Reviewing Movies

The Indiana Jones canon sprang fully formed in this first outing from the opening theme music that becomes his leitmotif to his trademark battered hat and bull whip. Indy has a dual personality of erudite professor of archaeology and swashbuckling hunter of antiquities. Always laden with special effects and daring stunts the adrenalin rush is one of the series’ appeals. Other conventions are air travels illustrated by a crawling yellow line across a map of the world, side-plots, and a love interest. Always he seems to have a protégé as in Marian here or Short Round or latterly his son Mutt. Given his avowed fear of spiders and snakes the movies are always filled with critters that crawl and slither. Nazi or Russian stereotypes form his favourite villains. At 73 Harrison Ford appears fixed to do Indy Five!