Indiana Jones: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Last Crusade

If America had an answer to James Bond, it would be Indiana Jones. The Indiana Jones movies are some of the most loved and critically successful adventure movies of all time, with the American archaeologist fighting Nazis while discovering some of the world’s most elusive artifacts, including the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail.

For many, the best Indiana Jones movies are either Raiders of the Lost Ark or the third entry, The Last Crusade. The latter is particularly well loved for the interactions between Indiana Jones and his father, Henry Jones, played by the legendary Scottish actor, Sir Sean Connery. There’s a lot about this movie that fans need to know about.

10 Harrison Ford Did A Lot Of His Own Stunts

During filming for all of the Indiana Jones movies, Harrison Ford would do the majority of his own stunts. This isn’t really much of a surprise as Ford is known for doing his own stunts, but he apparently did so much action that his stunt double had to ask if he could do something while filming The Last Crusade.

The scene in which Indiana Jones hangs onto a tank in the climactic fight was really performed by Ford, with members of the crew shoveling dirt onto him from above.

9 Those Nazi Uniforms Are The Real Deal

Aside from the quest for a long, lost artifact, Indiana Jones is world famous for beating up Nazis. In two of his four films, the archaeologist has given the Nazis a beat down and even came face to face with Hitler in The Last Crusade.

What is interesting is that, for this movie, most of the Nazi uniforms during the book burning scene were authentic Nazi uniforms. At the time, a cache of old Nazi uniforms had been discovered in Germany and the costume designer managed to use them for this movie.

8 Harrison Ford Chose River Phoenix To Be Young Indy

The opening to The Last Crusade is one of the most memorable prologues in all of cinema. The film begins with a flashback, showing a young Indiana Jones attempting to keep a historical artifact away from the hands of some treasure hunters.

What is interesting to know is that Harrison Ford specifically chose River Phoenix for the role of young Indy, with Ford having worked with Phoenix before on The Mosquito Coast. 

7 2,000 Rats Were Bred For The Movie

One of the most famous scenes in The Last Crusade was the exploration of the sewers under Venice. It was here that Indiana Jones and Elsa discovered a Grail Marker, along with thousands of disgusting rats in sewer water.

Due to risk of disease that’s inherent in rats, the production couldn’t just use any rats on set. As a work around, they had to have two thousand rats specifically bred to film this scene for the movie.

6 Indy’s Scar Is Real

The opening of The Last Crusade gives a kind of origin story to Indiana Jones, showing how he found his hat, his whip, and how he got the notable scar on his chin. For the latter, the film showed that Indiana Jones got the scar from accidentally whipping himself.

Harrison Ford, on the other hand, actually for the scar from a car accident in Southern California when he was in his early twenties. Though it initially just gave Indy a rugged look, it was finally canonized in The Last Crusade’s prologue.

5 No Trousers On The Zeppelin

One of the most memorable scenes from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade occurs on a zeppelin, with both father and son hoping to use the blimp to escape from Nazi Germany and evade capture.

However, due to the temperature onboard the zeppelin, Sean Connery and Harrison Ford would sometimes film without trousers, with Connery saying he didn’t want to sweat too much. This explains why most of the scenes featuring the two are comprised of close-ups instead of full-body shots.

4 Indy Got His Name From George Lucas’ Dog

One of the most surprising reveals of The Last Crusade is that Indiana Jones isn’t actually the character’s name. Jones’ father reveals that his real name is really Henry Jones Jr., with the dog from the prologue being called Indiana.

What is interesting is that this is how Indiana Jones got his name both in and outside of the continuity. George Lucas had a dog named Indiana, and this ultimately was the source of the famous archaeologist’s name.

3 The Grail Temple Boosted Jordan Tourism

Part of The Last Crusade is a treasure hunt, with Indiana Jones having to work out the location of the grail. After finding his father’s diary, he soon learns that the Holy Grail is held in the ancient city of Alexandretta, Turkey. However, the actual filming location is the ancient city of Petra, in Jordan.

After Petra appeared in the movie, tourism in Jordan rose massively.

2 The Seagulls Were Actually Pigeons

Another memorable scene occurs when Henry Jones Sr. helps to destroy a Nazi fighter plane by using his umbrella to herd a flock of seagulls into the airplane, causing the pilot to lose sight and crash into the ground.

In actuality, the birds used for this scene were pigeons. Seagulls cannot be trained, so the crew had to use pigeons and use some movie magic to make them resemble seagulls.

1 Denholm Elliot Finished Filming Despite Having AIDS

Denholm Elliot’s portrayal of Marcus Brody is one of the most memorable parts of the Indiana Jones franchises, with the British actor always turning in an incredible performance in every scene. The Last Crusade was filmed in the late ’80s during the height HIV-AIDS crisis and, sadly, Elliot contracted the disease prior to filming. 

Due to this diagnosis, Elliot was ill frequently during his time on set. The actor would succumb to the disease in 1992, but his widow would set up a charity in his honor known as the Denholm Elliot Project. Elliot got a tribute in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, where Brody has long since passed but was memorialized by the university he worked in.

About The Author

Sam Hutchinson
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Writer living in Adelaide, Australia. Long-suffering post-graduate student and lover of pop culture from Game of Thrones to DC.
Twitter: @samchinson

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