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Entertaining no-holds-barred send-up of Indiana Jones

posted 4 years ago by Wuchak (8732)
15 replies | jump to latest

Many moons ago I saw clips of this and wrote it off as a campy knockoff of “Raiders of the Lost Ark," which of course was hugely successful and inspired several immediate imitations, like “Romancing the Stone” and “Firewalker." I thankfully finally decided to give it a chance because, while it IS a knockoff of “Raiders,” it’s the best I’ve seen so far. It’s at least as entertaining as “The Mummy” (1999), albeit not a blockbuster like that film.

Before you check it out, you have to be braced for a Grade B send-up with the corresponding preposterous frolics. Yes, it’s like Indiana Jones, but way over-the-top with a lower budget. If you can get on board, this is a wildly entertaining fun-adventure flick that’s colorful, cartoonish and thrilling with impressive African locations. It bends over backwards to amuse with Victoria Falls, jungle portages, market-place romps, steam-engine escapades, wild animals (lions, crocs, snakes and a colossal spider), threatening cannibals, a hideous witch-queen, deadly swamps, hellish caves and more. I should add that the spider is only a few notches above the ultra-cheese you’d see on Gilligan’s Island.

On the female front, Stone is stunning before she became famous and I’m not even a fan. The creators don’t fail to display her beauty in a tasteful way as her shorts get shorter and shorter. She has magnificent legs.

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[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

While it is perceived as an Indy rip off the truth is that it was based on a books written back before the 1900's, and even more interesting it was made into a movie in 1950 so in reality it is really a remake of an old movie called Kin Solomon's Mines from 1950 starring Stewart Granger. It is probably more accurate to accept that Indiana Jones was influenced by King Solomon's Mines.

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[–] Wuchak (8732) 4 years ago

I'm familiar with the book and the 1950 movie, which was a serious jungle adventure. While the 1985 movie used this for its basic plot, it has little to do with either and was clearly inspired by the success of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," e.g. the romp in the village market-place that utilized rolled-up rugs instead of huge baskets, not to mention the Germans. In other words, it's very much a knockoff of "Raiders."

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[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

If you're familiar with the movie then surely you noted the similarities between Temple of Doom and King Solomon's Mines (1950 version)... I doubt Spielberg and Lucas simply happened on the original film after creating Indiana Jones.. most likely it was one of the films that influence them when they created Indiana Jones. And while I have no doubts that the 1985 movie only existed because of Indiana Jones, it is still based upon the original book regardless of how many liberties they took with the original story and how they pulled in some gags reminiscent of Indiana Jones. Remember Lucas was always pulling influence from old movies like the original King Solomon's Mines when he made his other movies like Star Wars. I would be shocked if he hadn't watched the original movie prior to making Indiana Jones.

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[–] Wuchak (8732) 4 years ago

Most everyone knows "Raiders" borrowed heavily from the classic adventure serials -- Lucas & Spielberg readily admitted it -- but "Raiders" was the film that brought that genre into vogue in the early 80s and inspired the slew of immediate imitations, like "Treasure of the Four Crowns" (1983), "High Road to China" (1983) and the ones noted in my original post.

Was "King Solomon's Mines" (1985) made as a genuine updating of the book & 1950 movie or were these used as a ready-excuse to jump on the 80's Indiana Jones bandwagon for easy profit? Obviously the latter.

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[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Regardless of what you think, the producers seemed to think it was still close enough to the original source material that they gave credit to the original author. No matter what you think that indicates that the authors certainly didn't think it was the latter. It isn't as if King Solomon's Mine was a well known movie or book at that time so they didn't get a lot of extra publicity for giving the author any credit.

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[–] Wuchak (8732) 4 years ago

It's not "what I think," but rather what's obvious: the flick jumped on the 80's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" bandwagon and is therefore a (glaring) knockoff. Even the freakin' score by Goldsmith rips it off.

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[–] triplea (3577) 4 years ago

The way it has been adapted to film is a ripoff of Indy - trying to cash in.

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[–] Wuchak (8732) 4 years ago

Yup.

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[–] huwdj (4566) 4 years ago

Interesting. I always saw this film as a really bad Hollywood attempt at filming a famous book. Probably it was influenced by the success of Indy but even so there was no excuse for such a rotten adaptation. However I will agree with you on one point - Sharon Stone has magnificent legs.

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[–] Wuchak (8732) 4 years ago

Is it bad or is it an intentional send-up of Indiana Jones that goes way over-the-top from beginning to end to wildly entertain the viewer? For me, it's the latter. You have to roll with it to enjoy it.

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[–] huwdj (4566) 4 years ago

Yeah, sorry but I remember it as quite poor and I don't think anyone was claiming it was an intentionally over the top spoof. But perhaps I was just annoyed because I've always liked the book so much?

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[–] Wuchak (8732) 4 years ago

It's all good. The opening campy scenes telegraph that you're not supposed to take it too seriously; it's like a cartoon version of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." The cooking pot sequence is straight out of Bugs Bunny. At the time, Chamberlain himself said he was used to doing heavy material, but "this movie is funny. There aren't too many lines to learn and the time is taken up with being chased by natives and animals, cooked in pots, and escaping the perils of crocodiles, witch-queens, deadly swamps and so on."

At the midway point I was thinking: 'How are they possibly going to keep up this mad pace and top the fun/thrilling scenes they've already done?' But they did with the cooking pot sequence, the lions, the upside-down tribe, the hideous witch-queen and the infernal cave sequences, not to mention Sharon Stone's shorts getting shorter and shorter, lol.

It's like Indiana Jones, but taken to the next level of comic book absurdity. And the locations are all authentic to the Allan Quartermain mythos (who's family hails from Durban, South Africa), being shot completely in Zimbabwe. So, while it's obviously not of blockbuster caliber production-wise, they certainly didn't skimp on locations, cast or constant action/adventure.

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[–] HellFire (561) 2 months ago

"It's like Indiana Jones, but taken to the next level of comic book absurdity"

And ironically, this now looks like a normal Indiana Jones type adventure when you compare it to Crystal Skull😂

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[–] Wuchak (8732) 2 months ago

It started to get that way with "Temple of Doom," which came out the year before this one.

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[–] HellFire (561) 2 months ago

True

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