The Bearded Trio

Brad’s April Escape - Part 15 April 23 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Each weekday this month, I’ll screen a film from The Bearded Trio Cinematic Universe and list 10 random scenes, characters, musical cues or performances that I particularly enjoy and look forward to upon every viewing. I’d love to hear similar little things you enjoy about these films, and hope you join me in this escape from the present-day world. Next up is the long-awaited conclusion to the original trilogy, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Last Crusade - An Introduction I can't, and I won't, rank the films of the Indiana Jones franchise. I am too attached in too many unique ways to those first three. Today, I tackle a more mature Indy, and corresponding film, Last Crusade. This film shares a lot of story beats with Raiders of the Lost Ark , and purposefully so, according to filmmaker Steven Spielberg. He says he missed the prevailing tone of Raiders after Indy m...

Scotland Holds The Secret To The Holy Grail Even when Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was enjoying being at the top of the cinema box office back in 1984, George Lucas was already thinking of Indy III.  Just six months after Temple of Doom, Lucas had produced an eight-page story treatment.  The story was called Indiana Jones and the Monkey King and it was easy to see that even with this short treatment a few elements would end up in the final third Indy movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade . A boat chase, a female archaeologist, a package in the post, the return of Marcus Brody, a German tank and the quest for eternal life were all packed into this eight-page treatment.  This official Lucasfilm memo from 1984 shows that George Lucas was not only trying to get the Holy Grail involved but also a connection to Scotland.  George Lucas tells us: "The Holy Grail had been an early idea on the artefacts...I think it was one of the original ideas around Tem...