Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Jeffrey Boam, based on a story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes. It is the third installment in the Indiana Jones film series and the narrative sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Harrison Ford reprises his role as the titular character, while Sean Connery co-stars as his father. Other cast members featured include Alison Doody, Denholm Elliott, Julian Glover, River Phoenix and John Rhys-Davies. In the film, set in 1938, Indiana Jones searches for his father, a Holy Grail scholar, who has been kidnapped and held hostage by the Nazis while on a journey to find the Holy Grail.

After the criticism that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) received, Spielberg chose to make a more lighthearted film for the next installment, as well as bringing back several elements from Raiders of the Lost Ark. During the five years between Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade, he and executive producer Lucas reviewed several scripts before accepting Jeffrey Boam's. Filming locations included Spain, Italy, West Germany, Jordan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was released in the United States on May 24, 1989, by Paramount Pictures. The film received positive reviews and was a financial success, earning $474.2 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 1989. It also won the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing and was nominated for Best Original Score and Best Sound at the 62nd Academy Awards. Although Spielberg and Lucas originally intended for The Last Crusade to be the end of the series, a sequel, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, followed in May 2008, while a fifth and final film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, was released in June 2023.

Plot

In 1912, Boy Scout Indiana Jones lives with his father Henry Jones Sr. in Moab, Utah. One day, while undergoing a cave exploration, Indy takes a crucifix owned by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado from a group of graverobbers led by a man named Garth, and after a brief horse chase, flees to his home, where Garth and his men find him and retrieve the crucifix. Garth, however, admits his respect towards Indiana and gives him his fedora before leaving.

In 1938, Indy successfully takes back the crucifix from the employer of the graverobbers off the Portuguese coast. After returning to the United States, Indy learns Henry has disappeared while searching for the Holy Grail. Walter Donovan, his father's financial backer, tasks Indy with finding both Henry and the Grail. Indy receives a package containing Henry's diary, which includes his research on the Grail, and travels to Venice alongside Marcus Brody to meet Henry's associate Elsa Schneider. Beneath the library where Henry was last seen, Indy and Elsa discover a catacomb containing an inscribed shield which reveals that the path to the Grail begins in Alexandretta. The two are subsequently attacked by a mysterious group who reveal themselves to be the secret Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword, dedicated to protecting the Grail. After saving the group's leader Kazim, Indy learns that Henry is being held at a castle in Austria. Indy entrusts Marcus with a map from the diary detailing a route to the Grail and sends him to Alexandretta to rendezvous with their old friend Sallah. Discovering their rooms have been ransacked, Indy reveals the diary's existence to Elsa before they sleep together.

In Austria, Indy and Elsa infiltrate the castle, discovering it to be under Nazi control. Indy finds Henry and tries to escape, but surrenders after Elsa is held captive by the Nazis. She reveals herself and Donovan to be Nazi collaborators and takes the diary. After arriving in Alexandretta, Marcus is captured by the Nazis as well. Elsa returns to Germany, while Indy and Henry escape the castle before traveling to Berlin to retrieve the diary. After recovering it from Elsa, Indy and Henry flee on a Zeppelin before evading two Luftwaffe planes pursuing them.

Once Indy and Henry arrive in Hatay, Sallah informs them that the Nazis have also traveled there using the map. While they are following the trail, the Nazis are attacked by the Brotherhood but defeat them. Henry takes advantage of the distraction to try to rescue Marcus but is captured; Indy attacks the Nazi convoy in response and is eventually able to destroy it with help from Henry and Marcus. Indy, Henry, Marcus and Sallah proceed to a temple containing the Grail, where they observe the Nazis attempting to overcome the temple's traps before being captured. Donovan forces Indy to find safe passage for them by mortally wounding Henry; a drink from the Grail can heal him. With the help of the diary, Indy overcomes the traps and finds a room with many cups and an ancient knight, who explains that only one cup is the true Grail. Donovan and Elsa enter the room, and Elsa deliberately gives him the wrong cup, killing Donovan after he drinks from it. Indy identifies the true Grail and rescues Henry. Elsa falls to her death when her attempt to leave with the Grail causes the temple to collapse, and Indy nearly suffers the same fate before Henry saves him. The Grail falls into an abyss as Indy and his companions escape and ride off into the sunset.