Indiana Jones Profile
This article is about the fictional character. For the media franchise, see Indiana Jones franchise.
Indiana Jones character
Dr. Henry "Indiana" Walton Jones, Jr.
First appearance Raiders of the Lost Ark
Portrayed by Harrison Ford (Ages 36-58) River Phoenix (Age 13) Corey Carrier (Ages 8-10) Sean Patrick Flanery (Ages 16-23) George Hall (Age 93)
Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. is a fictional professor of archaeology, adventurer, and the main protagonist of the 1981 adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark, its prequel (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), and sequels (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). Jones is notable for his trademark bullwhip, fedora, leather jacket, and fear of snakes. The character is most famously played by Harrison Ford; however, he has also been portrayed by River Phoenix (as the young Indy in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), and in the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles by Corey Carrier, Sean Patrick Flanery, and George Hall. Doug Lee has supplied Indy's voice to two LucasArts video games, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, while David Esch supplied Indy's voice to Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. In addition to his film and television appearances, the character has been featured in novels, comics, video games, and other media. The fourth theatrical film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, is currently in post production and scheduled for international simultaneous release on Thursday, May 22, 2008.
Contents
1 Appearances
1.1 Feature films 1.2 Television 1.3 Video games
2 Concept and creation
2.1 Costume and equipment 2.2 Casting 2.3 Models
3 Characterization 4 Influence on popular culture 5 References 6 External links
Appearances
Main article: List of Indiana Jones appearances
Since his introduction in 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark (later retitled on VHS and DVD box covers as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark), he has made appearances in two more feature films, a three-season TV series, dozens of novels, comic books, video games, role-playing games, and even his own amusement park rides.
Feature films Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford, was first introduced in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, set in 1936. He is portrayed as an adventurous throwback to the 1930s film serial treasure hunters, with an alter ego of Doctor Jones, a respected archaeologist at a New England college. In this first adventure, he is pitted against the Nazis, traveling the world to prevent them from recovering the Ark of the Covenant (see also Biblical archaeology). The Nazis are led by Indy's arch rival, a French archaeologist named Belloq. The 1984 prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, set in 1935, took the character into a more horror-oriented story, skipping his legitimate teaching job and globe trotting, and taking place almost entirely in India. This time, Jones attempts to recover children from a bloodthirsty cult. The third film, 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, set in 1938, returned to the formula of the original, reintroducing characters such as Sallah and Marcus Brody, a scene from Professor Jones' classroom, the globe trotting element of multiple locations, and the return of the infamous Nazi mystics, this time trying to find the Holy Grail. The film's introduction, set in 1912, provided some back story to the character's fear of snakes, the scar on his chin (from the bullwhip incident in the lion car of a train) and his trademark fedora. The title is ironically fitting as, although Lucas intended at the time to do five films, this ended up being his "last crusade" for over 18 years, until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Television From 1992 to 1996, George Lucas executive produced a television series named The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles designed as an educational program for children, spotlighting historical figures and important events, using the concept of a prequel to the films as a draw. The show featured a standard formula of a 93-year-old Jones (George Hall) introducing a story, and then an adventure with either a 17-year-old Jones (Sean Patrick Flanery) or a 10-year-old Jones (Corey Carrier). Historical figures featured on the show include Leo Tolstoy, Pancho Villa, Charles de Gaulle, and John Ford, in such diverse locations as Egypt, Austria-Hungary, India, China, and the whole of Europe. One episode, Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues, features an introduction by Harrison Ford, reprising his role as Indiana Jones. The show provided some back story for the films. His relationship with his father, first introduced in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, was further fleshed out with stories about his travels with his father as a young boy, and his activities during World War I were shown. In 1999 George Lucas removed the episode introductions and epilogues by George Hall when he released a VHS collection of the series.
Video games The character has appeared in several officially licensed video games, beginning with adaptations of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and two adaptations of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - one action oriented, one with a more overt adventure bias. Following this, the games branched off into original storylines with Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, and Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, which sets up Indy's companion Wu Han and the search for Nurhaci's ashes seen at the beginning of Temple of Doom. The first two games were developed by Hal Barwood and starred Doug Lee as the voice of Indiana Jones, while Emperor's Tomb had David Esch fill the role. There is also a small game from Lucas Arts Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures. A new Indiana Jones video game is in development by LucasArts, and is expected to coincide with the release of the upcoming fourth film. Another game, Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is scheduled for Summer 2008.
Concept and creation Indiana Jones is modeled after the strong-jawed heroes of the matinée serials and pulp magazines that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg enjoyed in their childhoods (such as the Republic Pictures serials, and the Doc Savage series). The two friends first discussed the project in Hawaii around the time of the release of the first Star Wars film. The character was originally named Indiana Smith, after an Alaskan malamute Lucas owned in the 1970s ("Indiana"); however, Spielberg disliked the name "Smith", and Lucas casually suggested "Jones" as an alternative.
Costume and equipment The general appearance for the character of Indiana Jones was chosen before anyone was even cast. He was envisioned as an amalgam of several characters — most notably treasure hunter Fred C. Dobbs (as played by Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre), and adventurer Harry Steele (as played by Charlton Heston in Secret of the Incas). Upon requests by Spielberg and Lucas, the costume designer gave the character a distinctive silhouette through the styling of the hat; after examining many hats, the designers chose a tall-crowned, wide-brimmed fedora. The hat became so iconic that the filmmakers could only come up with very good reasons or jokes to remove it. If it ever fell off during a take, filming would have to stop to put it back on. In jest, Ford put a stapler against his head when a documentary crew visited during shooting of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This created the urban legend that Ford stapled the hat to his head. Although other hats were also used throughout the movies, the general style and profile remained the same. Other elements of the outfit include:
The fedora - made by Herbert Johnson hatters in England for the first three films The leather jacket — a hybrid of the "Type 440" and the A-2 jacket, made by Wested Leather Co. The bag — a modified Mark VII British gas mask bag The whip — a 10-foot bullwhip crafted by David Morgan (although different lengths were used in specific stunts) The pistol — usually a World War I-era revolver, examples include the Webley Mk VI (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), or a .45 ACP Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector 2nd model revolver (Raiders of the Lost Ark). He has also been seen using a M1917 revolver, and a 9mm Browning Hi-Power. The shoes — "Indy Boots" made by Alden Shoes, which are still sold today (though in a lighter shade of brown than seen in the movies)
Jones's fedora and leather jacket (as used in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) are on display at the Smithsonian's American History Museum in Washington, D.C.
Casting Originally, Spielberg suggested Harrison Ford; Lucas resisted the idea, since he had already cast the actor in three of his movies (American Graffiti, Star Wars, and its sequel The Empire Strikes Back), and did not want Ford to become known as his "Bobby De Niro" (in reference to the fact that fellow director Martin Scorsese regularly cast Robert De Niro in his films). However, CBS refused to release Selleck from his contractual commitment to Magnum, P.I. (which was gradually gaining momentum in the ratings), forcing him to turn down the role.
Models Many people are said to be the real-life inspiration of the Indiana Jones character — although it should be noted that none of the following have been confirmed as inspirations by Lucas or Spielberg. In alphabetical order by last name:
Paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews. Italian archaeologist and circus strongman Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778–1823). Yale University professor, historian, and explorer Hiram Bingham III, who rediscovered and excavated the lost city of Machu Picchu, The University of Chicago archaeologist Robert Braidwood. Religious archaeologist Vendyl Jones once claimed that he was the inspiration, citing his names (he notes that his first name trimmed becomes Endy — very similar to Indy), but this claim has reportedly been denied by Spielberg.
Characterization In his guise as a college professor, Henry Jones Junior is an average joe, who can also rise to the occasion in the guise of "Indiana", a superhero image he has concocted for himself. Like many characters in his films, Jones has some autobiographical elements of Spielberg. Indiana lacks a proper father figure because of his strained relationship with his father, Henry Senior (played by Sean Connery). His own contained anger is misdirected at the likes of Professor Abner Ravenwood, his mentor at the University of Chicago, leading to a strained relationship with his daughter, Marion Ravenwood (played by Karen Allen in Raiders of the Lost Ark). Douglas Brode argued that because of Indiana's strained relationship with his father, a Christian searching for the Holy Grail, the character rejects the spiritual side of the profession he has followed in. The inconsistency of the three films is that after becoming a believer in Judaism (in Raiders), Hinduism (in Doom) and Christianity (Crusade), Indiana reverts back in the next film.
Influence on popular culture Whilst himself arguably a pastiche of various prior adventurers, the character can also be seen as a forerunner to (or in some cases direct influence on) other more recent fictional adventurers of a similar nature. These include:
Lara Croft, the self-styled archaeologist of the Tomb Raider franchise Ben Gates, a cryptologist featured in the 2004 film National Treasure and its 2007 sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets Rick O'Connell, an adventurer and treasure-hunter seen in the 1999 film The Mummy and The Mummy Returns The latter-day adventures of Dirk Pitt, Special Projects Director of NUMA (the National Underwater and Marine Agency) Sydney Fox, a female archaeologist and martial arts expert, protagonist of the television series Relic Hunter Malcolm Reynolds, spaceship captain in television series Firefly and its feature film continuation Serenity (Nathan Fillion tried to copy Harrison Ford's mannerisms)
References
^ The character's full name is stated in the Corey Carrier narration of the feature-length episode My First Adventure from the The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.
External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones at the Internet Movie Database IndianaJones.com — the official Indiana Jones site TheRaider.net — a major fan site of the series IndyGear.com — site that has researched the outfit/costume and gear of the Indiana Jones movies
v • d • e
Indiana Jones franchise
Films Raiders of the Lost Ark • The Temple of Doom • The Last Crusade • The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Television The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
Games Raiders of the Lost Ark • Temple of Doom • The Last Crusade • The Pinball Adventure • The Fate of Atlantis · The Iron Phoenix (cancelled) • Greatest Adventures • Desktop Adventures • The Infernal Machine · The Emperor's Tomb • Indiana Jones • Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
Characters Indiana Jones • Marion Ravenwood • Marcus Brody • Sallah • Henry Jones, Sr.
Cast Harrison Ford • Karen Allen • Kate Capshaw • Alison Doody • Cate Blanchett Jonathan Ke Quan • Shia LaBeouf • Ray Winstone • John Hurt • Sean Connery • Corey Carrier • Sean Patrick Flanery George Hall • River Phoenix • John Rhys-Davies • Denholm Elliott • Julian Glover • Amrish Puri • Paul Freeman Wolf Kahler • Ronald Lacey • Pat Roach • Michael Byrne • David Yip • Dan Aykroyd • Alfred Molina • Philip Stone
Crew George Lucas • Steven Spielberg • John Williams • Kathleen Kennedy • Frank Marshall • Rick McCallum
Top 5 Search Results
IndianaJones.com Official Indiana Jones site features the trailer and news updates about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, with photos and videos from the set.
Indiana Jones - Wikipedia Extensive overiew of the Indiana Jones character and movies, with details about the origins, appearances in books, comics, and games, a bio of the character, and DVD releases.
The Raider.net Comprehensive Indiana Jones fansite features information on the Indy franchise, toys, and the latest movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - IMDb Cast and crew listings for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, with a message board and production details.
LEGO Indiana Jones Official site of the LEGO Indiana Jones series includes details about the LEGO products, the video game, and mini movies.
