Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
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| Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom | |
|---|---|
| Image:Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom PosterB.jpg | |
| Directed by | Steven Spielberg |
| Produced by | Robert Watts |
| Written by | George Lucas (story) Willard Huyck Gloria Katz |
| Starring | Harrison Ford Kate Capshaw Ke Huy Quan Amrish Puri |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Editing by | Michael Kahn |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 23, 1984 |
| Running time | 118 min. |
| Country | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $28,000,000 |
| Preceded by | Raiders of the Lost Ark |
| Followed by | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. Released on May 23, 1984, it is a prequel to the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Like Raiders, it starred Harrison Ford as Jones, and was based on an original story by George Lucas. Many members of the original crew returned, including cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, editor Michael Kahn and composer John Williams. New additions to the main cast included actress Kate Capshaw, who played the role of Wilhelmina 'Willie' Scott (Jones' second female lead following Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood, in Raiders of the Lost Ark), and Jonathan Ke Quan as Jones' 11 year old sidekick Short Round. It won an Academy Award for Visual Effects.
Featuring themes of child slavery, and destructive cult rituals, the film is darker in tone than its predecessor. The original story was intended to be a horror movie as well as a remake with elements of Gunga Din (1939). The original title was "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Death."
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[edit] Plot
Set in 1935, a year before Raiders of the Lost Ark, the film opens with Indiana Jones in a Shanghai nightclub named Club Obi-Wan, attempting to trade the remains of Nurhaci for a large diamond with a gangster named Lao Che. When the deal goes bad and Indy's friend Wu Han is killed in the ensuing violence, Indy and the club's singer, Wilhelmina "Willie" Scott, escape the pursuing criminals in a car driven by a young boy named Short Round, an ally of Indy. They board a cargo plane, not knowing that it is owned by Lao Che. As Indy, Willie, and Short Round nap during the flight, the pilots dump the fuel and parachute out of the plane. Indy and the others use an inflatable emergency raft to descend safely from the plane.
After a dangerous ride down the Himalayan mountains and a raging river, the trio eventually come to a desolate village in India. The poor villagers there enlist their help in retrieving a sacred stone, the Sankara Stone or Siva lingam stone, as well as the community's kidnapped children, from the evil forces of nearby Pankot Palace.
Initially, Pankot Palace seems normal enough, despite the grotesque food it offers its guests; the royal tenants are insulted by Indiana's questions about the villagers' claims. Later that night, however, Indy is attacked in his room by a would-be assassin, which leads him to seek and find a secret door. He, Willie, and Short Round make their way through the secret passage and discover a vast underground temple beneath the palace, where the village rock and two more are held by the Thuggee. An evil cult who worship the goddess Kali with human sacrifice, the Thuggee have enslaved the village's children to dig for two remaining Sankara stones that are lost within the mines of the palace. Their villainous leader Mola Ram hopes to use the power of the five united Sankara stones to rule the world. During the revelation, the protagonists witness a gruesome sacrifice ritual where Mola Ram bare-handedly digs a man's heart out of his chest; the man survives, his heart beating in Mola Ram's hand, until he is lowered slowly into a lava pit.
Indy, Willie, and Short Round are captured by the Thuggee and separated. Indy sides with the Thuggee after being forced to drink the "blood of Kali Ma", a mind-control potion which puts the drinker into the "black sleep of Kali". Willie is kept as a human sacrifice, and Short Round is put in the mines alongside the village children as a slave laborer. However, Short Round breaks his bonds and escapes back into the temple, where Willie is being lowered into a lava pit. He helps Indy return to his normal self by using a torch to shock him from his trance. Although Mola Ram escapes through a trap door, Indy and Short Round manage to save Willie, take the three Sankara Stones, and free the village children. In the fight to escape the palace, the three jump into a mine car and are closely pursued by two Thuggee-filled cars. Indy knocks the first car off the tracks with a board, but the second catches up to them. In the struggle, Short Round nearly falls into lava and a Thuggee jumps onto the back of their car. Willie delivers an unexpected punch that knocks the Thuggee back onto the track, whereupon the other car crashes into his body and derails.
Meanwhile, Mola Ram and others break the supports of a giant water reservoir, pouring the contents down the tunnels in an attempt to drown the three heroes. After Indy stops their mine car, they avoid the rushing water by running outside, only to find themselves stuck at the top of a sheer canyon. They try to cross a rope bridge but are trapped with the Thuggee on both sides. Taking a desperate gamble, Indy utters a warning in Chinese to his friends to brace themselves. He then uses a sword to cut the bridge in half, sending many of the Thuggee plummeting into the crocodile-infested river below.
Mola Ram and a few of his minions manage to cling to the heroes' side of the bridge. He fights with Indy for the stones; Indy invokes the stones' magic and causes Mola Ram and all but one of the stones to fall into the river, where the nefarious priest is ripped apart and devoured by crocodiles. At that moment, British troops appear to subdue the remaining Thuggee. The heroes triumphantly return to the village with their sacred stone and their children.
[edit] Production
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas aimed to make the sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark much darker, due to their personal moods following their break-up and divorce respectively. Lucas made the film a prequel as he didn't want the Nazis to be the villains once more, and had ideas regarding the Monkey King and a haunted castle, but wound up creating the Sankara Stones.[1] He hired Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz to write the script as he knew of their interest in Indian culture.[2] The major scenes that were dropped from Raiders of the Lost Ark were included in this film: an escape using a giant rolling gong as a shield, a fall out of a plane in a raft, and a mine cart chase.[3]
Shooting began in Sri Lanka, with Kandy used for the village set.[2] Harrison Ford hurt his back riding elephants, so stuntman Vic Armstrong spent five weeks as a stand-in for various shots.[1] Production was primarily based at Elstree Studios, occupying eight out of nine soundstages as well as using the last one as a workshop. A second unit spent six days shooting elements of the Shanghai car chase in Macau[2] and producer Frank Marshall directed another second unit in Florida, using alligators to double as marsh crocodiles.[1] Additional shooting of the Mammoth Mountain and Tuolumne River were also done for elements of the raft scene. Ford again suffered back pains during the Elstree shoot and was admitted to a hospital in Los Angeles. Nonetheless, Spielberg completed the film five days short of the eighty-five day schedule and within the $28 million budget.[2]
Spielberg and Lucas wanted to continue to use the presence of "creepy crawlers" in the series. So, after the work with thousands of snakes in the previous film, this time, they went for bugs. Many large exotic (and harmless) bugs and worms were used in the catacombe sequence.
[edit] Cast
| Actor/Actress | Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Harrison Ford | Indiana Jones |
| Kate Capshaw | Wilhelmina 'Willie' Scott |
| Jonathan Ke Quan | Short Round (as Ke Huy Quan) |
| Raj Singh | Little Maharajah |
| Amrish Puri | Mola Ram |
| Roshan Seth | Chattar Lal |
| Philip Stone | Captain Blumburtt |
| Roy Chiao | Lao Che |
| David Yip | Wu Han |
| Ric Young | Kao Kan |
| Chua Kah Joo | Chen |
| Rex Ngui | Maitre d' |
| Philip Tan | Chief Henchman (as Philip Tann) |
| Dan Aykroyd | Art Weber, airport official |
| Dr. Akio Mitamura | Chinese Pilot (as Akio Mitamura) |
| Michael Yama | Chinese Co-Pilot |
| D.R. Nanayakkara | Shaman |
| Dharmadasa Kuruppu | Chieftain |
| Stany De Silva | Sajnu, Indy's guide to Pankot |
Stunt actor Pat Roach — who appeared in two roles as large, muscular henchmen who fights Indy in Raiders of the Lost Ark — also appeared thrice in this film: first as the man banging the gong in Club Obi Wan, then the assassin in Jones's room and again as the slavemaster in the mines. Besides Ford, he is the only cast member to return for the second film. He also had a cameo appearance in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
[edit] Release
Temple of Doom made $179,870,271 ($30 million less than Raiders) when it was released theatrically in the United States in 1984, making it the third biggest hit of 1984 (next to Ghostbusters and Beverly Hills Cop).[4] The movie received mixed reviews from critics. Those who spoke positively of it include Roger Ebert, who believed the film was "... one of the greatest Bruised Forearm Movies ever made."[5]
The film was released on VHS several times in the 1980s and 1990s and then on DVD in October 2003. It was packaged with the previous and later films in the series; however, the Region 2 version of the film was heavily censored. Noticeably, the main scene that was cut for the UK release was a close up of the removal of an unfortunate victim's heart at the ceremony which was too graphic for a PG rating. The music tends to jump in-between scenes that were trimmed. Also Mola Ram's line "Soon, Kali Ma will rule the world..." has been cut during the scene where Indy is forced to drink the blood of Kali.
[edit] Reaction
Some fairly gruesome scenes in Temple of Doom, as well as, to a lesser extent, other PG-rated films of the time such as Gremlins caused a significant public outcry. Spielberg spoke to the MPAA about creating a new rating that would cover the middle ground between a clear PG and a clear R that his films often found themselves on. This led to the creation of a new rating category: PG-13.[6] (See: History of the MPAA film rating system)
The film's depiction of Indians caused some controversy in India, and brought it to the attention of the country's censors who placed a temporary ban on it.[7]
The film won an Academy Award for Visual Effects. Indeed, both Lucas and Spielberg have stated that Temple of Doom was focused on effects to a higher degree than either Raiders of the Lost Ark or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
[edit] Marketing
[edit] Soundtrack
| Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||
|---|---|---|
| <imagemap>
Image:Nocover-upload.png |
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| Soundtrack by John Williams | ||
| Length | 40:13 | |
| Label | Polydor | |
The soundtrack album is currently out of print and is no longer available. Due to the short nature of the soundtrack (approximately 40 minutes), numerous cues from the film were cut. An unofficial remixed album was released with the original 11 songs and remixed songs. After the production of the extended Raiders of the Lost Ark soundtrack, there was some hope that the future might hold a more complete release of the Temple of Doom score. As of 2007, this has not come to fruition.
- "Anything Goes" (sung in Mandarin by Kate Capshaw)
- "Fast Streets Of Shanghai"
- "Nocturnal Activities"
- "Short Round's Theme"
- "Children In Chains"
- "Slalom On Mt. Humol"
- "The Temple Of Doom"
- "Bug Tunnel And Death Trap"
- "Slave Children's Crusade"
- "The Mine Car Chase"
- "Finale And End Credits"
[edit] Video games
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ a b c "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", Empire, 2006-09-29, pp. 86-92.
- ^ a b c d Marcus Hearn (2005). The Cinema of George Lucas. New York City: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 144-7. ISBN 0-8109-4968-7.
- ^ (2003). Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy (DVD). Paramount Pictures.
- ^ 1984 Yearly Box Office Results. BoxOfficeMojo.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (1984). Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (review). Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ Breznican, Anthony (2004-08-24). PG-13 remade Hollywood ratings system. Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
- ^ Gogoi, Pallavi (2006-11-05). Banned Films Around the World: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. BusinessWeek.
[edit] External links
- Temple of Doom at IndianaJones.com
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at the Internet Movie Database
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at Rotten Tomatoes
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at Box Office Mojo
- Temple of Doom at The Indiana Jones Wiki
Films directed by Steven Spielberg |
|---|
Duel (1971) · The Sugarland Express (1974) · Jaws (1975) · Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) · 1941 (1979) · Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) · E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) · Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) · Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) · The Color Purple (1985) · Empire of the Sun (1987) · Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) · Always (1989) · Hook (1991) · Jurassic Park (1993) · Schindler's List (1993) · The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) · Amistad (1997) · Saving Private Ryan (1998) · Artificial Intelligence: A.I. (2001) · Minority Report (2002) · Catch Me if You Can (2002) · The Terminal (2004) · War of the Worlds (2005) · Munich (2005) · Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) · Untitled Abraham Lincoln biopic (TBA) · Interstellar (TBA) · Tintin (TBA) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (TBA) |
George Lucas productions |
|---|
| The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) • More American Graffiti (1979) • Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) • Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) • Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) • Twice Upon a Time (1983) • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) • Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984) • Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985) • Star Wars: Droids (1985) • Star Wars: Ewoks (1985) • Howard the Duck (1986) • Labyrinth (1986) • Star Tours (1987) • The Land Before Time (1988) • Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) • Willow (1988) • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) • The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992–1996) • Radioland Murders (1994) • Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003–2005) • Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) • Red Tails (2008) • Star Wars live-action TV series (2009) |
| See also Films directed by George Lucas |
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