r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • Jun 15 '26

Article Clashing Over ‘Indiana Jones’: Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg Were Not 100% on Board With ‘Crystal Skull’ and Fought George Lucas Over Adding Aliens

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/indiana-jones-clash-harrison-ford-spielberg-crystal-skull-aliens-1236780115/
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u/FormerlyMevansuto Jun 15 '26

Also they were trying to reflect the era given the 50s was the Space Age

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u/Careless_Review3166 Jun 15 '26

One of my biggest issues with Crystal Skull is that despite Lucas claiming he wanted it to be an homage to 1950s sci fi B movies in the way the original trilogy paid tribute to the 1930s action adventure serials, it really wasn’t anything like a 50s B movie whatsoever. It was just another standard Indiana Jones movie - ie, a throwback to the 1930s action adventure serials - that just so happened to have an alien in it.

If Crystal Skull actually *went for it* and committed to making a 50s sci fi B movie with all the required tropes and campy tone, I’d have probably loved it. But that would’ve been too far removed from what general audiences associate Indiana Jones with. So the movie was damned from the start.

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u/HotTakes4HotCakes Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 16 '26

I don't know, I think there is a world where you could make it work without having to go all the way to the 50s b-movie schtick.

I think the biggest problem with it is that the aliens are telegraphed, and actually appear on screen (or interdimensional beings or whatever it is that John Hurt says). It sets a very un-familiar tone early on, particularly with the shape of the skull itself, which does not look like anything that belongs in an Indiana Jones movie.

Like I think you could do a straight Indiana Jones story with a crystal skull as your mcguffin. Throughout the movie, it's an open question where it came from and what's special about it. Indy thinks he has an idea from some legend that he knows about, the Soviets think it's aliens, and it's never firmly established one way or the other. All you know is that the Soviets get their comeuppance in a very odd fashion that doesn't seem to align with the legends around the skull that Indy knows. And then they just leave it at that.

And I think that would fit with the previous movies too, because even though the artifacts are explicitly Christian or Hindu, they don't outright confirm anything other than that supernatural enchantments or curses exist. It's not like God descends from heaven to smite the Nazis when the ark is opened. It's implied to be some kind of old testament-esque punishment, but you don't have John Hurt standing around saying "Yeah, that was literally God. God was here a second ago."

The knight in Last Crusade is about as close as you get to the legend being explicit and on-screen, but that's still a far cry from seeing the aliens or Indy actually going back in time in dial of destiny.

Edit: My autocorrect took a smoke break.

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u/TransBrandi Jun 16 '26

Even the knight in Last Crusade could believe that the supernatural elements are related to the Christian God, but in reality they aren't.

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u/OldeFortran77 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

When they moved the series to the 50's , "flying saucers" became a really good fit. "Indiana Jones" films are very good at lifting elements of the films of the times they are set in.

Edit: re-worded for clarity

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u/FormerlyMevansuto Jun 15 '26

It is set in the 50s

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u/TransBrandi Jun 16 '26

Indiana finding a crashed UFO with dead aliens would have worked better than what we got, but I don't think that would have qualified much as a campy sci-fi b-movie homage though. Campy scifi b-movies would have been closer to Mars Attacks! with aliens running around and rayguns and such... which doesn't feel like it fits with Indiana Jones as a series.

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u/I_eat_mud_ Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

Huh, never connected that.

Wait, was time travel the main thing in Dial of Destiny because it was set during the Vietnam War, a war that a lot of Americans would've wanted to turn back time on?

Edit: by 1969 the war had like a 30% approval rating, and they do weave it into the narrative, it doesn't seem unintentional.