The Weekly Planet - Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom - Caravan Of Garbage
Episode Date: June 8, 2023We continue our look at the Indiana Jones film series with the second installment, the prequel Temple Of Doom. A meaner, screamier and more culturally insensitive movie that introduces audiences to Ke... Huy Quan's Short Round and Kate Capshaw's Willie Scott. Filled with heart pulling, brain eating, bridge cutting madness this entry managed to also herald in the PG-13 film. Thanks for watching our Caravan Of Garbage reviewSUBSCRIBE HERE ►► http://goo.gl/pQ39jNVideo Edition ► https://youtu.be/dWOx4jCnJ6oHelp support the show and get early episodes ► https://bigsandwich.co/Patreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesJames' Twitter ► http://twitter.com/mrsundaymoviesMaso's Twitter ► http://twitter.com/wikipediabrownPatreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesT-Shirts/Merch ► https://www.teepublic.com/stores/mr-sunday-moviesThe Weekly Planet iTunes ► https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-weekly-planet/id718158767?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4The Weekly Planet Direct Download ► https://play.acast.com/s/theweeklyplanetAmazon Affiliate Link ► https://amzn.to/2nc12P4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Welcome back, everybody, to Caravan of Garbage Where we are making our way through the Indiana Jones movies
Aren't we Mason?
Making our way through the Indiana Jones movies
Something, something, going downtown
Cutting a bridge
He's got a hat
You're absolutely right
He does have a hat
That's true
And you know what I like about this movie?
What's that?
Because it's a prequel Some people might not know that But it is true He does have a hat. That's true. And you know what I like about this movie? What's that? Because it's a prequel.
Some people might not know that, but it is true.
He's just a grub.
I love this grub, no lessons have been learned, Indiana Jones.
Oh, I see what you're saying.
He's a maniac.
You can regress the character.
I see what you're saying.
Hey, let's do a little exercise, James.
Pretend you are-
Living alike on this video?
Yes.
Well, we shouldn't pretend.
We should do that for real.
Once you've done that, pretend you're a Paramount Studio executive in the 80s,
and I'm Steven Spielberg, and I'm pitching you Temple of Doom.
Okay, I'm ready.
Okay, so everybody loved the first adventure of Indiana Jones.
It had everything that people wanted.
It had action.
It had romance.
It had comedy.
But you know what people would love for the sequel?
Near constant screaming.
Just relentless.
Just like an animal is being slaughtered in another room
and you can't close the door.
Now, are these screams going to be coming from, like,
a singular person or are we going to spread them out a bit?
Mostly one woman.
Did I mention I'm getting divorced?
I don't think it's related, though.
I mean, we'll share some of them around.
It's a bit related.
We'll talk about why specifically this has a darker tone.
But, God damn, there's so much screaming. We'll talk about why specifically this has a darker tone. But god damn
there's so much screaming. There is so much screaming
in this. But it's not just Kate Capshaw
I feel like there's enough to go around
for everybody. There's so many screams
There's enough screams for every
man, woman and child in this movie. Yeah
But you're right. To go back to your original
point. Yes, there's
so much mayhem in this movie and
he's yet to learn any lessons and I think that's great you know what i went into this because obviously and we'll
probably talk about it there's some stuff that has perhaps not held up sure so well the bit where
they're like i can't believe india tried to revolt against the british in 1857 or whatever it was i
simply don't think that's proper but uh what i went into this and the blackface oh you also and
the depictions of culture etc oh all those things but what i i went into this going okay there's all that stuff but there's also
it's just what i loved i remember loving about it is it's just non-stop action it's a roller coaster
yeah and i think it literally at one point yeah i think it is for like an hour and a bit like the
last the back end no the front end and. And by that point, I'm just numb
to the rollercoaster, I think. Oh, really? It'd be like
if you're on a rollercoaster for two hours, by the
last 30 minutes, you'd be like, alright, okay.
See, I think this one has
some of the best Indiana Jones moments.
I would argue that the cutting
of the bridge is probably
the best thing in
all of these movies.
Disagree.
But what I do...
But like the tension and...
Okay, yeah.
In a bridge, in a cable.
Sure.
Absolutely right.
Look, I think it starts really strong.
I love the James Bond callback.
Oh my God, he's got the white tuxedo jacket.
God, he looks good.
And we're in Shanghai
and we're singing Anything Goes in Chinese.
Oh my God.
Just this 1930s formal atmosphere
and then it descends into chaos and everything's exploding.
And everyone's being shot with fire arrows and stuff
and bullets are flying and incredible.
I love it where like a switch just goes off in him
and he's just like, well, I'm going to kill everybody in this room.
That's right.
It says I'm allowed to on my archaeologist license.
Why not give that a whirl?
And it's just, that is undeniably good, I think.
Yeah, absolutely.
But I think this one really indicates to me,
and we'll talk about this more next week,
that he wasn't raised right.
He's a fucking animal, this guy.
Like, I know he dresses well some of the time,
but also a lot of this movie,
he's just got like his shirt undone and askew.
He's just like insulting everybody.
He punches a woman in the face.
I know he was poisoned.
I know he didn't mean it,
but he could have exercised some caution,
is all I'm saying.
They check the beaker later on and go,
this is just grape juice.
Wait a second.
Oh yeah. Just wanted to punch some
people honestly but i love how it does open with that like it's very james bond you know you're
at the table you're across from a villain you're having this like a mental showdown but he doesn't
like solve it rationally again he just explodes yeah who here can i take hostage let's see who
can i hold a knife to the neck to?
But I think this one, though, it does give him an arc.
That's true. Not like the first one where he got an arc.
I mean a character arc, I would say.
Because by the end, he's like, I guess I won't steal from this starving village.
Like, he makes that decision.
I think that's important.
It puts him on the right path.
That's true.
Eventually.
Yeah.
After all the murders.
Yes. He does. Okay, so they also introduce another
woman, which is, you know, becomes a trope
of this series. Another woman that hates him.
Which I appreciate. Look, I
know Kate Capshaw gets
grief for being annoying.
But I like that she's the opposite of Marion.
Who was very capable and a hard
drinker and, you know,
like rough around the edges.
It's almost like, and stop me if you've heard this before,
the mash effect.
Now, what the mash effect is, Mason.
He's reading from notes.
He planned this.
So in the TV series Mash, which ran for 11 seasons,
there was also a movie which came before that,
but it's mostly recast except for Radar.
When they swapped out somebody, they brought in the opposite of that character.
Go on.
So Colonel Blake, for example.
Are you going to do the exact same examples as last time?
Just listen.
Colonel Henry Blake, he was swapped out for Sherman T. Potter.
I'll be honest, I don't know if that's...
Completely opposite.
I don't know if he's just doing the same ones again.
I can't remember.
Trapper John McIntyre, womanizer, swapped out for BJ Honeycutt, more of a ladies' man.
Frank Burns, incompetent bumbling surgeon,
swapped out for David Ogden Steers, more competent surgeon.
I think that's what's going on here.
And even though Kate Capshaw has said since then,
I wasn't much more than a dumb screaming blonde,
I think it's kind of selling what she's doing short.
Yeah, I agree.
This is how it's written, and it's executed of selling what she's doing short. Yeah, I agree. Because this is how it's written and it's executed perfectly.
Very well.
She came in and she did exactly what was needed on the day.
Yeah.
To blow my eardrums out for two hours.
What about this though?
Go on.
Short round is incredible.
Absolutely agreed.
Love that.
From the little bricks on his shoes so he can drive the car.
Yep.
To everything he says and does.
I like, and I never picked up on this before, even though it's really obvious, that he's
one of the few people that Indiana Jones genuinely likes.
Right.
So there's a moment early on when they're on the airplane together and he lets him fall
asleep on him.
When they're in the village, Indiana Jones-
Imagine a woman falling asleep on Indiana Jones.
He'd be like, get off it.
Get out of here. Yeah. He'd be like, get off it! Get out of here!
Yeah!
He'd have the whip going.
Where's my threatening fork?
I've got to find it.
There's a moment in the village where Short Round is wearing his hat.
Indiana Jones doesn't let his son wear his hat, which is right.
I just want to point that out.
That's correct.
But Short Round feels like the son that he should have had.
Sure.
And does in a way.
He's sort of his son, I guess.
Apparently, though, the way it worked.
So Kei Hui Kwan, he actually went in with his brother just to encourage him
and was sitting there before the audition and was like, do this, do this, do this.
Oh, my God.
He stole the role from his brother.
And they saw him and went, you should go for this.
And he beat out like 6,000 other kids.
That's the Mel Gibson story for Mad Max.
Is it?
Yes, I think so.
Maybe it's not a brother thing,
but didn't Mad Max come in to be an extra or something?
Oh, right.
And he took the role of Max from another guy
and that guy swore revenge.
I think all these guys should swear revenge.
They should team up and swear revenge.
I think they should start.
They should go to K-Week 1
and beat him up in an alley or something.
Well, he's a stunt coordinator.
I don't know if they could.
He's just like a little action pocket rocket.
One of my favorite shots in this movie is where it's in the same frame
and you see Indiana Jones just beating the absolute piss out of that enormous dude.
And you see Short Round just doing the same thing to a child.
Yes, that's right.
That's often how they do it in the movie.
Oftentimes you'll have the male hero,
you know, beating up a big guy
and then there's a,
you know, a female
additional hero
and they're like,
better do him
having a girl fight.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
So why not a child fight?
But he's just like,
he really looks like
he's hitting him.
That's great.
So people might not know this,
which I find
infinitely fascinating, Mason, but most of the stunt work in this, which I find infinitely fascinating, Mason,
but most of the stunt work in this, unlike a lot of the other ones,
was not Harrison Ford because he suffered a herniated disc on the set of this.
So he was flown out and production was shot down while he had spinal surgery.
So Vic Armstrong, who's his stunt double on these first three,
who looks incredibly like him, just does most of the stuff in this.
Anytime where you can sort of see
his face or not at all it's absolutely not harrison ford and if you pay attention you can tell this is
where harrison learned anything you don't want to do oh herniated disc oh i dropped a door on my
foot i can't be in a star war oh i don't want to land this plane properly i'll just crash it
the perfect crime. Yeah.
It was apparently in that scene where he gets attacked by the assassin in the bedroom.
Like, that was the moment where he, like, threw out his back.
I see.
Yeah.
That's good stuff.
I'm just going to agree.
Now, this one's quite dark, Mason, as mentioned.
PG-13, does that mean anything to you?
Well, it will in a minute.
Uh-oh.
I mean, I know you've heard of it, I assume.
Some supernatural themes, probably.
Yeah, that's right. But, so, Spielberg and Lucas, George Lucas, who wrote this one as well,
they were aiming for something a little bit darker than the first.
Makes sense.
But Spielberg thinks that they probably went too far.
And the reason is, as mentioned, they were both going through breakups at the time.
With each other?
No, no.
Oh.
They're a collaborative duo, Mason.
And continue to be friends to this day.
You know, you get like a heart getting pulled out.
You get a kid getting whipped.
You get other spooky, mean, culturally insensitive stuff.
Oh, you sure do.
And critics felt like this wasn't a kid's movie, but it wasn't quite an adult's movie.
So this paired with the release of Gremlins.
It's a kidult movie.
Very good.
That's great.
I like that.
You invented that.
So this and Gremlins were the reason that they decided to introduce PG-13 because a lot of people thought at the time.
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um well the only reason these got the ratings that they did is because it's spielberg so people
are like he makes nice movies for kids but if anybody else had have released this movie that's
just absolute insanity ah yeah at time of uh writing uh the indiana jones movies are about
to be moved to Disney+.
If people want to watch them, they're going to be available there for free.
And oftentimes when an older movie gets moved to a streaming service,
they'll put a little title card at the front that says,
you know, this movie was made in a certain time
and certain cultural things have changed and blah, blah, blah.
We're going to present it to you in, you know, as it was.
In four by three.
That's right.
As it was originally intended. But I think they should do, you know, as it was. In four by three. That's right. As it was originally intended.
But I think they should do, you know, sometimes when you're on a plane, they'll do a weirdly
edited version of a movie or like maybe for TV, they'll do an odd edit.
I think they should run a sensitivity edit over this movie where they cut out all the
questionable stuff, but they leave all the reaction shots in.
So the guy would be like, and for dessert, a big bowl of strawberry ice cream.
And Willie's like, no.
I would love that.
I would love that also.
The main course, just regular food.
What are these people like?
Just eggs.
Can't come at eggs.
You know, a lot of times when they make changes to movies like Decades After, I disagree.
But that should be done.
Boy, I remember as a kid watching the bit where they cut open the snake and it's filled
with more snakes.
Boy, very unpleasant.
Very unpleasant.
Viscerally unpleasant.
Yeah, absolutely.
You know what's not unpleasant, though?
What's that?
The situation with his glasses.
Oh, yeah.
You mentioned this last week.
So we're trying to determine
for people who didn't watch the last video
whether he needs them for any specific purpose
or they are in fact fashion specs.
Yes.
And what evidence have you unearthed this time around?
Well, the only evidence in this movie
is that he wears them at dinner.
Okay, so they're dinner glasses.
Well, and the theory was that he...
They're after dinner glasses.
Sure.
And the theory is,
or one of the theories that I saw was...
Oh, there's more than one theory.
Yeah, that he didn't know what he was eating,
so he just wanted to see what was happening.
But he doesn't do any reading in this one because he doesn't learn.
Yeah.
I mean, he eventually learns after all the killing,
but it's not like a decipherer thing or whatever.
Okay, so if you're saying that's...
So he wants to see the meal in front of him,
that suggests that he is long-sighted.
Yeah.
And he can't see stuff right in front of his face.
Yes.
Okay, right.
Which, you know, is something to think about.
Yeah.
Okay.
Man, I'll tell you what, though.
I know you weren't necessarily a fan,
but I love that finale where they're just like,
let's just fucking burn this place to the ground.
Sure.
And that moment where, you know, he comes out of his hypnotic trance and he goes down
in the mines and you hear him strike that guy off screen.
Yeah, right.
And he just slides like 20 feet.
How hard do you hit a man?
Like he's dead.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
And then the shot like of him
like out of the darkness yeah look i i gotta respect come on look i gotta respect the commitment
and of course you had to do it back then if you're gonna blow everything up you just had to really
destroy everything like yeah these days this this final sequence would not hold any of that weight
because it would all be cg they'd just be like CG bridge, CG cliffs, CG temple, CG everything.
CG of doom.
CG of doom.
Yeah, absolutely.
Love the mine cart bit.
Like it's ridiculous.
It feels like it was designed to be a ride.
Yeah.
Like an attraction somewhere.
Did it later become a ride?
I believe it did, yeah.
But again.
But it was just one of those ones where you just go up in a chair
and then it drops you.
Yeah, that's right.
Okay, you're up the top.
Imagine you're Indiana Jones in 3, 2, 1, clang.
Drop.
But again, that bridge sequence, you know, like running onto it,
he's cornered, he's got the machete, and just, you know,
I love all of that.
The villain's terrific.
And I know it's, look, there's a lot of nonsense in it.
Agreed. Like, for example, when they go on the plane. Yes. And it's, you know, it's look there's a lot of nonsense in it like for example when they go on the plane
and it's
the gangsters plane
why do they fly
that far
and then jump out
in the middle of nowhere
to kill this guy
that's a great question
he could have got on
and then they shot him
while he was asleep
sure
like how did they survive
dropping out of the plane
in the life raft
it's ridiculous
Mythbusters probably
did it Mason
and also Indiana Jones he flies from Nepal to Karachi on a DC-3 the plane in the life raft. It's ridiculous. It is, yes. Mythbusters probably did it, Mason. It is.
And also Indiana Jones, he flies from Nepal to Karachi on a DC-3.
However, the airplane travel to Nepal only began in 1949.
Uh-oh.
So it's ridiculous, Mason.
Wow.
There's also the racism.
So these are things that I think don't necessarily hold up.
But if you had to rank them based on the order in which you mentioned them,
you'd say it's the aviation errors and then the racism. i guess i had to if i had to yes yeah anyways mason it's time for
indiana jones and the trivia of temple this is the part where we do some trivia here we go i love it
uh yes dan akrod's in this yes club obi-wan sign etc love all those you gotta you gotta put those
in because people will be like did you not see that i didn't i missed it yeah so apparently to
get through the bug sequence kate capsure who also of course is married to steven
spielberg they've been married since the 80s she took sedatives before filming that sequence wise
call i agree so pat roach you might know as the giant nazi who goes into the propeller he returns
he's the giant guard that he fights of Of course he is. You probably didn't recognise him. You probably didn't recognise him, Mason.
No, yeah.
You know, because of...
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because of the aviation errors.
I was so distracted by the aviation errors
that I didn't pick up on that.
That's right.
So, yeah.
Now, there's also a deleted scene of this,
which there's a very low-quality version you can find online,
maybe because of the new one that's been released by now.
But while filming the whipping scene,
the crew played a practical joke on Harrison Ford.
So Barbara Streisand came out dressed as a leather dominatrix
and she began whipping him, saying,
that's for Hanover Street, the worst movie I ever saw,
before continue whipping him, saying,
that's for Star Wars and making all that money.
And then Carrie Fisher came out and threw herself in front of Ford to protect him and then Ivan Kirshner who directed
Empire Strikes Back shied a director Steven Spielberg and said is this how you run your movies
just a cavalcade of stars just a cavalcade of self-indulgent in jokes I love it anyway that's
what you call the Streisand effect yeah that, that's right, exactly. Something I think people are going to mention,
obviously in the first movie there's a scene where Indy is going to fight a guy
with a big sword and he decides to shoot him instead.
And in this movie a similar scene occurs and he goes to shoot the guy
only to realise he doesn't have his gun on him.
He's got a noggin.
And I'm sure people are like, that can't be a callback because this one happens back in the past.
But I like to think that he does that all the time.
Yeah, he does it all the time.
He just constantly goads people into sword fighting him and then shoots them.
That's his go-to move.
He loves it.
I mean, if you look at Raiders, he's bored by it.
He's not like, look at this thing I thought of.
He's like, yeah, this thing I do.
That's right.
This thing I always do in all my adventures.
Even the young Indiana Jones as a child, I'll be doing this.
That's right.
So even though this wasn't as well received as the first one.
Because of the aviation errors.
Because of the aviation errors.
And of the first three, of the trilogy, which it was for the longest time,
it's considered like the weakest.
This, on a budget of $28.7 million made $331 million worldwide,
which was the biggest movie of the year.
Sounds pretty good still.
So yeah, it still did really well.
Look, I think if you did release this now, which you wouldn't.
Because it's already come out.
It's already come out.
They already made it.
Decades ago.
It wouldn't make any sense.
Yeah, that's right.
What, Harrison Ford is like 90 years old and it's a prequel?
That's right.
Think about it. Think about what you're doing, Hollywood. Come on, Hollywood's right. What, Harrison Ford is like 90 years old and it's a prequel? That's right. Think about it.
Think about what you're doing, Hollywood.
Come on, Hollywood.
Yeah.
I think there's a lot of things in this that people would not excuse.
I think nostalgia, and this is me, I'm talking about me specifically also,
rushes over a lot of the aviation eras.
That's right.
In this.
Nepal to Karachi and whatever, something, something time, something 1949.
Doesn't even make any sense, Mason.
Damn it. God. Karachi and whatever, something, something time, something 1949. Doesn't even make any sense, Mason.
God.
But no, again, I think there's some genuinely classic Indiana Jones moments in this. Oh, absolutely, yeah.
And what a grub.
Yeah.
Look, it's not my favourite of the three.
Yeah.
But it's, yeah, undeniably some great moments,
and I think especially the opening.
I think it's worth the price of admission for the opening.
Yeah.
You can just wait till they get on the plane.
They do the joke.
See around Lausche and they get on the Lausche aviation plane. Fun. Then you can switch off. Absolutely. It's worth the price of admission for the opening. You can just wait till they get on the plane. They do the joke. So you see around Laoshe and they get on the Laoshe aviation plane.
Then you can switch off.
Absolutely.
Harrison Ford would appreciate that, I think.
If you went up to him and like, listen, Harrison Ford,
I watched the first 10 minutes of your movie and then I switched it off
because I knew the rest would be bad.
He'd go, I respect that actually.
And are you talking about the movie Firewall, he would say.
No.
Nobody is.
Nobody is.
And I respect that too. Anyways, Mason mason unfortunately to get to the good one we have to go through the last crusade next week i know i know people are
upset about that but look if we're going to cover the first fall that's right you gotta go through
it to get to the gold you gotta dig a little you gotta dig down to dig up that's what they always
say that's what they say in archaeology school that got to dig down to dig up. That's what they always say. That's what they say in archaeology school.
That's true.
Dig down to dig up, and you can use this gun to kill anyone you want.
Yeah, and that's the only thing that Indiana Jones, I think, took in,
just the gun thing.
Chapter two of the archaeology handbook, here's how you take a hostage.
You're going to need this.
But anyways, if you do want to see that early, and why wouldn't you?
That's right.
You can head over to BigSandwich.co where there's always early videos,
where there's also a bunch of bonus stuff, including video game Let's Plays,
bonus podcasts, movie commentaries, as mentioned, early videos,
including Caravan of Garbage.
But also we have a podcast called The Weekly Planet where we talk movies
and comics and TV shows where we always talk the big movie news of the week
and then the big movie of the week or whatever's happening.
Which might be Indiana Jones' Dial of Destiny.
At some point or whatever, you know, which everybody seems to. We're all excited for it equally. whatever's happening. Which might be Indiana Jones Dial of Destiny something. At some point or whatever, you know.
Which everybody seems to,
we're all excited
for it equally.
That's exactly,
yep.
Reactions are
uniformly positive
and it's going to
make tons of money.
People aren't going
to be like,
well this was a
huge mistake.
This was a
$400 million mistake.
Nobody's going to
think that.
Nah,
least of all us.
That's right.
Alright,
thanks everyone.
Grab that gem you guys.
We'll see you next week.
Goodbye.
And thank you to Lawrence also for the edit.
Thank you, Lawrence.
With a little help from Collings, if you don't mind me saying so.
Oh, thank you, Collings.
Mm.
FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship
between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies
on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London.
One woman has a secret,
the other a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost.
FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+.