What Makes INDY....

Posted by New Jersey Hughes from h186.n-D1A278.sac.verio.net on September 04, 2000 at 13:08:07:

In Reply to: Ford's age vs. reprising the role posted by Indy 4: Death of a legend? on September 02, 2000 at 03:15:06:

...is it Harrison Ford, or is it the setting? Do the clothes make the man? Would you accept someone else as Indy, as long as he wore a fedora? What if he didn't? What if he wore a pith helmet, but called himself Indiana Jones? Would it still be the same, I wonder... How much of the Indiana Jones equation is Harrison Ford? How much is Speilberg, or Lucas? Or Lawrence Kasdan, Philip Kaufman, Menno Meyes, or Jeffrey Boam, for that matter? How much of the original equation can you remove, before it stops being Indy?

Isn't every INDIANA JONES spin-off, from the comics, and the novels to YOUNG INDY, just something Indy-ish we enjoy, as a fun substitute to the real thing? Would Indy be Indy without Harrison Ford? Would having the 'real' Indy played by a different actor be worth it, just so we could have more content? Does anyone REALLY look at fine actors like Sean Patrick Flannery, Cory Carrier, George Hall, or even River Phoenix (who did a great job as young Indy BECAUSE he 'aped' Ford's portrayal) and say "Yeah, that was just as good as Harrison's Indy"?

If we're throwing out opinions here, I think Indy should pass on with Harrison Ford. If Ford's 60, then make a movie about a 60-year-old Indy, or don't water down the magic at all. No matter what happens, it can never be the summer of 1981 again. That's what makes it special! There's an old Japanese folk proverb about a man who spent his whole life building a golden temple. When he finished it, he burnt it to the ground; he destroyed it. When asked why, he said that he wnated people to remember it in its glory, at the height of its beauty. He didn't want to see it rot and decay, and have people think of desication and ruin when they remembered it.

And while I think the Bond analogy is good, it pays to remember that, unlike Indiana Jones, Bond existed as a literary character for the better part of a decade before Sean Connery breathed life into him. Anyone who's read the Fleming Bond novels knows that, while Connery was, hand's down, the best cinematic Bond (by majority opinion), Connery's Bond wasn't quite the Bond as Fleming had portrayed him. Most Bond enthusiasts agree that, actually, Timothy Dalton's portrayal came closest to Fleming's conception. What about other characters that have only been essayed by a single actor? Would anyone like to see someone else try to play Mr. Spock, just to have new material? Or should Indiana Jones be like Sherlock Holmes and Hamlet, to be interpreted and reinterpreted by various and sundry performers from now on? What makes characters like James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Who, Hamlet, or Dracula BEG to be essayed by as many different actors willing to do different interpretations, while other characters like Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock, CASABLANCA's Rick, or Dirty Harry become the sole property of the actors who essayed them? Maybe it's up to each of us to decide which category Indy falls into. And if you say that it's too late, that Indy's already in the former category, then it beggars the question: where any of those other Indys any good?

BTW, I'm LOVING this type of intelligent discourse. God bless ya, man!

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Re: What Makes INDY.... Roses4jezabel 03:17:38 9/05/2000 (0)

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: ...is it Harrison Ford, or is it the setting?  Do the clothes make the man?  Would you accept someone else as Indy, as long as he wore a fedora?  What if he didn't?  What if he wore a pith helmet, but called himself Indiana Jones?  Would it still be the same, I wonder...  How much of the Indiana Jones equation is Harrison Ford?  How much is Speilberg, or Lucas?  Or Lawrence Kasdan, Philip Kaufman, Menno Meyes, or Jeffrey Boam, for that matter? How much of the original equation can you remove, before it stops being Indy?

: Isn't every INDIANA JONES spin-off, from the comics, and the novels to YOUNG INDY, just something Indy-ish we enjoy, as a fun substitute to the real thing?  Would Indy be Indy without Harrison Ford?  Would having the 'real' Indy played by a different actor be worth it, just so we could have more content?  Does anyone REALLY look at fine actors like Sean Patrick Flannery, Cory Carrier, George Hall, or even River Phoenix (who did a great job as young Indy BECAUSE he 'aped' Ford's portrayal) and say "Yeah, that was just as good as Harrison's Indy"?

: If we're throwing out opinions here, I think Indy should pass on with Harrison Ford.  If Ford's 60, then make a movie about a 60-year-old Indy, or don't water down the magic at all.  No matter what happens, it can never be the summer of 1981 again.  That's what makes it special!  There's an old Japanese folk proverb about a man who spent his whole life building a golden temple.  When he finished it, he burnt it to the ground; he destroyed it.  When asked why, he said that he wnated people to remember it in its glory, at the height of its beauty.  He didn't want to see it rot and decay, and have people think of desication and ruin when they remembered it.

: And while I think the Bond analogy is good, it pays to remember that, unlike Indiana Jones, Bond existed as a literary character for the better part of a decade before Sean Connery breathed life into him.  Anyone who's read the Fleming Bond novels knows that, while Connery was, hand's down, the best cinematic Bond (by majority opinion), Connery's Bond wasn't quite the Bond as Fleming had portrayed him.  Most Bond enthusiasts agree that, actually, Timothy Dalton's portrayal came closest to Fleming's conception.  What about other characters that have only been essayed by a single actor?  Would anyone like to see someone else try to play Mr. Spock, just to have new material?  Or should Indiana Jones be like Sherlock Holmes and Hamlet, to be interpreted and reinterpreted by various and sundry performers from now on?  What makes characters like James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Who, Hamlet, or Dracula BEG to be essayed by as many different actors willing to do different interpretations, while other characters like Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock, CASABLANCA's Rick, or Dirty Harry become the sole property of the actors who essayed them?  Maybe it's up to each of us to decide which category Indy falls into.  And if you say that it's too late, that Indy's already in the former category, then it beggars the question: where any of those other Indys any good?

: BTW, I'm LOVING this type of intelligent discourse.  God bless ya, man!

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