 

I'm really hoping Williams returns to the roots of the trilogy when it comes to map cues. They should be score highlights!

 

Is it the cue that's right after Indy and Mutt get caught by Mac and the Russians in the graveyard?

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Just now, Bellosh said:

 

Is it the cue that's right after Indy and Mutt get caught by Mac and the Russians in the graveyard?

 

Yeah that one. The film is well and truly off the rails by that point. It's hard to remember anything between the college chase and the jungle chase really.

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31 minutes ago, Hedji said:

I chose Short Round's theme, because it is the most complete musical experience.  It sort of has an unfair advantage over the others, which are more brief, mostly statements of the Raiders march.  But Short Round's Theme is perfectly exotic and adventurous.  Plus anything that easily counters with the Slave Children theme gets an automatic win.

 

You know correct me if I'm wrong, but Temple of Doom I believe has 2 scenes (the elephant ride and the slave children's crusade) that work as almost 'mini montages'.  The other films don't have these types of moments.

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Just now, Datameister said:

Damn you, @Bellosh. What a tough one. I'm giving it to Map / Out of Fuel, in part because I don't consider the stunning The Elephant Ride to be part of this same tradition.

 

Lol it's a fair point.

 

But ultimately The Elephant Ride is too much of a trek cue to not include it.  It's what makes it unique.

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Yea this is a hard one, I mean - I love all this music.


I have to go with my instinct which is Map / Out of Fuel.  It's what I picture in my head I guess when I think of that map montage.  It's got a great build up to the map moment, and great music during the whole map moment.. and then continues on with great music all the way to the end of the cue.  Damn, what a score.

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1 hour ago, crumbs said:

 

And no one would blame you! Easily the worst of the lot.

 

I'm really hoping Williams returns to the roots of the trilogy when it comes to map cues. They should be score highlights!

Hard disagree, very memorable, Dies Irae and defeated Raiders March, not something you hear every day.

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6 hours ago, Bellosh said:

 

You know correct me if I'm wrong, but Temple of Doom I believe has 2 scenes (the elephant ride and the slave children's crusade) that work as almost 'mini montages'.  The other films don't have these types of moments.

 

Hard to think of analogous scenes from the other films.  Temple of Doom certainly lets the score tell the story with those two pieces though.  I suppose you might consider Indy's First Adventure this type of montage.

 

5 hours ago, Jay said:

Yea this is a hard one, I mean - I love all this music.


I have to go with my instinct which is Map / Out of Fuel.  It's what I picture in my head I guess when I think of that map montage.  It's got a great build up to the map moment, and great music during the whole map moment.. and then continues on with great music all the way to the end of the cue.  Damn, what a score.

 

Incredible piece.  And you're right, it does come to mind so instinctively, probably because by this point it was "tradition" in the series, and it's a banger of a piece.  The sweeping quote of Willie's Theme is so romantic and old-timey-serial sounding, it makes you forget how easily it can be played for comedy.

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1 hour ago, Hedji said:

I'm pretty sure in the Laurent Bouzereau documentary, Spielberg claims THIS is his personal favorite Trek Music.

 

 

 

 

I always thought Spielberg was referring to The Elephant Ride.

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20 minutes ago, crumbs said:

I think in the featurette it cuts to the music Hedji posted, after Spielberg makes that comment. 

 

Incidentally, does the Concord use the correct film take for that cue? 

 

Okay then yeah he's right, I apologize.  I'm only familiar with that interview from the disc 5 Concord set without video. @Hedji

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That Bouzereau doc made at least a couple confusing errors associating the music with comments made by Williams or Spielberg. I remember we had a whole thread where it was determined the doc picked a misleading cue when JW is talking about big villainous chords with the 7th on the bottom. 

 

When Spielberg and Williams did their TCM masterclass, Spielberg mentioned Temple of Doom again as among his favorite scores and he started humming Short Round's Theme so it's definitely The Elephant Ride he was talking about.

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59 minutes ago, Not Mr. Big said:

The Elephant Ride AICN

What does Ain't It Cool News got to do with it?

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1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

When Spielberg and Williams did their TCM masterclass, Spielberg mentioned Temple of Doom again as among his favorite scores and he started humming Short Round's Theme so it's definitely The Elephant Ride he was talking about.

 

Geez Steven, reckon you could pick up the phone and call your mates at Disney Records? :puh:

 

1 hour ago, Bellosh said:

Speaking of The Elephant Ride, I really would love to eventually see the deleted scene of Indy and Short Round singing 'Anything Goes' on the elephant.

 

images (1).jpeg

 

Sadly I reckon the UHD was about the last decent opportunity for deleted scenes to finally surface, outside some miraculous new box set later next year with all 5 films (unlikely).

 

I didn't actually know this scene existed, mind you. Where's the image from?

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5 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Sadly I reckon the UHD was about the last decent opportunity for deleted scenes to finally surface, outside some miraculous new box set later next year with all 5 films (unlikely).

 

I didn't actually know this scene existed, mind you. Where's the image from?

 

That image I simply googled Temple of Doom deleted scene, but here's a good link that has a couple more photos: http://www.theraider.net/films/todoom/deleted_scenes.php

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Isn't  that from that bonus feature fron the BD that has deleted scenes and outtakes in a montage (which is such a rude tease)

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9 hours ago, Hedji said:

I'm pretty sure in the Laurent Bouzereau documentary, Spielberg claims THIS is his personal favorite Trek Music.

 

 

 

 

I voted for Elephant Ride thinking it was this track. This is my favorite. That horn passage at 1:28 is one for the ages

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3 minutes ago, Permanent Waves said:

Hello Jonsey. 3m28R

 

Thanks!  Just checked that cue out - it is indeed pretty cool!  Nowhere near the top of the list of best travel cues, but it's unique and interesting in its own right.

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On 6/11/2021 at 9:08 AM, crumbs said:

What about that really uninteresting map cue in KOCS where they journey from Peru to... elsewhere in Peru?

 

image.png

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36 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

@Bellosh "Journey to Austria", not "The Austrian Way"

 

This is what happens when I write my topics on my notes app and then publish on my computer.  Wrong words and wrong cue titles.

 

Also... incredibly surprised Flight to Cairo is fairing so poorly.  That cue is outstanding.

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13 hours ago, Hedji said:

I'm pretty sure in the Laurent Bouzereau documentary, Spielberg claims THIS is his personal favorite Trek Music.

 

 

 

 

@Bellosh, why isn't this included in the poll?

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7 minutes ago, Ricard said:

 

@Bellosh, why isn't this included in the poll?

 

Cause I don't consider it like the others.  Most of that cue is in a stationary part of the film. Also half of it is during a campfire.

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18 minutes ago, Ricard said:

True. My memory of the film was clouded by the cue's musical greatness.

 

It has that really nice moment after Indy says 'we walk from here' with the bats and then the arrival at Pankot Palace that does feel like 'trek' music.

 

I guess the only way this could be considered fair or even is if I made this strictly about map scene cues.  But I think The Elephant Ride is too unique to not include.

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Sad to see no love for this (long unreleased) miniature masterpiece! 

 

To Austria.png

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxWgmhYWi1A&ab_channel=JohnWilliams-TopicJohnWilliams-Topic

 

(I ended up voting for X-Mark The Spot, but this would be 2nd)

 

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56 minutes ago, Falstaft said:

Sad to see no love for this (long unreleased) miniature masterpiece! 

 

To Austria.png

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxWgmhYWi1A&ab_channel=JohnWilliams-TopicJohnWilliams-Topic

 

(I ended up voting for X-Mark The Spot, but this would be 2nd)

 

 

This poll genuinely surprised me with the Temple of Doom dominance.

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