Chronological Quest; Prologue; Time Jump

One Fight After Another

Indiana Jones is a no-frills kind of guy, and the narrative in Last Crusade unfolds in a similarly straightforward manner: there are no voice-overs, no talking heads, no Family Guy-style cutaways. The story steamrolls ahead chronologically from action set piece to action set piece, keeping the emphasis firmly on adventure. Indiana's on a quest, first to find his father, and then to find the Holy Grail. Narrative pit-stops? Ain't nobody got time for that.

Ethics Through the Ages

The movie does feature a pretty significant time jump, though, as the narrative kicks off in 1912, with young Indiana on a Scout trip in Utah. In addition to kick-starting the action and adventure, this prologue accomplishes two things.

First, it's part of Indiana Jones's origin story as an iconic pop culture character: we finally learn where he got that famous fedora, whip, and scar. We're willing to bet that nobody suspected a train full of circus animals played such a pivotal role in Indy's origin, but still… The prologue takes us back to Indiana's roots and helps us understand him just a little bit better. We learn that he got the fedora from a father figure who was also a total criminal, for example, since his real dad was too busy writing in his diary. Womp womp.

Second, it establishes Indiana's ethics as an archaeologist, which are central to the film. In fact, the concept of principles, in general, is one of the narrative's biggest themes. Young Indiana nabs the Cross of Coronado from the bandits not because he wants to show it off to his pals or make a buck off it, but because he firmly believes it belongs in a museum. Even as a teen, he's willing to risk his life to protect history.

When the narrative makes its time jump to the present day, 1938, we see that Indiana still feels the same way about the Cross of Coronado. Age hasn't changed his moral code, or his willingness to stick his neck out there, one bit.

Indiana's ethical awesomeness, proven in the prologue, extends to his hunt for the Holy Grail. Once again, he wants to prevent an important cultural artifact from falling into the wrong, greedy hands, not because he wants life everlasting or his face plastered across newsstands.