MovieChat Forums > Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) Discussion > Summer school?

Summer school?

posted 9 months ago by SOteric (185)
11 replies | jump to latest

I loved this movie's classroom scene, but it got me thinking.....

The action of this movie takes place in July-August 1969, right after the moon landing. Why would Indy, if he's about to retire, be teaching a summer school class? Aren't most summer school classes taught by younger faculty/grad students who haven't paid their dues yet? Maybe he volunteered because he was bored and depressed after breaking up with Marian?

I realize they wanted to have a classroom scene like all the other Indy movies, but I don't think the writers really thought this through.

[–] rateater (10246) 9 months ago

i hate when the writers/producers seem to think that the audience will never care or notice and don't even try to rectify it with a quick line in the script or some image or imagery. that seems to be kind of a jj abrams type of way of thinking, i feel.

it was also his last day of teaching summer school. but not the last day of summer school. and he was going to give them a test on what they were studying.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8857) 9 months ago

I have to say that I did NOT like the classroom scene because it showed disrespect to Indy. If you watch the scene in The Last Crusade, every eye is on him. The students are enraptured. But in Dial, the students couldn't give less of a shit.

If anything, that scene lays the foundation and sets the tone regarding how they're going to deal with his character for the rest of the movie.

[–] stevewyzard (1749) 9 months ago

Spielberg's classroom scenes were merely comic relief. Have you ever seen a real-life archeology/ancient history professor with "enraptured" students? I realize these movies are over-the-top, exaggerated fantasies, but unless perhaps the professor looks like Harrison Ford, I can't imagine it happening very often.

Dial of Destiny's classroom scene is by far the best, because it puts Indy in a real-life situation with 1960s summer school students who'd rather be anywhere else than with a 70-year-old professor who's ready to retire. (Believe me, I actually had one.) The point of the scene is not to make Indy look bad, but simply to show what an absurd situation he's found himself in.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8857) 9 months ago

I definitely don't watch the Indiana Jones films for reality. I watch them for escapist fantasy. Reality can check itself at the door.

Indy IV and V are basically fan fiction. Neither really understand what made the first three movies great.

[–] Galactus03 (4406) 9 months ago

1 and 3..2 is on par with 4 and 5... 😂

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8857) 9 months ago

I won't argue that ToD is on the same level as Raiders or Last Crusade but it's still a good adventure film that is true to the character, and an overall better-made film than either Skull or Dial.

[–] Galactus03 (4406) 9 months ago

Yeah but how is it on par?? I have grown to like 4 much more over the years. Indy was still young enough to do some major action. In 5 he's 70 so while he got a decent amount of action it was nowhere near what the first 4 films had. If they had done that people would have complained up a storm that he was too old for it. There are some really great scenes in 5 and it's more of a quest then am action adventure film..Still I think overall all the films are.enjoyable and fun in their own right.

[–] ADBruno1985 (3577) 9 months ago

"If anything, that scene lays the foundation and sets the tone regarding how they're going to deal with his character for the rest of the movie."

Nail on the head. So many references to his age, and he spent so much of the movie tagging along and begging Helena to allow him along instead of assuming control from the start.

I can only say at least it was intentional. Ford is done with the role, the movie flopped, there are no known plans to do another one. I figure since they didn't kill him, they settled for making those kind of references to show that he's done.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8857) 9 months ago

Yeah, it's clear that Ford himself was along for it, which is a shame. Just as Ford these days is a cantankerous old man, so is Indy. Even though Spielberg made a mess of Crystal Skull, I do wonder if we'd have gotten a film that was more respectful of the character if he had remained in charge of this one.

[–] DarthAckbar (2316) 9 months ago

i took a couple of summer courses in college

they both had the same professors as the regular courses

[–] mikethemartian (6992) 2 months ago

If they wanted authenticity they should have had at least one student ask if what he was talking about would be on the test or not.