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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Directed by	Steven Spielberg
Produced by	Robert Watts
Written by	George Lucas (story) Menno Meyjes (story) Jeffrey Boam (screenplay)
Starring	Harrison Ford Sean Connery Denholm Elliott Alison Doody John Rhys-Davies Julian Glover
Music by	John Williams
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	May 24, 1989
Running time	127 min.
Language	English
Budget	$48,000,000
Preceded by	Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Followed by	Indiana Jones 4
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott, Julian Glover, Alison Doody, River Phoenix and John Rhys-Davies. This film is the third released, though the twenty-fifth chronologically, in a series of film and TV productions about the adventures of the heroic fictional archaeologist Indiana Jones.

When Dr. Henry Jones Sr. (played by Connery) vanishes while pursuing a life-long search for the Holy Grail, Indiana must retrace his father's steps in the hopes of rescuing him – and the Grail – from the clutches of the Nazi military machine.

Contents 1 Production 1.1 Locations 2 Synopsis 3 The Tests 3.1 The Breath of God 3.2 The Word of God 3.3 The Path of God 4 Reaction 5 Cast 6 Soundtrack 7 Video games 8 DVD release 9 Trivia 10 References 11 External links

Indiana Jones artist Drew Struzan created the film's distinctive artwork. Also like the previous films in the series, John Williams composed the soundtrack.

The opening sequence, with River Phoenix as the young Indiana Jones, was shot at the end of production. The rock formations during the opening credits belong to Arches National Park, outside of Moab, Utah. The circus train was shot on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, which runs between Antonito, Colorado and Chama, New Mexico. As with the previous two films, studio filming took place at Borehamwood Studios in Hertfordshire, England. The Church of San Barnaba in Campo San Barnaba served as the exterior for the fictional Venetian church-turned-library.

After producing the three Indiana Jones movies in the 1980s, no further movies have been made by Lucas or Spielberg in the Indiana Jones series as of 2007. However, a fourth film is currently in pre-production, and is scheduled for a May 2008 release.

• The fictional Brunwald Castle is in reality the Schloss Bürresheim, 3 km from the German town of Mayen, near Koblenz. The real castle was too small, so the external image was flipped and expanded by a matte painting, inspired by other views of the castle.
• The mountain road which can be seen very shortly traveling to fictional Brunwald Castle is the peak of the Roßfeld Höhenringstraße, a scenic road in the South-East of Bavaria, located where shown on the transparent map. The road itself is located a few kilometers from the Obersalzberg area, where Adolf Hitler had his home in the Bavarian alps.

The film begins in 1912, with young Boy Scout Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. (River Phoenix) trying to save the Cross of Coronado from grave robbers. This early adventure explains his use of a whip, his fear of snakes, and the scar on his chin, as well as his fedora and overall taste in clothes. Although he rescues the cross, the robbers tell the police that Indiana was the thief and he is forced to return it (during this entire time, his father is obliviously working on his research in the house). The story then segues to 1938, with an adult Indy (Harrison Ford) on the robbers' ship, the Coronado, off the Portuguese coast, finally retrieving the Cross and donating it to Marcus Brody's (Elliott) museum.

Later, he is summoned to meet the wealthy Walter Donovan (Glover), who informs him that his father, Henry Jones Sr. (Connery), vanished while searching for the missing half of a clue to the location of the Holy Grail, which has the power to grant eternal life. The clue was an inscribed tablet containing the Holy Grail's exact location; however, the tablet had not survived inact and a more complete version would be needed. Indy and Marcus travel to Venice to meet Dr. Elsa Schneider (Doody) to retrace his father's footsteps. Inside the library where his father was last seen, Indy finds that an "X" (inlaid in the floor) literally marks the spot. When he smashes through the floor, he finds ancient catacombs whose floor is filled with oil several feet deep. In particular it is the tomb of Sir Richard, a knight of the First Crusade, whose shield holds an inscription containing information needed to find the Grail (the inscription is identical to that of the tablet shown earlier to Indiana by Donovan). Indy's entry to the catacombs is seen by six members of The Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword, a secretive and fanatical religious cult that protects the Holy Grail. Initially, the cultists set fire to the oil in the catacombs to kill Indiana and Elsa. They survive when Indiana overturns Richard's sarcophagus such that he and Elsa can take refuge inside from the flames. Indiana looks around underwater (oil) and notices an apparent way out, returns for Elsa and the two dive underwater (oil). They are seen emerging from a sewer grate in Venice outside the church/library with Cruciform Sword cultists running out. Indiana and Elsa commandeer a motorboat to escape. In the ensuing chase, Indy fights off all except the leader, Kazim (Kevork Malikyan). After Jones convinces Kazim that he is looking for his father, not the Grail, Kazim tells him that his father is being held in Castle Brunwald near the Austrian-German border.

Indiana finds his father, but they are betrayed by Schneider and Donovan, who are working with the Nazis. His father's (Henry's) kidnapping had been staged to get him to solve the mystery of the Grail for them. Indy and Henry escape together and travel to Berlin to retrieve Henry's diary, which contains all he has learned of the Grail. They arrive at a pro-NAZI book burning rally. Indiana attacks a guard for his uniform and dons it. He manages to corner Elsa, who has the diary, and convinces her to return it to him. While leaving the rally Indiana encounters Adolf Hitler who thinks the diary is an autograph book and as such takes it, opens it to the front cover and signs his name.

Indy and Henry travel to an airport and steal aboard a zepplin in an otherwise fictitious LZ-138 Zeppelin. After travelling some of the distance to its destination, Indy notes the airship is turning around and presumes the NAZIs have realized he, Henry and the diary are onboard. Indy and Henry escape the ship by commandeering an attached fighter plane, Indy piloting and Henry in the gunner's seat. After evading NAZI dogfighters, Indy instructs Henry to fire the machine gun at the pursuing craft and Henry accidentally shoots out the tailfin (he lies about this to Indy saying, "I'm sorry son, they've gotten us."). Indy crashlands the plane and with his father steals a car from a motorist, continuing the escape. One chase plane is destroyed when it flies into a hill, another when it tries to follow the car through a tunnel. The final plane is destroyed on a beach. When Indiana realizes his only remaining recourse is to shoot the pilot (or possibly the plane's engine) with a small revolver and two bullets, Henry gives Indy his victrola and uses his umbrella to stir up a flock of seagulls. The seagulls cause numerous birdstrikes on the plane crashing it. Meanwhile, the Nazis capture Brody in İskenderun, Turkey, and learn the starting point for the quest.

Donovan and Schneider take Brody with them, and are tracked down by Indy, Henry, and Sallah (Rhys-Davies), bent on rescuing their friend. Eventually their paths cross and lead to a confrontation, which also involves Kazim and his men. Kazim and his men attempt to stop the Nazi caravan, but out-gunned and outnumbered, they are defeated by the Nazis. Henry attempts to rescue Brody from the tank, but is himself captured and held in the tank with Brody. Indy jumps onto the tank and rescues the captives before the tank drives off a cliff, killing Donovan's aide, Colonel Vogel (Michael Byrne).

The quest reaches its climax at the Canyon of the Crescent Moon, in Hatay near İskenderun, the site of temple housing the Grail. Donovan captures Indy in the temple and shoots Henry, forcing him to retrieve the Grail to use its healing powers to save Professor Jones' life. Indy, guided by the diary, circumvents the deadly booby traps, reaching a room where a knight of the First Crusade, kept alive by the power of the Grail, has hidden it amongst many false cups. Donovan and Schneider follow. Schneider identifies a golden, bejeweled cup as the Grail and Donovan impatiently drinks from it. It turns out to be her way of ridding herself of a rival for the Grail; Donovan dies in a very grotesque manner, aging rapidly into dust.

Indy picks out the true Grail, a plain wooden cup with a gold interior, worthy of a humble carpenter, and proves it by drinking from it without harm. Indy fills the Grail with water and uses it to heal Henry. Despite a warning from the knight not to let the Grail go past the Great Seal (in accordance with the Law of God), Schneider ignores the advice and tries to leave with the Grail. As a result of crossing the Seal, the interior starts to collapse and she loses her balance at the edge of a newly-formed crevasse. Indy grabs her hand, but she greedily reaches for the Grail, tantalizingly just out of reach, with the other and falls into the abyss. Then Indy loses his footing and finds himself in the same situation, with his father keeping him from following the same fate as Schneider. He also tries to get the Grail, but Henry tells him an unlikely command to "let it go." At first, Indy doesn't listen, until Henry says simply, "Indiana." (Until now, Henry had been calling Indy "Junior.") Indy reluctantly obeys, and the Grail is left in the ruins as they escape the crumbling temple.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ends with Henry Sr. revealing that "Indiana" was the family dog's name, relating the real origin of the character's name (George Lucas had an Alaskan Malamute named Indiana), and that Indy's real name is Henry Jones, Jr. Indy, his father, Sallah and Marcus then ride off into the sunset.

Sallah: "Why do you keep calling him (Indy) 'Junior'?" Henry: "Because that's his name: Henry Jones, Jr." Indy: "I like Indiana." Henry: "We named the dog Indiana." Sallah: "The dog? You're named after the dog? Ha, ha!" Indy: "Had a lot of fond memories of that dog."

The way to the Holy Grail is guarded by three tests (booby traps). After two Turkish soldiers are killed attempting to reach the Grail, the Nazis shoot Dr. Jones Sr. (Sean Connery) to motivate Indiana to pass the tests and retrieve the Grail. Indy uses the clues in his father's Grail Diary to pass the traps, reaching the Grail.

Clue: Only the penitent man will pass.

Approaching the "Breath of God" trap, a gentle breeze starts to blow. Indy remembers that, "The penitent man is humble before God. The penitent man kneels before God," allowing him to dodge the oncoming buzz saw. He then quickly rolls to the side to avoid a second saw in the floor, and disables the trap by looping a convenient rope over the exposed mechanism. Alternately Indy could have simply kneeled exactly as the diary says, and the top blade would pass over his head and the lower blade would have come up short of his chin.

Clue: Only in the footsteps of God will he proceed.

This trap is a series of lettered tiles on the floor. To get safely across, one must step only on the tiles that spell out the name of God, JEHOVAH. As Indy starts across, his father recalls "But in the Latin alphabet, Jehovah begins with an 'I'!" When Indy starts by stepping on the J, it falls out from under him, prompting him to quickly remember his Latin. Stepping on the wrong tile causes the victim to fall through the floor. What is beneath the floor is never revealed, but is presumably a bottomless pit. Schneider and Donovan follow Indiana Jones close behind while he traverses this stage and so they do not have to take the test themselves, they simply followed Indiana Jones' footsteps.

"Jehovah" is actually an Anglicization of the Tetragrammation, and would have been unknown during the tenth-century time period of the Crusades (it was not first used until the King James Bible in 1611).

Clue: Only in a leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth.

This trap has a bottomless chasm that Indy must cross to get to the door on the other side, but the distance is too great to jump. It is a test of faith. Indy takes the leap, and discovers an "invisible" bridge, camouflaged to match the opposite wall. After safely crossing, Indy marks the bridge with a handful of pebbles, allowing the others to follow him.

This installment in the Indiana Jones series has more humor than the previous two films. The humor is mainly shown through the relationship between Indiana and his father. Also Marcus Brody is a less serious character than his previous appearance in Raiders of the Lost Ark, being described as a museum curator who "once got lost in his own museum". The lightheartedness of the movie especially contrasts to its predecessor Temple of Doom, which is usually cited as the "darkest" in the trilogy.^{[citation needed]}

The Last Crusade is estimated to have grossed over US$197 million in the United States and $277 million elsewhere. These sales figures put the film second to Batman in the United States and first globally for 1989.^[1] The film won the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing.

As of March 13, 2007, it was ranked as #119 on IMDb's list of the Top 250 Movies of All Time.^[2]

The stunt where Indy jumps from a horse down on to a tank — performed by legendary stunt man and coordinator, Vic Armstrong — was voted one of the 10 best stunts of all time by Sky Movies viewers in the UK in 2002.

Actor/Actress	Role(s)
Harrison Ford	Indiana Jones
Sean Connery	Professor Henry Jones
Denholm Elliott	Dr. Marcus Brody
Alison Doody	Dr. Elsa Schneider
John Rhys-Davies	Sallah
Julian Glover	Walter Donovan
River Phoenix	Young Indy
Michael Byrne	Vogel
Kevork Malikyan	Kazim
Robert Eddison	Grail Knight
Richard Young	Fedora
Alexei Sayle	Sultan
Alex Hyde-White	Young Henry (scenes deleted)
Paul Maxwell	Panama Hat
Isla Blair	Mrs. Donovan (as Mrs. Glover)
Vernon Dobtcheff	Butler
J.J. Hardy	Herman
Bradley Gregg	Roscoe
Jeff O'Haco	Half Breed
Vince Deadrick Sr.	Rough Rider
Marc Miles	Sheriff
Ted Grossman	Deputy Sheriff
Tim Hiser	Young Panama Hat
Larry Sanders	Scout Master
Will Miles	Scout #1
David Murray	Scout #2
Frederick Jaeger	WWI Ace
Jerry Harte	Professor Stanton
Billy J. Mitchell	Dr. Mulbray

• Harrison Ford and Pat Roach are the only actors to appear in all three films in the trilogy (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). In Last Crusade, Roach appears only briefly as the Nazi running alongside Vogel towards the Zeppelin. He was to fight Indy as he and Henry Sr. try to steal the biplane from the belly of the zeppelin, but the scene was cut as Spielberg felt it made the film run too long.
• River Phoenix, who plays the younger version of Harrison Ford's character, played Ford's character's son in The Mosquito Coast. Ford personally recommended Phoenix for the part, citing that of all the young actors working at the time, River Phoenix was the one who looked the most like himself when he was around that age. Ford had also offered advice to Phoenix on how to stay grounded in the high pressure world of Hollywood and was reportedly grief-stricken when he heard of Phoenix's death four years later in 1993.

Main article: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (soundtrack)

In 1989, Lucasfilm Games released Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Action Game, both based on the film. In its era, the adventure game is generally considered one of the best of its genre, right along with Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island, and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, which are all also produced by Lucasfilm Games. There are also two completely different games for the NES called "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", with no subtitle to differentiate the two versions. The newer game of that title is a port of the action game, while the older game was a different action game. There was also an Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade game released for Game Boy and Game Gear. Lucasfilm games are also currently producing a new Indiana Jones game for the next-generation games consoles, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

The last part of the video game Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures, released in 1994 by JVC for Nintendo's Super Nintendo Entertainment System, is based entirely on the film. Several sequences from the film are reproduced (the biplane dogfight and battle in the tank against Vogel for example); however, several scenes of the film such as the boat chase in Venice, the start of the movie where Indy appears as young boy, Indy getting the Cross of Coronado in the Portuguese coast, the motorcycle chase and the "Word of God" and the "Leap of Faith" tests in the Grail Temple level were not featured in this game. LucasArts and Factor 5 developed the game.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was released on laserdisc and VHS in 1990 and on DVD in October 2003. A VHS release in 1999 and the DVD release was packaged with the previous two theatrical films in the series: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

• The march played during the book burning scene in Berlin was derived from Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda film, Triumph of the Will.
• The tank is based on the British/American MK-VII, minus 2 MGs, the copula for the driver & comander being replaced by a turret, and the dferent possition of the driver's seat.
• The airship is obviosly based on the LZ 129 Hindenburg.

1. ^ IMDb: Business Data for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
2. ^ IMDb Top 250.

• Official Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade site
• The Indiana Jones Wiki
• Indy-Net.co.uk
• TheRaider.net - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, extensive coverage
• Radio Interview with Indiana Jones Producer Frank Marshall from FBi 94.5 Sydney Australia
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at the Internet Movie Database
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at Rotten Tomatoes
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at Box Office Mojo
• See a complete set of original Lobby Cards from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
• Henry Jones Sr.'s Grail Diary

v • d • e The Indiana Jones series
Films	Raiders of the Lost Ark • The Temple of Doom • The Last Crusade • Indiana Jones 4
Television	The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
Characters	Indiana Jones • Willie Scott • Marion Ravenwood • Elsa Schneider Marcus Brody • Sallah • Short Round • Henry Jones, Sr. • Walter Donovan • Rene Belloq • Colonel Dietrich • Arnold Toht • Colonel Vogel • Mola Ram • Club Obi-Wan Triad
Cast	Harrison Ford • Sean Connery • Corey Carrier • Sean Patrick Flanery George Hall • River Phoenix • John Rhys-Davies • Denholm Elliott • Julian Glover • Wolf Kahler • Ronald Lacey • Paul Freeman • Amrish Puri • Michael Byrne
Crew	George Lucas • Steven Spielberg • Frank Marshall • John Williams

v • d • e George Lucas
Directed films	THX 1138 (1971) • American Graffiti (1973) • Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) • Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) • Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) • Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Short films	Look at Life (1965) • Herbie (1966) • Freiheit (1966) • 1:42:08 (1966) • The Emperor (1967) • Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138:4EB (1967) • Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town (1967) • 6-18-67 (1967) • Filmmaker (1968) • The Making of 'The Rain People' (1969) • Bald: The Making of 'THX 1138' (1971)
Productions	The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) • More American Graffiti (1979) • Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) • Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) • Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) • Twice Upon A Time (1983) • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) • Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984) • Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985) • Star Wars: Droids (1985) • Star Wars: Ewoks (1985) • Howard the Duck (1986) • Labyrinth (1986) • Star Tours (1987) • The Land Before Time (1988) • Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) • Willow (1988) • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) • The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992–1996) • Radioland Murders (1994) • Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003–2005) • Star Wars: Clone Wars 3D (2008) • Indiana Jones 4 (2008) • Red Tails (2008) • Star Wars live-action TV series (2009)
See also	Lucasfilm • Industrial Light & Magic • Skywalker Sound • LucasArts • Skywalker Ranch