On Mondays, I review chronologically the weekend releases of films beginning with the week that I was born in May 1984. I figure it’s a really thorough way to both see and review all of the major commercial films that have come out in my lifetime. Beginning this series is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. which was released on my birthday, May 23, 1984. Leading box office returns for Memorial Day weekend of 1984, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom grossed almost $34 million its opening weekend. Shot on a budget of $28.2 million (when Spielberg still had to shoot conservatively after the flop of “1941”, The Temple of Doom would go on to $333 million. Even though the film is the 4th most financially successful Indiana Jones film, when ticket prices are adjusted, it’s still on the list of the top 100 domestic grosses ever.
I don’t think you could make The Temple of Doom today. The film’s depiction of women through “Willie” (Kate Capshaw, Spielberg’s wife to be) as whiny screaming brats is downright misogynist. Add to this the film’s stereotypical depiction of India’s country and people and you’ve got a relic of world views that have become outdated. If you view Temple of Doom through the lens of the 1980’s, it’s almost certainly one of the best action films ever made. (It also makes it even more confusing why the film was referenced in my childhood favorite, The Muppet Babies. Temple of Doom is also literally the first film I saw in my life. My parents went to the drive-in to see the film a couple of days after I was born.)
When you learn that Spielberg and Lucas were both combatting depression brought on by divorces while directing the film, it becomes more understandable why (a) women in the film are depicted annoying and responsible for nothing but trouble and (b) the film shows a person’s heart being pulled out through their chest. At least, that’s the lens through which I like to view the film. Watching the film is a bit like going up a hill in one of the film’s minecarts, it takes a bit to get to the climax but once you get there, the film is a non-stop thrill. The film’s also a great sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark. While Temple of Doom follows in the same tone as the first Indiana Jones film, it works in a different way and borrows from different legends.
Everybody who knows about the origins of Indiana Jones was based on serial films from the 1940’s. (More precisely, Indy’s look was based on Secret of the Incas with Charlton Heston who wore exactly the same thing). A lot of the plot events in all four of the Indy films are based on an epic spitball session between Spielberg, Lucas, and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, Empire Strikes Back) that occurred before Raiders was written. The exact plot of the films, however, have changed. Raiders played like the Bob Hope / Bing Crosby “Road to..” series with Indy traveling across the globe as he chased the holy relic.
Temple of Doom, though, plays like a James Bond film in which the hero gets trapped somewhere and must escape a secret lair. Like all impregnable fortresses, no one has ever escaped the Temple of Doom and it’s run by a deranged bad guy who has uncanny strength. And as all heros do in these plots, Indy must enter the fortress, steal the Macguffin, kill the bad guy, and restore peace to the universe. I live in a confusing era where I was aware of Temple of Doom before its precursors, which means while I know this film is a retread of this plot, I don’t view it as unoriginal.
But, let’s revisit the plot in case you haven’t seen this film. Indy is in a Shanghai nightclub when his dinner turns into an action sequence from which he must escape. Along the way, Indy picks up Willie, the nightclub singer, and lands in the cab of Short Round (Jonathan Ke Quan). There’s a plane crash, an epic sled scene down the Himalayas, and a whitewater rafting scene. The three end up in a village in Indiana that has lost its magical stone as well as all of its children. Indy and company agree to retrieve the stone so they visit the palace of the big bad guy. There’s the chilled monkey brains dinner scene. The only slow spot in the film occurs at this point, where Indy and Willie debate consumating things but end up in a secret passageway.
The three friends come across the chain gangs and evil leader who uses the power of jewels to brainwash the slaves into staying. Indy tries to steal the stone. A slave is sacrificed by having his heart ripped out and dipped into lava. (And really, if you haven’t seen this sequence, you need to. It’s one of the most memorable deaths and visuals in all of 1980’s filmmaking and the special effects still largely hold up today.) There’s also the equally memorable runaway minecart scene, which is another glued-to-your-seat scene the first time you see it. From there, the film gets crazier and more frantic until it reaches its inevitable conclusion.
As a kid, it bothered me a lot that you never see Willie or Short Round after this film, but I have no problem with that decision today. There’s no great monologues here, nothing that reaches into your soul, there’s not much to make you laugh, and when it’s all said and done, it all feels a bit superfluous, but that’s okay. As far as popcorn films go, Temple of Doom is hard to beat. The chills and thrills and adventures the story offers as well as the decent special effects and the Spielberg/Lucas tag pretty much guaranteed this film was going to be successful.
Score
How was this a blockbuster?
Weird this became a blockbuster
I can see why this is a blockbuster
This is pretty good blockbuster material
X – This is one of the best blockbusters ever made
What I learned: There are plenty of human sacrifice scenes, but this one is particularly frightening. I think because (a) it’s drawn out and (b) it utilizes the technique that the man who has his heart ripped out knows what’s going to happen and Mola Ram knows what’s going to happen but we have no idea. The response that both of the men have, though, lets us know that something horrible will happen. We just don’t know what.
The 22nd Row 