60 Fun Facts About Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was released in which year?

It arrived five years after Temple of Doom, and its Memorial Day weekend opening was a record at the time.

Which former James Bond plays Indiana's father, Henry Jones Sr.?

He is only twelve years older than Harrison Ford and initially turned the part down for that reason.

What relic are Indy and his father searching for in the film?

Henry Sr. is a Grail scholar; the story is set in 1938, two years after Raiders.

Which young actor plays the 13-year-old Indiana Jones in the 1912 prologue?

Ford recommended him: Phoenix had played Ford's son in The Mosquito Coast, and Ford thought he looked the most like him at that age.

In the prologue, young Indy is a Boy Scout living in which Utah town?

The scouting angle was Spielberg's idea; the opening was shot around Arches National Park and Colorado's Cumbres and Toltec railroad.

What artifact does young Indy grab from graverobbers in The Last Crusade prologue and recover in 1938?

Roger Ebert called the prologue the most original and effective part of the film, straight out of an old Boys' Life magazine.

How does the prologue explain the scar on Indy's chin?

Harrison Ford's real chin scar came from a car accident when he was young.

According to the film, Indiana took his nickname from what?

It's a nod to George Lucas, who named the character after his own Alaskan Malamute.

Young Indy's circus carriage, "Doctor Fantasy's Magic Caboose", is a reference to whom?

Marshall also devised the false-bottomed box, and the trick was done in a single unbroken shot.

Who plays Marcus Brody, the museum curator who "got lost in his own museum"?

Elliott had been absent from Temple of Doom; bringing him and Sallah back was part of recapturing the Raiders tone.

Which actress plays Dr. Elsa Schneider, the art professor secretly working with the Nazis?

Doody was 21 at her audition though the character is in her 30s; Amanda Redman turned the part down.

Walter Donovan, the businessman who sends the Joneses after the Grail, is played by which English actor?

Glover had auditioned for Vogel, and was unhappy with the American accent he adopted for Donovan.

What is the name of the secret society, led by Kazim, that protects the Grail?

In early drafts Kazim was called Kemal and wanted the Grail for the Republic of Hatay; a late rewrite made him a protector.

According to the inscribed shield in the Venice catacombs, where does the path to the Grail begin?

Marcus is captured by the Nazis there; the station scene was shot in Guadix, with a mosque built for atmosphere.

In which country is Brunwald Castle, where the Nazis hold Henry Jones Sr.?

The exteriors were actually Bürresheim Castle in West Germany, flipped and enlarged with a matte painting.

Which SS officer, played by Michael Byrne, commands the castle Nazis and dies going over a cliff in a tank?

Byrne and Ford had already played a German and an American opposite each other in Force 10 from Navarone.

In Berlin, Indy retrieves his father's diary at what kind of Nazi event?

Michael Sheard, who plays Hitler, had already portrayed him three times; Ronald Lacey, Raiders' Toht, cameos as Himmler in the same scene.

How does Henry Jones Sr. bring down the pursuing German fighter plane on the beach?

The real gulls refused to fly on the first take, so Spielberg used doves; the shot was meant to evoke Ryan's Daughter.

How does Elsa cause Donovan's death in the Grail chamber?

Donovan ages to dust in seconds, in the first all-digital composite shot in a movie.

How does Elsa die at the end of the film?

Indy nearly follows her before his father, calling him "Indiana" for once, persuades him to let it go.

Which ancient site in Jordan stands in for the temple that houses the Grail?

The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, had appeared in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger; the film helped push Petra's visitors from a few thousand a year toward a million.

In the second Grail trial, Indy steps only on stones spelling God's name in Latin. What is it?

He nearly falls after stepping on "J" first; a planned tarantula crawling up him was filmed and scrapped.

How was the "leap of faith" crossing over the ravine created on screen?

A puppet of Ford was used to cast a shadow on the 9-foot model, because Ford's bluescreen shot lacked the shaft of light from the entrance.

Which veteran actor plays the ancient Grail Knight who has guarded the cup since the Crusades?

Laurence Olivier was considered but was too ill; he died the year the film came out.

Which line did Connery improvise on set, kept because it made everyone laugh?

In Boam's scripts, Henry's admission that he also slept with Elsa came much later.

Connery said he wanted to play Henry Jones Sr. as a kind of which Victorian explorer?

He also told Spielberg that whatever Indy had done, his character had done it better, and the script was revised to suit.

George Lucas's abandoned 1984 treatment for the third film had what title?

Later drafts featured a Scottish ghost, a 200-year-old pygmy and a Nazi with a mechanical arm; scouting in Africa was abandoned.

Which screenwriter of Gremlins and The Goonies wrote rejected drafts featuring a Garden of Immortal Peaches?

When his script leaked online in 1997, fans mistook it for a draft of the fourth film because of a wrong date.

Which playwright, credited as Barry Watson, polished most of the film's dialogue and created the 'Panama Hat' character?

His May 1988 rewrite also renamed Kemal as Kazim, Chandler as Donovan, and gave Vogel his death in the tank.

Whose idea was it to introduce Indiana's father, over Lucas's initial doubts?

Spielberg had Connery in mind from the start but didn't tell Lucas, who wrote the part as an eccentric Olivier-type schoolmaster.

Because of The Last Crusade, Spielberg dropped out of directing which two 1988 films?

Both went on to be huge: Rain Man won Best Picture and Big made Tom Hanks a leading man.

Principal photography began in May 1988 in the Tabernas Desert, in which country?

Almería's desert hosted the tank chase; the beach where the gulls hit the plane is Playa de Mónsul in Cabo de Gata.

The desert-chase armored vehicle, built on a 25-ton excavator frame, was based on which real WWI design?

It took four months to build, ran on two Range Rover V8 engines and topped out at 10 to 12 mph, which made the horse chase hard to film.

How many rats did Lucasfilm end up breeding for the Venice catacomb scenes?

They had ordered 1,000 disease-free gray rats; 1,000 mechanical rats stood in for the ones set on fire.

Why did Ford and Connery film much of the Zeppelin table conversation without their trousers on?

The scene was shot at Elstree Studios in England, where most of the interiors were filmed.

Where was the exterior of Berlin's Tempelhof Airport actually shot?

It was built in 1938 as a planned airport terminal, so the art deco look was already right; ILM added the tower and Nazi banners.

Where was the Berlin Nazi rally scene filmed?

Two night shoots in July 1988; the Nazi uniforms were genuine, sourced in Eastern Europe by the costume team.

The film's shots of Donovan aging to dust are noted as the first of what in movie history?

ILM morphed three decaying puppets over three months, using the technique it had mastered on Willow.

Sound designer Ben Burtt recorded which animals to create the sound of the rats?

He also fired a .357 Magnum in Skywalker Ranch's underground car park, just as Lucas drove in, for the echo of Donovan's gunshot.

The film won a single Academy Award, in which category?

It was also nominated for Best Original Score and Best Sound; Connery got a Golden Globe nod for Best Supporting Actor.

How much did The Last Crusade gross worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of its year?

Batman beat it in North America but not globally; at the time it was the 11th highest-grossing film ever.

The Last Crusade's Saturday gross of $11.2M on opening weekend was the first time a film had done what?

It held the Memorial Day weekend record until The Flintstones in 1994.

After the film's release, Harrison Ford donated Indy's fedora and jacket to which institution?

They went to the National Museum of American History; Lucasfilm sold tie-in fedoras and jackets rather than toys.

The LucasArts point-and-click game based on the film tracked player progress with a score called what?

The maximum IQ of 800 was only reachable by finding alternative solutions to puzzles, giving the game replay value.

The film's prologue inspired Lucas to create which television series?

Sean Patrick Flanery played the young adult Indy and Corey Carrier the boy; Lucasfilm briefly considered films starring Phoenix before his death.

Which final shot was filmed by the second unit in Amarillo, Texas, months after the main shoot wrapped?

The motorcycle chase was also a late addition, shot near Skywalker Ranch after a rough cut felt short on action.

Who wrote the final screenplay for The Last Crusade, from a story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes?

The Innerspace writer spent two weeks reworking the story with Lucas and later incorporated many of Sean Connery's comic suggestions.

Which actor, who had already played Hitler three times, appears briefly as the Führer at the book-burning?

He had also appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark as U-boat commander Oskar Schomburg.

Which real fortress near Mayen in West Germany stood in for the exterior of Brunwald in the film?

The image was flipped and enlarged with a matte painting to make the fortress look grander.

Which two films debuted The Last Crusade's teaser trailer in November 1988?

Rob MacGregor's tie-in novelisation followed in June 1989 and reached the New York Times bestseller list.

What did Lucasfilm sell to promote the film instead of toys?

A trade journal editor observed that Indiana Jones 'never happened on the toy level', so he was marketed as a lifestyle symbol.

What approval rating did the film hold on Rotten Tomatoes in 2025, from 136 reviews?

The critics' consensus called it lighter and more comedic than Temple of Doom and a return to the serial style of Raiders.

Which Swiss training aircraft doubled for the pursuing German fighters in the Zeppelin escape?

They stood in for Luftwaffe Arado Ar 96s, with simulated gunfire from an engine-based device rather than blanks.

Which director's Midnight Express performance won Kevork Malikyan the role of Kazim?

Malikyan would have auditioned for Sallah in Raiders had a scheduling problem not intervened.

Sean Connery earned a Golden Globe nomination for The Last Crusade in which category?

The film's other nominations included Academy Award nods for Best Original Score and Best Sound.

Which two actors played the young Indiana in the TV series inspired by the film's prologue?

Flanery played the young adult Indy and Carrier the boy of eight to ten.

How much did The Last Crusade gross in the United States and Canada?

International takings of $277 million lifted it to $474.2 million worldwide, then the 11th-highest total ever.

Which film released the same summer did The Last Crusade beat to become 1989's top grosser?

Tim Burton's Batman was the main competition that summer.

On which day in May 1989 did Paramount release The Last Crusade in the United States?

It went on to earn $474.2 million worldwide as the year's biggest hit.

Which Romancing the Stone writer scripted Lucas's rejected 'haunted mansion' idea for Indy 3?

Spielberg turned it down because it resembled Poltergeist, which he had co-written and produced.