Temple of Doom is celebrating 40 years in 2024

[Edmilson 7,656]

4 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Short Round. 

Only when it's winter 

[Nick1Ø66 4,877]

21 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Only when it's winter 

 

[Mr. Hooper 2,003]

8 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

 

[Loert 2,529]

My favourite Indiana Jones film and my favourite JW score. I will for sure be re-watching it. But my ultimate dream is to see it in a Live to Projection concert. Though unfortunately the people who organize LtP concerts probably already took one look at the score and said: "No way!"

[Bellosh 3,515]

The copywriter in me really wishes they did a teaser poster or trailer with the line ....

 

Before Raiders....Indy went to Hell.

[Andy 4,284]

The teaser poster did its job perfectly. 
 

[Brando 1,895]

I remember being very little and my grandma and my aunt were watching this on tv(a terrible way to watch this movie, as well as every movie), and I remember my aunt telling me the ending had alligators in it, but I don’t remember anything else since I was very little, but I do remember rhis….

 

Fast forward several years and I remember watching it with my dad and maybe my mom, not sure, and I think we had watched Raiders before because I knew the characters. I don’t remember any reactions I had throughout the movie, however, I do know that afterwards i immediately went upstairs to recreate the rope bridge sequence with my dressed up as Indy because that was one of the coolest things I had ever seen, and still is to this day. The behind the scenes story of the single take with multiple camera angles and the dummies falling into the gorge is incredible.

 

I love this movie the same way I love The Lost World. The last 30 minutes of the movie are balls off the wall fun, Steven Spielberg creating an over the top popcorn finale. Indy saves the kids, they escape the mines, there’s a runaway mine cart sequence…and after it comes to an end the heroes finally have a short rest moment…AND THEN A WAVE OF WATER JUST SHOWS UP!!! And the roller coaster continues! Indy overtaking the 2 swordsman with the funny nod to Raiders, then the rope bridge confrontation. I think the novelization has an interesting little take on this, it says something like “Indy wasn’t trapped on a bridge with the Thuggee…they’re trapped on a bridge with Indy!” And of course you have the joyous ending when the kids are reunited with their parents is so satisfying. I love it so much.

[Andy 4,284]

Yesssssss all of that.  
 

Like Empire, the film has great cinematic contrasts. The clean polished nightclub, the jungle, the supersaturated reds and shadows, and the blinding daylight of the finale, making their escape from darkness literal and joyous. 

[Sweeping Strings 2,414]

14 hours ago, Holko said:

In my Bond rewatches, when I got to Octopussy, I definitely thought "Seriously, people say Temple of Doom is racist?"

'That ought to keep you in curry for a few weeks'. 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,740]

"Get off my bed!"

 

"Sit!"

[Sweeping Strings 2,414]

The finest line is probably when (after escaping the tiger hunt) Bond is pulled from the river onto a cruise boat and asked 'Are you with our group?' to which Moore responds (in a tone considerably drier than he is) ... 'No ma'am, I'm with the economy tour'. 

[Brando 1,895]

23 hours ago, Andy said:

the supersaturated reds and shadows

Omg the lighting is SO GOOD!!!! The entire Temple set is so brilliantly crafted and lit so well, I call it 'deliciously dark' when I describe it because of how it looks.

[Andy 4,284]

Wow, I did NOT have this homage on my Star Trek Discovery Bingo Card!

 

Spoiler

 

[Andy 4,284]

Happy 40th Anniversary, Dr. Jones. 
Anything Goes!

[Nick1Ø66 4,877]

Say what you will about Temple of Doom, but it's absolutely peak Harrison Ford. Apex Mountain Harrison Ford. The best he's ever looked in any movie, ever. Maybe the best any leading man has ever looked.

[Thor 7,694]

It's disconcerting to think that he was four years YOUNGER than me at that point. I hate these reminders. For example that Dr. Grant in JURASSIC PARK is the same age as I am now. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,740]

48 minutes ago, Thor said:

It's disconcerting to think that he was four years YOUNGER than me at that point. 

 

I don't get it.

Are you saying that you are 85 years old?

[Jurassic Shark 12,253]

1 hour ago, Andy said:

Happy 40th Anniversary, Dr. Jones. 
Anything Goes!

 

Select all images from a great film

 

16 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

 

I don't get it.

Are you saying that you are 85 years old?

 

If so, it's because he has the memory of an 85 year old.

[Edmilson 7,656]

27 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Are you saying that you are 85 years old?

 

12 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

If so, it's because he has the memory of an 85 year old.

And even still he is younger than John Williams!

[filmmusic 1,911]

On 21/04/2024 at 1:30 AM, Andy said:

My favorite Indiana Jones movie.

Mine too! 

[Tallguy 3,547]

On 20/04/2024 at 8:32 PM, Andy said:

One thing about the newspaper clippings, the reviews were overwhelmingly positive.  There was no inclination toward the negativity that somehow emerged in the internet era. 

 

Oh no. (And I think you're old enough to know better, right? ) It was certainly not panned, and it was a hit. But it was never as much of a home run as Raiders was. There was a reason that fans were expecting Last Crusade to get "back on track". (It was an over correction, IMHO. There is only one perfect Indiana Jones movie.)

 

Oddly I appreciate it more now than I did when I was 15.

 

Oh, and I miss the movie section in the newspaper so much I can't even tell you. (That sentence makes me feel SO old.)

[Andy 4,284]

5 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

 

Oh no. (And I think you're old enough to know better, right? )

The ads I posted were all positive and Ebert loved it.  Variety and NYT were less enthusiastic, but clearly those reviewers had sticks up their asses. 

[Tallguy 3,547]

9 minutes ago, Andy said:

The ads I posted were all positive and Ebert loved it.  Variety and NYT were less enthusiastic, but clearly those reviewers had sticks up their asses. 

 

I'm just saying that any negativity towards the film didn't just start with the internet.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,740]

On 21/04/2024 at 1:32 AM, Andy said:

  There was no inclination toward the negativity that somehow emerged in the internet era. 

 

Fuck the internet era.

I don't give a single goddamn about all those faceless troll cowards, who hide behind their anonymity, taking pot-shots at well-loved pieces of entertainment, simply because they upset whatever group's gossamer sensitivities these people have aligned themselves with, this week.

Screw the lot of them. They have no idea of history, message, or context. They are ignorance, prejudice, and herd mentality personified. 

[Edmilson 7,656]

18 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

 

Fuck the internet era.

I don't give a single goddamn about all those faceless troll cowards, who hide behind their anonymity, taking pot-shots at well-loved pieces of entertainment, simply because they upset whatever group's gossamer sensitivities these people have aligned themselves with, this week.

Screw the lot of them. They have no idea of history, message, or context. They are ignorance, prejudice, and herd mentality personified. 

These people complaining on the internet about older movies are the Christian mom groups of yesterday. Selfrighteous pricks who have no friends because they are cunts. This behavior is nothing new and it will fade like all the others. Something equally annoying will show up in the future. 

[Bellosh 3,515]

is it the dinner scene that is still considered offensive?

 

even as a kid I KNEW that wasn't the customary cuisine for Indians. 

 

Was it Short Round?  AGAIN...even as a kid i KNEW that wasn't how all Chinese people spoke!

 

Is it the 'white savior' helping peasants?

 

As a liberal myself, I cringe so hard when people want to die on these hills.  There is def something to the internet creating something to be offended by.

 

"If I offended you.....then I am sorry." 

[Nick1Ø66 4,877]

38 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Selfrighteous pricks who have no friends because they are cunts. This behavior is nothing new and it will fade like all the others. Something equally annoying will show up in the future. 

 

20 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

There is def something to the internet creating something to be offended by.

 

"If I offended you.....then I am sorry." 

 

 

 

 

[Edmilson 7,656]

It's the same behavior religious fanatics. Both of them want to force every other human being on planet Earth to follow their beliefs and not to have any access to forbidden books, movies, music, etc., that are not in accordance with their creed. If you don't comply you must be lynched by the mobs and punished, either with eternal torment and torture or with those dreadful "cancellations". 

 

And instead of creating debates about how certain pieces of art might carry a bad conotation for other cultures while still admiring them as art, nope, let's just cast everyone in the fires of the cancellation due to disagreeing with the holy gospel of Twitter.

 

It's amazing how little the human being has changed over the course of history.

 

I'll speak no more of this before I break the rules of the forum.

[Tallguy 3,547]

I think we're conflating possible modern negativity to ToD (because it's "insensitive") and old school 1984 negativity to the film because it was far more violent and went in a less grounded direction from the first film. And of course Willie Scott not being Marion Ravenwood. And Short Round was not nearly as beloved as he is now.

[HunterTech 998]

Maybe it's the groups I'm lucky to have found, but I do not think people care as much now about the mishaps of ToD as they might have at one point in time. Especially since I often did hear the older critiques about the darker tone and "annoying" side characters before I did any of the cultural baggage when I was growing up. I won't deny that there might be holier than thou types that get too hung up on it, but this feels a bit like a rewrite of history that's influenced by the hellscape that is the modern Internet.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,740]

25 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

... it was far more violent and went in a less grounded direction from the first film.

 

"grounded". A film about a box that, when opened, melts faces 

[Tallguy 3,547]

1 minute ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

 

"grounded". A film about a box that, when opened, melts faces 

 

The magic stuff is magic. Jumping out of a plane with a life raft and sledding into India is another matter.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,740]

Oh, come on!

I did it, last week 

[Holko 9,624]

8 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

Jumping out of a plane with a life raft

It's literally there all practically captured in camera in one long shot, what's so ungrounded about it?

[Mr. Hooper 2,003]

6 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

 

The magic stuff is magic. Jumping out of a plane with a life raft and sledding into India is another matter.

 

1 minute ago, Holko said:

It's literally there all practically captured in camera in one long shot, what's so ungrounded about it?

Didn't we already have this debate? 

 

 

 

 

[Nick1Ø66 4,877]

56 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

I think we're conflating possible modern negativity to ToD (because it's "insensitive") and old school 1984 negativity to the film because it was far more violent and went in a less grounded direction from the first film. And of course Willie Scott not being Marion Ravenwood. And Short Round was not nearly as beloved as he is now.

 

I think this is right. 

[Tallguy 3,547]

21 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Didn't we already have this debate? 

 

Like, today? Or sometime between 1984 and now? I've said a LOT of the same things since 1984.

[Mr. Hooper 2,003]

1 hour ago, Tallguy said:

And Short Round was not nearly as beloved as he is now.

Funny how that works.

 

Short Round had always been dismissed as the "annoying, cutesy sidekick." Then 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' comes out, and ToD nostalgia kicks in...

 

Throw in a backlash to the Helena Shaw character, and you suddenly get a wave of support for Ke Huy Quan and Short Round to come back.

 

But fans are a fickle lot, whose passions can turn on a dime. Yesterday's punching bag is tomorrow's champion, and vice versa.

 

5 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

 

Like, today? Or sometime between 1984 and now? I've said a LOT of the same things since 1984.

 

Between 2023 and now. 

[GerateWohl 4,498]

I remember, my parents thought about not letting me watch the movie. My mother read to me a news article about Temple of Doom, in which the journalist described it as just one big violent blood bath. That made me quite worried when I went to the cinema, alone. But the movie turned out really fun. But because of that news article the violent scenes disturbed me even more. And the score track "Temple of Doom" still gives me goosebumps.

[Nick1Ø66 4,877]

40 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Funny how that works.

 

Short Round had always been dismissed as the "annoying, cutesy sidekick." Then 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' comes out, and ToD nostalgia kicks in...and you suddenly get a wave of support for Ke Huy Quan and Short Round to come back.

 

Hear that Tarantino? Cast Jake Lloyd & Ahmed Best. NOW.

[Mr. Hooper 2,003]

8 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

 

Hear that Tarantino?: Cast Jake Lloyd & Ahmed Best. NOW.

Hey, he revived John Travolta's career from the toilet, so why not? lol

[Holko 9,624]

1 hour ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Didn't we already have this debate? 

You're new here, right?

[Andy 4,284]

The film itself won’t win any awards for cultural sensitivity.  But Dr. Jones himself should!  As an impressionable youngster, I saw him model appropriate behavior around different ethnicities and cultures. 
 

“You’re insulting them and you’re embarrassing me. “

That’s the guy I wanted to grow up to be.  
 

While Willie is being an idiot during the palace dinner, Jones is cool as a cucumber, apologizing to the Majarajah for being insensitive. His is the attitude we are supposed to follow. 
 

Above all, we have a role model who is compassionate to “lower people”.  While a soldier of fortune like Alan Quartermaine would’ve probably trampled right over the Mayapore village to get to his fortune and glory, Jones is visibly upset at their poverty and sick to his stomach over their children. He could’ve escaped the Temple with his bag of stones, but risks his neck and saves them. 
 

I get it.  I mean, this is trashy blockbuster fare from a director who has many more “grown up” films on his resume.  And the film was made in a time when it was still okay to show a rickshaw driver unfavorably, or suggest a cult of Indian people eat monkey brains. Growing up in the 70s/80s, I can tell you kids like me were far less aware of harmful insensitivities.   It just wasn’t taught. But at the end of the day, Jones himself modeled how to respect cultural differences, while still entertaining the hell out of me. 

[Tallguy 3,547]

20 minutes ago, Andy said:

The film itself won’t win any awards for cultural sensitivity.  But Dr. Jones himself should!  As an impressionable youngster, I saw him model appropriate behavior around different ethnicities and cultures. 
 

“You’re insulting them and you’re embarrassing me. “

That’s the guy I wanted to grow up to be.  
 

While Willie is being an idiot during the palace dinner, Jones is cool as a cucumber, apologizing to the Majarajah for being insensitive. His is the attitude we are supposed to follow. 
 

Above all, we have a role model who is compassionate to “lower people”.  While a soldier of fortune like Alan Quartermaine would’ve probably trampled right over the Mayapore village to get to his fortune and glory, Jones is visibly upset at their poverty and sick to his stomach over their children. He could’ve escaped the Temple with his bag of stones, but risks his neck and saves them. 
 

I get it.  I mean, this is trashy blockbuster fare from a director who has many more “grown up” films on his resume.  And the film was made in a time when it was still okay to show a rickshaw driver unfavorably, or suggest a cult of Indian people eat monkey brains. Growing up in the 70s/80s, I can tell you kids like me were far less aware of harmful insensitivities.   It just wasn’t taught. But at the end of the day, Jones himself modeled how to respect cultural differences, while still entertaining the hell out of me. 

 

For all of the films faults, Jones is at his most Jonesy. More so. And this is Ford at the height of his powers. Raiders wanted to be a Bond film based on 1930's serials. Temple of Doom wanted to BE a 1930's film.

[Bellosh 3,515]

Temple of Doom doesn't get made today, and not for any of the 'offensive' reasons.

 

But because it's such an ANTI-sequel to modern day Hollywood Franchise sequels. (yes i know its a prequel)

 

It references nothing.  Brings back no reoccurring characters, and until Dial of Destiny is never referenced again.

 

It takes place essentially in 1 location.  It's very claustrophobic in that sense.  It's a weekend/day in the life of our hero.  Where as everything these days has to be bigger and badder and everything has to be END OF THE WORLD.

[Tallguy 3,547]

1 hour ago, Bellosh said:

It references nothing. 

 

Except for the sword fight in Raiders that hasn't happened yet.

[Bellosh 3,515]

So what you're saying is Raiders references something that doesn't exist yet too.

 

😮

[Tallguy 3,547]

9 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

So what you're saying is Raiders references something that doesn't exist yet too.

 

😮

 

Deeeeeep.

[Andy 4,284]

Indy trying to shoot the Thuggee swordsmen:

 

”Guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it!”

[Tallguy 3,547]

2 minutes ago, Andy said:

Indy trying to shoot the Thuggee swordsmen:

 

”Guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it!”

 

Wow. Because THAT reference hadn't happened yet either!