Where’s where to spot Dan Aykroyd’s surprise cameo in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. Raiders Of The Lost Ark became an instant action classic upon release in 1981. Tom Selleck was originally earmarked for the role of Indiana Jones, but his commitment to Magnum P.I. knocked him out of the project. Instead, the movie cemented Harrison Ford as a movie star. Given that Raiders itself was greatly inspired by old movie serials that director Steven Spielberg and creator George Lucas grew up on, it made sense the character would return for more adventures.

His first return came with 1984’s Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, and while the film is well-liked today, it proved controversial at the time. The film was much darker and more violent than its predecessor, including scenes of torture and human sacrifice. The outcry from parents about this dark tone would lead to the creation of the PG-13 rating, with Red Dawn being the first movie to carry it. While Spielberg would meet future wife Kate Capshaw on the movie, he’s repeatedly stated his dislike for Temple Of Doom in the years since, finding it much too horrific.

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Like the previous movie, Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom has a few easter eggs for fans to spot, such as the opening club Indy escapes from being called Club Obi Wan after the Star Wars character. One cameo that can be easy to miss is Dan Aykroyd, who makes a brief appearance in the movie’s first act.

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Dan Aykroyd’s Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom’s cameo can be spotted when Indiana, Willie and Short Round arrive at Nang Tao Airport. Aykroyd plays Art Weber, the British Army officer who arranges a plane for the trio to escape on. He informs them they’ll be traveling with live poultry, which was the best he could arrange on short notice. Indiana boards the plane and looks back with triumphant smugness at pursuing crime lord Lao Che, who in turn laughs when Jones closes the plane door, revealing the branding “Lao Che Air Freight;” this leads to trouble later for Jones and company.

Even easier to miss than Dan Aykroyd’s Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom cameo is that of George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy, and Steven Spielberg, who all play missionaries loading luggage in the background of the airport sequence. While the character’s last outing Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull was, to put it mildly, divisive, Harrison Ford is set to return one last time for the upcoming Indiana Jones 5.

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Padraig Cotter
(3484 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

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He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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