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Steven Spielberg and George Lucas set out to give American cinema its own James Bond with theIndiana Jonesfranchise , and with a collection of pulpy , action - packed , globetrotting cinematic adventures , they ’ve done just that . ( By conception , there is n’t a single entree on this list fromKingdom of the Crystal Skull , because that movie ’s overuse of CGI effects mean that its military action scenes did n’t bind a candle to that of the original trilogy . )
Hopefully , for the upcoming fifth movie , Spielberg and co. will return to the pragmatic methods they used to make the old films look so nonrational and thrilling . Without further ado , here are the 10 Greatest Action Sequences In TheIndiana JonesFranchise .
The Shanghai nightclub fight (Temple of Doom)
Indy seems to be having a perfectly civil negotiation with some gangsters at the beginning ofIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom — which is technically a prequel , sic a couple of years before the outcome ofRaiders of the Lost Ark — but then , the gangsters film Indy ’s friend and informant , killing him .
On top of that , they reveal that Indy has just ingested toxicant , and they toss the counterpoison across the room . As Indy succumbs to his poisoning , he urgently chases the counterpoison around the club , while fleeing civilian kick it around and the gangsters joyously pip at him .
Escaping the temple with the golden idol (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
The opening setting ofRaiders of the Lost Arkintroduced the world to the fiber of Indiana Jones perfectly . Deep in an exotic hobo camp , he and his fellow traveler Satipo find an ancient temple . On the path in , they ’re confront with all kind of creepy-crawly crawlies and booby trap . They reach the golden idol they ’ve occur to collect , and Indy cautiously replaces it with a suitcase of Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin of about the same weight .
For a second , everything seems fine . But then the temple starts to crumble and Indy madly flees , quest after by flying arrows and a roll boulder .
The zeppelin escape (The Last Crusade)
As they take flight the Nazis inIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade , Indy and his father Henry , Sr . hightail it from a Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in a biplane , pursued by a German military officer in another biplane . As Indy fires back at their opposer , Henry , Sr . shoots out the tail of the sheet , sending them crash to the ground . He claims their foe shoot out the tail , but it was accidental well-disposed fervour .
So , the plane go down , but they ’re still being chased by the bad guys . Henry , Sr . manages to take down a plane with an umbrella as he spooks some birds and they fly into the railway locomotive .
Jumping from a crashing plane (Temple of Doom)
Indy , Willie , and Short Round mean they ’re out of the forest when they take to the woods the gangsters in Shanghai on a plane , but the plane turns out to be own by the gangsters . While they ’re in the atmosphere in the middle of the night , the pilot light stand out out with parachutes on , leaving the plane wobble towards the side of a muckle .
Panicked , Willie wakes up Indy to think of a way of life to spare them . Since there are no chute left , Indy grabs an inflatable raft . Willie pleads , “ We ’re not sinking ; we ’re crash ! ” But the program figure out out as the good deal inflates on the way down and carries the trio to the bottom of the mountain and into a river .
Shooting the swordsman (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
This sequence is anticlimactic in the beneficial way possible . A swordsman confronts Indy , showing off his athletic relocation , ready for scrap , and then Indy just rack up out his revolving door and shoots the swordsman dead . It is so quintessentially Indy .
Apparently , Indy was opine to have a long fight with the fencer , but since Harrison Ford ( and most of the cast and crew ) had gotten really unbalanced while bourgeon in Tunisia , he did n’t feel like doing the fight stage dancing and suggested that Indy just shoot the guy . Steven Spielberg get laid the theme , and it became one of the character ’s defining moments .
The adventures of young Indy (The Last Crusade)
The opening sequence ofIndiana Jones and the Last Crusadetakes us back to Indy ’s days as a Boy Scout , as he relegate off from his troop to investigate a duo of shady guy wire steal a precious artifact to sell on the black market . Indy insists that it belong in a museum , and nabs it from them .
They chase him across the desert and onto a passing circus train , where Indy ’s penchant for the bullwhip is introduced as he squares off against a lion . The unseasoned Indy is played brightly by River Phoenix , while the scene has interesting parallels with the following one , which brings back adult Indy , fighting for the same artefact .
The mine cart chase (Temple of Doom)
The climactic mine cart chase fromIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doomwas really conceptualize for the first movie , but the author could n’t ascertain space for it in the story , so it was go out until the 2nd one . It fits the patch ofTemple of Dooma circumstances well , anyway .
Steven Spielberg has a lot of playfulness with the mine pushcart concept , having them leap over missing chunks of the rail and leaning over as they surge around penetrative aeroembolism . Temple of Doom ’s factual climax arrive a few minutes after when Indy thrash about down a bridge deck that he ’s cornered on , but the mine cart pursual is arguably even more exciting .
Fighting a large Nazi mechanic under a plane (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
There are a few different types of engagement sequence inIndiana Jonesmovies . There ’s the sort where Indy singlehandedly fights off a room full of henchmen , which can be fun . But arguably more fun is the kind where Indy takes on an opponent who ’s much bigger and strong than him , and gets his ass kicked . That ’s the case with this scene fromRaiders of the Lost Ark.
The final shot of the machinist being turned into tomato soup by the spinning propeller has to be one of the most macabre moments to be include in a PG - grade action movie — rivaled only by the melting face that can also be found inRaiders .
The tank chase (The Last Crusade)
On the path to the temple where the Holy Grail is put up , Henry , Sr . and Marcus are captured . So , Indy and Sallah , on horseback , board the armored combat vehicle to save them . Indy is really put through the dead ringer in this episode . The chief villain , minacious S.S. colonel Ernst Vogel , beats him to within an column inch of his animation .
Then , Indy ’s hang from a cannon that is scraping along a jolty wall , threatening to denigrate him across the cliffside . And then , he goes over the bound of a cliff with the tank . Thankfully , he manages to grab onto something before it go and he survives the fall .
The truck chase (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
Back when Steven Spielberg , George Lucas , and their squad were makingRaiders of the Lost Ark , actors could n’t just be deputize for computer - generated clones , so dangerous conniption had to in reality be perform by stuntpeople . For the truck chase setting inRaiders , Harrison Ford ’s long - prison term stunt doubled Vic Armstrong had to actually hang off a truck from a bullwhip and get dragged along a desert route .
One of the steering wheel went over him at one phase , but they catch the shots they needed . Fighting Nazis is exciting enough , but doing it on a moving vehicle drive it up to another grade of thrilling .
NEXT:10 Actors Who Would Make A Great Indiana Jones
