For my Father’s Day celebration this year, I simply asked to have an Indiana Jones movie marathon at my house so that I could enjoy these classic movies with my kids. The day was a big success. We got through them all and I was able to introduce my kids to some of the greatest movies of all time.
Now that they are all fresh in my mind, I thought it would be a good time to rank the four of them in their order of greatness, from the least great to the most great. None of them are bad movies, so I won’t use the word “worst” or “bad” when describing them.
ALL AROUND GREATNESS
1 Raiders of the Lost Ark – This movie perfectly set the pace for a whole new genre of movies. Hollywood would follow with scores of copycat movies, some better than others, but none could match the genius of Raiders. Produced by George Lucas, Directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Lawrence Kasdan, and starring Harrison Ford, Raiders was the product of a dream team of film making. Only the Indiana Jones sequels could come close to matching the brilliance of Raiders.
2. Last Crusade – I loved the father & son dynamic, added to the mix.
3. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – Again, the family dynamic added lots of fun with Indy’s former girlfriend and their shared son joining in on the action
4. Temple of Doom – lots of great scenes, but it’s the darkest and most violent of the four.
BEST SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
- Last Crusade – His father, played by Sean Connery is wonderful. The play between he and Indy is one of the highlights of this movie.
- Kingdom of Skull – Shia LaBeouf does a great job as his son, as does Karen Allen as his old flame.
- Raiders – Karen Allen practically steals every scene she is in.
- Temple of Doom – I found the boy, Short Round really annoying. But Kate Capshaw did a good job.
BEST SCENE
- The opening scene in Raiders
- The ride through the mines in Temple of Doom
- The 3 Challenges in Last Crusade
- The car ride/fight scene through the jungle in Kingdom of Skull
FAMILY FRIENDLY
There are no winners in this category. All 4 include scenes of characters getting killed in very gross ways, as well as many more killings in ways that aren’t quite as disturbing, but numerous none-the-less. In all except Kingdom of Skull, it is implied that Indiana Jones sleeps with the female lead, although the most they ever is shown is some kissing and then waking up in bed together. There is a few to several cuss words in each film. Skull has the most cussing, while Raiders probably has the least, however it includes 2 uses of the Lord’s name in vain. I recommend these films for ages 11 and up.
ScottCahan.com 
The kid was irritating, I agree. I also thought the female lead was the butt of too many jokes. The scene where she walks barefoot over bugs? Gross!
I couldn’t understand why they didn’t have Karen Allen/Marian. Yeah, yeah, it was supposed to be a prequel. But we had been introduced to Marian, and she was such a true partner for Indy, the other female leads just left me cold.
Add the stereotyped Indian characters and Cult of Kali, and I just really didn’t like the second movie. I felt like the filmmakers had misunderstood what the audience loved so much about Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I didn’t catch that Temple of Doom was a prequel until you mentioned it Deby. I checked on IMDB and you are correct. I’m not sure why. I also learned while reading up on this movie that George Lucas intentionally wanted this move to be darker than the first. Steven Spielberg agreed but he felt while they were filming that some of the scenes were too dark so Steven added humor to lighten them up a little. George later admitted that the divorce that he was going through at the time contributed to the darkness as well.