Barnes & Noble

Aside from James Bond and Luke Skywalker, no action hero of the last 50 years has so captivated moviegoers as the intrepid Indiana Jones, whip-cracking adventurer nonpareil. The Indy triumvirate -- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) -- reflects the felicitous partnership of Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Harrison Ford. Inspired by cliffhanger movie serials of the '30s and '40s, producer Lucas (who actually created Indy) and director Spielberg introduced their archeologist-cum-soldier of fortune in Raiders, pitting him against Nazis hoping to locate and seize the Biblical Ark of the Covenant -- an artifact of immeasurable value and the reputed source of unlimited power. The initial Indiana Jones film is clearly the best, with superbly staged action sequences occurring at regular intervals to simulate the experience of watching a multi-episode serial in one thrill-crammed sitting. The first sequel, Temple of Doom, not only reflected the influence of cliffhangers but also seemed to have been drawn in part from such classic films as Gunga Din. This time around the villains were East Indian cultists practicing the occult arts and trying to sacrifice Indy's reluctant companion, a voluptuous blonde singer played by Kate Capshaw (later Mrs. Spielberg). Last Crusade harked back to Raiders, in that the bad guys were, once again, Nazis looking for a priceless religious artifact, this time the Holy Grail. Lest potential audiences be dissuaded by the similarity of plot, Lucas and Spielberg added a new character to the mix: Indy's archeologist father, portrayed by Sean Connery. The Indiana Jones films hold up splendidly today because they are unpretentious entertainments, made with all the technical virtuosity of latter-day movies but infused with the spirit of earlier Hollywood films that catered to Depression-weary and World War II audiences hungry for escapist fare. Moreover, the Jones trilogy gently pokes fun, without condescension, at the old serials and swashbucklers. The wildly implausible situations and hairbreadth escapes aren't corny, over-the-top sequences grafted onto movies with contemporary sensibilities; they're organic to the films. For sheer, unadulterated fun these movies are impossible to beat, and they promise countless hours of entertainment for those who buy this box set. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

The second of the George Lucas/Steven Spielberg Indiana Jones epics is set a year or so before the events in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1984). After a brief brouhaha involving a precious vial and a wild ride down a raging Himalyan river, Indy (Harrison Ford) gets down to the problem at hand: retrieving a precious gem and several kidnapped young boys on behalf of a remote East Indian village. His companions this time around include a dimbulbed, easily frightened nightclub chanteuse (Kate Capshaw), and a feisty 12-year-old kid named Short Round (Quan Ke Huy). Throughout, the plot takes second place to the thrills, which include a harrowing rollercoaster ride in an abandoned mineshaft and Indy's rescue of the heroine from a ritual sacrifice. There are also a couple of cute references to Raiders of the Lost Ark, notably a funny variation of Indy's shooting of the Sherpa warrior. Hal Erickson

All Movie Guide

The third installment in the widely beloved Spielberg/Lucas Indiana Jones saga begins with an introduction to a younger Indy (played by the late River Phoenix), who, through a fast-paced prologue, gives the audience insight into the roots of his taste for adventure, fear of snakes, and dogged determination to take historical artifacts out of the hands of bad guys and into the museums in which they belong. A grown-up Indy (Harrison Ford) reveals himself shortly afterward in a familiar classroom scene, teaching archeology to a disproportionate number of starry-eyed female college students in 1938. Once again, however, Mr. Jones is drawn away from his day job after an art collector (Julian Glover) approaches him with a proposition to find the much sought after Holy Grail. Circumstances reveal that there was another avid archeologist in search of the famed cup -- Indiana Jones' father, Dr. Henry Jones (Sean Connery) -- who had recently disappeared during his efforts. The junior and senior members of the Jones family find themselves in a series of tough situations in locales ranging from Venice to the most treacherous spots in the Middle East. Complicating the situation further is the presence of Elsa (Alison Doody), a beautiful and intelligent woman with one fatal flaw: she's an undercover Nazi agent. The search for the grail is a dangerous quest, and its discovery may prove fatal to those who seek it for personal gain. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade earned a then record-breaking $50 million in its first week of release. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is no ordinary archeologist. When we first see him, he is somewhere in the Peruvian jungle in 1936, running a booby-trapped gauntlet (complete with an over-sized rolling boulder) to fetch a solid gold idol. He loses this artifact to his chief rival, a French archeologist named Belloq (Paul Freeman), who then prepares to kill our hero. In the first of many serial-like escapes, Indy eludes Belloq by hopping into a convenient plane. So, then: Is Indiana Jones afraid of anything? Yes, snakes. The next time we see Jones, he's a soft-spoken, bespectacled professor. He is then summoned from his ivy-covered environs by Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) to find the long-lost Ark of the Covenant. The Nazis, it seems, are already searching for the Ark, which the mystical-minded Hitler hopes to use to make his stormtroopers invincible. But to find the Ark, Indy must first secure a medallion kept under the protection of Indy's old friend Abner Ravenwood, whose daughter Marion (Karen Allen) evidently has a "history" with Jones. Whatever their personal differences, Indy and Marion become partners in one action-packed adventure after another, ranging from wandering the snake pits of the Well of Souls to surviving the pyrotechnic unearthing of the sacred Ark. A joint project of Hollywood prodigies George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, with a script cowritten by Lawrence Kasdan and Philip Kaufman, among others, Raiders of the Lost Ark is not so much a movie as a 115-minute thrill ride. Costing $22 million (nearly three times the original estimate), Raiders reaped $200 million during its first run. It was followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1985) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), as well as a short-lived TV-series "prequel." Hal Erickson

The second of the George Lucas/Steven Spielberg Indiana Jones epics is set a year or so before the events in Raiders. After a brief brouhaha involving a precious vial and a wild ride down a raging Himalyan river, Indy (Ford) gets down to the problem at hand: retrieving a precious gem and several kidnapped young boys on behalf of a remote East Indian village. His companions this time around include a dimbulbed, easily frightened nightclub chanteuse (Kate Capshaw), and a feisty 12-year-old kid named Short Round (Quan Ke Huy). Throughout, the plot takes second place to the thrills, which include a harrowing rollercoaster ride in an abandoned mineshaft and Indy's rescue of the heroine from a ritual sacrifice. There are also a couple of cute Raiders references, notably a funny variation of Indy's shooting of the Sherpa warrior. Hal Erickson

The third installment in the widely-beloved Spielberg/Lucas Indiana Jones saga begins with an introduction to a younger Indy (played by River Phoenix) who, through a fast-paced prologue, gives the audience insight into the roots of his taste for adventure, fear of snakes, and dogged determination to take historical artifacts out of the hands of bad guys and into the museums in which they belong. A grown-up Indy (Ford) re-reveals himself shortly afterward in a familiar classroom scene; teaching archeology to a disproportionate number of starry-eyed female college students in 1938. Once again, however, Mr. Jones is drawn away from his day job after an art collector (Julian Glover) approaches him with a proposition to find the much sought after Holy Grail. Circumstances reveal that there was another avid archeologist in search of the famed cup -- Indiana Jones’ father, Dr. Henry Jones (Sean Connery) -- who had recently disappeared in his efforts. The junior and senior members of the Jones family find themselves in a series of tough situations in locales ranging from Venice to the most treacherous spots in the Middle East. Complicating the situation further is the presence of Elsa (Alison Doody), a beautiful and intelligent woman with one fatal flaw: she’s an undercover Nazi agent. The search for the grail is a dangerous quest, and its discovery may prove fatal to those who seek it for personal gain. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade earned a then record-breaking $50 million in its first week of release. Tracie Cooper

Product Details

• UPC: 097361370743
• Source: PARAMOUNT
• Region Code: 1
• Time: 5:59:00
• Sales Rank: 3,036

This set contains DVDs which may be available separately:

• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

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