Although the final film in one of the most enduring and endearing movie franchises, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, hit the silver screen this past summer, I did not watch it till earlier this month. Why not? Maybe I wanted to prolong the inevitable: the final episode in one of my absolute favorite film series—stories that I have cherished since Raiders of the Lost Ark premiered in 1981. The late, great Roy Orbison probably said it best: “It’s over…it’s over.” And I am bummed.
I suppose the end was inevitable for a number of reasons. To begin with, back in the 1970s Steven Spielberg and George Lucas made a deal with Paramount Pictures for five films featuring archaeologist Indiana Jones. That seemed to be the magic number. Over four decades separated the first and last films, with Dial of Destiny being distributed by Walt Disney Studios after their acquisition of Lucasfilm.
But that alone never stopped a film studio from developing additional sequels if the movie performed well at the box office. And that is what Dial of Destiny did not do, its bloated budget leaving Disney with a considerable loss.
Indy and Helena, his goddaughter, manage to find lots of trouble.
And as somewhat of an authority on aging, I have to point out the obvious. Harrison Ford IS Indiana Jones, period. He was 80 when they made the film—81 now. How much can a guy that age do? And only two characters from previous films had cameos: John Rhys-Davies (Sallah) is 79, and Karen Allen (Marion) is 72. Not ideal for a film that depends heavily on action and stunts. (Still, it was great to see them.)
I have watched the first four movies countless times and will now add Dial of Destiny to the queue. There is some solace in knowing that Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr. will always remain alive on film.