The Indiana Jones Movie That Made Lucas and Spielberg Fight (You Know the One)

Some of my fondest memories of seeing movies are of the AMC Lincoln Square 13 in New York City. It was two blocks from my dorm, so I could go often. The balcony in one of its auditoriums is one of my favorite seats in the city (I was supposed to be sitting there this afternoon, but found a friend to go with instead, and chose a different theater). There’s an enormous escalator that leads to its IMAX theater, where I saw the opening scene of The Dark Knight long before everyone else. I love it.

I love it so much that it colored my perception of some movies I saw there. For example, The Dark Knight wasn’t the only franchise sequel that I saw in 2008. First, I had to make my way through the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And boy, did I! While I didn’t love it, I remember having a good time. Then, I made my way into the lobby with everyone else, when a tall guy cupped his hand around his mouth and yelled, “That SUCKED,” and everyone laughed in agreement.

While I wouldn’t go to bat for the movie regularly, I was certainly someone who would say, “Eh, it wasn’t as bad as everyone says.” Part of me still believes that, especially when it comes to things like the much-maligned fridge beat or the big alien reveal. But y’all, I finally rewatched it during lockdown, and boy oh boy do I agree with the tall guy. The movie, despite being crafted by some of my favorite minds in Hollywood, is just not very good. It probably doesn’t help that the director and star wanted no part of it.

Steven Spielberg is getting his flowers right now, thanks to Disclosure Day (which I will be seeing this afternoon). While I do wish that The Fabelmans got this kind of attention, I’m happy to see folks put a spotlight on someone who is arguably the greatest living director, whose career will be over before we know it. Vulture writer (and one of my favorite Blank Check guests) Bilge Ebiri compiled an incredible Oral History about Spielberg, with hosts of film legends offering thoughts about the man, and Kathleen Kennedy’s insights on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull are not that surprising.

Plenty of people had a hard time with the film, like the famed cinematographer, Janusz Kamiński, who called it one of the hardest movies he’s ever made. “Crystal Skull was a tough production for Janusz. Steven was struggling with that movie. Harrison was struggling with the movie,” Kennedy explained. “They didn’t want to do a Raiders movie that involved aliens, and they kind of got into a fight with George about it.” Lucas admits in the piece that he wanted to include aliens because it was set in the 50s, and that he could only convince Spielberg to include them if they were from another dimension.

Kennedy goes on to explain that the aliens were likely the right choice, but because Ford and Spielberg weren’t committed, the film suffered. And look, that’s probably not untrue, and I’m sure their lack of enthusiasm contributed to the mess, but there is a lot more wrong with that movie than an apathetic director and star. That said, last time I watched it, two of the most detrimental things were poor staging (Steven) and an Indiana that seemed out to lunch (Harrison). So, ya know, there were a lot of issues.