Can Indiana Jones still cut it?

This is the week that we have been waiting for more than 18 years.
Indiana Jones is back.
This time the whip-cracking archaeologist is somewhat older – but will he still have what it takes? Well, we’ll find out when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal hits the big screen tomorrow.

I’m a big fan of the man in the fedora.
The original films that make up the trilogy were genre beating in their own right.
Out of the three, the first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is the best, while the following two are a very close joint second.
For my money, Raiders was played perfectly, with just the right hint of humour, while there are sequences in the following two that are overtly comedic.
The following two, fantastic as they are, never quite hit the heights of the original.
I must admit, when Harrison Ford initially said the Last Crusade would be his final appearance as Indiana Jones, and the 18 years that followed, I thought the part should be given to another actor. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had already referred to Indy as an American James Bond. If that were the case, then surely it wouldn’t be beyond the realms to follow the James Bond principle and replace the leading man periodically.
And although time has passed in the films, with Crystal Skull set in the ‘50s, you have to wonder now whether 65 year old Ford can still cut it.
Rekindling some of the magic of Raiders, leading lady Karen Allen returns as Marion Ravenwood, while she is joined by a bevy of Brits, such as Ray Winstone, John Hurt and Jim Broadbent.
Despite my reservations, a trip to the cinema at some stage this weekend is definitely on the cards.

Are you planning to be one of the first in the queue for the new Indy film? Leave your review on the Movie Club in the comment box below.

Interesting Indy facts:
· Tom Selleck was the original choice to play Indy. However, he was tied into a contract to make Magnum PI.
· George Lucas was reluctant to offer Harrison Ford the part in case Ford became directly 

· Harrison Ford worked as a carpenter while trying to break into acting. He was working in George Lucas’s offices when Lucas asked him to audition for the role of Han Solo.
· Indiana Jones 2 (The Temple of Doom) is actually a prequel to Raiders as it is set in 1935 – one year before Indy’s search for the Ark.
· Indiana Jones was actually Indiana Smith until the first day of shooting.
· The famous scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where Indy shoots the man dramatically wielding a scimitar was improvised by Harrison Ford.
· Sean Connery, who played Indy's father in The Last Crusade, is only 12 years older than Harrison Ford.
· Renowned British wrestler and Auf Wiedersehen Pet star Pat Roach was killed twice in Raiders of the Lost Ark (as a Sherpa in the bar fight and as the Nazi pugilist who meets the wrong end of a propeller) and is pushed into a rock crusher in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
· Harrison Ford got his distinctive chin scar in a car crash in his 20s.
· R2-D2 and C3PO, the robots from Star Wars, can be seen in the hieroglyphics in the Well of Souls in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
· The "chilled monkey-brains" in Temple of Doom were actually made from custard and raspberry sauce.
· Steven Spielberg and George Lucas play missionaries in the airport at the start of Temple of Doom.
· Indiana Jones' horse in The Last Crusade was also John Rambo's horse in Rambo III.

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