
Indiana Jones (character)

Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. is the title character and protagonist of the "Indiana Jones" franchise. George Lucas created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials. The character first appeared in the 1981 film "Raiders of the Lost Ark", to be followed by "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" in 1984, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" in 1989, "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" from 1992 to 1996, and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" in 2008. The character is also featured in novels, comics, video games, and other media. Jones is also featured in several Disney theme park rides, including the Indiana Jones Adventure, Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril, Indiana Jones Adventure: 
Temple of the Crystal Skull, and "Epic Stunt Spectacular!" attractions.
Jones is most famously portrayed by Harrison Ford and has also been portrayed by River Phoenix (as the young Jones in "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 the voice of Jones for two LucasArts video games, "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis" and "Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine", David Esch supplied his voice for "Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb", and John Armstrong for "Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings".
Jones is characterized by his iconic accoutrements (bullwhip, fedora, satchel, and leather jacket), wry, witty and sarcastic sense of humor, deep knowledge of ancient civilizations and languages, and fear of snakes.
Since his first appearance in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", Indiana Jones has become one of cinema's most famous characters. In 2003, the American Film Institute ranked him the second-greatest film hero of all time. He was also named the greatest movie character by "Empire" magazine. "Entertainment Weekly" ranked Indiana 2nd on their list of The All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture. "Premiere" magazine also placed Indiana at number 7 on their list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
Appearances.
Films and Television.
A native of Princeton, New Jersey, Indiana Jones was introduced as a tenured professor of archaeology in the 1981 film "Raiders of the Lost Ark", set in 1936. The character is an adventurer reminiscent of the 1930s film serial treasure hunters and pulp action heroes. His research is funded by Marshall College (a fictional school named after producer Frank Marshall), where he is a professor of archaeology. He studied under the Egyptologist and archaeologist Abner Ravenwood at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago.
In this first adventure, he is pitted against Nazis commissioned by Hitler to recover artifacts of great power from the Old Testament (see Nazi archaeology). In consequence, Dr Jones travels the world to prevent them from recovering the Ark of the Covenant (see also Biblical archaeology). He is aided by Marion Ravenwood and Sallah. The Nazis are led by Jones's archrival, a Nazi-sympathizing French archaeologist named René Belloq, and Arnold Toht, a sinister Gestapo agent.
In the 1984 prequel, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", set in 1935, Jones travels to India and attempts to free enslaved children and the three Sankara stones from the bloodthirsty Thuggee cult. He is aided by Short Round, a boy played by Jonathan Ke Quan, and is accompanied by singer Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw). The prequel is not as centered on archaeology as "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and is considerably darker.
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's classroom (he now teaches at Barnett College), 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, specifically the origin of his fear of snakes, his use of a bullwhip, the scar on his chin, and his hat; the film's epilogue also reveals that "Indiana" is not Jones's first name, but a nickname he took from the family dog. The film was a buddy movie of sorts, teaming Jones with his father, Henry Jones Sr., often to comical effect. Although Lucas intended to make five Indiana Jones films, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" was the last for over 18 years, as he could not think of a good plot element to drive the next installment.
From 1992 to 1996, George Lucas as stories writing and executive-produced a television series named "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles", aimed mainly at teenagers and children, which showed many of the important events and historical figures of the early 20th century through the prism of Indiana Jones's life.
The show initially featured the formula of an elderly (93 to 94 years of age) Indiana Jones played by George Hall introducing a story from his youth by way of an anecdote: the main part of the episode then featured an adventure with either a young adult Indy (16 to 21 years of age) played by Sean Patrick Flanery or a child Indy (8 to 10 years) played by Corey Carrier. One episode, "Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues", is bookended by Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, rather than Hall. Later episodes and telemovies did not have this bookend format.
The bulk of the series centers around the young adult Indiana Jones and his activities during World War I as a 16- to 17-year-old soldier in the Belgian Army and then as an intelligence officer and spy seconded to French intelligence. The child Indy episodes follow the boy's travels around the globe as he accompanies his parents on his father's worldwide lecture tour from 1908 to 1910.
The show provided some backstory for the films, as well as new information regarding the character. Indiana Jones was born July 1, 1899, and his middle name is Walton (Lucas's middle name). It is also mentioned that he had a sister called Suzie who died as an infant of fever, and that he eventually has a daughter and grandchildren who appear in some episode introductions and epilogues. 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. Indy damages or loses his right eye sometime between the events in 1957 and the early 1990s, when the "Old Indy" segments take place, as the elderly Indiana Jones wears an eyepatch.
In 1999, Lucas removed the episode introductions and epilogues by George Hall for the VHS and DVD releases, and re-edited the episodes into chronologically ordered feature-length stories. The series title was also changed to "The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones".
The 2008 film, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", is the latest film in the series. Set in 1957, 19 years after the third film, it pits an older, wiser Indiana Jones against Soviet agents bent on harnessing the power of an extraterrestrial device discovered in South America. Jones is aided in his adventure by his former lover, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), and her son—a young greaser named Henry "Mutt" Williams (Shia LaBeouf), later revealed to be Jones's unknown child. There were rumors that Harrison Ford would not return for any future installments and LaBeouf would take over the Indy franchise. This film also reveals that Jones was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, attaining the rank of colonel in the United States Army, and implies very strongly that in 1947 he was forced to investigate the Roswell UFO incident, and the investigation saw that he was involved in affairs related to Hangar 51. He is tasked with conducting covert operations with MI6 agent George McHale against the Soviet Union.
In March 2016, Disney announced a fifth "Indiana Jones" film in development, with Ford and Spielberg set to return to the franchise. Initially set for release on July 10, 2020, the film's release date was pushed back to July 9, 2021 due to production issues, then further pushed back to July 29, 2022 due to a reshuffle in Disney's release schedule as due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2020 Disney announced that James Mangold would be directing the film and that this would be final time Harrison Ford would appear in the franchise.
Attractions.
Indiana Jones is featured at several Walt Disney theme park attractions. The Indiana Jones Adventure attractions at Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea ("Temple of the Forbidden Eye" and "Temple of the Crystal Skull," respectively) place Indy at the forefront of two similar archaeological discoveries. These two temples each contain a wrathful deity who threatens the guests who ride through in World War II troop transports. The attractions, some of the most expensive of their kind at the time, opened in 1995 and 2001, respectively, with sole design credit attributed to Walt Disney Imagineering. Ford was approached to reprise his role as Indiana Jones, but ultimately negotiations to secure Ford's participation broke down in December 1994, for definitively unknown reasons. Instead, Dave Temple provided the voice of Jones. Ford's physical likeness, however, has nonetheless been used in subsequent audio-animatronic figures for the attractions.
Disneyland Paris also features an Indiana Jones-titled ride where people speed off through ancient ruins in a runaway mine wagon similar to that found in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril" is a looping roller coaster engineered by Intamin, designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, and opened in 1993.
The "Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!" is a live show that has been presented in the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park of the Walt Disney World Resort with few changes since the park's 1989 opening, as Disney-MGM Studios. The 25-minute show presents various stunts framed in the context of a feature film production, and recruits members of the audience to participate in the show. Stunt artists in the show re-create and ultimately reveal some of the secrets of the stunts of the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" films, including the well-known "running-from-the-boulder" scene. Stunt performer Anislav Varbanov was fatally injured in August 2009, while rehearsing the popular show. Also formerly at Disney's Hollywood Studios, an audio-animatronic Indiana Jones appeared in another attraction; during The Great Movie Ride's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" segment.
Literature.
Graphic novels.
Indy also appears in the 2004 Dark Horse Comics story "Into the Great Unknown", collected in "Star Wars Tales Volume 5". In this non-canon story bringing together two of Harrison Ford's best-known roles, Indy and Short Round discover a crash-landed "Millennium Falcon" in the Pacific Northwest, along with Han Solo's skeleton and the realization that a rumored nearby Sasquatch is in fact Chewbacca. Indy also appears in a series of Marvel Comics.
Movie tie-in novelizations.
The four Indiana Jones film scripts were novelized and published in the time-frame of the films' initial releases. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was novelized by Campbell Black based on the script by Lawrence Kasdan that was based on the story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman and published in April 1981 by Ballantine Books; "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" was novelized by James Kahn and based on the script by Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz that was based on the story by George Lucas and published May 1984 by Ballantine Books; "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" was novelized by Rob MacGregor based on the script by Jeffrey Boam that was based on a story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes and published June 1989 by Ballantine Books.
Nearly 20 years later "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was novelized by James Rollins based on the script by David Koepp based on the story by George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson and published May 2008 by Ballantine Books. In addition, in 2008 to accompany the release of "Kingdom of Skulls", Scholastic Books published juvenile novelizations of the four scripts written, successively in the order above, by Ryder Windham, Suzanne Weyn, Ryder Windham, and James Luceno. All these books have been reprinted, with "Raiders of the Lost Ark" being retitled "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark". While these are the principal titles and authors, there are numerous other volumes derived from the four film properties.
Original novels.
From February 1991 through February 1999, 12 original Indiana Jones-themed adult novels were licensed by Lucasfilm, Ltd. and written by three genre authors of the period. Ten years afterward, a 13th original novel was added, also written by a popular genre author. The first 12 were published by Bantam Books; the last by Ballantine Books in 2009. (See Indiana Jones (franchise) for broad descriptions of these original adult novels.) The novels are:
Video games.
The character has appeared in several officially licensed games, beginning with adaptations of "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", two adaptations of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (one with purely action mechanics, one with an adventure- and puzzle-based structure) and "Indiana Jones's Greatest Adventures", which included the storylines from all three of the original films.
Following this, the games branched off into original storylines with Indiana Jones in the Lost Kingdom, "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis", "Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine", "Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb" and "Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings". "Emperor's Tomb" sets up Jones'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; "Emperor's Tomb" had David Esch fill the role and "Staff of Kings" starred John Armstrong.
"Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine" was the first Indy-based game presented in three dimensions, as opposed to 8-bit graphics and side-scrolling games before.
There is also a small game from Lucas Arts "Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures". A video game was made for young Indy called "Young Indiana Jones and the Instruments of Chaos", as well as a video game version of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles".
Two Lego Indiana Jones games have also been released. ' was released in 2008 and follows the plots of the first three films. It was followed by ' in late 2009. The sequel includes an abbreviated reprise of the first three films, but focuses on the plot of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".
Social gaming company Zynga introduced Indiana Jones to their "Adventure World" game in late 2011.
Character description and formation.
"Indiana" Jones's full name is Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr., and his nickname is often shortened to "Indy".
In his role as a college professor of archaeology, Jones is scholarly and learned in a tweed suit, lecturing on ancient civilizations. At the opportunity to recover important artifacts, Dr. Jones transforms into "Indiana," a "non-superhero superhero" image he has concocted for himself. Producer Frank Marshall said, "Indy [is] a fallible character. He makes mistakes and gets hurt. ... That's the other thing people like: He's a real character, not a character with superpowers." Spielberg said there "was the willingness to allow our leading man to get hurt and to express his pain and to get his mad out and to take pratfalls and sometimes be the butt of his own jokes. I mean, Indiana Jones is not a perfect hero, and his imperfections, I think, make the audience feel that, with a little more exercise and a little more courage, they could be just like him." According to Spielberg biographer Douglas Brode, Indiana created his heroic figure so as to escape the dullness of teaching at a school. Both of Indiana's personas reject one another in philosophy, creating a duality. Harrison Ford said the fun of playing the character was that Indiana is both a romantic and a cynic, while scholars have analyzed Indiana as having traits of a lone wolf; a man on a quest; a noble treasure hunter; a hardboiled detective; a human superhero; and an American patriot.
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 Jones, Sr.. His own contained anger is misdirected towards Professor Abner Ravenwood, his mentor at the University of Chicago, leading to a strained relationship with Marion Ravenwood. The teenage Indiana bases his own look on a figure from the prologue of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", after being given his hat. Marcus Brody acts as Indiana's positive role model at the college. Indiana's own insecurities are made worse by the absence of his mother. In "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", he becomes the father figure to Short Round, to survive; he is rescued from Kali's evil by Short Round's dedication. Indiana also saves many enslaved children.
Indiana uses his knowledge of Shiva to defeat Mola Ram. In "Raiders of the Lost Ark", he is wise enough to close his eyes in the presence of God in the Ark of the Covenant. By contrast, his rival Rene Belloq is killed for having the audacity to try to communicate directly with God.
In the prologue of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", Jones is seen as a teenager, establishing his look when given a fedora hat. Indiana's intentions are revealed as prosocial, as he believes artifacts "belong in a museum." In the film's climax, Indiana undergoes "literal" tests of faith to retrieve the Grail and save his father's life. He also remembers Jesus as a historical figure—a humble carpenter—rather than an exalted figure when he recognizes the simple nature and tarnished appearance of the real Grail amongst a large assortment of much more ornately decorated ones. Henry Senior rescues his son from falling to his death when reaching for the fallen Grail, telling him to "let it go," overcoming his mercenary nature. "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" explains how Indiana becomes solitary and less idealistic following his service in World War I. In "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", Jones is older and wiser, whereas his sidekicks Mutt and Mac are youthfully, arrogant, and greedy, respectively.
Origins and inspirations.
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). Sir H. Rider Haggard's safari guide/big game hunter Allan Quatermain of "King Solomon's Mines" is a notable template for Jones. The two friends first discussed the project in Hawaii around the time of the release of the first "Star Wars" film. Spielberg told Lucas how he wanted his next project to be something fun, like a "James Bond" film (this would later be referenced when they cast Sean Connery as Henry Jones Sr.). According to sources, Lucas responded to the effect that he had something "even better", or that he'd "got that beat."
One of the possible bases for Indiana Jones is Professor Challenger, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1912 for his novel, "The Lost World". Challenger was based on Doyle's physiology professor, William Rutherford, an adventuring academic, albeit a zoologist/anthropologist.
Another important influence on the development of the character Indiana Jones is the Disney character Scrooge McDuck. Carl Barks created Scrooge in 1947 as a one-off relation for Donald Duck in the latter's self-titled comic book. Barks realized that the character had more potential, so a separate "Uncle Scrooge" comic book series full of exciting and strange adventures in the company of his duck nephews was developed. This "Uncle Scrooge" comic series strongly influenced George Lucas. This appreciation of Scrooge as an adventurer influenced the development of Jones, with the prologue of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" containing homage to Barks' Scrooge adventure "The Seven Cities of Cibola", published in "Uncle Scrooge" #7 from September 1954. This homage in the film takes the form of playfully mimicking the removal-of-the-statuette-from-its-pedestal and the falling-stone sequences of the comic book.
The character was originally named Indiana Smith, after an Alaskan Malamute called Indiana that Lucas owned in the 1970s and on which he based the Star Wars character Chewbacca. Spielberg disliked the name Smith, and Lucas casually suggested Jones as an alternative. The "Last Crusade" script references the name's origin, with Jones's father revealing his son's birth name to be Henry and explaining that "we named the "dog" Indiana", to his son's chagrin. Some have also posited that C.L. Moore's science fiction character Northwest Smith may have also influenced Lucas and Spielberg in their naming choice.
Lucas has said on various occasions that Sean Connery's portrayal of British secret agent James Bond was one of the primary inspirations for Jones, a reason Connery was chosen for the role of Indiana's father in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". Spielberg earned the rank of Eagle Scout and Ford the Life Scout badge in their youth, which gave them the inspiration to portray Indiana Jones as a Life Scout at age 13 in "The Last Crusade".
Historical models.
Many people are said to be the real-life inspiration of the Indiana Jones character—although none of the following have been confirmed as inspirations by Lucas or Spielberg. There are some suggestions listed here in alphabetical order by last name:
Costume.
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. As a documentary of "Raiders" pointed out, the hat served a practical purpose. Following the lead of the old "B"-movies that inspired the "Indiana Jones" series, the fedora hid the actor's face sufficiently to allow doubles to perform the more dangerous stunts seamlessly. Examples in "Raiders" include the wider-angle shot of Indy and Marion crashing a statue through a wall, and Indy sliding under a fast-moving vehicle from front to back. Thus it was necessary for the hat to stay in place much of the time.
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 to stop his hat from falling off 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. Anytime Indy's hat accidentally came off as part of the storyline (blown off by the wind, knocked off, etc.) and seemed almost irretrievable, filmmakers would make sure Indy and his hat were always reunited, regardless of the implausibility of its return. Although other hats were also used throughout the films, the general style and profile remained the same. Elements of the outfit include:
The fedora and leather jacket from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" are on display at the Smithsonian Institution's American History Museum in Washington, D.C. The collecting of props and clothing from the films has become a thriving hobby for some aficionados of the franchise. Jones's whip was the third most popular film weapon, as shown by a 2008 poll held by 20th Century Fox, which surveyed approximately two thousand film fans.
Casting.
Originally, Spielberg suggested Harrison Ford; Lucas resisted the idea, since he had already cast the actor in "American Graffiti", "Star Wars" and "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 casts Robert De Niro in his films). During an intensive casting process, Lucas and Spielberg auditioned many actors, and finally cast actor Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones. Shortly afterward pre-production began in earnest on "Raiders of the Lost Ark". CBS refused to release Selleck from his contractual commitment to "Magnum, P.I.", forcing him to turn down the role. Shooting for the film could have overlapped with the pilot for "Magnum, P.I." but it later turned out that filming of the pilot episode was delayed and Selleck could have done both.
Subsequently, Peter Coyote and Tim Matheson both auditioned for the role. After Spielberg suggested Ford again, Lucas relented, and Ford was cast in the role less than three weeks before filming began.
Cultural impact.
Archaeological influence.
The industry magazine "Archaeology" named eight past and present archaeologists who they felt "embodied [Jones'] spirit" as recipients of the Indy Spirit Awards in 2008. That same year Ford himself was elected to the Board of Directors for the Archaeological Institute of America. Commenting that "understanding the past can only help us in dealing with the present and the future," Ford was praised by the association's president for his character's "significant role in stimulating the public's interest in archaeological exploration."
He is perhaps the most influential character in films that explore archaeology. Since the release of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in 1981, the very idea of archaeology and archaeologists has fundamentally shifted. Prior to the film's release, the stereotypical image of an archaeologist was that of an older, lackluster professor type. In the early years of films involving archaeologists, they were portrayed as victims who would need to be rescued by a more masculine or heroic figure. Following 1981, the stereotypical archaeologist was thought of as an adventurer consistently engaged in fieldwork.
Archeologist Anne Pyburn described the influence of Indiana Jones as elitist and sexist, and argued that the film series had caused new discoveries in the field of archaeology to become oversimplified and overhyped in an attempt to gain public interest, which negatively influences archaeology as a whole. Eric Powell, an editor with the magazine "Archaeology", said "O.K., fine, the movie romanticizes what we do", and that "Indy may be a horrible archeologist, but he's a great diplomat for archeology. I think we'll see a spike in kids who want to become archeologists". Kevin McGeough, associate professor of archaeology, describes the original archaeological criticism of the film as missing the point of the film: "dramatic interest is what is at issue, and it is unlikely that film will change in order to promote and foster better archaeological techniques".
Other characters inspired by Jones.
While himself an homage to various prior adventurers, aspects of Indiana Jones also directly influenced some subsequent characterizations: