by David Michael Brown
From being dragged under a speeding truck in Raiders of the Lost Ark to the bridge fall in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and the tank chase in Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade, we count down the stunts that the action star of a generation, Harrison Ford, often wanted to do himself. As Ford’s stunt double Vic Armstrong was quoted, “The biggest stunt on the Indiana Jones films was stopping Harrison doing the stunts.”
- The Truck Chase – Raiders of the Lost Ark
“Truck, what truck?” When Indiana Jones discovers that the Ark of the Covenant is being transported in a truck guarded by a heavily armed Nazi convoy, he takes chase on horseback. At a steady gallop, he leaps from the horse onto the truck. Kicking out the driver and passenger, he is in control until a soldier (played by stuntman Sergio Mioni) boards the truck and throws the archaeologist through the front windshield. He tumbles over the bonnet and frantically grabs on the front grill of the truck. As the vehicle is speeding down the dirt track, Indy passes himself backwards underneath the truck to avoid being crushed by the vehicle in front. Finally, he is dragged behind with only his trusted whip to hang on to. Filming the final part of this bravura sequence saw Ford bruising ribs. The stunning sequence was Spielberg’s homage to the legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt, who pulled off a similar stunt using horses and a wagon in John Ford’s Stagecoach in 1939.
- The Rope Bridge – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
When Dr. Jones, his sidekick Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) and shrill chanteuse Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) find themselves trapped on a rope bridge – an actual bridge reinforced by steel cables for filming – with Mola Ram (Amrish Puri) and his goons advancing, drastic measures are required. Indy raises his sword and cuts through the ropes. “Hang on lady, we’re going for a ride!”. As bodies fall into the crocodile infested waters below, the bridge swings down and smashes into the rocky side of the ravine. As Indy, Scott and Short Round try to climb the remains of the bridge up to safety, their vertical ascent is thwarted by Mola Ram and his men. As Ford explained in the Blu-ray extras, “Steven was really scared of the bridge because it was a real suspension bridge over 150 feet clear fall before you dashed yourself to death on rocks and shallow water.”
- The Tank Chase – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Harrison Ford did so many of his own stunts in the third instalment of the franchise that his stunt double asked if he would be allowed to do any work himself. In the film’s biggest set piece, Indy is trying to save his father (Sean Connery) and Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) who have been taken in a Nazi tank. Once again in hot pursuit on horseback, Indy leaps from the horse onto the moving tank in what Armstrong calls the best stunt in the series. The sequence concludes when Indy is hanging off a small cannon as the tank careers into rocks at the side of the road to try and crush him.
- The Bar Fight – Raiders of the Lost Ark
When Indiana Jones heads to Nepal to revisit an old flame, sparks fly, quite literally. Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) is now the owner of the raucous hard-drinking bar The Raven. Indy and the Nazis are both after the headpiece of the Staff of Ra. Indy arrives just in time to save Marion from the clutches of evil Gestapo agent Toht (Ronald Lacey). The ensuing bar fight sees the establishment go up in flames as bottles are smashed on heads, punches are thrown and Indy fights someone whose arm is on fire. It’s old-school stunt work that’s incendiary, exhilarating fun.
- Anything Goes – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
The opening of the first sequel is a masterclass in choreography, stunt work and Busby Berkeley style dance routines. Our hero has been hired by crime boss Lao Che (Roy Chiao) to retrieve the remains of Emperor Nurhaci in return for a diamond. Meeting in Club Obi Wan, Indy is double-crossed and poisoned for his troubles and in the resulting melee, the drugged adventurer grabs frantically for the antidote while Scott dives for the diamond. As the patrons, dancers and Che’s henchmen run amuck, the chaos is a glorious cacophony of bullets, balloons and flying bodies. Plus, a man is impaled by a flaming sheesh kebab and Indy crashes into the house band on a food trolley. Indy and Scott escape by jumping out of a fifth-story window. Their fall is broken by cloth awnings.
- The Boulder Run – Raiders of the Lost Ark
In one of the greatest opening sequences of all time, Indiana Jones steals a golden idol from a booby-trapped Peruvian temple. After dodging spiders, darts, deep pits, descending doors and flying spears, one of which impales a young Alfred Molina, Indy is chased by a giant boulder. The rock in question was made from fibreglass. Spielberg loved the prop so much he extended the boulder’s screen time. Harrison Ford actually outran the boulder ten times as the scene was shot twice from five different angles. His stumble in the scene was deemed to look authentic and was left in. As Spielberg later recounted, “He won ten times and beat the odds. He was lucky, and I was an idiot for letting him try.”
- The Boat Chase – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
After escaping some subterranean catacombs in Venice, Indy and Elsa (Alison Doody) take to the water by boat. Pursued by the fez-wearing members of the Brothers of the Crucified Sword, who are sworn to protect the location of The Holy Grail. A fistfight on the back of the boat follows before two of the boats are crushed between two ships that are closing in on each other. An empty speedboat containing dummies was launched from a floating platform obscured by smoke and fire. The stunt had to be performed twice as the exploding boat landed short of the camera in the first attempt.
- Exiting The Plane – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones, Willie Scott, and Short Round escape the gangsters in Shanghai on a plane, courtesy of Lao Che Air Freight. The pilot jumps out leaving the hapless trio with no parachutes. Flying over snowy mountains, Indy grabs an inflatable raft, “We’re not sinking; we’re crashing!” and inflates the raft as they leap out of the plane. They freefall through the air, only to land on the snow and slide down the mountain slopes, over a cliff and fall into raging rapids. The stunt fall was achieved by rigging up a pull system that inflated once the weighted raft loaded with three life-size dummies (standing in for the actors) was tossed from a plane. It was achieved in one take.
- The Road Race – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
With KGB agents in hot pursuit, Indiana Jones and Mutt (Shia LaBeouf) try to escape the Soviets on the youngster’s motorbike. Racing through the packed streets of Bedford, the agents side up to the bike and a high-speed fistfight ensues. Indy is dragged through the window of the Russians’ car and the ruckus continues on the back seat before Indy escapes through the opposite window back onto the waiting bike. Barely hanging on and straddling the rear wheel, he finally gets back on the seat and the pair escapes.
- Whip vs Sword – Raiders of the Lost Ark
It would have been the greatest fight sequence ever. When Indy is confronted by a sabre wielding bad guy during a chase in Cairo, he was to fight the swordsman using his whip. Shot in Tunisia in extreme heat, the scene was proving problematic, and Ford was famously sick. It was decided to nix the sequence in lieu of something quicker. Proving you should always bring a gun to a knife fight; Indy takes out the sword-spinning baddie with a nonchalant gunshot. The stunt was lost but history was made.
Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark by experiencing the 4 -movie collection for the first time in 4K Ultra HD.
