Release Year: 1989

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writer: Jeffrey Boam

Stars: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott

What's the coolest trip you've ever taken with your parents? Fishing at the lake? Disney World? An especially eventful trip to Target?

Whatever it is, aim higher.

In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, our hero and his father, Henry, travel across three continents in pursuit of the Holy Grail—the Cup of Christ that grants everlasting life to whoever drinks from it. Suck on that, Space Mountain.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the third film in the original Indiana Jones trilogy, opened on May 24, 1989, and pulled in $11,181,429, making it the first movie to put more than $10 million worth of butts in seats on its first day in theatres. After its record-setting opening day, the film went on to rake in over $474 million worldwide. The film, which once again starred Harrison Ford (duh), Denholm Elliot, and John Rhys-Davies, also introduced audiences to a new character: Indiana's father.

If you think bringing Indiana's dad into the mix was a big deal, you'd be right. No ordinary actor would do, so producer George Lucas (Star Wars, Labyrinth) and director Steven Spielberg (Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) brought in Sean Connery to fill the role of Henry Jones, Sr. That's right: James Bond himself.

With a production budget of $48 million, Last Crusade was filmed across three continents, and a hefty chunk of that budget went toward creating the thrilling action set-pieces that the Indy franchise is known for. We're talking about airplane fights, fiery Nazi castles, speedboat chases, catacombs full of thousands of rats, and even a rampaging tank.

Last Crusade isn't all guns and rodents, though. The relationship between Indiana and his dad imports an emotional heft that hadn't yet been seen in the Indiana Jones franchise. The film's funnier than Raiders of the Lost Ark and lighter in tone than the sometimes gruesome Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. With a script by Jeffrey Boam (Innerspace)—and uncredited father-son dialogue punch-ups by Tony-winning playwright and Oscar-winning screenwriter Tom Stoppard—Last Crusade packs a warm, emotional wallop stronger than any punch Indiana's ever landed on a bad guy.

But don't worry. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade doesn't veer into Lifetime movie territory. Everybody's favorite archaeology professor also jumps onto a moving tank from a horse, watches an otherwise healthy dude decompose in under ten seconds, and kicks a whole lot of Nazi tail. This is Indiana Jones, after all.

The Holy Grail. The Ark of the Covenant. The Fountain of Youth.

In adventure movies, the swashbuckling hero is always after something: a treasure, a talisman, some enchanted place or item that'll do something mind-blowingly awesome, like grant everlasting life or release enough money to buy the Batmobile and your own English butler to wash and wax it in your parents' driveway.

In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the magical item isn't an item an all.

It's Henry.

Sure, Indiana's chasing after the Holy Grail, too, but that's just to stop Donovan from getting it and using it wreak havoc on mankind. He's just being a good citizen. What Indiana's really after, personally, is a relationship with dear old Dad. For Indiana, love equals wealth. Aww.

That's why, unlike Elsa, Indiana lets the Holy Grail go. That's why it means so much when Henry finally calls him "Indiana" instead of "Junior." That's why Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, for all its incredible action set-pieces, still presents an unusual—and unusually moving—take on the rip-roaring action flick.