So, it didn't hit me when I first saw Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (in a theater) how significant this scene was. An awful lot (as per Steven Spielberg action movies) had happened. There'd been a lot of bickering between father and son with some teasing of reconciliation that usually fell back into bickering. It became a trope, a trademark, in order to keep up the pretense. I started to ignore it.
It was years before the importance here struck me. For the entire movie, Indy's father had been insisting on calling his son "Junior"—he is, after all, Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.—to the point of irritation ("we called the dog "Indiana!"). But, it's only here—to snap back his son's distracted, obsessive attention—that Professor Jones calls him what everybody else in the world calls him—his nickname, "Indiana".
Now, Indy's father had been pursuing the Grail his entire life...to the point of being an absent-minded father and ignorant of his late wife's illness. And here he is, watching his son risk his own life for the very thing that made a mess of his own. And he puts aside his ego, his life's work, his rather dismissive view of "Junior", he puts aside everything...to save his son. That is a pretty significant character moment and done in about 30 seconds.
And, of course, there's the back-story of why Sean Connery plays Indiana Jones' father. Director Spielberg was vacationing in Hawaii with George Lucas—the eventual producer of the "Indy" films—right after Lucas' Star Wars had opened. Lucas (who was not fond of directing) asked Spielberg if there was some kind of movie he really wanted to make. Spielberg admitted he'd always wanted to direct a James Bond film (and had pursued directing The Spy Who Loved Me only to be rebuffed by Bond producer Albert Broccoli).*
Lucas replied "I have something better than Bond!" that being Indiana Jones, which he'd been developing with Philip Kaufman. And, of course, Spielberg said "yes" and finished developing the project. So when the time came to cast the father of Indiana Jones? Who better than Sean Connery, the original film James Bond. It's a great story and Ford and Connery made a great team.
One last thought. Has it occurred to anybody that the Indiana Jones series is all about loss?
The Set-Up: The quest for the Holy Grail, the chalice Jesus Christ used at The Last Supper, has been a life-long obsession for Professor Henry Jones (Sean Connery), but now, in 1944, he has gone missing and his son, Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. (Harrison Ford) must retrace his father's steps to find him. At the end of the adventure, the two men, father and son—and not always on the best of terms—have found the grail. But, the circumstances are dire. And some generational divides, wider than chasms, need to be crossed.
Action.
Indy looks down into the black bottomless pit beneath him
from which nothing can ever be retrieved.
Words by Jeffrey Boam, George Lucas and Menno Meyjes
Pictures by Douglas Slocombe and Steven Spielberg
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is available on DVD, Blu-Ray and 4KUHD from Paramount Home Video.
* So, hey, how come no one's asked Spielberg to do the first Amazon Bond film? Seems like an obvious idea to me!
