Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
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| Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom |
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|---|---|
 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Steven Spielberg |
| Produced by | Robert Watts |
| Written by | Story: George Lucas Screenplay: Willard Huyck Gloria Katz |
| Starring | Harrison Ford Kate Capshaw Ke Huy Quan Amrish Puri |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Cinematography | Douglas Slocombe |
| Editing by | Michael Kahn |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | United States May 23, 1984 United Kingdom June 15, 1984 Australia July 19, 1984 |
| Running time | 118 minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$28,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $333,107,271 |
| Preceded by | Raiders of the Lost Ark |
| Followed by | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. Released on May 23, 1984, it is a prequel to the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Like Raiders, it starred Harrison Ford as Jones, and was based on an original story by George Lucas. Many members of the original crew returned, including cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, editor Michael Kahn and composer John Williams. New additions to the main cast included actress Kate Capshaw, who played the role of Wilhelmina 'Willie' Scott (Jones's second female lead following Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood, in Raiders of the Lost Ark), and Jonathan Ke Quan as Jones's 11 year old sidekick Short Round. It won an Academy Award for Visual Effects.
Featuring themes of child slavery, and destructive cult rituals, the film is darker in tone than its predecessor. The original story was intended to be a horror movie as well as a remake with elements of Gunga Din (1938). The original title was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Death.
The film is also notable for being instrumental in the creation of the rating category PG-13.[1]
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[edit] Plot
Set in 1935, a year before Raiders of the Lost Ark, the film opens with Indiana Jones in a Shanghai nightclub, attempting to trade the remains of Nurhaci for a large diamond with a gangster named Lao Che. When the deal goes bad and Indy's friend Wu Han is killed in the ensuing violence, Indy and the club's singer, Wilhelmina "Willie" Scott, escape the pursuing criminals in a car driven by a young boy named Short Round, an ally of Indy. They board a cargo plane, not knowing that it is owned by Lao Che. As Indy, Willie, and Short Round nap during the flight, the pilots dump the fuel and parachute out of the plane. Indy and the others use an inflatable emergency raft to descend safely from the plane.
After a dangerous ride down the Himalayan mountains and a raging river, the trio eventually come to a desolate village in India. The poor villagers there enlist their help in retrieving a sacred stone, the Sankara Stone or Shiva lingam stone, as well as the community's kidnapped children, from the evil forces of nearby Pankot Palace.
Initially, Pankot Palace seems normal enough, despite the grotesque food it offers its guests. Indy meets the royal tenants of the Palace, as well as other guests including Captain Blumburtt, an officer in the British Indian Army who is in the area with his troops on exercises. The Palace residents are insulted by Indiana's questions about the villagers' claims, dismissing them outright. Later that night, however, Indy is attacked in his room by a would-be assassin, which leads him to seek and find a secret door. He, Willie, and Short Round make their way through the secret passage and discover a vast underground temple beneath the palace, where the village rock and two more are held by the Thuggee, an evil cult who worship the goddess Kali with human sacrifice. The Thuggee have enslaved the village's children to dig for two remaining Sankara stones that are lost within the mines of the palace. Their villainous leader Mola Ram hopes to use the power of the five united Sankara stones to rule the world. During the revelation, the protagonists witness a gruesome sacrifice ritual where Mola Ram bare-handedly digs a man's heart out of his chest; the man survives, his heart beating in Mola Ram's hand, until he is lowered slowly into a lava pit.
Indy, Willie, and Short Round are captured by the Thuggee and separated. Indy sides with the Thuggee after being forced to drink the "blood of Kali", a mind-control potion which puts the drinker into the "black sleep of Kali Ma". Willie is kept as a human sacrifice, and Short Round is put in the mines alongside the village children as a slave laborer; however, Short Round breaks his bonds and escapes back into the temple, where Willie is tied up and being lowered into a lava pit. He helps Indy return to his normal self by using a torch to shock him from his trance. Although Mola Ram escapes through a trap door, Indy and Short Round manage to save Willie, take the three Sankara Stones, and free the village children. In the fight to escape the palace, the three jump into a mine car and are closely pursued by two Thuggee-filled cars. Indy knocks the first car off the tracks with a board, but the second catches up to them. In the struggle, Short Round nearly falls into lava and a Thuggee jumps onto the back of their car. Willie delivers an unexpected punch that knocks the Thuggee back onto the track, whereupon the other car crashes into his body and derails.
Meanwhile, Mola Ram and others break the supports of a giant water reservoir, pouring the contents down the tunnels in an attempt to drown the three heroes. After Indy stops their mine car, they avoid the rushing water by running outside, only to find themselves stuck at the top of a sheer canyon. They try to cross a rope bridge but are trapped with the Thuggee on both sides. Taking a desperate gamble, Indy utters a warning in Chinese to his friends to brace themselves. He then uses a sword to cut the bridge in half, sending many of the Thuggee plummeting into the crocodile-infested river below.
Mola Ram and a few of his minions manage to cling to the heroes' side of the bridge. He fights with Indy for the stones; Indy invokes the stones' magic and causes Mola Ram and all but one of the stones to fall into the river, where the nefarious priest is ripped apart and devoured by crocodiles. The Thugee on the opposite side of the canyon however are in a position to shoot down the defenseless heroes. At that moment, Captain Blumburtt and his Indian troops arrive just in time to save them. The heroes triumphantly return to the village with their sacred stone and the missing children.
[edit] Production
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas attributed the film's tone, which was darker than Raiders of the Lost Ark, to their personal moods following the breakups of their respective relationships. Lucas made the film a prequel as he did not want the Nazis to be the villains once more, and had ideas regarding the Monkey King and a haunted castle, but wound up creating the Sankara Stones.[2] He hired Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz to write the script as he knew of their interest in Indian culture.[3] The major scenes that were dropped from Raiders of the Lost Ark were included in this film: an escape using a giant rolling gong as a shield, a fall out of a plane in a raft, and a mine cart chase.[4] Just as Indiana Jones was named after Lucas' Alaskan malamute, Willie was named after Spielberg's cocker spaniel, and Short Round was named after Huyck's dog.[5]
Shooting began in Sri Lanka, with Kandy used for the village set.[3] Harrison Ford hurt his back riding elephants, so stuntman Vic Armstrong spent five weeks as a stand-in for various shots.[2] Production was primarily based at Elstree Studios, occupying eight out of nine soundstages as well as using the last one as a workshop. A second unit spent six days shooting elements of the Shanghai car chase in Macau[3] and producer Frank Marshall directed another second unit in Florida, using alligators to double as marsh crocodiles.[2] Additional shooting of the Mammoth Mountain and Tuolumne River were also done for elements of the raft scene. Ford again suffered back pains during the Elstree shoot and was admitted to a hospital in Los Angeles. Nonetheless, Spielberg completed the film five days short of the 85 day schedule and within the $28 million budget.[3]
Spielberg and Lucas wanted to continue to use the presence of "creepy crawlers" in the series. So, after the work with thousands of snakes in the previous film, this time, they went for bugs. Many large, exotic (and harmless) bugs and worms were used in the catacomb sequence.
[edit] Cast
| Actor/Actress | Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Harrison Ford | Indiana Jones |
| Kate Capshaw | Wilhelmina 'Willie' Scott |
| Jonathan Ke Quan | Short Round |
| Amrish Puri | Mola Ram |
| Roshan Seth | Chattar Lal |
| Philip Stone | Captain Phillip Blumburtt |
| Roy Chiao | Lao Che |
| David Yip | Wu Han |
| Ric Young | Kao Kan |
| Chua Kah Joo | Chen |
| Raj Singh | Little Maharajah |
| Rex Ngui | Maitre d' |
| Philip Tan | Chief Henchman |
| Dan Aykroyd | Art Weber |
Stunt actor Pat Roach — who appeared in two roles as large, muscular henchmen who fight Indy in Raiders of the Lost Ark — also appeared three times in this film: first as the man banging the gong in Club Obi Wan, then the assassin in Jones's room and again as the slavemaster in the mines. Besides Ford, he is the only cast member to return for the second film. He also had a cameo appearance in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
[edit] Release
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom made $179,870,271 ($30 million less than Raiders) when it was released theatrically in the United States in 1984, making it the third biggest hit of 1984 (next to Ghostbusters and Beverly Hills Cop).[6] The movie received mixed reviews from critics. Those who spoke positively of it include Roger Ebert, who believed the film was "... one of the greatest Bruised Forearm Movies ever made."[7]
The film was released on VHS several times in the 1980s and 1990s and then on DVD in October 2003 where it was packaged with the previous and later films in the series at the time. It was released again in May 2008 with special features not seen in the previous DVD release.
[edit] Reception
Some fairly gruesome scenes in Temple of Doom, as well as, to a lesser extent, other PG-rated films of the time such as Gremlins caused a significant public outcry. Spielberg spoke to the MPAA about creating a new rating that would cover the middle ground between a clear PG and a clear R that his films often found themselves on. This led to the creation of a new rating category: PG-13. (See: History of the MPAA film rating system)
The film's depiction of Hindus caused some controversy in India, and brought it to the attention of the country's censors who placed a temporary ban on it.[8]
The film won an Academy Award for Visual Effects. Both Lucas and Spielberg have stated that Temple of Doom was focused on effects to a higher degree than either Raiders of the Lost Ark or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
The film has a 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
[edit] Marketing
Suzanne Weyn wrote a novelization which was released on May 1, 2008. Hasbro will release a toy line based on the film in September 2008.[9]
[edit] Soundtrack
[edit] References
- ^ Breznican, Anthony (2004-08-24). PG-13 remade Hollywood ratings system. Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
- ^ a b c "Temple of Doom: An Oral History", Empire Online, 2008-05-01. Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
- ^ a b c d Marcus Hearn (2005). The Cinema of George Lucas. New York City: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 144-7. ISBN 0-8109-4968-7.
- ^ (2003). Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy (DVD). Paramount Pictures.
- ^ Gregory Kirschling, Jeff Labrecque. "Indiana Jones: 15 Fun Facts", 2008-03-12. Retrieved on 2008-03-15.
- ^ 1984 Yearly Box Office Results. BoxOfficeMojo.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (1984). Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (review). Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ Gogoi, Pallavi (2006-11-05). Banned Films Around the World: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. BusinessWeek.
- ^ Edward Douglas. "Hasbro Previews G.I. Joe, Hulk, Iron Man, Indy & Clone Wars", SuperHeroHype.com, 2008-02-17. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
[edit] External links
- Temple of Doom at IndianaJones.com
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at the Internet Movie Database
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at Allmovie
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at Rotten Tomatoes
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at Box Office Mojo
- Temple of Doom at The Indiana Jones Wiki
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