After Raiders of the Lost Ark emerged as one of the most critically acclaimed action movies ever made and introduced audiences to Harrison Ford’s Indy, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas reunited for a prequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Following in the footsteps of fellow Lucas follow-up The Empire Strikes Back, Temple of Doom has a markedly darker tone than its predecessor, which provided a refreshing change of pace.
The film's shocking tale of sadistic cultists and child slaves paved the way for some of Indy’s most impressive feats, from surviving a plane crash without a parachute to cutting the rope bridge he’s on with all the bad guys. These cool elements help made Temple of Doom a hit when it was first released and a memorable film that is irresistibly rewatchable.
When He Jumped Out Of A Plane Crash In An Inflatable Raft
When Indy thinks he’s escaped Lao Che by making it to an airplane, he says a sarcastic farewell and closes the door, revealing the plane to be the property of Lao Che himself. In the middle of the night, the pilots jump from the plane with all the parachutes. Thinking on his feet, Indy decides to inflate the life raft and rides it out of the plane and onto a snowy mountainside. Willie points out the ridiculousness of using a raft to survive an air disaster – “We’re not sinking, we’re crashing!!” – but Indy’s unconventional survival method works just fine.
This jaw-dropping stunt is the first indicator to the viewers that the sequel significantly raises the high stakes set by its predecessor Raiders of the Lost Ark, which still ranks as a timeless action masterpiece. In addition, it helps unite the unlikely trio of Indy, Willie, and Short Round as they bond while trying to avoid getting crushed by rocks.
When He Escaped His Cult Brainwashing
In the darkest stretch of Temple of Doom’s second act, Indy is captured by the Thuggee cult and brainwashed to do their sadistic bidding. He traps Willie in a cage and starts lowering her down into the volcanic sacrificial pit.
Thankfully, Short Round escapes from captivity and saves Indy from his brainwashing just in time to turn the tables on the merciless cultists and save Willie from being sacrificed. After a haunting glimpse at evil Indy, it’s a delight to see the heroic Indy back in fighting form. "Dark Indy" also hinted at the depths of Ford the actor, who would soon tackle more serious roles in 1985's Witness and 1986's The Mosquito Coast.
When He Killed A Slave Overseer With A Rock Crusher
During the climactic set-piece in Temple of Doom, Indy fights a hulking slave overseer on the conveyor belt leading up to the mine’s rock crusher. To make matters worse, the Maharajah is poking pins into an Indiana Jones voodoo doll, putting him in even more agonizing pain during a brutal fight.
This sequence is similar to the mechanic fight in the first movie. Once again, Indy is physically outmatched and requires large machinery to save him from certain death. This time, instead of a plane’s propellor, it’s the rock crusher. This scene is a nice callback to the original film as well as an efficient way to showcase Indy's resourcefulness. He may not be the strongest hero, but he's certainly the smartest as he uses whatever tools are necessary to emerge victorious.
When He Fed Mola Ram To A Bunch Of Crocodiles
When Indy and Mola Ram are hanging from the slashed rope bridge, they fight over the satchel containing the Sankara Stones. Indy invokes Shiva’s name to ignite the stones, sending them falling into the ocean below.
In a desperate attempt to catch them, Mola Ram falls from the bridge and is devoured by the crocodiles below. This is a pretty nasty way to go, and one of the most memorable Indiana Jones villain deaths, second only to the nightmare-inducing face-melting at the end of Raiders.
When He Stopped The Mine Cart With His Feet
The mine cart chase is one of the most iconic sequences in the entire Indiana Jones franchise. But even after the chase is over and the bad guys have been thwarted, Indy, Willie, and Short Round face the challenge of slowing down the cart without any brakes before it slams into a rock-filled mineshaft.
Indy has to climb out onto the front of the cart and hang off with his feet pressed against the wheels to bring it to a halt. The difficulty of this feat is comparable to Spidey stopping the runaway subway train in Spider-Man 2. The scene is also a literal embodiment of the Indiana Jones franchise as a rollercoaster ride as the cart hops from track to track at a breathtaking speed.
When He Freed All The Child Slaves
One of the most sinister things the Thuggee cult does – and one of the plot points that makes Temple of Doom the darkest Indy movie by far – is keeping a child slavery ring in their underground mines. In the second act, Short Round is captured and forced to work in these mines.
In the glorious finale, Indy frees all the slaves and distracts their strapping overseer with hand-to-hand combat long enough for them to escape. Freeing a few dozen child slaves has to be one of the most heroic things Indy has ever done. The final scene, with the now-free children being reunited with their happy parents, is one of the most rousing in the Indiana Jones series.
When He Cut The Rope Bridge
After escaping from the Thuggee cult’s mines, scaling a cliff face, and making their way across a treacherous, rickety rope bridge, Indy, Willie, and Short Round find that their troubles are just beginning when Mola Ram and his top enforcers appear on the other side of the bridge. With bad guys on both sides of the bridge closing in, Indy realizes he’s out of options and goes for a Hail Mary pass. He takes his sword and starts chopping at the ropes holding the bridge up.
Hundreds of feet below them are crocodile-infested waters and Indy is right in the middle of the bridge, so this is a very bold move – and one that, surprisingly, ends up paying off. As a bookend to the opening parachute jump without a parachute, this scene similarly has Indy in a seemingly impossible situation with no way out. In this case, Indy creates a way out by putting everyone in danger and dismantling the bridge. Now everyone is in equal peril and only Indy, with his intelligence and whip, can figure a way out.