Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers:

Willard Huyck (screenplay) &
Gloria Katz (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

23 May 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

If adventure has a name... it must be Indiana Jones.

Plot:

After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone. He agrees, and stumbles upon a secret cult plotting a terrible plan in the catacombs of an ancient palace.

Plot Keywords:

Village | Children | Palace | Thuggee | Gangster

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 4 wins & 17 nominations

Cast

Harrison Ford	...	Indiana Jones
Kate Capshaw	...	Willie Scott
Jonathan Ke Quan	...	Short Round (as Ke Huy Quan)
Amrish Puri	...	Mola Ram
Roshan Seth	...	Chattar Lal (as Rushan Seth)
Philip Stone	...	Captain Phillip Blumburtt
Roy Chiao	...	Lao Che
David Yip	...	Wu Han
Ric Young	...	Kao Kan
Chua Kah Joo	...	Chen
Rex Ngui	...	Maitre d'
Philip Tan	...	Chief Henchman (as Philip Tann)
Dan Aykroyd	...	Weber
Dr. Akio Mitamura	...	Chinese Pilot (as Akio Mitamura)
Michael Yama	...	Chinese Co-Pilot

Also Known As:

Raiders 2 (USA) (working title)
The Temple of Doom (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Sinhala | Shanghainese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Portugal:M/6 (cut) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Iceland:10 | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Italy:T | Spain:13 | Finland:K-15 (DVD rating) | Brazil:Livre | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (re-rating) | Australia:PG (original rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) (original rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) (re-rating) (2003) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Chile:14 | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Ireland:PG (cut) | Israel:PG | Netherlands:12 (DVD rating) | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (cut) | USA:PG (PCA #27401) | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

American River, Placerville, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

An early draft of the script for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) had Indy traveling to Shanghai to recover a piece of the Staff of Ra. During his escape from the museum where it was housed, he sheltered from machine gun fire behind a giant rolling gong. The same script also featured Indy and Marion fleeing destruction in a mine-cart chase. Both of these scenes were cut from that script, but resurface in this movie.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the establishing shot of the village without children, Indy's hat disappears under the matte painting as he walks down the hill, left of frame.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Wu Han: [to Indy] Be careful.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Jackass Number Two (2006)

Soundtrack:

Anything Goes

Changed My Mind About This Stylish Film

For a long time, this was the only one of the three Indiana Jones films I did not like. Then, when it was part of the DVD package that came out over five years ago, I had to buy it if I wanted the other two, so I gave it a third look. Wow, all of sudden I liked it.

For the first time, the woman (Kate Capshaw) and the young boy (Ke Huy Quan) weren't as annoying as I had remembered them. The stupid kid really had rubbed me the wrong way, but this time only Kate was annoying....and she was fine once she calmed down and got rid of the hysterics.

The action in this film is mostly at the beginning and at the end. It is so Rambo-ish (bad guys never hit the target but good guys always do) it is ludicrous. It also has dumb dialog in a number of spots, paying homage to voodooism, spells and other nonsense.

Yet, despite these criticisms, it's entertaining start-to-finish and has some fantastic visuals. The photography in here is beautiful: the best of the three Jones adventures. I particularly liked the opening dance number which reminded me of a Busby Berkeley extravaganza. This whole film looks spectacular on DVD.