Question: "Who is your favorite supporting character?"
Scott's Answer: There aren't that many to choose from, but I'll go with Sallah. John Rhys-Davies is always entertaining to watch and the character is just a decent family man. He also gets one of the best lines: "Asps. Very dangerous. You go first."
Andrew's Answer: I wanted to say someone other than Sallah, as he is the obvious choice, but he's just such a fantastic character, played so well by an excellent actor, that it's impossible not to pick him.
Since I assume that Indy's whip isn't technically a character, I have to go with Dr. Henry Jones, Sr. One stern look of disapproval can get Indy's lower lip quivering (twice!), and he even gets to slap his insolent son, for blasphemy.
ReplyDeleteAll that pales in comparison to his greatest feat. With the literal Holy Grail almost in his son's reach, he rejects his own life-long obsession and politely but firmly advises the lad to "Let it go." Good paternal advice that saves both their lives.
Another vote for Sallah.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Dave Olson with this one. Sr for the win over Sallah who gets a big hat tip!
ReplyDeleteScott.
Hard to beat John Rhys-Davies. He's also the reason I'm a fan of Sliders.
ReplyDeleteI vote Sallah.
ReplyDeleteHard to beat this exchange from Last Crusade:
German Guide: Papers, please.
Sallah: [laughing] Papers? Of course!
[to Marcus]
Sallah: Run.
Marcus Brody: Yes.
Sallah: Papers. Got it here. Just finished reading it myself.
[to Marcus]
Sallah: Run.
Marcus Brody: Yes.
Sallah: "Egyptian Mail," morning edition.
[to Marcus]
Sallah: Run.
Marcus Brody: Did you say, uh...
[Sallah punches one of the German guides]
Sallah: RUN!
Dave -
ReplyDeleteI know I've mentioned it before but I've always had a soft spot for Last Crusade. Too bad they had to arbitrarily kill off Indy's dad for Crystal Skull. Indy mentions it as he looks at a photo on his desk and to add insult to injury, the photo of Connery was obviously a publicity photo taken for Crusade.
shawn -
ReplyDeleteMakes you wonder what they would've done if they hadn't brought back Sallah (and Brody) for Crusade. They could've taken a page from the James Bond playbook and given him all-new sidekicks for that one. But it's always nice to see familiar faces.
While I do love the Senior/Junior relationship, I have to go with Sallah also...
ReplyDeleteAlthough Marcus Brody deserves honorable mention, as do the hat & whip...
Scott -
ReplyDeleteWho knew Indy's pop was so popular? :-)
(BTW, the teaser tagline for Last Crusade was great: "The man with the hat is back. And this time, he's bringing his dad.")
tryanmax -
ReplyDeleteNice to see a fellow Sliders fan! I only watched it for the first season or so. I hear it kinda went off the rails by the end.
Dave, Excellent choice -- hard to argue with!
ReplyDeleteJason -
ReplyDeleteIt's a fun scene but, as I've said previously, the one thing I can't forgive Crusade for is making Marcus Brody an idiot, though I do like the line about Brody "getting lost in his own museum."
Shawn, I concur! :)
ReplyDeleteScott, Good choices!
rla -
ReplyDeleteThe hat, the whip, the gun, the jacket... :-)
tryanmax, Same here! I enjoyed Sliders a lot, at least for a while before it kind of fell apart. I like Cryin' Man too. What a great character.
ReplyDeleteJason, Your mention of Brody makes me think too that I really liked his character in Raiders, but I felt they abused his character in Crusade.
ReplyDeleterlaWTX, I agree about Brody. I like him a lot. I wasn't happy what they did to him in Crusade, but I still wish they had done more with him.
ReplyDeleteScott, Sliders went off the rails pretty fast.
ReplyDeleteI tend to think Spielberg was trying to apologize for the ghoulishness of Temple of Doom by adding more humor in Last Crusade. Unfortunately, it seemed to come at Brody’s expense.
ReplyDeleteSliders definitely went downhill after John Rhys-Davies got canned. It robbed the show of its gravity.
Jason -
ReplyDeleteI agree 100%.
As for Sliders, it definitely had potential and it was appointment viewing for me for at least the first year. The second year I don't remember and by the third year, wasn't it airing on the Sci-Fi Channel?
Question: Who qualifies as a "supporting character"? Sidekicks, love interests, main and minor villains?
ReplyDeleteMy choice is Sallah -- especially for his final scene in Raiders. After Marion gives him three kisses (for his children, his wife and Sallah himself), Sallah breaks into a chorus of "A British Tar" from H.M.S. Pinafore.
(Also, I enjoyed Sliders as well for the first couple of seasons.)
But I also like Captain Katanga from Raiders as a pretty fun supporting character: "Mr. Jones. I have heard a lot about you, sir. Your appearance is exactly the way I imagined."
ScottDS: Sliders aired its first three seasons on Fox before the network canned the show. Sci-Fi got it for seasons four and five before pulling the plug for good.
ReplyDeleteI saw most of the show, though none of season five. Season one was the best. Season two was okay. Season three is when the show began ripping off plots and conventions of other movies (Twister, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Jurassic Park) thanks to the network wanting more “action-oriented” plots, eventually driving series creator Tracy Torme off the show. Season four was much better, but the show by that time became more of a Star Wars-like struggle against an evil sliding race called the Kromags. The series just didn’t have much of the historical revisionism of alternate worlds that we saw in earlier seasons. When season five rolled around, I pretty much just checked out.
Well Indys dad was well written and gave us an insight into Indy himself; plus he was played by Sean Connery! And yes I remember that tagline, it was well done.
ReplyDeleteI'll join in with the Sliders love, I watched it all even when it went down hill, off the rails and jack knifed all its carragies. I love time travel and will put up with a lot if it includes it, the same goes for martial arts movies. But I do wish they hadn't of gone too crazy with it.
Scott.
OT: There's a Frank Tashlin commemorative over on Cartoon Brew. If you're into his work check it out. LINK
ReplyDeleteJason, I'm not sure what made Spielberg change Brody into comic relief, but I wish he hadn't.
ReplyDeleteAgreed about Sliders.
Big Mo, You make your own rules here! :)
ReplyDeleteAgreed about Katanga. He's a fantastic character and I would have loved to see more of him.
Jason, I recall liking the Cromag idea for a while, but it definitely changed the nature of the show and made it a very different show.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what happened, but the show definitely changed for the worse year after year in my opinion.
Scott, I agree about time travel and I loved the concept here, how the worlds were all different. In many ways, the show had unlimited potential. It's too bad they seemed to start thinking small very quickly and then changed the nature of the show to be less exploratory and more monster of the week type stuff.
ReplyDeleteK, Huh? I have honestly never heard of Tashlin. Thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteAndrew -
ReplyDeleteFrank Tashlin was an animator who later directed live-action films including The Girl Can't Help It and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?.
Naturally, I know of him from his work with Jerry Lewis, including The Disorderly Orderly and Cinderfella.
He also co-wrote the last "official" Marx Brothers movie, 1949's Love Happy. It's not great but it has its moments.
Andrew, Scott, et al -
ReplyDeleteWithout being that familiar with the production history of Sliders, I'm going to venture a guess and blame "network interference" for the decline. :-)
I like the monkey from the first one. You know, ate the poison dates and such.
ReplyDeleteSallah and Henry Jones, Sr.
ReplyDeleteKit -
ReplyDeleteGood answers. :-)
Jed -
ReplyDeleteIt's always nice to see a movie featuring an animal that isn't annoying (or talking).
Scott, I despise Jerry Lewis, so that might why I never heard of him.
ReplyDeleteIt does sound like Sliders got killed by the networks.
Jed and Scott, I agree -- it's nice (and rare) to see an animal on film that isn't used in an annoying way.
ReplyDeleteAndrew -
ReplyDeleteSince we've already gone off-topic once or twice already, I present this clip...
...featuring everything wrong with The Room, which I reviewed last year. I wish this clip had been available then - I could've used it. :-)
(Probably NSFW)
Yeah, I only made it through three seasons of Sliders b/c after that, it pretty well fell apart.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!"
Mac! (ducks to avoid garbage being thrown) just kidding...
ReplyDeleteI was trying to think of someone other than Sallah and Henry, Sr., (pretty hard, I must admit), and I was going to go with Marian ('Raiders' appearance ONLY). But she really doesn't help Indy that much. By the way, is there a category or term for 'Jonesgirl?'
And since we're driving off the rails anyway...
ScottDS,
For bring up 'the Room,' here's a little number of what happened when Red Letter Media met Tommy Wiseau. It was more relevant before Lucasfilm was sold to Disney, but, aw, what the heck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4RsfhKgxFk
And Andrew,
Indiana Jones makes a Ghostbusters appearance! Just scroll over to about 5:28 in the clip. (This really makes me feel for what Janine must go through all day.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP-FQcYLodM&list=SPF147DD0E71144AC6
-Rustbelt
I tried posting this earlier but apparently you can't comment from mobile devices. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteAll this OT commentary about Sliders makes me think that the show deserves an in-depth look. As for me, the show jumped the shark (or, since we're on an Indy thread, nuked the fridge) when Kari Wuhrer's breast implants were added to the cast.
Dave, It does seem like we should be talking about Sliders at some point. Unfortunately, I don't remember enough about it to do that.
ReplyDeleteRustbelt, I love the Red Letter Media stuff.
ReplyDeleteRustbelt -
ReplyDeleteI reviewed The Room last year but I saw that clip today and didn't want to go back and post it after the fact.
Mac, huh?! :-)
It's a shame since Ray Winstone is a great actor but they gave it away too quickly. He's a double-agent before we've gotten a chance to know him.
Dave, yep, that pretty much did it for me. I never followed it over to SciFi. No point, really.
ReplyDeleteAnd may I express how pleased I am that no one picked Short Round.
ReplyDeleteShort Round! Hands down...
ReplyDelete