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1. Who plays Henry Jones Sr.?
Sean Connery
Spielberg wanted the original James Bond as the father of a hero who had been designed as an American answer to Bond. Connery is only about twelve years older than Harrison Ford, and plays the age gap with a cardigan, spectacles and an umbrella.
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2. Who plays the young Indiana Jones in the opening?
River Phoenix
Phoenix had already played Harrison Ford's son in The Mosquito Coast, so the resemblance had been tested. The Utah prologue explains the whip, the chin scar, the fear of snakes and the hat, handed over by the rival who beat him to the Cross of Coronado.
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3. What object is everyone searching for?
The Holy Grail
The cup of the Last Supper, which Henry has spent his life tracing through medieval sources. Lucas pushed for the Grail; Spielberg came around once the hunt became a story about a father and son. The Ark of the Covenant was the prize in Raiders.
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4. What name does Henry keep calling his son?
Junior
Indy was born Henry Jones Junior and has loathed the nickname since boyhood, which is why he took the dog's name instead. Henry calls him Indiana just once, at the end, when he needs his son to let the Grail go and take his hand.
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5. What does Henry send Indy before disappearing?
His Grail diary
Henry posts it from Venice, which is how Indy knows his father is in trouble. It holds the map to the Canyon of the Crescent Moon and the clues to the three trials, and getting it back later takes Indy to a Berlin book burning, where Hitler autographs it.
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6. Which city contains the library where Indy searches for a tomb?
Venice
The library was once a church, and the exterior is the real church of San Barnaba in Venice. The flooded catacombs beneath were a studio set, and the sequence ends in a speedboat chase through the canals with the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword.
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7. Who plays Elsa Schneider?
Alison Doody
Doody was an Irish actress who had been a Bond girl in A View to a Kill before playing the Austrian art historian secretly working with the Nazis. Kim Basinger's own Bond film, Never Say Never Again, had been opposite Connery.
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8. What symbol marks the spot on the library floor?
An X
Indy tells his class early on that X never, ever marks the spot, then finds a Roman numeral ten set into the library floor. He breaks the marble with a brass stanchion, timing each blow to the old librarian's book stamp so the man blames his own hand.
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9. Which animals fill the tunnels under the library?
Rats
The tunnels are also awash with petroleum, which Kazim's Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword sets alight to flush Indy and Elsa out. The production bred its own rats for the scene rather than trapping wild ones, to keep the cast clear of disease.
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10. What vehicle do Indy and Henry board before fleeing in a smaller plane?
A Zeppelin
In Berlin they board an airship, where Indy, dressed as a steward, throws Colonel Vogel out of a window for having no ticket, and every other passenger suddenly finds theirs. When the Zeppelin turns back they slip into the biplane slung beneath it.
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11. How does Henry bring down the pursuing fighter on the beach?
He startles a flock of birds
Henry had just shot the tail off their own biplane with its rear gun, forcing the crash landing on the beach. Chased on foot, he flaps his umbrella at a flock of gulls, the fighter plows into them, and Henry credits the idea to Charlemagne.
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12. Who is the wealthy collector funding the Grail hunt?
Walter Donovan
Donovan is played by Julian Glover, who had been a Bond villain in For Your Eyes Only and General Veers in The Empire Strikes Back. He wants the cup for eternal life and drinks from the wrong one. Toht and Belloq are the villains of Raiders.
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13. What does the first trial demand of the penitent man?
He must kneel
The penitent man is humble before God, so he kneels, and Indy ducks under the swinging blades with inches to spare. The second trial spells Jehovah in stone tiles, but in Latin it begins with an I, and Indy steps on the J first.
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14. Which ancient city supplied the famous temple exterior?
Petra
The Treasury at Petra, a Nabataean tomb cut into the rose-colored rock of southern Jordan, stands in for the Grail temple in the fictional Canyon of the Crescent Moon. The interior, with its three trials, was built on a studio set.
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15. Where did the name Indiana come from within the story?
The family dog
Henry reveals that the family dog was called Indiana, and Sallah can barely believe it. Off screen the same is true: George Lucas named the character after his own Alaskan Malamute, Indiana, who also helped inspire Chewbacca.
