His brown leather jacket, signature fedora and cracking bullwhip
have achieved cultural-icon status. Known the world over as Indiana
Jones, the character created by the collective genius of Spielberg,
Lucas and Ford, the archaeologist’s adventure trilogy has been
boxed up, digitally remastered and loaded with special features
providing a veritable grail for any Indy fanatic.
Brought to cinemas in 1981 with “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” the
first flick featuring Jones, the idea was an instant success.
Spawning two sequels and influencing countless films to follow,
Spielberg’s most adventurous work is some of the director’s finest.
“Raiders,” “The Temple of Doom” and “The Last Crusade,” all center
on the archeological misadventures of a would-be James Bond college
professor embodied by Harrison Ford.
The four-DVD set allows each of the films to be seen in their
full, unedited-for-political-correctness versions. Widescreen
formatting and George Lucas’ signature THX sound enhance the
already near-perfect action movies. Simply having the ability to
finally watch the movies on DVD all in a row should be enough to
entice a purchase, but it only gets better with the supplemental
bonus materials disc.
With over three hours of “Indiana Jones” special features and
documentaries on the making of all three films, the package
contains all the tidbits of trivia and neat facts that the DVD
creators could possibly unearth. Taking an expedition into this
disc has Spielberg and Lucas discussing just how similar “Raiders”
is to “Star Wars,” Harrison Ford showing that he’s really not
afraid of snakes, bugs or rats and you can even see an original
casting video of Tom Selleck auditioning for the Indiana Jones
role. It is truly interesting to learn just how many characters
received their namesakes from real-life dogs.
Adding to the already overflowing wealth of goodies in the
documentaries are four intriguing features on the light, sound,
stunts and music that made “Jones” so memorable. There are also
exclusive DVD-ROM content plus original trailers to round out the
more than pleasing list.
Finally, a package fit for the beloved archeologist digs deeper
into the many facets of “Indiana Jones” than has ever been
explored. My soul’s prepared, how’s yours?
Movie: Five stars.
Picture/Sound: Five stars.
Features: Five stars.