The release and (accompanying never-ending press) of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has caused me to get quite a bit more nostalgic for the original three films than I ought to be. I suppose nostalgia is the whole point of the new one, but it feels a bit like cheating for me, because I wasn't even born yet when Raiders of the Lost Ark was released. In fact, I've always been a bit annoyed that I arrived too late to get in on the ground floor of those three brilliant adventure trilogies from the late '70s and '80s: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Back to the Future.
Then again, catching the films on video as a young kid, with
little knowledge of their impact on pop culture, probably made for purer experiences. Heck, I didn't even understand until well
into my teenage years that Star Wars and Indiana Jones were elaborate
homages to B-grade serial adventures of yore – I just accepted them for what they
were: really awesome movies that succeeded in giving me the truest sense of gee-whiz
wonder I've ever experienced.
While the collective experience of these movies is unmatched, my mind always goes back to a couple of specific scenes – scenes so pitch-perfect that I want to capture every individual frame of film and lock them in a vault. (Or maybe in a giant warehouse, right next to the Ark of the Covenant.) Since I'm being all nostalgic, I'd like to share them.
There's so much to choose from in Star Wars, but I
love the showdown in Return of the Jedi between Luke, Vader, and the
Emperor. (Watch it here.) The dynamic between the three characters is
startlingly complex – will the Emperor turn Luke evil? Will Vader come away from the Dark Side to
help his son? How can Luke possibly get
out of this? And the setting – this is
all going down on a giant space station that can destroy planets, in the middle
of a fierce space battle fought by Luke's friends that will ultimately decide
the fate of the Rebellion against the Evil Empire.
And then there's The Moment, when all seems lost. The Emperor is using the powers of the Dark Side to repeatedly blast Luke with what looks like very painful bolts of electricity. Luke's on the ground, screaming in pain, dying. And Vader: looking on as his master kills his son. Cut to the Emperor. Cut back to a close-up of Vader – whose black mask, somehow portrays more emotion and depth than most regular performances. It's do or die: Save your son! You can do it, I scream in my head every time I watch it. And, of course, he does, as we always secretly knew he would: he picks up the Emperor and throws him down the shaft to oblivion, an act which will result in his own death but save his soul.
In Back to the Future, the coolest single moment is easy:
it comes in the first film, when Doc Brown swings down the cable from the clock tower as that classic score
is blasting and he plugs it in just in time for the lightning to surge
through the cable and rescue Marty McFly from being trapped in 1955
forever. (Watch it here.) The image of the Doc swinging down on that
cable was ingrained in my head when I was too little to follow the plot of the
movie at all -- it simply looked like one of the most exciting things I'd ever
seen.
But then the magic continues: Marty and the DeLorean
disappear, and the overjoyed Doc dances down the street, still burning from the
time machine. The familiar score comes
back on, but it's quieter this time, with one lone brass: some crazy stuff has
gone down, but everything's all right now.
Finally, there's the Indiana Jones franchise. I can honestly think of no better stand-alone sequence in any movie ever that tops the very first
sequence of the series for thrills and coolness: Indy's perilous journey in and out of a severely
booby-trapped temple. (Watch it
here.) The bag of sand he puts in place
of the legendary idol in hopes that it will stop the alarms from going
off. The traitorous companion, played by
a young Alfred Molina, who meets a gruesome end as soon as he selfishly leaves
Indy for dead. The temple itself coming
alive: poison darts springing from the walls, the giant stone door that tries
to trap Indy inside forever. And of
course the legendary boulder chase.
The structure is deceptively simply – a series of perilous setups and adrenaline-rush payoffs – but it enthralled my ten-year-old self like nothing else had. Just as important as what was happening inside the temple, of course, was who it was happening to. Indiana Jones was pretty much the coolest guy alive: he got to journey through perilous jungles and legendary hidden temples all day, and during his off-hours he made some money as a mild-mannered college professor.
Perhaps the best compliment I can give the scene is that it partly inspired me to be a writer. In fifth grade, I wrote something like five stories in a row about an adventurer who escaped from booby-trapped temples.
What are some other scenes you wish you could see again for the first time?
Michael Dance
StrandedinManhattan.com
**Read more articles by Michael Dance**
