Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Jeffrey Boam, based on a story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes. It is the third installment in the Indiana Jones film series and continues the story from Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). In this movie, set in 1938, Indiana Jones, played again by Harrison Ford, searches for his father, who has been captured by the Nazis. Together, they seek the Holy Grail, a very important and ancient cup.

After the more serious film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984, director Steven Spielberg wanted to make a lighter and more fun movie for this next adventure. He and producer George Lucas looked at many scripts before choosing one written by Jeffrey Boam. They filmed in many places around the world, including Spain, Italy, West Germany, Jordan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The film was released in the United States on May 24, 1989, by Paramount Pictures. It was very popular with viewers and critics, earning $474.2 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 1989. It won an Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing and was also nominated for other awards. Even though Spielberg and Lucas thought this might be the last Indiana Jones film, more adventures came later, with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008 and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in 2023.

Plot

In 1912, a young Indiana Jones lives with his father Henry Jones Sr. in Moab, Utah. During a scout trip, Indy takes a special crucifix from some thieves and later gets it back in 1938 after his father goes missing while searching for a holy item called the Holy Grail.

With his father's supporter Walter Donovan, Indy travels to find his father and the Grail. Along the way, he meets Dr. Elsa Schneider and faces many dangers, including Nazi soldiers. Indy and his father escape several times and finally reach a temple where the Grail is kept. After overcoming many challenges, Indy saves his father and they leave the temple safely, leaving the Grail behind.

Cast

See also: List of Indiana Jones characters

• Harrison Ford as Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr.: An archaeologist, professor and adventurer who seeks to rescue his father and find the Holy Grail.
  • River Phoenix as a younger Indiana Jones.
• Sean Connery as Henry Jones, Sr.: Indiana's father, a professor of medieval literature.
• Denholm Elliott as Marcus Brody: Indiana's English colleague and an old friend of Henry.
• Alison Doody as Elsa Schneider: An Austrian art professor and Indy's love interest.
• John Rhys-Davies as Sallah: A friend of Indiana and a professional excavator living in Cairo.
• Julian Glover as Walter Donovan: A wealthy American businessman and grail hunter who sends the Joneses on their quest for the Holy Grail.
• Michael Byrne as Standartenführer Ernst Vogel: A brutal SS officer.

Michael Sheard briefly appears as Adolf Hitler, whom Jones encounters at a book-burning rally in Berlin.

Production

Development

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had planned to make a trilogy of Indiana Jones films since 1977, when Lucas first shared the idea for Raiders of the Lost Ark with Spielberg. By 1979, they signed a deal for five films with Paramount Pictures. After mixed reviews for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Spielberg decided to finish the trilogy to keep his promise to Lucas. He wanted the new film to feel like Raiders of the Lost Ark again.

Initially, Lucas wanted the film to be about a haunted mansion, inspired by Romancing the Stone. Writer Diane Thomas worked on this idea, but Spielberg thought it was too much like Poltergeist, which he had worked on. Lucas then suggested the Holy Grail as the main treasure. Spielberg wasn’t sure about this idea at first, but later agreed.

Different writers worked on the script over the years. Chris Columbus wrote a version where Indiana fought a ghost in Scotland and traveled to Mozambique. Later, Spielberg decided to focus on Indiana’s father, Henry Jones, Sr., to add more depth to the story. Writer Jeffrey Boam helped shape the final story, focusing on Indiana’s search for his father and the Grail.

Filming

Filming began in May 1988 in Spain, with scenes shot in places like the Tabernas Desert and Almería province. The production moved to England, where scenes were filmed at Elstree Studios and other locations. Parts of the movie were also filmed in Petra, Jordan, and the United States.

The famous tank chase scene was one of the most challenging to film. A special tank was built for the movie, and it often broke down during filming. Other tricky scenes included the train sequence and the fight in the castle. The crew used many creative tricks to make the scenes look realistic, like using doves instead of real seagulls and building miniatures for some effects.

Design

The designers had to create many special items for the film, like the tank used in the chase scene. They also had to design costumes that looked right for the time period. Henry Jones Sr.’s clothes were based on real people from that era, and the Nazi uniforms were made from genuine old clothes found in Eastern Europe.

Visual effects

The visual effects team at Industrial Light & Magic worked hard to create scenes like the plane crash and the trials to reach the Grail. They used models, miniatures, and computer tricks to make these scenes look real. For example, they built a small model of a plane to show it crashing, and used computer graphics to add details like dust and shadows. The famous scene where the bad guy dies after touching the Grail was one of the first scenes in a movie to use all-digital effects.

Themes

The movie shows the special relationship between a son and his father who were not very close. This idea of fathers and sons appears in other movies from the same year, like Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Field of Dreams. A writer for The New York Times said that in these films, people seemed more interested in earning each other's respect than in big adventures or fighting bad guys. The movie ends with a quiet and meaningful conversation between the father and son, which is more powerful than the big events that happen earlier.

Soundtrack

See also: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (soundtrack)

Release

The first sneak peek for the movie showed up in November 1988, shown along with two other films. A book version of the movie came out in June 1989 and became very popular. After the movie came out, the actor gave his famous hat and jacket to a museum.

Instead of making toys to advertise the film, the creators sold items like hats and shirts that people could wear every day. Two video games based on the movie were released in 1989, and another one came out later in 1991. A new book version was published in 2008 to go along with a later movie.

Box office

The movie was released in May 1989 in many theaters and made a lot of money right away. It set several records for how much money a movie made in its first weeks and months. By the end, it had made over 474 million dollars worldwide, making it one of the top movies of all time when it came out. It was especially popular in 1989, even with other big movies coming out the same year.

Home media

The film was first released on VHS on February 1, 1990. In 2003, it became available with its two earlier movies as a trilogy DVD box set. This set included extra materials and a special documentary about making the movies. It sold very well, with 600,000 copies sold in the US on the first day. In 2012, the film was released on Blu-ray with the other three Indiana Jones films of that time. In 2021, a special 4K version of the film was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray. This version was made from scans of the original film negatives and was part of a box set for the four Indiana Jones films at that time.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has an approval rating of 84% based on 136 reviews, with an average rating of 8 out of 10. Critics said the movie is lighter and funnier than the one before it, bringing back the exciting adventures from the first film while showing great chemistry between Harrison Ford and Sean Connery.

Metacritic gave the film a score of 65 out of 100, meaning most critics liked it. Audiences gave it an average grade of "A". Many famous reviewers praised the movie, especially the fun scenes and the story about Indiana Jones and his father. Some reviewers did not like it as much, but overall, it was seen as a good ending to the trilogy. In 2025, The Hollywood Reporter said the movie had the best action scenes of 1989.

Accolades

The film won an Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing and received nominations for Best Original Score and Best Sound (Ben Burtt, Gary Summers, Shawn Murphy and Tony Dawe). Sean Connery was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film won the 1990 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and was nominated for other awards as well.

The story of Indiana Jones as a young man inspired the creation of the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. The famous location Petra became very popular with tourists after the movie, with many more people visiting each year.