Faced with the intense criticism of the darker prequel to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, Steven Spielberg felt he had to apologise for creating something that was a little dark for children who enjoyed RAIDERS.
The result? INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE.
After recovering a rare cross that had been eluding him since a trip to Utah in 1912 (in an opening sequence in which a younger Indy is played by the late River Phoenix, brother of Joaquin (JOKER)), Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is approached by Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) to seek the whereabouts of the Holy Grail.
Clues appear to be in a diary mailed to him by his father, Henry (Sean Connery) and the trail initially leads him to Venice, where he discovers a key clue, before travelling to Austria where he teams up with Henry, only for them to find themselves amidst Nazi opposition in the heart of the movement forward.
It soon becomes a race against time to discover the Grail – and some powerful forces and gains await…
Whilst not as good as the original film, THE LAST CRUSADE is a passable third film in the series, thanks in part to Connery’s brilliant performance as Henry (his revelation with Indy about a key character’s habits remains one of the funniest exchanges in the series overall), but it carries through with all the style of action that the original film did in abundance. Ford had grown into the role by then and was nurtured through the enjoyment by Spielberg, who would then direct a fourth outing with Ford in 2008, THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL.