The Latest from Cactus Tactical: Adventure with Indiana Jones

Action and Adventure with Indiana Jones

There were four Indiana Jones films in the franchise that made us fall in love with history as long as Indy was being chased by something or someone that was a hazard to his health. Indiana Jones has long been played by Harrison Ford, who has always given amazing performances and is an award winning actor. In all four movies we get a glimpse into archaeology, history and mythology. I always felt like I was getting to see what things might have looked liked during different eras. I also always felt like I was getting an education of sorts, learning about historical events through the eyes of "Indy". The first film would spawn a feature film franchise which included three more feature films, several video games, as well as a television series. Let's take a look at the stories and weapons in the Indiana Jones film franchise.

#1 Raiders Of The Lost Ark

1981 adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by George Lucas. Starring Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, an intrepid archaeologist who is asked by the US government to locate the biblical Ark of the Covenant before it is found by Hitler and the German Army. This is the first of the Indiana Jones films series.

It's the spring of 1936 and an exploration party penetrates thick jungle on the South American continent. When the group's leader stops to examine map fragments, another of the group pulls a gun. The leader, hearing the click as the turncoat chambers a round, pulls out a bullwhip and disarms the man, sending him fleeing back. The man who expertly wields the bullwhip is none other than the illustrious Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. (Harrison Ford), an archaeologist with a reputation for heavy-handed field work that takes him around the globe in search of ancient treasures.

Indy and his remaining companion, enter a dank and oppressively vast cave, where a competitor of his, Forrestal, disappeared. Inside the cave are several traps rigged by the ancient people who hid a small, valuable statue there -- and one of the traps is found to have snared Forrestal. Jones avoids the booby-trapped stones and makes it to the idol. He very deftly replaces the idol with a bag of sand, judging the weight of the treasure by sight. However, the weight is not precise, the pedestal sinks and the chamber begins to disintegrate. We next come to a scene that has been parodied in just about every film and television genre. A giant boulder is released and Jones runs, narrowly avoiding the darts. When he arrives at a bottomless pit he & Sapito had crossed earlier using Jones' bullwhip, Sapito crosses safely but refuses to give Jones his whip unless he gives him the idol. Sapito drops the whip and runs off. Jones manages to jump across and pull himself up and escape under the stone door that closes. He finds Sapito dead, killed by the same trap that killed Forrestal. Jones retrieves the idol and must once again flee while a large boulder rushes toward him.

Seemingly safe, Indy is cornered by the Hovitos, the local tribe, who are led by Dr. Rene Belloq, an arrogant French archaeologist who is a longtime rival and competitor. Indy flees and is rescued by Jock, flying a seaplane, though Indy finds Jock's pet snake Reggie inside. This is where we are introduced to Indy's only fear: snakes.

We cut back to stateside, Indy is busy trying to teach an archaeology class. As his class concludes, Indy's friend and right hand man, Marcus Brody dashes in to inform him that two Army Intelligence officers want to talk to him about Abner Ravenwood, his former teacher, who was his friend until Indy broke up with his daughter and the films primary love interest, Marion.

The Army officers come to Indy with their concerns as they've intercepted a German cable concerning a mammoth archaeological dig in the Egyptian desert. When they read the cable, Indy and Marcus realize the Nazis have discovered Tanis, an ancient city buried in a gigantic sandstorm in 980 B.C. and the possible burial site of the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was built by ancient Hebrews to hold the stone tablets on which Moses inscribed the Ten Commandments. It holds immense mystical power and the Nazis believe it will allow them to finally take power of the world. This follows a theme in Hollywood with portrayal of the Nazi obsession with the occult. Films like Hellboy focus on this as well bu that's another set of movies on another day.

Indy flies to Nepal with the signature flight over a map that looks straight out of a geography book. He wants to confront Marion Ravenwood, who now successfully and cleverly runs a restaurant and bar. She has the headpiece to the Staff of Ra and he needs it. The staff's crystals will allow him to determine the exact location of the Ark. Marion, still bitter over their breakup, nonetheless accepts when Indy offers her $3,000 and the promise of more when they return stateside. She is cryptic about the headpiece, and after Indy leave, it's revealed to be hanging from her neck.

Toht is a dangerous man and one of our main bad guys. He and his hired Sherpa muscle enter the bar and hold Marion hostage, while Toht is preparing to torture her for the headpiece, Indy returns and a firefight erupts during which the fireplace is dislodged and the building begins burning down. Toht finds the headpiece but when he grabs it it scorches the flesh of his hand -- leaving an image of one side of the headpiece. He escapes while Indy and Marion do likewise and fly to Egypt to see Indy's pal, Sallah, who is currently working on the Nazi site and who reveals that the Nazis are being aided by Belloq.

At a Cairo bazaar, Indy and Marion are attacked by sword-wielding Arabs working for Nazi agents. Indy fights them off but in the confusion Marion is trapped in a large basket and taken by two of the terrorists. The effort to track her down is held up by a man brandishing a sword and although attempts to do so in an intimidating fashion, he is shot down in short order by a thoroughly unimpressed Indy.

Soon Indy spots a basket carried to a truck filled with explosives and is fired on by a submachine-gun-wielding assailant. His Nazi commander orders the Arabs to take off, but Indy shoots them and the truck crashes, exploding and destroying the basket.

In an attempt to console himself over losing Marion, Indy drowns his sorrows in drink but is met by more Nazi agents who escort him to a table at which is seated Belloq, who gleefully talks about finding the Ark. Indy, no longer caring whether he lives or dies, reaches for his sidearm as Arabs inside pull rifles -- only to see Sallah's large brood of children rush in and the "Arabs" to turn out to be US Marines, much to the embarrassment of Belloq.

Sallah takes Indy to see a shaman who is reading the Ra headpiece after both men have learned that Belloq and his Wehrmacht aide, Colonel Dietrich, have obtained a copy of the headpiece. It's not revealed at this point to either man that it is a duplicate traced from Toht's burned hand. The shaman makes us aware of two critical facts: first, that the headpiece gives the precise height of the Staff of Ra, and second, that the staff the Nazis used was too long therefore their excavation is over a mile away from the Ark's actual burial site, which is known as the Well of Souls.

Deciding to infiltrate the mammoth site, Indy is lowered into an underground map room containing a precisely detailed miniature of the city. Using the Ra headpiece, he identifies the precise location of the Well of Souls. Deciding to further around the gigantic camp, Indy is shocked to find Marion, alive but bound and gagged. Indy starts to free her, but when she reveals that the Nazis keep asking about him and what he knows, he realizes he can't cut her loose without revealing his presence to the Nazis.

Late that afternoon Indy and Sallah have chosen to sneak in a digging party of their own to the Well of Souls. Late into the night they dig open the chamber, and much to Indy's dismay, it is filled with dangerous snakes. Indy clears an area of snakes with burning torches, then lowers himself into the chamber and burns many of the snakes alive with flaming gasoline. Sallah follows and the two eventually find the gigantic chest that is the Ark. By the dawn Belloq notices the commotion a mile away. The Nazis surround the site and Indy is left trapped inside, but Dietrich leaves him with Marion, who is thrown into the chamber and the area closed off.

Indy notices a wall where snakes are entering. He climbs a mammoth statue and with all his might breaks it from its foundation and it crashes through the wall. The two find an opening to the surface, and discover the airfield at the excavation camp, where there is a bizarre Nazi transport plane. The two sneak up to the plane. Indy is, of course, attacked by a mechanic and an epic but typically Indy fight ensues with a burly Nazi. The man manages to pummel Indy before being punched backward and shredded to bits by the plane's propellers. Marion seizes one of the plane's machine guns and opens fire on Nazi soldiers.Indy and Marion manage to escape with the usual style and flair: explosions.

Dietrich orders his men to transport the Ark by truck to Cairo. When Sallah finds Indy and Marion, he is overjoyed they're alive and tells them of Dietrich's plan. Indy takes a horse and pursues the convoy, seizing the truck containing the Ark and after surviving a brutal chase and fight with Nazi soldiers Indy drives the Ark to safety.

We see he and Marion boarding a ship taking the Ark back to the US, but a Nazi submarine captures the ship. The Ark is taken aboard the sub and Marion taken prisoner for Belloq. Indy, once again, escapes Nazi pursuit and rides the submarine as it sails on the ocean surface to an island where Belloq and the Nazis trek to the top of a mountain.

At an elaborate ceremony atop the mountain Indy and Marion, tied to a pole, can only watch as the Ark is opened, but it contains nothing but sand, the remains of the stone tablets. No sooner is it opened, however, than its spirits suddenly appear. Indy and Marion, remembering an ancient code that requires people to close their eyes and not look at the now-freed spirits, withstand the mayhem that ensues as the energy of the Ark surges forth and its spirits attack the now-terrified Nazis, killing the entire contingent and destroying Belloq in gruesome fashion. The face melting in this scene was one that struck me with horror and fascination as a 10 year old. The energy mass surges high into the sky before returning to the Ark and resealing it, leaving Indy and Marion drained but freed.

As we will learn in this franchise, a very typical ending for Indy happens for their endings. Weeks later Indy and Marcus feud with the Army officers over the whereabouts of the Ark, Indy angry that the Army has no idea what it has in the Ark. It would seem though that they are very aware of what they have, as the Ark is sealed in a large crate and stored anonymously in a gigantic government warehouse, never to be seen again.

The 1930's had a more limited amount of weapons than we have now but the ones used in this film were very characteristic for their time. Let's take a look at some of the scenes and weapons used in Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

Indiana Jones carries as his primary sidearm in Raiders a large frame Smith & Wesson revolver of the "Hand Ejector, Second Model" type. Two similarly-modified prop weapons with barrels cut down to about four inches were employed by the production company—the first being a Smith & Wesson M1917 provided by Stembridge Gun Rentals, in California. This was used for studio work in the U.S., and is the gun Indy turns over to arch rival Belloq after barely escaping a booby-trapped Peruvian temple with the golden idol. The same prop shows up again in a scene when Jones is packing his suitcase, where several identifying marks can be clearly seen in closeup, including the unique sight blade, and corner chunk missing from the grip.

Unmodified Smith & Wesson M1917 Revolver (Military issue with smooth grips) — .45 ACP

Indy surrenders his M1917 Revolver to Belloq while in Peru.

"Besides, you know what a cautious man I am.." While in his residence, Indy pulls out another (in reality the same) M1917 while packing for his trip to find the Ark.

The second Smith & Wesson revolver used onscreen is a British-issue Mk II Hand Ejector Model, again with shortened barrel, as loaned out by the Bapty company. This gun was used in the Ravenwood bar shootout, and Cairo, Egypt street scenes, where it was fired several times. Jones uses it famously to clear his path when confronted by a giant, menacing Arabian swordsman. He then shoots several thugs, including the driver of a truck full of explosives that careens out of control, rolls over and explodes.

Below is the actual modified 'Bapty' Smith & Wesson Mk II Hand Ejector used in the Cairo street scenes, and for all shooting action. It is also now in private collection.

Actual screen-used Mk II Hand Ejector revolver, as shown from "The Complete Making of Indiana Jones: The Definitive Story Behind All Four Films" by J.W. Rinzler, p. 78. Note the ramped front sight on this revolver, not dissimilar from the ramped front sights found on more contemporary S&W revolvers.

Indy fires his Smith & Wesson Mk II Hand Ejector at the swordsman. The script originally called for an extensive whip and sword fight but after beginning to shoot the scene, Harrison Ford (who was exhausted and ill from food poisoning at the time) suggested that he just pull his revolver and shoot the swordsman instead.

You can watch that scene here: https://youtu.be/7YyBtMxZgQs

The Mauser C96 is used by the Nazi thugs in Nepal, and one is used by Marion Ravenwood to shoot the last thug during the bar brawl.

Mauser C96 "Broomhandle" - 7.63mm Mauser

Marion after firing a Mauser C96 "Broomhandle"

To find out more about the weapons used in this film go to http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Raiders_of_the_lost_ark

#2 Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is the second installment in the Indiana Jones film series.

The year is 1935, the place is Club Obi Wan in Shanghai. We open up this film with Indiana Jones and his pal Wu Han (masquerading as a waiter) finagling with crime boss Lao Che, who wants the remains of Nurhachi, an ancient emperor from the Ming Dynasty. When the deal goes south, Che tries to poison Indy, chaos ensues and a running gun battle goes down between Indy and Lao Che and his henchmen.This chase sweeps up local torch singer Wilhelmina "Willie" Scott. The getaway car is driven by Indiana's ward and sidekick, Short Round, who is a 10 year old Chinese boy with a cocky personality. At the nearby Nang Tao airport, Indiana escapes from Shanghai aboard a cargo plane. It isn't until after take off they realize they boarded a plane belonging to Lao Che.

The plane crashes in the mountains when the Indy and his group are double crossed by the pilot after he bails out and dumps the plane's fuel. After a dangerous ride down the Himalayan mountains and a raging river in an inflatable life raft, the trio eventually come to a desolate village in India. The poor villagers enlist their help in retrieving a sacred Shiva lingam stone from the nefarious forces of nearby Pankot Palace. When the stone was stolen, the village's crops burned and the people began to starve. The forces of Pankot also kidnapped all of the children in the village. At night, Indy finds a small boy, one of the missing children, who has wandered back to the village. In his hand is a piece of cloth with Sanskrit. The writing gives Indy a clue about the missing Shankara stones. Indy has the idea that the stone may be one of the fabled Adi Shankara Stones. The village's elder believes Shiva sent Indiana to retrieve the object and return their village to a happy place once again.

At Pankot palace, the travelers are met by the maharajah's major domo, Chattar Lal and also meet the local British regiment leader, Captain Blumburtt. At a dinner of gruesome cuisine with the maharajah himself, Indy questions Lal about the villagers claims. Lal at first dismisses them, calling them superstition. Lal becomes angrier when Indy claims that the sacred stone was stolen from the village and points out several instances of Indy's own lack of discretion and moral judgement.

After dinner, and a row with Willie, Indy is attacked in his room by a would-be assassin. This then leads him, Willie and Short Round to discover an underground temple beneath Pankot. They find a Kl Thuggee religious cult, practicing and ancient ritual of black magic and human sacrifice. Though they possess three of the ancient stones, one of which belongs to the village, they are still missing two and the Thuggee have enslaved the village children to dig for two last stones within the mines of the palace. Mola Ram, the cult's villainous high priest, hopes to use the power of five united stones to rule the world. We watch from the point of view of our heroes as they witness a ritual in which Mola Ram bare-handedly digs a man's heart out of his chest. The man survives, his heart beating in Mola Ram's hand, until he is lowered slowly into a lava pit, causing the beating heart to burst into flame.

Indy, Willie, and Short Round are quickly captured shortly thereafter by the Thuggee and separated. Indy is forced to drink the "Blood of Kali", a mind-control potion which puts him into a trance called the "Black Sleep of Kali Ma," and begins to serve Mola Ram. Willie is kept as a human sacrifice, while Short Round is put in the mines alongside the village children as a slave laborer. Short Round, being the clever kid from the streets, frees himself and escapes back into the temple. He watches as Willie is about to be sacrificed to Kali. He burns Indy with a torch, shocking him out of the trance. After returning to himself, Indiana is mortified at the thought of having nearly cost his friends their lives, asking forgiveness from Short Round. Although Mola Ram escapes through a trapdoor, Indy and Short Round manage to save Willie, they grab the three Sankara Stones, and free the village children. In the fight to escape the palace, the three jump into a mine cart and are closely pursued by two Thuggee-filled carts through the tunnels. Back in the mine, Mola Ram has his men topple a large water tower, spilling it's contents into the tunnel. Indy and his group barely manage to escape the rush of water, emerging on the stone wall of a canyon.

The climax leads to Indy, Willie and Short Round trying to cross a rope bridge across the canyon, but are trapped by Mola Ram and the Thuggee on both ends. Indy prepares his friends to brace themselves. He uses a machete to cut the bridge in half. Many of the Thuggee are sent plummeting into the crocodile-infested river where they are eaten, but Mola Ram holds on. In a final battle for the stones, the evil priest declares that they belong to him. Unafraid, Indiana invokes the name of Shiva, which causes the stones to glow red hot. They burn a hole in his satchel and two of them fall into the river. The final stone burns Mola Ram's hand as he grabs it. Indiana catches it and watches as Ram is eaten. Jones climbs up the bridge as Blumburtt and his Indian riflemen help defeat the Thuggee reinforcements. Indiana, Willie, and Short Round return to the village with their sacred stone and the missing children. All is right with the world and Indy is the savior of it all. Gotta love it, right?

Let's take a look at some of the weapons used in second film of the Indiana Jones franchise. Most of the scenes heavy with guns are the ones in the beginning of the film, in the club.

Indiana Jones is seen using a Colt Official Police Revolver during the car chase on the streets of Shanghai. Indy hands off the revolver to Willie Scott, who proceeds to handle it by the hot barrel and drops it out of the getaway car. Indy's revolver appears to have a 4" barrel and was chambered in .38 Special. It had been thought that the Temple of Doom gun was the Colt New Service M1917 Revolver or possibly one of the cut down S&W's from Raiders of the Lost Ark, but new information and research has led to the discovery that it is a 4 inch Colt Official Police .38. Other Colts are seen used by one of Lao Che's gangsters and a Thuggee guard.

Colt Official Police 4" Barrel - .38 Special

Indiana Jones is seen using Colt Official Police Revolver during the chase on the streets of Shanghai.

Colt Official Police being used by gangster on the right during the chase on the streets of Shanghai.

A nickel plated 3 inch Webley Mk. III .38 Commercial Contract is used by Chen (Chua Kah Joo) during the cork-popping scene in Club Obi Wan. The Webley Mk. III in .38 caliber was also known as a "Pocket Revolver" as it is much smaller that the Webley Mk. III .455.

This is a photo of the actual screen-used Webley Mk. III Commercial Contract

Chen pulls his Webley Mk. III but is 'skewered' by Indy. Here the gun is in his right hand.

The Lee-Enfield No 4. Mk 1 was used by the Indian Army against the Temple of Doom guards at the Bridge scene.

Lee-Enfield No.4 Mk.I - .303 British

One noteworthy scene is of an Royal Indian Army soldier having difficulty with his No 4. Mk 1 rifle. In the sequence the soldiers are cycling the bolts and firing as rapidly as they can. Being blanks there is no recoil, so the soldiers are almost 'short stroking' the cycling of the action. This soldier extracts a spent cartridge by pulling back on his bolt handle, but he does it only about 3/4th of the way before the empty brass breaks loose from the extractor claw, so he tries to load a fresh round out of the magazine before he has successfully extracted the expended brass. He struggles with two cartridges (one unspent, one spent) both jammed into the chamber, whereas after a few seconds, he pulls back hard on the bolt and both cartridges fly out, thus clearing the weapon. Thus the so called 'jam' seen on screen is purely operator error.

To find out more about the weapons used in this film go here: http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Temple_of_Doom

#3 Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was released in 1989 and is the third installment in the Indiana Jones film series. Harrison Ford returns as Indy, who is unexpectedly reunited with his estranged father and fellow archaeologist Henry Jones, Sr. (Sean Connery) on a quest for what is believed to be the legendary Holy Grail.

This particular story opens up in Monument Valley, Utah, in 1912. A troop of Boy Scouts are exploring the area. One of the Scouts, a young Indiana Jones, finds a cave where where a party led by a mercenary wearing a fedora and leather jacket finds the cross of Coronado, a priceless Spanish American artifact. Indy, believing it to belong in a museum, takes it and is pursued, attempting to escape by horseback. He is then pursued by the mercenaries in cars, but boards a circus train to elude them. While on the train, he crawls through a car full of snakes (finally revealing the backstory for his reptile phobia) and then finds himself in a car with a lion, from whom he escapes by using a bullwhip he finds hanging on the wall. Indy's first attempt with the whip backlashes and gives him a cut on his chin. This gives us our origin story of the scar which is in fact, a real scar borne by actor Harrison Ford. After a few more dangerous encounters Indy escapes the train through a magician's magic box and takes the cross home, where his father is busy working on drawing that looks like a stained glass window. When Indy excitedly tries to tell his father about it, his father rebuffs him, telling him to calm down by counting to 10 in Greek.

Moments later a fellow scout whom Indy had sent for the Sheriff when he discovered the illegal dig returns with the sheriff; but he is dismayed to find that the burly businessman wearing a panama hat who had hired the mercenaries had also bought the law, and Indy is forced to surrender the cross to the looters. Before the head mercenary leaves the house, he says to Indy "You lost this time, Kid, but you don't have to like it",and puts the fedora on the boy's head. This is how we are introduced to the origin of his hat that has stolen many a scene in this franchise. As Indy smiles the scene fades and the scene changes to 1938 aboard a freighter in a violent Atlantic storm. I love the cinematography in this film, they captured the era with just the right amount of vibrance and grit.We cut to see that Indy has tracked down the cross, but is again confronted by the man in the panama hat and his henchmen. He grabs the artifact, fights off the crew and dives into the ocean scant seconds before a massive wave collapses the ship's funnel, causing it to fall onto a load of explosives. As Indy grabs a life preserver from the wreck, he sees the panama hat sinking nearby. As the hulk of the ship sinks, the name is visible on the bow: Coronado.

We then open up the scene to Indy returning to his university and after a moment of comic relief almost identical to the similar scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" gives the artifact Marcus Brody for the museum, then goes to his office, where he is surrounded by a phalanx of students. His secretary hands him all sorts of papers as well as phone messages and a brown paper package from Venice, which he absently stuffs in his pocket. After sitting for a moment in his artifact cluttered office, he sneaks out through his window but is greeted by three men who step from a sinister black sedan. They ask him to accompany them to an elegant penthouse apartment. He meets Walter Donovan, a generous donor to the museum. Donovan is apparently an oil magnate whose drilling team has uncovered fragment of a stone marker dating to the 12th century near Ankara, Turkey. The marker is read by Indy, and to his surprise it details "the cup that holds the blood of Jesus Christ" - the Holy Grail, whose waters can grant immortality. Donovan's project leader has deduced that a second marker, left behind by a knight who had found the Grail, is somewhere in Venice, but a major snag has occurred, as the project leader and all his research have vanished, to the concern of his assistant, Doctor Elsa Schneider.

When Indy finds out it's his father that is Donovan's project leader he is shocked, to say the least. When Indy arrives at his father's home he and Marcus find Henry's house ransacked and his mail opened, Indy suddenly remembers the package he got from Venice. He opens the package to find his dad's diary, in which is contained all his father's research on the Grail.

Indy and Marcus fly to Venice, where Donovan has arranged apartments for them, and they meet with Schneider. She gives them a written note by Henry that contains only the Roman numerals for three, seven, and ten. The group goes to where Henry disappeared, the Venice library, which was once a church in ancient Roman times. A stained-glass window dating from the sacking of Byzantium gives Indy the first in a series of clues that will eventually lead them to Henry and the grail but we'll get to that. This first clue shows us that the library is the tomb of the knight. Indy pries open the floor and finds a network of tunnels containing oil. Exploring the tunnel with Elsa - and in the process passing a wall painting of ancient antiquities such as The Ark Of The Covenant Indy eventually finds an ancient casket and a knight's shield, the second marker.

However, Marcus is slugged by members of a cult sworn to preventing discovery of the Grail, and who have followed Indy from the States; the cult sets fire to the oil in the tunnels but Indy and Elsa escape through the city sewers. Indy and Elsa are pursued by the cultists on speedboats before Indy dispatches one boat and corners the group's leader, a member of the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword, descendents of soldiers sworn to protect the grail with their lives. It's from him that Indy learns his father is a prisoner in the castle Brunwald in Germany.

Indy arranges for Marcus to meet Sallah to begin finding the Grail while he and Elsa go after Henry. He finds that his room and Elsa's have been ransacked by men looking for the Grail diary, making him all the more determined to find Henry and also the Grail. The two fly to the German castle and Indy finds Henry, but both are double crossed by Elsa, and to both men's horror they find that the string-puller in this whole affair is Walter Donovan, who wants the ancient cup to give him immortality. Indy and Henry are bound in the castle although Indy manages to break out, he sets off a fire in the process. He and Henry commandeer a Nazi motorcycle and escape pursuing German soldiers, but Henry stops Indy's trek of escape to make him go back to Berlin, where Donovan and Elsa have taken his diary for Hitler. When Indy demands to know why the diary is so important, Henry explains that it details traps that protect the grail and keys to defeating them.

Indy and his father trek to Berlin, finds Elsa standing with Hitler and his highest staff at a Nazi party book burning. Indy retrieves the diary from Elsa with some difficulty. During his departure from the rally, Indy comes face-to-face with Hitler himself, who adds his signature to the book.

In order to secure their escape Indy books tickets aboard a dirigible. However, they are forced to leave the dirigible using the search plane attached underneath. They are chased by Luftwaffe fighters and are forced to land when Indy's father shoots the tail off their plane with it's machine gun. In a harrowing scene they escape one plane that crashes into a tunnel, then Henry "suddenly remembers my Charlemagne" that drives him to send seagulls flying into the path of the second fighter, which flies into the swarm and crashes.

Reaching the desert area of Jordan, Indy and Henry rendezvous with Indy's pal Sallah, where they learn that Marcus, whom Indy had given a map from the diary leading them to the Grail itself, was captured and taken to Donovan. Tracking down Donovan's exploration group, Indy, Henry, and Sallah see it is escorted by a company of Nazi troopers with a World War I-vintage tank. When desert guerrillas led by the group that attacked Indy in Venice ambush the convoy, Henry uses the cover to try and rescue Marcus, but both are seized by the Nazis. Indy pursues the tank and a prolonged fight ensues where Marcus and Henry attack the soldiers inside and by a mixture of clumsiness and force succeed in killing them, then use the tank to blast the convoy. Indy rescues the two of them but the tank drives off a sheer cliff. Henry was quite convinced he had lost Indy for good when Indy pops up, just barely escaping as always.

The four men soon track down Donovan's remaining group at a cliffside temple in which is the path to the Grail. The traps within have already killed several of Donovan's group, and when Indy and his pals are seized, Donovan sees Indy as his chance. To force Indy to find the Grail, Donovan shoots Henry, leaving the healing power of the Grail as the only chance to save Henry's life. Indy thus enters the dangerous pathway, deducing how to avoid its traps and finding the chamber of the Grail. He succeeds in reaching the grail chamber and must choose the correct grail from many false ones.

All is settled until Elsa decides to leave with the grail, setting off a mammoth quake inside the vast temple. Elsa hits the ground and the grail rolls into a large fissure in the temple. Elsa almost falls in herself, but is saved by Indy at the last moment. Elsa, instead of letting Indy lift her up, pulls one of her hands free to try and reach the grail resting below her. She can almost touch it, and so she keeps on reaching, despite Indy's pleads to give him both her hands. He cannot maintain his grip on Elsa's slippery leather gloved hand, and before Elsa can grasp the cup, her hand slips out of its leather glove. Elsa falls to her death and Indy near does too, but his father catches him. Indy tries to reach the grail himself, but Henry gets through to him and the two ultimately escape the temple. When Jones Sr. calls Indy "Junior" Sallah asks what it means. Jones Sr. tells him Indy's full name "Henry Jones, Jr" a moniker that Indy himself detests. Jones Sr also reveals that "Indiana" was the name of their dog when Indy was a child. As is typical in this franchise the film ends with a victory cry from the inept Brody, the four then ride off on horseback into the sunset.

The Walther P38 is a very common weapon in this film, used by a large majority of the German Soldiers and Officers. It is also seen used by Indy during the tank chase, using one to shoot three German Soldiers in a row. Later in the caves, Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) is seen armed with the Walther P38.

Walther P38 pistol (manufactured at the Mauser Factory) - World War Two dated - 9x19mm

A German soldier holds a P38 on Marcus and Prof. Jones.

Indy amazed at the power of the Walther.

In the scene where Indy and his father escape the Zeppelin, they are attacked by 2 German fighter airplanes. Indy's father uses a Villar-Perosa M1915 SMG mounted on the biplane to try and hold off the fighters, but accidentally shoots the biplane's tail. While the gun is clearly SUPPOSED to be a Villar Perosa Mod 15, the actual prop used was built by mating two upside-down Beretta Model 38/42 submachine guns. This explains the straight magazines (though, to be fair, such were also available for Villar-Perosa) and why it really doesn't look too much like a Villar-Perosa.

Beretta Model 38/42 - 9x19mm

Villar-Perosa Mod 15 for reference - 9 mm Glisenti

Prof. Jones unintentionally shoots up the plane's tail, later claiming that the fighters did it.

Indy and Prof. Jones looking back to the sight of the two German fighters.

To watch the scene with the planes go here: https://youtu.be/rUHZZwuybiY

For more information on the weapons used in this film please look here: http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Last_Crusade

#4 Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

Released in 2008. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the fourth installment in the Indiana Jones feature film series. Harrison Ford returns for his appearance as the iconic archaeologist, who this time is on the hunt for an artifact known as the Crystal Skull while being pursued by the Russian army. Steven Spielberg returns as director and the cast includes Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf and Karen Allen, who returns as Marion Ravenwood. What I've always loved about these films is that I watched them as a kid and they are fun for the whole family while still having tons of action packed scenes and great dialogue.

We've jumped into the year 1957 and Colonel-Doctor Irina Spalko and a convoy of Soviet agents posing as U.S. soldiers infiltrate a military base in the Nevada desert. They have captured archeologist Indiana Jones and force him to lead them to a crate in "Hangar 51", which holds the remains of an extraterrestrial creature that crashed ten years before in Roswell, New Mexico. Indy uses both gun powder and shot to find the crate, which has magnetic properties. Indiana attempts to escape but is foiled by his partner Mac, who reveals that he is working with the Soviets. After a fight and an elaborate vehicle chase through the warehouse, Indiana escapes on a rocket sled into the desert, where he stumbles upon a nuclear test town and survives a nuclear blast by hiding in a lead-lined refrigerator. After debriefing by the Army, Indiana returns to Marshall College, where he is offered an indefinite leave of absence to avoid being fired because of the investigation. At a train station, Indiana is stopped by a kid named Mutt Williams and told that his old colleague, Harold Oxley, disappeared after discovering a crystal skull near the Nazca lines in Peru. Jones and Mutt go to a local diner, where they discuss Akator, crystal skulls, and the Ugha tribe. Mutt passes Indy a letter from Oxley. Soviet agents approach them, and a chase commences on the college grounds. Indiana realizes that the Soviets were trailing Mutt to get him to decode Oxley's letter.

The next stop for the duo is Peru. Here Indiana and Mutt discover that Oxley was locked in a church-operated psychiatric hospital until the Soviets kidnapped him. In Oxley's former cell, Indiana discovers clues to the grave of Francisco de Orellana, a Conquistador who went missing in the 1500s while seeking Akator. Indiana finds the crystal skull that Oxley hid in Orellana's grave. The Soviets capture Indiana and Mutt and take them to the camp where they are holding Oxley, as well as Mutt's mother, Marion Ravenwood. I really enjoyed the plot twist with her and I was happy to see her return as Marion. Indiana learns that the Soviets believe the skull, which magnetically attracts even non-ferrous objects, is from an extraterrestrial life-form and holds great psychic power; Oxley has suffered a mental breakdown due to overexposure to the skull's powers. Marion reveals that Mutt's real name is Henry Jones III and that he is Indiana's son. The four escape from the Soviets, leading to a lengthy vehicle chase involving a sword fight between Mutt and Spalko, and a swarm of killer siafu ants. Escaping on an amphibious vehicle, Indiana, Mutt, Marion, Oxley and Mac arrive at the Temple of Akator, a Maya-style pyramid in the Amazon rainforest. Claiming that he is a CIA double agent working against the Soviets, Mac enters the temple with Indiana and the group, but he is actually leaving a trail of homing devices for Spalko to follow.

The group enters the temple and Indiana uses the skull to open the door to a chamber tomb, where thirteen crystal skeletons, one missing a skull, are seated on thrones. After the Soviets arrive and again reveal Mac's complicity, Spalko places the skull onto the skeleton. It begins communicating to the group through Oxley using an ancient Mayan dialect. Indiana translates this to mean that the aliens want to give them a "great gift". Spalko demands to "know everything", and the skulls begin transferring knowledge into her mind. As a portal to another dimension appears over the room, Oxley regains his sanity and explains that the aliens are inter-dimensional beings who taught the Ugha warriors their advanced technology. Indiana, Mutt, Marion and Oxley escape from the temple, but Mac and the soldiers are sucked into the portal. The skeletons form into a single alien which continues to feed Spalko with knowledge; however, the knowledge overwhelms Spalko, causing her to ignite and disintegrate, with her scattered essence absorbed into the portal as well. The temple crumbles, and a flying saucer rises from the debris and disappears as the Amazon river floods the valley. After they return home, Indiana is reinstated and made an associate dean at Marshall College, and he and Marion are married. It would appear, that for the time being, all is well and right with the Jones's.

Let's take a look at some of the weaponry used in this film.

Of course, the signature sidearm is present. As in The Last Crusade, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) carries a commercial Webley "WG" Army Model revolver as his main sidearm. He is seen cocking the hammer on one of the cemetery "guards", but doesn't fire it in the film.

Webley "WG" Army Model .455 Webley

"You're a teacher?" "Part-time." Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) with the Webley WG Army revolver.

Colonel Dovchenko, disguised as US Army Colonel "Truman," had a Colt M1911. This plastic and metal dummy Colt 1911 pistol, actually an airsoft gun (no longer capable of firing pellets), is a highly detailed copy of a real Colt 1911 pistol. Dummy pistols such as these are used during filming when a real firearm is not necessary as the actor is not firing the gun. They are also used for background actors to fill out the number of weapons in a scene, or as "holster stuffers." Keen eyes will catch that the "Prop Store of London"'s "official" version is an M1911A1, not an M1911, so the replica gun doesn't exactly match the blank firing weapon used on set.

War time issued (WWII) Colt M1911A1 Pistol - .45 acp

Dovchenko raises his M1911 on Indy.

Almost all of the AK-47-type rifles in this movie are stamped-receiver Chinese Norinco Type 56s (fixed stock) and Type 56-1s (folding stock), including the one used by Cate Blanchett during the chase. Aside from the fact that Russians should not be using Chinese-made weapons, AKs with stamped receivers didn't exist until 1959, and the Chinese didn't go to the stamped receivers until 1963. So, although AKs were around then, these particular models are an anachronism. There is a very good possibility that the production crew used the Norinco Type 56 rifles as a "stand-in" for the Russian AK-47s since there are not many genuine Russian AK-47s in the US as well as the Type 56 looking like the original Russian-made AK-47 rifles from a distance (the Norinco Type 56 rifles have a smooth receiver cover that is similar to the ones used on the original Russian AK-47 rifles). Also, the folding-stock model wasn't made until the early 60's, though the ones used might simply be stand-ins for AKS-47 rifles.

Norinco Type 56 (Imported into the U.S. as the Norinco AKS-47 or AKS-47 Sporter) - 7.62x39mm. This particular gun lacks the "pig sticker" bayonet seen on the model above, which was standard on PLA-issue Type 56s, but much rarer on the export versions.

Russian soldiers firing at Indy with Norinco Type 56-1s (Chinese AKS-47/AKMS clones).

The Russians behind Marion (Karen Allen) carry their Norinco's.

A Browning M1919A6 machine gun with the stock removed is seen on the GAZ 46 MAV in this movie, It is lost during the waterfall scene. It is possible this weapon could be a 'captured example' from WWII/Korea used by the Soviets prior to the PK machine gun, or on lease from Communist South American countries aiding the Soviets.

Browning M1919A6, post WWII manufacture - .30-06

Spalko fires the Browning on Marion.

If you'd like to take a look at the Hangar 51 chase you can do so here: https://youtu.be/12GHDme2h-o

For more information on the weapons used in this film go to : http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Kingdom_of_the_Crystal_Skull

This franchise is just all around awesome, it's one of those that anyone and everyone can watch. So grab the kids, grab some snacks and have and Indy marathon.

Which one of these is your favorite?

Labels: action, actors, adventure, archeology, cinema, family films, harrison ford, indiana jones, movies