The greatest Indiana Jones moments of all time

published 28 June 2023

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is here. It's the last outing for Harrison Ford as the tomb-botherer in all-brown clobber. And the first not to be directed by Steven Spielberg.

James Mangold, powerhouse director of Logan and 3:10 to Yuma, takes the reins for Dial of Destiny. And the more forgiving of reviews suggest it's just as bold, silly and fun and the original four movies.

Don't have time for a full revisit of The Last Crusade, Temple of Doom, Raiders of the Lost Ark and — yes, we're not forgetting this one — Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? We've picked out 10 of our favourite moments from the Indiana Jones adventures of the past.

However, we'd better warn you. This list will make you want to rewatch these classics. Subscribed to Disney Plus? The service currently streams all four of the earlier Indiana Jones films. There's no reason not to if you have the hours to spare.

Let's get on with those top-10 moments...

10 best Indiana Jones moments

Indiana Jones is often at his most watchable when he’s in peril. This is a classic example. He’s in a fight with a wrench-wielding Nazi, which seems bad enough. But then a man-mountain enters the scene, and he doesn’t even seem to react to a punch. If that won’t do it, how about a plane propellor? A bit grim for a PG-rated movie? Perhaps, but we’re not talking about Saw gore levels here. The mechanic was played by wrestler Pat Roach. He was a chap from Birmingham who features in all three of the original Indy films.

Does anything represent the swagger of Indiana Jones better than this scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark? Following a chaotic escape from the bazaar, Indy finds himself hemmed in by a crowd, pushed into an arena with a black clothed swordsman. He flings his weapon about as if he’s about to enjoy disembowelling Jones, but he’s soon downed with a sigh and casual pistol shot. This “Arab swordsman” was actually played by a Welsh dude called Terry Richards. It was a different time.

This near-10-minute sequence in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a true nail-biter. The scene stars with the entrance of the Nazi tank, the unbeatable foe. But Indy starts to outwit it on horseback. However, once he boards the things it’s all pain and peril for Jones, and he just about manages to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat. This is action film pacing at its very best. Was it a real tank? No, this replica was made out of an HYMAC 590 digger, and powered by Rover V8 engines.

The climactic scene of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark haunted our childhoods. Picking the wrong chalice leads to an unfortunate case of face-melting for the Nazi crew. And Indiana Jones only manages to escape a similar fate by closing his eyes. A simple solution to a dire problem but, hey, a classic scene of cinema was still borne out of it. The actors’ faces were cast, modelled, and then many layers of gelatine were painted onto the skull structure. These were then melted away with propane-powered space heaters. What you see in the movie is a hugely sped-up recording of this process.

This scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade contains one of the best rapid-fire tonal shifts in the series. Indy and his father are confronted by gun-wielding Nazi soldiers out for Indy senior’s diary. He begins chastising younger Indy for bringing the diary, ratcheting up the tension. But this all turns out to be used as a distraction technique, giving Indy the window to grab a gun and blast the Nazis into oblivion. “Don’t call me junior” is the punchline in a glorious action-comedy set piece.

Andrew Williams has written about tech for a decade. He has written for a stack of magazines and websites including Wired, TrustedReviews, TechRadar and Stuff.