When Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom was announced
early in 1984, the cinemas pledged a record of
$40 million in non-refundable guarantees, putting
the film into profit before it was made, let alone
release. To promote the film, Spielberg and Lucas
agreed to have their hand and footprints eternalized
in cement in front of Mann's Chinese
Theater on Hollywood Boulevard.
The film premiered in the United
States on May 23, 1984. Thirteen million people
happily were waiting for Indy's new venture in
its first week; more than had attended Return
of the Jedi in the same period the previous
summer. What none expected were children fleeing
out of the theaters crying and parents complaining
for great violence. Moral groups complained that
the horrors on show were too strong for its PG
rating.
Partners and friends. |
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Spielberg, at first tried to defend
the film by saying that "the picture is not
called Temple of Roses,
it is called Temple of
Doom. There are parts of this film that
are too intense for younger children but this
is a fantasy adventure. It is the kind of violence
that does not really happen and can not be perpetuated
by people leaving the cinema and performing those
tricks on their friends at home". Shortly,
he admitted on live TV that the temple sequences,
in particularly, were unsuitable for children
under the age of ten. In the years to come he
would admit that there was nothing personal of
him in the picture and state, "Indy
II will not go down in my pantheon as one
of my prouder moments."
Huyck in an interview stated, "I
would be very conscious in taking a kid to this
movie, though. Hopefully, you know your child
well enough to know what scares him and what doesn't.
But, obviously, if the kid began to get scared,
I would leave." While Huyck seemed to understand
the worried parents Katz defended their work by
saying, "I think it's really up to parental
discretion to decide whether a motion picture
is too violent or not. I would probably not want
an 8 or 10-year old child to see the movie. But
kids, certainly, are so much more sophisticated
now." And continued, "We had to create
a villain, and villains must do bad things. They
just can't say: "Hello, I'm a villain with
capital "V". With Nazis, you didn't
have to see what they did, because you know Nazis
are bad. But here, you can't have a watered-down
villain. The audience must see evil, any kind
of evil. You must show some of what that evil
is in order to have to convincing fable. If anything,
I feel it's a problem with ratings system, not
with the movie."
Under the pressure Paramount
put on a warning: This film may be too intense
for younger children, while a couple of months
later a new rating was issued, Parental Guidance-13.
Still, the warning didn't stop the British board
of film censors from making twenty-five cuts to
the film.
When told of Paramount's
decision Ford commented: "I think that's
fair enough." Still a professional, he defended
the film and gave an explanation on his behalf,
"This is a completely moral tale and in order
to have a moral resolve, evil must be seen to
inflict pain. The end of the movie is proof of
the viability of goodness. But I do not like films
that use violence in a reprehensible way. I do
not seek out movies that are bathed in blood."
In later years Ford accepted that the violence
went too far, an opinion shared by Spielberg.
Lucas on the other hand, remained unrepentant.
It was always his intension to make Temple
a frightening, malevolent experience. If Raiders
was the jungle ride at Disneyland,
the prequel was a trip through the haunted house.
In the years that passed he expressed thoughts
that it might have worked even better had more
comedy been employed, "but we set out to
make a scary film and I think we succeeded."
Besides, the violence children are exposed to
through this picture is nothing, compared to the
violence they face every day through the news
and television.
What is funny is the fact that people
seemed to totally forget that Raiders
was not less a savage film, with its graphic fight
scenes and mounting corpses; the only difference
between the two films was that Raiders
featured cartoon violence whereas Temple
of Doom was more dark and acute. People
got more sensitive towards children being tortured
than a group of Nazis being blown off.
Violence wasn't the film's only
flaw as some critics found inexcusable the way
ethnic minorities were treated in the film. Audiences
laughed and grimaced with the unspeakable delicacies
that were served up at the Pankot palace's banquet
while some people were annoyed by the way Indian
villagers were presented because they looked like
lepers! During a London press conference Ford
apologized, again, by saying: "I have absolute
sympathy with those criticisms. If that was so
it's regrettable and to be guarded against next
time. I don't want to be outwardly racist but
movies are dependent on stereotypes. But I'm sorry
that occurred and I'll use what power I have to
make sure it doesn't happen again."
Indy, Willie and Shorty. |
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The reviews Temple
of Doom received were various. Many critics
disliked the fact that the Temple
of Doom spent much time in the Temple itself,
while at the same time they believed it lacked
the wit and nerve Lawrence Kasdan had managed
to provide in the first film. That wasn't all
wrong, as Kasdan had built brief episodes, each
with its climax and a respite before the tension
built again, Huyck and Katz worked to a different
and more agitated drummer making the film too
fast. In general, although, it can't in circle
the imagination and creativity of Raiders,
it has more humor and it is considered as a masterpiece,
as far as the technical part is concerned. Harrison
Ford was once again great as Indy while encouraging
reviews went to little Ke Hui Quan, too. Quan's
portrayal of Short Round presented a miniature
Indiana Jones, unfearing, resourceful and totally
loyal, winning audiences hearts. Kate Capshaw
on the other hand wasn't very proud about her
reviews, thanks to her undeveloped character created
mostly by Spielberg. In his effort to balance
the horror in the film with more comedy he forced
Capshaw to drift away from the character in the
script. She ended up being one of the constant
comic parts in the film and spent most of her
screen time screaming, yelling and nagging, by
this way loosing the chance to create a character
more interesting than Allen's.
As Robert Sellers pointed out "audience
expectation was so impossible high that all of
Temple's flaws
were magnified. Not only it was a prequel to one
of the most successful films in recent times,
but Spielberg and Lucas had been placed in the
unenviable position of having to out do their
past glories with each new release."
Despite moral groups and raging
critics Temple of Doom
soon entered the top ten of box office hits, grossing
$109 million only in the United States. It was
the year's third top grossing film, behind Ivan Reitman's Ghostbusters
and the year's discovery Eddie Murphy's Beverly
Hills Cop.
Nominated for two Academy
Awards, one for John Williams' score and
one for the visual effects of Dennis Muren and
the ILM team,
Temple of Doom
won the second.
With the huge success of Temple
of Doom it was definitely established that
adventure had a name and this was Indiana Jones.
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