If you know anything about the work of Spielberg and Lucas, you can probably guess which of the two men was pushing for this to be a story about fathers and sons. Disconnections from fathers and disruption of the family are key themes seen throughout all of Spielberg’s work. It’s in E.T., it’s in Close Encounters, and most overtly, it was seen in last year’s The Fabelmans. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is painted in new shades thanks to Spielberg’s latest film, with clear, direct parallels between the two works. The opening sequence, which acts as the central point where a young Indiana finds his purpose, also acts as an echo of Spielberg’s finding his purpose. An elaborate train chase against the backdrop of boy scout adventure clearly evokes Spielberg’s own childhood.
When people talk about The Last Crusade, I often see criticism of this opening, that it’s mostly a fun tangent, not integral to the rest of the film. But that couldn’t be further from the truth: in this opening we see a young Indy find himself. In a comically short amount of time, he finds his hat, his fear of snakes, and his whip, which gives him his scar. It’s a miniature version of what Lucasfilm would spend a whole movie doing decades later in Solo. But it works because it’s woven so naturally into the text of the film.
This opening scene is about how a young man forged his identity. In this opening sequence, he gains the most attention and affection from two figures, his dog, and a dangerous mercenary. The dog would eventually give him his name, and the mercenary would be the foundation upon which Indiana Jones would form his gruff, masculine, soldier of fortune persona. These two figures are maybe more influential on who Indiana Jones became than his own father. So in this way, The Last Crusade is immediately laid out as a film about Indy’s relationship with his father.
The story didn’t always start with this throughline of a story about father and son. No, instead, The Last Crusade was almost something very different. I spoke last week about how Temple of Doom began as a story about Indy stumbling into a haunted Scottish castle, well, The Last Crusade almost had a very similar set-up. Indiana Jones and the Monkey King was to have ghosts, pirates, talking mystical spider-monkeys, and a thrilling battle on top of a Nazi tank. One of those ideas would remain but the rest were tossed aside. Spielberg felt that Lucas’s ideas were too unwieldy and supernatural. Some of the key ideas would remain, but Lucas and Spielberg struggled to find a believable spine to hang them on, a core narrative idea that made this a story worth telling. They eventually found that core – what if Indy 3 became a story about the father of Indiana Jones?
The first thing that sprang to mind for them was to cast Sean Connery, the original James Bond and one of the primary inspirations for Indiana Jones as a character and as a franchise. So by casting Connery as Henry Sr, The Last Crusade takes on a meta-narrative as Indy bickers with his more experienced and wisened father.
Though it’s worth noting that this dynamic was almost very different, with Henry Sr as a tougher, and more traditionally heroic figure, closer to Bond. It was Connery who altered the character – to make him more of a tottering academic, one who completely disapproves of Indy’s violent behavior. It’s a change that transforms a fun premise into a brilliant one. If Connery had simply played a version of his Bond, I’m sure it would have been entertaining, but it would have simply been a constant back-and-forth of masculine upstaging. There’s still a bit of that with both men sleeping with the same woman, but the relationship now emphasizes the two’s intelligence and creates a much wider gulf between them.
Throughout all of these films, Indy has always had a lot of companions, sidekicks, and allies, most of whom I adore. But Indy has always been the star of the show, he’s the reason we show up – until now. The Last Crusade is, in my opinion, the only movie where a guest star completely steals the show, as Sean Connery just runs away with every scene he’s in.
This was my first exposure to Sean Connery, I never knew him as Bond first, he was just always Henry Sr. And he fills in the part beautifully. His comedic delivery is always on point, yet he gives the character a reserved sophistication that keeps him apart from Indy. But despite all of this, he still has an infectious, warm innocence to him that makes him such a perfect foil for Indy in this film. It’s a hysterical performance, and although you always know it’s Connery, he kind of disappears into it. It doesn’t rely on your knowledge of Bond, and there are no insufferable in-jokes about his legacy. If you don’t know any of his work, it’s still an enjoyable standalone character, but if you do know, it adds a whole new layer of comedy and pathos. It’s one of the single best casting choices in film history, and it completely makes this film.
Henry Sr isn’t all jokes either, as he also provides The Last Crusade’s emotional center. If the recurring theme of Spielberg’s prior films was about reckoning with the loss of a father as a child, The Last Crusade is about reconciling with that father and learning how to move forward in an adult relationship. This might just be Harrison Ford’s finest performance as Indy yet because he so beautifully paints the character as a posturing manchild. Right up until we meet Henry Sr, he’s the same old Indiana Jones; gruff, smart, and capable, but immediately upon reuniting with his father, Ford cranks up the ham, he’s a little boy all grown up hiding behind a persona he stole from someone because they paid attention to him when his father didn’t.
So from here, the film becomes a buddy comedy, akin to Lethal Weapon with the two Jones’ bickering and arguing with each other as Indy tries to desperately gain approval from his father. It’s hysterical, and it makes this easily the funniest of the franchise, but it also masks a real genuine arc for the two of them. By the end, you’ve been having so much fun that the earnest and vulnerable showcase of unconditional love between the two men totally disarms you. Even with all of the puzzle-solving, tomb raiding, and high-speed chases, the single best moment of the entire series might just be Henry Jones finally telling his son that he’ll love him, that he is his true life’s work. It marks The Last Crusade as a turning point in Spielberg’s life and career and gives the film a powerful emotional arc the series had never had till this point.
It’s clear that, unlike Temple of Doom, this was a story that Steven Spielberg really really wanted to tell, and his infectious joy at being able to tell it is all on the screen. I think a part of you can always tell when a director is enjoying making a movie, there’s just life and energy to a movie when you can tell that the person behind it all was enthusiastic and passionate, and that is very clear here. The Last Crusade is the most fun Steven Spielberg had making an Indiana Jones movie, and you can tell. That’s partly because of the relative ease of production when compared to the illness and production difficulties of the previous films, but also because the story plays to all of his sensibilities. Every action sequence is breathlessly directed, given real weight, and strung together with a constant sense of forward momentum. They’re all very distinct as well, and you could tell me any set piece was your favorite and I would believe you. The boat chase in Venice with its colliding freighters and deadly propellors, the motorcycle chase with its jousting and disapproving glances, and my personal favorite, the tank battle.
For all of the digitally constructed city destruction and world-ending stakes we’ve seen in blockbusters over the years, I still don’t think anything has ever felt more hopeless and intimidating than Indiana Jones fighting a tank with a horse and some rocks. It’s a true David and Goliath showstopper, applying every trick Spielberg has learned in his time making these movies. It’s tense, gripping, gritty, and totally thrilling. Plus, Indy kills 3 Nazis with a single bullet, something that, to my knowledge, no other movie can lay claim to.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s all perfect, and while I think it’s a masterpiece, it does have some issues. Most of the issues stem from the fact that this is a fairly safe film. After the backlash and divisive response to the ugly and deliriously insane Temple of Doom, Lucas and Spielberg decided to pivot and return to what made Raiders of the Lost Ark work. I loved Temple of Doom because of how different it was to Raiders, it had its own flavor and a very different visual and audial language. The Last Crusade, meanwhile, feels far more restrained, and I would argue it’s the worst-looking of the original trilogy (though it still puts 95% of other films to shame). The general tone is just a bit softer, with much of the grit and nastiness of Raiders and Doom excised.
The Last Crusade was explicitly designed to be an apology for the previous film. I’m a strong believer that this is not how one should approach making a film – art shouldn’t come out of fear. However, I think this is a rare exception. Yes, it brings back the Nazis as the primary antagonists, with a very Belloq-like figure. Yes, it brings back Sallah and Brody, and yes, it features another chase for a Judeo-Christian artifact. But it’s so well-directed, and the entire film is so well-tuned to the emotional bandwidth of its father/son story that it manages to push beyond that.
The biggest gripe I have is really on the villains. I’m fine with the Nazis returning, but the principal antagonists offer very little to the overall story and themes. Donovan is a poor substitute for Belloq, offering no real dramatic counterpoint to Indy and posing very little in the way of ideological conflict. Elsa similarly feels fairly underdeveloped, even if her thirst for knowledge does make up for most of her failings. It doesn’t help that these characters are both twist villains, which gives us far less time to understand their motivations and goals. However, there is a standout villain in Colonel Vogel, who is a definite upgrade from Raider’s Dietrich. Michael Byrne gives him a good deal of menace, and he’s really the first major antagonist to offer a true physical threat to Indy at this point in the series.
Even with these quibbles, The Last Crusade remains an absolutely perfect blockbuster and one of my favorite films of all time. This was maybe my most rewatched DVD as a kid, and I can recite every line from memory. It’s eminently rewatchable, and I’ve yet to watch it with someone who didn’t love it. It stands right alongside the previous films in the series as a perfect cinematic adventure while managing to add a sincere and emotional journey for its principal character, elevating it and maturing the series before finally riding it off into the sunset, putting an end to the character’s story. Though, of course, we know that wasn’t the end, as the demands of audiences and the persistent encouragement of Harrison Ford meant that the eminent archaeologist would return with his most divisive, and in this reader’s opinion, most interesting film yet.