MovieChat Forums > Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Discussion > Perfect movie - except the plane chase

Perfect movie - except the plane chase

posted 11 years ago by johnh1
9 replies | jump to latest

I love this movie. It's well acted, entertaining and exciting - except the plane chase which looks really bad and is not exciting at all. I don't even believe the effects in this scene were considered good back when the movie was released. This scene has aged much more than any scene in "Raiders of the lost ark", which was done years earlier. I can't believe Spielberg could have thought this scene looked good.

Well, the rest of the movie is great, but I always skip this scene.

[–] Kruleworld 11 years ago

oh, you mean that scene where the plane crashes into the tunnel and drives past Indy in the car? yeah, i didn't like that bit either. i still remember the beach scene from when i saw this in the theater, where the plane flys over the camera and the sound kept going as though it flew over the audience.

Reality is a nice place to visit, but i wouldn't want to live there

[–] Blueghost 11 years ago

If I had one criticism of hit film, it's that the effects seemed a bit subpar in terms of realism. They told the story, but they weren't real to me.

[–] PseudoFilmCritic 11 years ago

The zeppelin didn't look that real when the Joneses first approach it. On the other hand, I think the idea is to make things look a little unreal at times. I am sure Spielberg and company could've given the Indiana Jones series the very close scrutiny to reality that, for lack of a better example, Saving Private Ryan had but Indiana Jones is not about reality.

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[–] Blueghost 10 years ago

Possibly, but the one thing that really bothered me was that it was shot like an old fashioned production. The flying sequences were mostly studio shots, except for a few exteriors. I think they should have gone the extra mile like in the first film; Raiders, where Ford is actually in a biplane.

[–] gasivodo 10 years ago

And we have all seen when CGI goes Indy, haven't we?

And it was SO MUCH BETTER;-)

[–] SlickySlixta 10 years ago

Whenever I think of LC, I think of those awful effects during the Zeppelin/plane chase sequence, and it really sticks out out like a sore thumb in my mind. I also agree that the effects in Raiders hold up better overall than this film.

[–] A_Dude_Named_Dude 9 years ago

I remember reading in Premiere magazine years ago that the plane sequence was supposed to be in second movie. Apparently the movie was starting to go over budget so Spielberg went to the writers (a husband and wife team as I recall) and asked them to see if they could make changes to save money. Supposedly they ripped out one page of the script and saved a million dollars. Yes, it was the plane chase. I guess Spielberg loved it so much he had to put it into the third movie. Or maybe he wanted to pay homage to Peter Hyams and Capricorn One. Or William Wellman and Lafayette Escadrille. Who knows.

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[–] RbDeraj 8 years ago

I agree all of the plane effects were awful. Especially considering that Speilberg made Empire of the Sun two years before this which had a lot of planes that were very realistic. No dogfights from what I remember... but still.

[–] sean_ohlson-1 8 years ago

Just re-watched it last night. Wow! Everything from the Zeppelin up until Connery's line about Charlemagne was TERRIBLE. It's funny, while nothing would fix the bad matte work for the models, one simple fix could have greatly improved the plane scenes. When Connery and Ford we're filmed flying the plane, had they taken the plane set, moved it and the green screen outdoors it would have made a world of difference. The indoor lighting was jarring.

Other than that though, a damned good movie.