INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1989)

Credited only as Exec Producer on the next INDIANA JONES film* (DIAL OF DESTINY/’23, currently in post-production), it still makes for Steven Spielberg’s seventh INDY pic in and out of the franchise.  (Officially preceded by RAIDERS/’81; TEMPLE OF DOOM/’84; CRUSADE/’89; KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL/’08’; and unofficially by YA Indy: THE GOONIES/’85 et L’Indy Français dans LES AVENTURES DE TINTIN/’11.)  And while the verdict is out on DESTINY, the only one so far worthy of standing alongside RAIDERS is this third installment, the one with the inspired addition of Sean Connery playing Dad to Harrison Ford’s ‘Junior.’  A brief, telling intro by main creators Spielberg & George Lucas gives full credit to the former not only for adding a dad to the mix, but also for insisting on Connery.  Spielberg retaining his lock on the popular Zeitgeist; Lucas already losing touch by the late '80s.  Cleverly plotted, with a witty prologue for the perfectly cast River Phoenix as Young Indy to run thru a series of character defining incidents before the main story leads to a search for Pop Connery, gone missing while on the hunt for The Holy Grail.  Alison Doody is a bit off-key as the femme fatale, but everyone else right in the spirit of things.  No one more so than cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, back three years post-retirement for one last shoot.  (Though it's unlikely he was responsible for one of the greatest magic tricks in all cinema when a third riddle is made visually tactile on screen, reducing the audience to a sense of simple childlike wonder.)  Stupendous entertainment.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *Note that while Spielberg has moved on from full involvement, 90-yr-old John Williams, who passed on the later HARRY POTTER films, still listed as sole composer.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  *Worst of the lot: TEMPLE OF DOOM.   Think of it as a learning experience.  (As it surely was for Spielberg & Lucas.)  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2009/09/indiana-jones-and-temple-of-doom-1984.html  OR: Type INDIANA JONES in the Search Box (Main Site/top-left) and see what comes up.