Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

The third film of the series and the one usually taken as the best. The opening goes back to Indiana's youth. A scout troop, a cave, a train, and a few minutes showing where every trait of the character came from. Then we return to the present. Indiana's father has disappeared; he is a medievalist who gave his life to the search for the Grail, and the last thing he sent was a notebook. From there the film is a search. A library in Venice, a tomb, a castle in Austria, a book burning in Berlin, an airship and a tank in the desert. Father and son travel together, and that is the real idea of the film. Neither listens to the other and they argue throughout the adventure. What the narrative is interested in is not treasure but a relationship: what matters is less what the Grail does than whether the two men will learn to speak. There are three tests in the last section and each is solved with the notes in the father's book. The ending is plainly a closing. Five people ride toward the horizon and the series was finished at that point. The actor cast as the father is only twelve years older than the lead. It was shot in Spain, Italy, Jordan and Britain; the desert sections were filmed at Petra. Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott, Alison Doody and River Phoenix are in the cast. Steven Spielberg directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes adventure cinema and a good double act. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the darkness of the second film; this one is lighter and much more comic.