Greatest Line in the Film: Donovan has just drunk from a false Grail, and aged so fast that his very skeleton has crumbled to dust in under a minute. The knight looks on, and then murmurs:
"He chose..... poorly".

So....Sir Whoozis has been underground for centuries, therefore he has a negative tan. Well and good. But does the Grail keep him in Vitamin E besides giving him eternal life? W/o a tan you won't get much of that good stuff. (Just asking....pick, pick, pick....)

How's Indy get out of the tank when it goes over the cliff? (He was in it right? Haven't seen the movie in a while.) I don't demand primo logic in a good action film (see the "Raiders" file), but this is just a bit much.

Gotta love Connery as the old prof. Remembered his Charlemagne, did he? :-)

Of course, let's not forget when the tank goes over the cliff, we see the top turret come off, and it's obviously held on by a pin, with no hole under it ,even though previous shots show that the tank definitely has an inside access from the top turret. Gee, even *I* noticed this one! J

Let us not forget that when Indy falls off the side of the tank and grabs hold of the barrel he corked five minutes ago, his shoulder bag somehow has gotten wrapped around it. There's only two ways that would have happened - 1)Indy slipped it over the end of the barrel (but we didn't see him do it), or 2)he unclasped his shoulder bag, wrapped the strap around the barrel, and fastened it back up. Neither of which would explain just why he would do such a thing. so, how did his shoulder bag get wrapped around the barrel?

I loved when Indy and Dr. Schnieder are in the catacombs, and they walk past a painting on the wall. Indy does a double take, wipes the cob-webs of the wall, and stares at it. Dr. Schnieder asks, "What is it?" Indy responds, "It's the Ark of the Covenant." "Are you sure?" the Naive Dr. Schnieder asks. "Pretty sure . . ." responds a wide-eyed Dr. Jones.

My FAVORITE part about this scene is the fact that John Williams places the Ark's musicial motif from Raiders of the Lost Ark as an underscore to this segment. It's a special treat for us film score fanatics :)

~David Tayman

It's slightly off-topic, but while we're discussing Williams and quotes in the score....

In "Return of the Jedi" during Yoda's "death" scene, as Luke is walking out into the swamp the soundtrack is playing a theme lifted almost unaltered from "The Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla" from "Das Rheingold", by Richard Wagner. Appropriate, no? In the words of Stravinsky: "Composers don't borrow. They steal." :-)

Connery plays Ford's father in this movie, which is interesting, considering Sean is only 12 years older than Harrison...

This might be the first nit I ever picked. We're going to play musical boats here, so keep up.

In Venice, Indy and Elsa get into boat #1

A whole bunch of persuing baddies get into boats #2 and #3

Boat #2 gets squished by the two freighters that get pushed together.

The baddies in Boat 3 machine gun Boat 1. Boat 1's engine starts spluttering and smoking. It slows, allowing boat 3 to catch up.

Indy boards boat 3, knocks out one baddie, and then interrogates Cassip(was that his name?) as boat 3 is getting chopped up.

Elsa, in boat 1, rescues Cassip and Indy. They cruise to safety.
Notice that boat 1's engine is A-OK now. Elsa must be some Ms. Fixit!

The plot summary is a bit poor as with the knight's line. Donovan did not choose the false Grail. Schneider did so she could punish him for shooting Henry Jones.

But the point is he was not smart enough to tell the difference.

Yes, I'm sorry for the brief summary. I left that part out, as well as many good scenes. I was trying to keep it "bare bones", and leave some surprises for those who haven't seen it.

Of course, we all know that Donovan is played by Julian Glover, a.k.a. General Veers from Empire Strikes Back! Glover also played Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only. Allison Doody, who played Elsa, was in the 007 film, A View to a Kill.

You forgot the guy who played Indy's dad, I think he was in a Bond film sometime. ;)

And John Rhys-Davies was in "The Living Daylights" as well as a few episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager."

And the actor who played Vijay (the Indian agent who helps Bond and winds up getting sliced by Buzzsaw) was in "Star Trek IV."

Woooops!

Got a little sidetracked when responding and forgot I was in the Indiana Jones discussion group, not "Octopussy." Ignore the last part of my last post.

JC, just as an aside, the actor's real name is also Vijay.

Curious about something....I remember hearing somewhere that John Rhys-Davies was in the Royal Shakespeare Company. Can anyone confirm that? (Not impossible, for he can act--cf. Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V", where he plays Exeter--but I'm wanting evidence.)

Big nit in this film. One of the obstacles is that Indy has to spell out God's name. However, God's name is not Jehova or any varation of it.
It is I AM.

Exodus 3:13 - 3:15 clearly states this:
Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, `What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.'"

God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, `The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. (NIV)


I'm surprised somebody hasn't beaten me to this one, its very blatant:>

Or, the name of God is YHWH, depending on who you ask and when you ask them. The nit is not that the name was wrong, but why did they choose that particular name?

I'd wager the Joneses were assuming the "cheats" for the traps (as they were undoubtedly human in construction) referred to the "facts" about God that were current at the time of the traps' construction. Therefore, "Jehovah" would be the correct name. Also, if it were "I AM," or "YHWH," or any one of a dozen other possibilities, why was it in Latin and not Aramaic or Greek? Answer: because Latin was the language of the church when the temple was constructed.

That raises an interesting point. Just who constructed that church? I know those knights were there a long time, but 1. How would anyone know what traps they built and 2. Why would they carve huge statues of knights?

The church was built sometime during the Crusades, which means any time between the 12th and 15th century. If you've ever visited a church built during that period, they are all full of elaborate carvings and masonry work. The statues are usually of deserving dead people. Maybe in this case they were the old knight's brothers and/or fellow Crusaders.

I would assume the ancestors of the cult that protected the church (the guys with the crosses tattooed on their chests) built the church. They would have information on the traps because (a) they built them, and (b) they wouldn't want future cult members to get killed.

The cult was called the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword, by the way.

Actually, the name of God is the hebrew letters corresponding to YHWH (or YHVH), and while technically unpronounceable, is commonly referred to as "Yahweh". "Yehovah" is a semi-literal transliteration of the unpronouncable, and got latinized into "Jehovah" .

So, it would then be appropriate for the knights (or whoever) to construct the traps using "Jehovah" as the name of God.

Incidentally, when reading Hebrew, and one comes to the unpronouncable name, it should be pronounced "Adonai".

BOND ACTORS WHO APPEAR IN THIS FILM
Sean Connery as Professor Jones
John Rhys-Davies as Sallah
Allison Doody as Elsa
Michael Byrne as Vogel
Billy J. Mitchell as Dr. Mulbrey
Vernon Dobtcheff as the Butler
Julian Glover as Walter Donovan
Stefan Kalipha as Tank Gunner
Pat Roach as a Gestapo Agent

STAR WARS ACTORS
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones
Michael Sheard as Adolf Hitler
Julian Glover again

Further incidental "name o' God" trivia: Adonai simply means "Lord." In other words, since you don't properly know how to say the name (because unpointed Hebrew has no vowels and it was bad form to pronounce the name for quite a while)you just call Him the Hebrew equivalent of The Lord.

Now I need to go back and watch it again for that Ark of the Covenant bit. I'd totally forgotten.

Re: Nat Hefferman's message from 11/9/98

(Concerning the real life age difference between Sean Connery and Harrision Ford, who play father and son)

Mark Lenard was actually 2 years younger than Leonard Nimoy, but Lenard as "Sarek" played the father of Nimoy's "Spock" in the "Star Trek" television series and several Star Trek movies.

Response to Ryan:
Since the Vulcans live for hundreds of years, it doesn't make that much differance after a point... just like after a point it doesnt matter how cold it is.

My "nit-picks" are as numerically proceeds:
1) After Indiana Jones slugs the S.S. officer and defenestrates (def.: to throw out a window) him, there is a scene in which you clearly see Jones, Sr., sitting down. Then in the next scene, as Indiana Jones is fathoming what to say so as to explain why he previously assaulted an S.S. officer, you can conspicuously see Jones, Sr., in the process of sitting down again!
2) The rear flap pertaining to that plane of the blimp's is perforated by Jones, Sr.'s misfiring. In fact, the upper portion of it is clearly shot off. However, we notice in the scenes acquired from a distance that the upper portion remains intact. Oops.

Say, how big is this tank? There's a driver, at least two (maybe even three) gunners, the periscope soldier, two prisoners, a guard, and Colonel Vogel!

Why doesn't the driver notice the prisoners escaping? And what's the other gunner up to?

GREAT SCENE: The scene in which Indy guns down four soldiers with one bullet.

IIRC he used a German P38. Indy looked very surprised... ;-)

The tank is clearly based on British WWI designs. Those old tanks had IIRC (I've today looked into a book about tanks.) a crew of 3. Hmmm. Btw, the only German tank from WWI had a crew of 18.

Other sources talk about a crew of 8 for the old tank. Seems to fit better...

As Indy and Pop run out of the church in the finale, with smoke billowing behind them, watch closely:

First Marcus and Sallah, already out, run farther away, out of the left corner of the screen. (Sadly, I only have the pan and scan version of the film.) Then Indy and Dad run out. Then, Marcus and Sallah walk back into the picture from the left corner. Then...they are followed a few seconds later by two unknown people who seem to be keeping the nearby horses steady! (And it's a good thing, too, as there were no places to tie up those horses.)

So, the question that the movie asks at the end that is the most important is...Who are these people? And why didn't Indy & Company give them a ride home?!

I was suprised that Alexie Sayle was playing the sultan in this, I didn't know this until the end titles.

Dr Who Actors in this film (That I know of)

Michael Sheard
Alexie Sayle
Julian Glover (Who interestingly played Richard the First in the 1965 adventure The Crusade).

Just in case anyone was wondering, the church at the end of the movie really exists. It is not, however, a church; at least not that we know of. It is at the complex called Petra, in Jordan. It is called "The Treasury." No one knows its exact purpose, but it was built by the Nabateans (they were possibly Muslims, I don't know). The narrow canyon the boys ride out of in the end IS the only way to get to the Treasury.

Historical Facts: Both the city of Alexandretta/Iskendrun and the Republic of Hatay existed. Hatay was in southeast Anatolia. If I recall correctly it was "independant" after Turkish independance but was given back to Turkey by France as a final grant to the dying Ataturk. And it was, indeed, on the pilgrim trail from the eastern (Byzantine) empire.

Re Chris Ashley's 11/25/98 message on John Rhys-Davies: JRD didn't play Exeter in Branagh's "Henry V." That was Brian Blessed. I think you're right about him being in the RSC, though. (And he's also going to play Gimli in Lord of the Rings. Woo-hoo! I think he's going to kick butt in the role!)

Perta- The Nabetians were Ishmaelites(Arabs) but they were not Muslims as the treasury was built during the Roman Empire. The city was sacked by Crusaders.

Jehovah Is an inccorect pronuniation, But Ellcesllastical latin does have a J

Whoops...I missed one Bond actor. The guy playing Colonel Vogel was in "Tomorrow Never Dies". He's the admiral of the British flagship.

Is Blofeld in this one? Or anyone who looks like him?

Alexie Sayle can sometimes look like him.

The new Indiana Miller Hat is out. I found it at http://www.millerhats.com I called them and they said that most of their regular customers had found the site; but, if I wanted to post, go ahead. The new hat is at http://www.millerhats.com I love mine...they have one with a open crown. Check it out. Thanks for all of the 'tips' on this board.

John

When Indy is stepping from letter to letter on the name of God, it's definitely a stretch for him in a couple of places. He has to leap, stretching slightly beyond his full stride.

This is a major problem, since people at the time of the First Crusade would be *much* shorter than good old Harrison Ford. They wouldn't have put the correct letters that far apart.

(They did do well by not showing the old knight standing near another character -- that way we couldn't easily compare the actor's too-modern height to the height the character should be.)

Female soldiers in the German army in 1938. No, I do not think the Germans drafted or accepted females into the German military (except the nurse corps) until 1941 at the earliest (if then). My point the German female soldier would not have been there to smile and scream "Alarm" at our heroes. Yes, the P38 pistol used had been adapted by the German military in 1938. So, some would have issued, but not in the numbers seen. During WWII there were never enough P38's to go around to replace the P08 (Luger), so the Luger was used to the end of the war. I believe the SS Colonel did use a Luger. The bullet (9mm) would have gone through those four soldiers. Bullets have a nastily tentacity to go through the human body. If it is not deflected by bone, the bullet would go through and still be lethal. Indy should have not been surprised since he fought in WWI and would have seen first hand the effects of bullets on those soldiers going over the top.

Here's some other interesting points about the tank sequence.

*Indy is riding his horse, and is being shot at/chased by the tank. Donovan is seen motioning for one armored car and two troop transports to join the fight. Why? Doesn't Donovan realize that having more vehicles on the field will complicate matters? For that matter, why even send the tank after Indy? Why not concentrate on getting the Grail?

*Okay, the tank smashes into the car, and later shoots it off/runs it over. The first transport has about four guys jump on the tank, all killed by Indy. The second transport is blown up by Henry. What happened to the first transport? There were still a few soldiers in there. Do they just drive off to reunite with Donovan?

*Vogel is a horrible fighter. Indy's paralyzed, as he has to hold onto the whip. Vogel has ample opportunity to say, pistol-whip Indy or at least bash his brains out, but instead he gives these little punches to Indy.

*I already commented on the personnel in the tank, but look at it again. Maybe I'm missing something, but one soldier is covering Marcus and Henry. One soldier is apparently working the main gun. One soldier is working the side gun. The other side gunner is dead--the explosion killed him. There is a driver. One of the gunners activates the periscope. He gets clobbered by it, knocking him out. During the scuffle, the guard of Marcus and Henry gets squirted by the pen, and is later knocked out by Marcus. As he is knocked out, he shoots his gun, which kills the driver. Now, two soldiers are knocked out, the driver and the side gunner are dead, but WHAT HAPPENS TO THE LAST GUNNER?

*The whole purpose of Indy getting the boat away at Castle Brunwald is so the soldiers can waste time chasing after it. Why, then, does Indy drive the motorcycle off BEFORE any of the soldiers leave in the boat?

*I find it hard to believe that Indy can slug Vogel off the zeppelin, and it just takes off hunky-dory. Shouldn't Vogel have already stopped it, or do they just take off anyway?

*Vogel is one busy fellow. Donovan leaves Castle Brunwald, and most likely makes a beeline for Iskenderdun or wherever. Vogel is meanwhile dinkering around--chasing after Indy. Elsa attends the Nazi rally, and most likely joins up with Donovan. Vogel is still chasing after Indy. Donovan is then seen talking to the Sultan, and Vogel is WITH him. Granted, he could have joined up with Donovan, but what was Donovan doing before Vogel's arrival? Shouldn't Donovan have already cleared things up with the Sultan? Why did he even wait for Vogel to arrive? Are there other SS guys besides Vogel?

Considering this was only made 12 years ago there is some very bad back projection (where the actors appear in front of a screen as the background) which dates the film terribly.

Considering this was only made 12 years ago there is some very bad back projection (where the actors appear in front of a screen depicting the background) which dates the film terribly.

Basicly any rear projection/bluescreen where a moving real world background is used; and was not composited digitaly will look fake. Check out Mission Impossible (1996),

During the tank scene, the Nazi guy (Vogel, was it?) smashes Indy's face against the moving track of the tank wheels. In later scenes, the left side of Indy's face has a big wound where the tank gashed/bruised him. This seems to remain consistent until the final scene before they ride away. I can make out no trace of the wound at all in this scene. The healing powers of the Grail, maybe?

So that one Brotherhood of the Crusafold Sword guy was named Cassip? And to think, all this time I've been calling him Catsup!

Don't those look like Shriners hats to anyone else?

Here's a neat pic:

Grown-up cast of the Goonies

Whatever happened to Short Round? They could have at least alluded to his fate in this movie.

Didn't Raiders Of The Lost Ark occur between this & Temple Of Doom? I'm sure ROTLA is 1936 & TOB is 1935. I guess Shorty & Indy parted company sometime between films.

Richard,
If we take Raiders Of The Lost Ark as ROTLA and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as TOD, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as TLC ... what does TOB stand for?

Perhaps I'm over-reacting ... the TOB reference most likely was meant to be TOD ... (yet there are two keys between "B" and "D" on the Qwerty keyboard)

Yes, the chronological order was Temple, Raiders, Crusade. My point was, there wasn't a mention of Short Round in Raiders as it was made first. He appeared in Temple, and Crusade took place after Raiders. Whereas the other adults he'd been involved with could have gone their own ways, it was like Shorty was his "ward" for a time, and thus Indy would feel responsible for his future. Something happened in the year between Temple and Raiders. Might have been nice to have a line in Crusade, even if not so detailed. Something like "I can't get over what happened to Shorty", or "I had a sidekick once, he got adopted."

Sorry, I typed the last post in less time than it takes to read.

In response to one of the first posts here from 1998 by Chris Ashley:

The body doesn't make vitamin E. When your skin is exposed to sunlight, you create vitamin D. Not vitamin E.

Well, at least we knew what happened to Hitler. He settled down in England and became a teacher at a comprehensive school! (Michael Sheard played another mad tyrant, Mr. Bronson, in the childrens drama series "Grange Hill".)

Julian Glover and Michael Sheard also appeared in a couple of Space: 1999 episodes.

This is a major problem, since people at the time of the First Crusade would be *much* shorter than good old Harrison Ford. They wouldn't have put the correct letters that far apart.

Yeah, but then they didn't want too many people getting through the traps back when, would they? It might have been intentional, as they had no way of knowing how tall people would be by the time the thing was found.

>> Vogel is one busy fellow. Donovan leaves Castle Brunwald, and most likely makes a beeline for Iskenderdun or wherever. Vogel is meanwhile dinkering around--chasing after Indy. Elsa attends the Nazi rally, and most likely joins up with Donovan. Vogel is still chasing after Indy. Donovan is then seen talking to the Sultan, and Vogel is WITH him. Granted, he could have joined up with Donovan, but what was Donovan doing before Vogel's arrival? Shouldn't Donovan have already cleared things up with the Sultan? Why did he even wait for Vogel to arrive? Are there other SS guys besides Vogel? <<

Also, during the scenes at Castle Brunwald and on the airship, Vogel is wearing a black uniform, indicating he's a member of the SS. Later though, up to and during the tank chase, he appears to be an officer of the Wehrmacht. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the normal (i.e. non-desert) Wehrmacht uniform was the greyish-blue outfit the other Nazis at Brunwald wore.

Maybe he's from the Waffen-SS.

How did the charcoal rubbing Indy made in the knight's tomb survive the trip through the petroleum and water?

When we see the signpost to Berlin just before the fade into the Nazi rally sequence, the other sign says Venice, but it should have the German name for the city, Venedig.

Is it me, or the (quite poor) quality of my rickety old VHS, when I hear Donovan say just after he shows Indy the marker stone 'My engineers on Earth digged it up in the mountain region north of Ankara.'? Hmm, so he has people on other planets too, eh?

(Electron, what exactly was the Waffen-SS's function? My history's a bit rusty).

Wasn't it a wax (crayon) rubbing?

And I believe Donovan said his "engineers unearthed it."

It could have been a crayon, but I thought it looked more like a charcoal stick he was using. Either way, it's a nit.

I thought Donovan said his engineers "unearthed" the tablet.

Actually, from the script....

Donovan: "My engineers unearthed it in the mountain region north of Ankara while excavating for copper. (Beat) Can you translate the inscription?"

It was probably a Conte-type crayon (not Crayola) which is a much smaller and harder type that many artists use. The same thing that Jack used for his drawing of Rose in Titanic that didn't wash off in the seawater.

According to an image at theraider.net Vogel clearly is SS. He has the Totenkopf on his cap, the SS rank insignia on his collar and something that reads "Adolf Hitler" on his sleeve. That means he's a member of an elite unit (Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, the guard of the Führer) of the Waffen-SS (armies of the SS). Fits nicely into the story.

On the topic of the old knight's extreme pallor, I believe the Grail heals all injuries, including lack of vitamin D and starvation. Immortality is useless if you get progressively more injured. I also imagine if the old fellow desired food, the Cruciform Sword members would help him, since they probably also refill the font in there. After all, they have the symbol on his gambeson branded (not tattooed) on their chests, so they probably work for him, at least in theory.
Someone will ask how the old knight was no longer able to use his sword when Indy came into his chambers. I think he really wanted to lose, so he could finally join his brothers. Also, it's possible that he had not had to fight in a long time, and had not practiced, so his skills could have atrophied a great deal. Also also, he was extremely old. The First Crusade was in the late 11th Century, and this took place in the early 20th Century. Even if he is in perfect health, just how tough could a man of around 800 years possibly be?
Finally, I can picture that old man rolling his eyes as Donovan makes his comment about the cup of the King of Kings, then thinking some medieval equivalent of "duh" when Schneider figures out that the Grail is not made of gold.

Some more muffled dialogue: After breaking through the wall into the catacombs in Venice, Indy says something like, 'Petroleum...a natural well down here and we're tired.' ??

And what does Henry say to Donovan after they've been captured, just before '...but I never thought you'd sell your country and your soul to the slime of humanity.' Something about his mother?

I happened to catch the end of the film last night on British TV and it featured a different set of credits. On my VHS we see the quartet riding off into the sunset as the credits start rolling (it doesn't start with the full cast like most films do). Last night's version had a fade a black before the credits began - with the full cast listed first. Anyone else seen this version?

Some more muffled dialogue: After breaking through the wall into the catacombs in Venice, Indy says something like, 'Petroleum...a natural well down here and we're tired.' ?? - Paul Joyce

Petroleum. I could sink a well down here and retire.


And what does Henry say to Donovan after they've been captured, just before '...but I never thought you'd sell your country and your soul to the slime of humanity.' Something about his mother? - Paul Joyce

I misjudged you Walter -- I knew you'd sell your mother for an Etruscan vase. But I didn't know you'd sell your country and your soul to the slime of humanity.


I happened to catch the end of the film last night on British TV and it featured a different set of credits. On my VHS we see the quartet riding off into the sunset as the credits start rolling (it doesn't start with the full cast like most films do). Last night's version had a fade a black before the credits began - with the full cast listed first. Anyone else seen this version? - Paul Joyce

The fade to black was inserted in case stations or networks want to put a commercial between the end of the film and the credits. You'll see similar fade to blacks in other films that didn't originally have them (Star Wars, for instance, fades to black just before the credits begin in the televised version).

Hope that helps...

Paul: I happened to catch the end of the film last night on British TV and it featured a different set of credits. On my VHS we see the quartet riding off into the sunset as the credits start rolling (it doesn't start with the full cast like most films do). Last night's version had a fade a black before the credits began - with the full cast listed first. Anyone else seen this version?

This being the BBC, they've had a policy of reducing the amount spent on closing credits of films for a while now, either by speeding them up or by editing the credits themselves - all in the name of reducing running time for films and and allowing more space in the schedules for the likes of "EastEnders" and "Bargain Hunt". (But I digress.) When "Last Crusade" was last shown on TV they did the usual thing and sped up the closing credits, only it looked silly as Indy, Henry et al. were riding off into the sunset at twice the speed.

There are other numerous examples of this. When they showed "Top Gun" on Friday night you'll have noticed the distinct lack of credit given to the standard crew and simply showed the cast, the acknowledgements (including the names of the fighter pilots who helped out) and a few other minor odds and ends. (Of course, why they did this when the film was being shown in the middle of the night when everyone and their David Dickinson had gone to bed is beyond me. More air time for News 24? ) A more noticeable one was for "Free Willy" whereby a completely different set of closing credits was devised complete with whale footage and Michael Jackson song - only for an obvious cut required at the very end in order to show the MPAA etc. graphics. that appear at the end of the scroll. Of course, in extreme cases they just whallop a big "The End" in case they're really desperate - I remember when they showed "Innerspace" once and they did this...

Paul: And what does Henry say to Donovan after they've been captured, just before '...but I never thought you'd sell your country and your soul to the slime of humanity.' Something about his mother?

Darth: "I misjudged you Walter -- I knew you'd sell your mother for an Etruscan vase. But I didn't know you'd sell your country and your soul to the slime of humanity."

Actually, he said:
"I mishjudged you Walterr -- I knew you'd shell yourr motherr for an Etrrushcan vashe. But I didn't know you'd shell yourr countrry and yourr shoul to the shlime of humanity."

Watched this last night. When Indy drinks from the grail I thought 'That graze on his face better heal, otherwise its a nit'. Sure enough, when Indy heals his father, the graze is gone. Kudos.

When Indy falls through the lettered crazy paving, we see from below that he is hanging from the middle of the paved area. Why? It was the first letter he got wrong. Shouldn't he be hanging at the edge of the crazy paving?

OK, thanks Sven and Darth.

When Indy steps on the 'O' on the aforementioned letter paving, he accidentally breaks the paving stone next to him. The shot then changes and you can just see that that stone is intact again.

Actually, thinking about that first 'translation' Darth, did Henry really say 'vayze' rather than 'vahze'? I've never heard it said that way. No wonder I was confused.

Sven offered the translation, not me.

But it reads to me that Sven thinks he said vahz, not vace.

I don't know whether he'd say "vahs" or "vace". He was just making fun of Connery's burr. It's rratherr notishable, the way he rrollsh hish "r"'sh, and prrounounshesh hish "s"'s as "sh".

Shorry.

Paul, Ankara is the capital of Turkey. You mentioned thinking it was on another planet.

No, I knew Ankara was the Turkish capital, I was just confused by the 'on Earth/unearthed' bit.

The German soldier who gets his head sliced off in the 'gauntlet of death' towards the end looks the same actor playing the guy who was sacrificed in 'Temple.'

In the trials section, there's a couple of bodies lying around, but they don't seem to have been touched by the blades - there's no blood, other extremities missing and so on.
Did they all die of fright and the local soldier (he wasn't german btw) was simply made of stronger stuff?
Also, his body has vanished by the time Indy goes through.

I think they've got a bit confused about the Grail's powers. Catholic tradition has the Grail being 1. the cup at the Last Supper, 2. the cup with which Joseph of Aramathea caught the blood of Christ from his wounds on the cross, or 3. both. Christ's blood indeed heals all illnesses and injuries, as in the Roman centurion Longinus who stabbed him with the Spear - the blood ran down it - and cured his bad eyesight. However, this tradition doesn't mention anything about the Grail extending your lifespan.

(I assume they were thinking of 'He who drinks of this cup shall taste eternal life', but he meant eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven, not on Earth).

The fact that the Grail would be plain and not ornate was also picked up by Bernard Cornwell in his 'Grail Quest' series of books set in the 1300s.

Did anybody else find it strange that the knight could speak English? I would've guessed that would be one of the first nits but perhaps I missed something in the movie. Also, the cup Donovan drank from looked like a cheap, modern one, not one that's been there hundreds of years.

It was mentioned that a Walther P38 9mm has the ability to go through four guys, as it did in the movie, but it does not, unless the Nazis were using bullets and gun powder more advanced than we have today.

When that car was upsidedown on top of the tank, wouldn't it be more plausible that either the shell would simply blow up the car, instead of off, or put a large hole in the bottom while the car remains on the tank?

I felt this movie was sorta ridiculous.

I mean, as soon as Indy & his dad got out of one "tight spot", they quickly fell into another one. The action seems "forced" (or "rushed") instead of "evenly paced" like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was.

When Indy was busting through the wall under the "library" in Venice, it looked like the block next to his head was supposed to break away but didn't, so Harrison hit his head pretty hard on it. Also, are we really supposed to believe that nobody else saw that huge Roman numeral X on the floor.

I'm sure they saw it, but nobody else knew that it was supposed to mean anything.

inblackestnight: Did anybody else find it strange that the knight could speak English?
Luigi Novi: The guy's been there for thousands of years, and the language he's speaking is the first thing that pops out at you?

Luigi, within the context of the movie, the Knight being there for hundreds of years is believable (drinking from the Grail). Speaking in English instead of medieval French, on the other hand...

Well actually, the language thing was a recent realization. In the past what first popped out at me was the fact that he wasn't insane. I wonder if, after drinking from the real Grail, he could drink from the others and be perfectly fine.

My feeling is that his speaking English was not a big stretch for the same reason as his longevity. It seemed as if there were some Divine power keeping there to guard the Grail. That same power transcended language barriers. At least, that's how I saw it.

Speaking of English ,In the Sound of Music, the whole hall singing Julie Andrews' songs knows English!

Even Ben Wright of the SS. Shouldn't they speak German or something? (I know it was made for a US audience)

They're all Swiss, aren't they? Just like any movie that takes place in a non-English speaking country but made for U.S. audiences, you assume that "in reality" they speak their native tongues, but for the audience's sake, it's in English.

Exactly, in Gladiator they are speaking English and we assume that they are really speaking ancent Latan because they are in there time and we are just hearing English beacuse this isn't The Passion of the Christ.

However when the guy is talking to modern people and from 500 years ago than I wonder.

I mentioned it because the entire movie was not in English, unlike Gladiator. The Hunt for Red October started in Russian but made an obvious shift with the political officer. The knight could've at least had an accent and spoke broken English.

Or given that Indy speaks dozens of languages he probably could have talked to him with subtitles, but than we would have missed the great joke/understatement with "he chose poorly" as the knight's matter of fact way of saying it sells the joke.

NANJAO: What exactly prevented Elsa (or anyone) from tossing the Grail over to someone standing beyond the seal? I know it's the whole 'I want to possess this power and keep it to myself' thing but it's just an idle thought I had while rewatching this. I suppose that if we can accept the Grail granting immortality and keeping the old knight healthy for centuries, a Raiders-style wraith-o-god moment if someone tried that wouldn't be too hard to swallow. Actually, that would be a fun scene. Indy manages to reach the Grail, then as he walks out the door he gets tesla-zapped and a voice booms out from above saying 'Nice try'. Hmm, wonder what happens to the poor old Knight after this. He reminds me so much of a professor I once had (he even intoned the 'He chose poorly' line, accent perfect, whenever a student screwed up).

I think that the Knight said the powers of the grail only worked inside the temple, that if you crossed the great seal, it'd stop. That is the price of immortality.

or something like that.

Nits:

Vogel would have missed the Jones on the airship had Henry not been reading the London Times
Henry Jones is reading the newspaper upside down on the airship. (assuming that the German newspaper's name is listed at the top of the 1st page like they are in the U.S.

The real reason the airship turned around was because they forgot Henry's umbrella
Indiana tosses Vogel into a pile of luggage that remains on the ground while the airship lifts off... Hopefully no one needed a change of underwear..

From the: "This sundial works on electric lights department..."
The Jones are initially seated at the window seat, thus making it easy for the Ticket Master to toss Vogel overboard. However, once they talk about what's in the diary, they're seated in the raised center section of the seating/table area . I suppose they could switch tables... however, where they are seated (the raised center section) shouldn't allow Indiana to see the shadow changing like it did. They're not by any window and are actually above it (well most of it anyway)

I thought the Knight's line the great seal being the boundary and the price of eternal life was because if you took it past the seal the whole place would break down and kill you. Hence if you want to keep drinking from the grail and living forever you must stay there since you can't take it with you.

NANJAO: The temple inside the Canyon of the Crescent Moon is none other than "Petra"

BEST COMEDY MOMENT:

The "No ticket" scene

Later referenced by filmmaker Kevin Smith, and his character, Silent Bob, in the movie Dogma.

the Knight speaks turn of the century cultured English....

How Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Should Have Ended:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvQwn1hyS6s

Doody is great, and it's very nice that she's not portrayed as actually evil, just using the Nazis to get to the Grail. "All I need to do is scream" is a perfectly-judged little character moment.

She was evil enough to leave the Jones boys to certain death.

And Indy still tried to save her. It was her own greed that did her in.

To be fair, she was wearing slippery gloves.

As for Count Scarlioni -- i mean, Walter Donovan, he's supposed to be smart but doesn't know that Jesus was a simple carpenter's son?