Temple Of Doom Fans

[Shadow Master]

Thought it'd be good to have a thread for fans of Temple Of Doom. If it's your favorite Indy movie or at least cracks your top two of the series, this is the thread for you.

TOD has always been my favorite of the series. While Raiders is also a classic and another favorite of mine, I think TOD is plainly the most entertaining and easily rewatchable of the series. I always liked the much darker tone and more eerie approach it took and how at times it's so much like a Horror movie. It's got the best villains, action and music of the series, Indy at his most cutthroat but also heroic, and some of the best and most iconic moments of the series are in TOD. Can't hate the movie that gave us the likes of the spike/bug chamber, the sacrifice, the mine cart chase, showdown on the bridge, etc. and some may not like the lack of Nazis as the villains but I always thought it felt fresh having totally different enemies and this movie showed Nazis aren't always a necessity for the series.

I hate the bashing and hate TOD gets so much but it's good to see it has it's share of fans and defenders. Truly one of my all-time favorites alongside the original.

 

[Raiders March]

Fortune and Glory, ShadowMaster! Fortune and Glory...
Raiders is still my favourite, but there is nothing wrong with ToD, and it remains a gritty, dark and humble adventure for our favourite hero.View attachment 293144

 

[chalkyYT]

I love that minecart dio! I appreciate that Raiders is the best of the Indy films but my favourite has always been TOD. I think its the first one i saw when i was young and the first 20 minutes blew me away. Here are some pics of part of my TOD collection. I was lucky enough to win a bid on an actual production used script a couple of years ago. You can see it was called 'The Temple of Death' from the cover. On the first page, Club Obi Wan was called The Dragon Club in this draft.

I keep meaning to but still haven't read through it properly yet!

 

[Timemeddler]

 

[davejames]

Yeah I've never understood the criticism of TOD at all. It's got some of the best action and funniest banter of the series, has a gritty atmosphere that I love, and the dynamic between Indy, Willy and Short Round is always a ton of fun to watch.

 

[Shadow Master]

Even though I think in a lot of ways Raiders is the best, TOD for me is the most entertaining. I'd love it if Indy 5 was more like TOD in terms of tone and creepiness but with Spielberg not liking it I sadly doubt it. Indy's final adventure should be something dark and ominous like TOD.

 

[superado]

Even though I think in a lot of ways Raiders is the best, TOD for me is the most entertaining. I'd love it if Indy 5 was more like TOD in terms of tone and creepiness but with Spielberg not liking it I sadly doubt it. Indy's final adventure should be something dark and ominous like TOD.

I've been re-reading the thick trilogy "Making of" that came out around the time of Crystal Skull (all these years, I mostly, only looked at the pictures!) and it's really interesting how Spielberg had so much resistance to so many aspects of the movie, the concept, tone, locations, segments, etc., from the conceptual stage to even afterwards. In the making of video, he says something to the effect that the only/best thing he got out of TOD is that he got to meet his future wife. It's also interesting to realize that as a fan, I may actually like TOD more than its director!

My favorite aspects of TOD were the production aspects (live action/miniatures/stunts, etc.) of the Tri-motor/raft sequences, the mine cart chase and the suspension bridge sequence. Ford's sudden back injury was just as intriguing, with the crisis it forced onto the production, shutting it down for a while and having them later improvise with Vic Armstrong doubling for Ford in an extensive amount of scenes.

Another intriguing thing about TOD, is that although a series of films were hoped for when Lucas and Spielberg were first planning for Indy, at several early points during the production of Raiders they had no idea if a sequel would ever even come to fruition while they struggled to make the production work. The green light for a sequel was a pleasant surprise with the realization that they were given a larger bandwidth for a "proper" production, which resulted in a much more polished TOD.

 

[Shadow Master]

It's very sad how Spielberg looks down at TOD to the point he doesn't even like to acknowledge it. Some of his finest work is in that movie. It seems the backlash to the violent content got to him. Which I don't get when one considers how arguably more graphically violent Raiders is.

 

[superado]

It's very sad how Spielberg looks down at TOD to the point he doesn't even like to acknowledge it. Some of his finest work is in that movie. It seems the backlash to the violent content got to him. Which I don't get when one considers how arguably more graphically violent Raiders is.

Since much of anything Spielberg had to say about TOD was years after the fact, it's hard to determine how much his views were influenced or not by backlash. However, based on face value of his statements, there was just so many things that went wrong with the shoot that its net effect is that it was not a fun experience compared to ROTLA and LC, despite whatever shooting challenges those films had.

 

[Tuskeraider78]

Really happy with these two. Raiders is my favorite, with TOD a close second.

Sendt fra min SM-G925F med Tapatalk

 

[Shadow Master]

Since much of anything Spielberg had to say about TOD was years after the fact, it's hard to determine how much his views were influenced or not by backlash. However, based on face value of his statements, there was just so many things that went wrong with the shoot that its net effect is that it was not a fun experience compared to ROTLA and LC, despite whatever shooting challenges those films had.

He was going through a very difficult time in his life when he made it so his state of mind certainly wasn't at it's best.

 

[GOTnerd]

At some point over the last few years it has become my favorite. The mine cart chase and short round make that movie so fun.

 

[SAB]

The negativity around Temple of Doom is not hard to understand. Its insanely inconsistent.
It is both the most light hearted and most horrific in the one movie and seems to switch randomly from scene to scene....sometimes in the same scene.
And while Indy takes by far the most damage of the series, getting his ass kicked all over the place, Short Round runs around next to him launching pillow fists/kicks and taking out fully grown men with ease.
Willie essentially screams and waves her arms from start to finish.

Saying all that .... all of the above is pretty much why its my favorite of the series

 

[Shadow Master]

At some point over the last few years it has become my favorite. The mine cart chase and short round make that movie so fun.

The mine cart scene is easily my favorite of the series.

 

[GOTnerd]

I'd rank em in this order. For me it's about watch ability. I'll stop in my tracks when TOD is on TV.

Temple of Doom
Last Crusade
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Kingdom of Crystal Skulls

I also really enjoy Last Crusades opening with Indy as a youth along with the ending scene when they need to complete the 3 tasks to get to the cup.

Raiders is classic but I think TOD and LC ramp it up a bit more with comedy and action. KCS, ugghhh, do we even need to add that one? Story was fine I just HATE all the CGI crap they added like the Refrigerator scene, swinging on vines etc.

 

[The Jerker]

TOD is my number 2 for sure with Raiders being in the top spot of course. Always loved it and agree with Sab. It's all over the place. Light hearted one minute to horror movie the next. I always found Willie's reaction to seeing Mola Ram yanking the sacrifice's heart out to be just horrific. Like she absolutely can't handle what she's seeing and she's gonna have a coronary on the spot. It's just so weird and I love it for that. Great Indy movie!

 

[Shadow Master]

TOD is the closest the series ever got to being straight-up Horror. Besides being the most pulpy of the series it also feels very much like a live-action EC Horror comic from the 50s with the dark, eerie ambience and the visuals and color palette.

 

[choopie]

Well it was the movie that led to PG-13 ratings. I loved it as a kid. It's gritty and dark and Indy gets the tar beat out of him. These days, I find the movie quite dated. I can't really watch it from start to finish anymore, but there are certain scenes that are still gems, like the mine cart chase, the bug scene and the rope bridge. I really do think it was a perfect mix of violent content and comedy: the laughs taking the edge off of the darker scenes. And I really do appreciate the filmmaking: for example, building the model for the mine cart scene is quite a feat. It'll always be No. 2 behind Raiders, which is just a classic and a movie I never get tired of watching.

 

[Shadow Master]

Oh I definitely don't disagree with Raiders being the best. I've said it many times before, but while I think Raiders is objectively the best, TOD for me is the most entertaining.

Can't help but wonder how the subsequent films might've been had been like if not for the TOD backlash. Spielberg was really hit hard by the negativity and controversy to the point he's admitted he made TLC to amend for it. Which IMO is silly has he delivered an incredible movie with TOD and for me it's still a high point of his career.

 

[Shadow Master]

Another thing about TOD that's great is that hands down Mola Ram is the best villain of the series, IMO. Just pure evil and you knew the instant he showed up onscreen it was going to hit the fan. I think he raised the bar highly for how menacing an Indy villain can be and since then none of the succeeding villains have come close, IMO.