Portugal, Germany, Italy, Turkey: 1938

There's a reason why none of the Indiana Jones movies are set in Buffalo, New York. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as well as the other films in the franchise, are adventure flicks, and that means each needs to be set in an exotic, exciting locale—preferably several.

Setting aside the prologue, most of Last Crusade is set in 1938, and the action takes place across the globe. First, Indiana recovers the Cross of Coronado from Panama Hat off the coast of Portugal. Next, after a quick pit stop in the States, he's off to Venice to meet Elsa and start the search for Henry. After that, he travels to the German-Austrian border to rescue his dad from gloomy Castle Brunwald. Finally, Indiana's Holy Grail hunt brings him to Hatay and the Canyon of the Crescent Moon.

Never heard of Hatay? No worries; you're not the only one, and you're probably not supposed to know much about it. (It's in Turkey, by the way.) Last Crusade's far-off locations only enhance the story's thrills and chills. They lend an air of mystery to the proceedings. Because the setting is unfamiliar, you don't know what usually goes down there, and, thus, you feel like anything can happen.

The fact that the story moves from spot to spot serves the narrative as well. A proper adventure requires a passport. Think about it: a treasure hunt through Venice would be rad. But a treasure hunt that continues through Germany and Turkey? That's really rad. As an adventure film, Last Crusade's setting and genre are entwined like a mass of jungle vines.

We Had to Walk to Castle Brunwald Uphill in the Snow Both Ways

Last Crusade's setting in the late 1930s amps up the adventure, too. For one thing, we've got Nazis. It's hard not to cheer for Indiana, and it's hard not to feel how much is at stake, when he's up against these real-life supervillains.

Back in those days, there were no text messages, email, or Google Maps. If you wanted to say, thwart the Nazis and capture the Holy Grail, you couldn't do it virtually: you had to get your hands dirty. Your fedora, too. If you wanted your pal to hide important pages from your Grail diary in Iskenderun, for instance, you had to physically rip those pages out, hand them to your pal, and point him toward the nearest airplane or ocean liner.

These hands-on forms of both exploration and communication are way more exhilarating than if we were to watch Henry track down Donovan's desert location using a drone and his MacBook Pro, or if we had to spend five minutes watching Indiana decide which Waze voice he wants to guide him to the Canyon of the Crescent Moon. When the action takes place face-to-face, IRL, it raises the stakes and ratchets up both the excitement and the sense of adventure on screen.