Indiana Jones

I suppose in some freudian kind of way, the impact of the first film you ever see at the cinemas might somehow be destined to have varying degrees of impact on the rest of your life. I know that for me, I distinctly recall the feel of the overly padded maroon seats, the warmth of sitting next to my Mum and Dad, the smell of popcorn and the utter jubilation of seeing a TV bigger than your house…[I don’t give a fuck what’s on it…I just wanna go!]

Thankfully, with the choice of movies at the dawn of the 1980’s a shadow of what it is today and the fact that going to the movies was such a rarity, allowed for the creation of a brilliant memory that has lodged itself neatly inside the ‘Never throw out’ basket of my subconscious.

So with six year old expectations already met before the movie even began, the opening credits to Raiders of the Lost Ark was a young mans wet dream. Deep in the Jungle…Suspenseful music…a very likable hero. “Oh my god Mum…the big giant ball nearly squashed him!!!”. I was pretty much hooked. Visually, it was legit. I was totally inside that story. From Marion’s bar burning down to that pit of snakes…I can pretty much attest to the impact a first film can have.

So it’s no surprise that the music behind this quartet of films was created by possibly the most celebrated and well known composer of our time, John Williams. Listening to the individual soundtracks from each film, I can see what’s happening in the movie simply by hearing the accompanying music.

Apart from the obvious ‘Indiana Jones’ music we all know, this soundtrack is literally like watching the film with your ears. And at the same time, it could be from any one of the films [maybe not ‘The Crystal Skull’, mainly because I think we can all agree that it was fairly shithouse].

So as no one will really know the tracks if I name them, there’s a few choice selections that I will try to associate with specific bits in the films [again, this does not include ‘The Crystal Skull’, on account of the shithouse thing].

First will have to be the rendition of ‘Anything Goes’ sung entirely in Chinese from the beginning credits of Temple of Doom. I come from a musical family, and funnily enough, this song was not unfamiliar to me at the time.

My Dad, Henry, used to be a Musical Director for amateur theatre and Anything Goes was amongst the throng of show tunes I recalled. Beautifully shot as well, this track with Spielberg’s now wife Kate Capshaw as the centrepiece was a great beginning to an awesome film. Just as good as the first…if not better. Maybe it was Short Round…maybe it was Indy walking in like boss in a white suit jacket…it definitely wasn’t that goddam Lao Che! [Chinese mobster guy?…in the restaurant?…no?…with the antidote?…yeah, that guy].

‘Short Round’s Theme’ is exactly that. Anytime Short Round would do anything awesome, and mainly get up to mischief, this is the music that would play. Much like the character, it was inspirational, light…and a little bit asian. No shit, it’s nearly got chopsticks in there somewhere I’m sure, but because it’s John Williams, he makes it sound friggin’ awesome.

‘The Map Room’ is another quiet favourite of mine. Obviously used in the scene where Indy and Sallah use the medallion to discover where the Ark is, it’s suspenseful and typically Indiana Jones in every respect. John Williams is a little bit of a genius at building suspense, but with the brush strokes used to colour the entire set of films.

The plane flight thingy…Even though there was mainly just a mixture of the theme song we all know and some eluding music enticing you into a false sense of security, I was enamoured the first time I saw the graphic they used to use to indicate that Dr Jones was flying haphazardly around the world in search of really important things.

The plane and the map was awesome. I still remember drawing my own map. Big red dots and lines between cities. I’m sure everyone was highly impressed.

‘Nocturnal Activities’ is the music played when they are in the palace attempting to go to bed during ‘Temple of Doom’. It’s actually a really endearing scene, but the music seems to mould so well with the acting, that so much is being said without actually being said.

Each film tends to have its own flavour. ‘Raiders’ has a very grand aura around it, kind of like the old religious movies like ‘The Ten Commandments’ or ‘Moses’. Maybe I identify this sound to sweeping deserts and lurking danger. God help me if I’m in Coober Pedy being chased by a Big Red. I’m sure this soundtrack will be playing in my head.

Temple of Doom’ in retrospect has a very Asian feel to it [as referred to by the chopsticks comment previously]. And ‘The Last Crusade’ although not as easily distinguishable, has a very European temperature sewn throughout. Grand and full.

As a complete unit, this entire body of work over the four [three] films are a testament to how intelligent John Williams is. He has managed to have an overarching theme [that nearly everybody knows], bleed this tune effortlessly throughout all the soundtracks and their differing aspects while maintaining the integrity of the Indiana Jones familiarity throughout. Goddam amazing.

But finally, the theme song. The piece of music that John Williams has crafted 50 million ways and placed perfectly to accompany some brilliant Spielberg film making. The first track off the first album, it was originally known as ‘The Raiders March’, and has widely become known as the theme song that pop culture, film in general and young boy hero worshipping would come to know as well as any modern day tune.

If you are ever sitting somewhere, possibly a little bored. Maybe waiting for someone or something, you can always use the Indiana Jones compartment in your imagination [everyone has one] and if you see anyone running, turn it on and sing the theme song quietly to yourself. Its fucking hilarious. It never goes wrong! The amount of people I have inadvertently inserted into an Indiana Jones film has been an ongoing [albeit quiet & internal] hilarity.

Ultimately, I think that like the score and the film, Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford are inseparable. He is personable, loveable, humble and a goddam hero. All the things we fantasise about. So I will leave you with this wonderful melody to stick into your head for the next few days. Enjoy it. Use it. And above all else, make sure it doesn’t fall into the hands of the Nazi’s. “Nazi’s, I hate these guys.”

M /