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Friday, May 23, 2008
Rich Galen :: Townhall.com Columnist
Indiana Jones and the.... Whatever
by Rich Galen
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If you don't have an actual job, then you are not actually playing actual hooky when you decide to hit the 11:00 AM opening-day viewing of the new Indiana Jones movie.

Here's a trick which works best if, as previously mentioned, you don't have a job. Summer blockbusters often open before most public schools are done for the year. If that is the case, you want to go to a mid-day showing on its opening day. The kids are still in school and those who do have jobs will be … at their jobs.

If you do this, you will not have to stand in line nor sit 17 inches from the screen because you didn't get there six hours in advance.

Where else can you get tips like these?

The full title of the film is "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" which has already been shortened by the Text-Message-Generation to KOCS .

It is the fourth in the Indiana Jones series which began with "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in 1981.

The second film, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" followed in 1984 and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" in 1989. Combined, the Indy series has grossed about $1.2 Billion worldwide, not including VCR/DVD rentals and sales.

This movie runs a tad over two hours, is rated PG-13 and, as in all three previous films it was directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas' Lucasfilms, with the music written by John Williams.

You may not know this, but I am a serious student of film. As evidence of this, I went into the theater knowing that one of the main characters was being played by Cate Banchette. I also knew that Karen Allen, Indy's love interest in the first movie, was making a return appearance.

I thought it was very interesting that the leading women from the first two movies - "Raiders" and "Temple of Doom" were being brought back for this movie.

About 27 seconds into the movie when the Cate Blanchette character first appeared on the screen, I couldn't understand how she could look so different from her character in "Temple."

She looked way different because she was a different actress. Kate Capshaw, not Cate Blanchette, had been the female lead in "Temple of Doom."

I have done this before. When the movie "Ray" was all the rage I didn't understand how Jamie Farr (who is White) had gotten that role. The actor who played Ray Charles was, of course, Jamie Foxx. Jamie Farr had played Max Klinger on the old M*A*S*H series.

You now understand why I am rarely (read never) invited to screenings at the Motion Picture Association of America offices which are only about three blocks from mine. Continued...

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About The Author

Rich Galen has been a press secretary to Dan Quayle and Newt Gingrich. Rich Galen currently works as a journalist and writes at Mullings.com

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Saw the movie at last
and I actually did like it. Because it's another version of Star Trek 3, and Mama Mia: it's essentially about the fact that we Boomers are not dead yet and that we can on occasion be much smarter, quicker, better behaved and so on than Generation Whine ("What are you, about 80?" sneers Jones III at one early point) and eventually they figure that out. The perfect touch was right at the end when the brat reaches for the hat -- only to have it plucked from his grabby hand by Dad, who still is still just as durable as the hat.

It was also good to see that Indy finally married Marian for the right reason, and the look on Jones III's face was priceless as he contemplated the fact that old people were now going to have a honeymoon, and, well, just ewwwwww.

Wonder how many more Boomer Movies there will be to show us that no matter what the gang of seventeen year old stick figure Bratz without bosoms, bums, calves or life experience may believe, we're still out here having fun and not about to curl up and die and let them run the world.

So there.

Did anyone notice . . .
First of all, I loved it. Yeah, it was not as good as the first or the third (the second one was always kind of "meh" for me), but I was highly entertained and the new era actually didn't feel as weird as I thought it would, being so used to the 1930s. And I'm glad Spielberg and Ford put their foot down with Lucas regarding the "alien" aspect of it. Anymore "alien" and it would have degenerated into real kookiness. It was just enough, with enough archaeology (well, pseudo maybe) to be interesting. Like a Chariots of the Gods kind of thing - kooky, but maybe, just maybe they're right? ;)

Anyhoo - about what you guys haven't said - Cate Blanchett's line in the tent about using mind control to take over the U.S. and we won't even know it - getting into our government and schools. I thought that was rather un-liberal of the socialist moviemakers regarding communism. And isn't it obvious that it's already happened? Just without the paranormal aspect. Haven't we all said that before . . . a lot? Anyway, that gave me the creeps big time because in the end, it was kind of true.

Well, it was still a great flik, IMHO.

Cheers.
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