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INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE was released 36 years ago today. The third, and for some best, entry in the Indiana Jones series, reading the behind the scenes story will mean you chose wisely…

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George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had always intended to make a trilogy of Indiana Jones. Spielberg said he wanted to make a 3rd to fulfill his promise to Lucas and to atone for the criticism he received for the darker Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

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Spielberg had been in advanced talks at the time to direct Rain Man. He was also wanted as director of Big (which his sister, Anne, had co-written). He dropped out of both to return to Indy.

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Lucas liked the idea of a ghost story, and wanted the film to be set in a haunted mansion. Spielberg had been exec producer on Poltergeist a few years earlier though, so wanted to do something different.

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Spielberg brought in Chris Columbus as screenwriter. His first draft was called Indiana Jones and the Monkey King and revolved around the ‘Garden of Immortal Peaches’, a 200 year-old pygmy, a Scottish ghost and a Nazi with a machine gun for an arm.

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Spielberg said the script made him "feel very old, too old to direct it" so Jeffrey Boam came in as writer. Lucas gave him the title The Last Crusade and asked him to use the Holy Grail. Spielberg asked him to introduce Indy’s father, Henry. Elsa came in at this point too.

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Sean Connery was Spielberg's first choice to play Henry, as an inside joke to say that James Bond is the father of Indiana Jones. If that had failed, though, Spielberg had Gregory Peck and Jon Pertwee as back-up choices.

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At 58 years old, Sean Connery was only 12 years older than Harrison Ford. As such, the crew had to ensure that Connery always had a full white beard to make him appear much older, while Ford was to remain clean shaven.

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In the scene where Indy asks Henry how he knows Elsa was a German spy, Connery ad-libbed his response “she talks in her sleep.” Julian Glover (Donovan) said everybody fell on the floor in hysterics, and Spielberg said “Well, that’s in.”

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To play young Indy in the opening sequence, Harrison Ford suggested River Phoenix, having worked with him on The Mosquito Coast. He told Spielberg Phoenix looked like himself as a teenager and that he knew Phoenix did a pretty good impression of him.

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Acclaimed playwright Sir Tom Stoppard was brought in to re-write dialogue, specifically the Henry-Indiana exchanges. He was paid $120k and, after the film’s release and success, given a $1m bonus. Spielberg said “Tom is pretty much responsible for every line of dialogue."

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The film recycles two rejected ideas from Raiders of the Lost Ark. In Raiders, Lucas wanted Indy to travel with his old archealogy professor, who had been obsessed with the Ark. And Spielberg wanted Indy to have a female love interest who was also a German spy.

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We find out Henry Jones Jr. took ‘Indiana’ from the family dog. This is a reference to the fact that Lucas named the character after his Alaskan malamute. Also, young Indy hits himself with the whip to explain a scar Ford has on his chin from a car accident in real life.

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Effects Supervisor Michael Lantieri said about the opening: "You can't just stop a train. If it misses its mark, it takes blocks to stop and back up." Lantieri hid handles for the actors and stuntmen to grab were built on tubes that inflated to create a rocking motion.

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2000 rats were bred for the production. Breeding them specially was necessary, as ordinary rats would have been riddled with disease. Amanda Redman was asked to play the female lead of Elsa, but turned it down because of her real-life phobia of rats.

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German actress Gudrun Landgrebe was invited to read for Elsa but Spielberg said no as she looked like Amy Irving, Spielberg’s ex-wife. He cast Alison Doody who, at 21, was 25 years younger than Harrison Ford.

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The shot in Venice of the boats passing between two ships was achieved by cabling the ships so they’d be safe. An empty speedboat containing dummies was launched from a floating platform between the ships with fire and smoke that hid the platform.

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Most of the uniforms worn by the Nazis in the book-burning scene are real World War II uniforms. A hidden archive of old uniforms was found in Germany and obtained by costume designer Anthony Powell specifically to be used in this movie.

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The Berlin scenes were filmed at Stowe School, a boarding school in England. Many of the extras were American airmen from a nearby US Air Force Base and Spielberg had the extras who did the Nazi salute put their other arms behind their backs and cross their fingers.

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In filming the zeppelin scene, Connery and Ford wore no trousers. It was filmed in a scorching hot studio, and Connery didn't want to sweat too much.

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It was a challenge to create Henry’s costume as he had to wear the same clothes through the movie. Anthony Powell copied his own grandfather’s tweed suits and fishing hats. And he had rimless glasses specially made as Spielberg said he wanted to see Connery’s face.

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When Henry scares the seagulls to fly up into the plane, they had to use doves as seagulls are impossible to train. You can also see several cut out seagulls in the sand that don’t move as the others fly away.

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Lucas wanted a tank set piece to be included. Spielberg started writing a short sequence that would take 2 days to shoot but enjoyed the process so much it developed into a huge centrepiece which took 10 days to film.

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Mechanical effects supervisor George Gibbs went to a museum to rent a French World War I tank. He couldn’t find one, so built it himself. It was flown to Almeria, Spain, for filming. Gibbs called it the toughest job of his career. There was also a scale model used.

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When Indy’s bag is caught on the tank's gun and is being dragged along the wall, no stuntman was used, Ford did it himself. The crew just went along with shovels, tipping dirt and clay on him from above.

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At one point, stuntman Vic Armstrong had to pull Ford to one side and ask him to let him "do some work" because Ford was doing so many of the stunts himself. Armstrong later said “If he wasn't such a great actor, he would have made a really great stuntman."

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There was some incredible miniature and scale models work used through the film too. All handled by Lucas’ own ILM…

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The temple at the end of the movie is in Petra, Jordan. The doorway is huge but there’s just an empty room inside. Spielberg was guest of honour of King Hussein and Queen Noor during the shoot and the 4 horses at the end of the film belonged to the King.

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More royalty visited the set when, one day, King of Pop Michael Jackson turned up…

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The temple set took 6 weeks to build and had 80 ft of hydraulics for the earthquake scene. For the shot of the Grail falling to the floor, causing the first crack to appear, crews built a separate floor that that had a pre-set crack.

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The first grail trial was a mix of practical and miniature blades. The second trial is a stuntman hanging through a hole 30ft up in front of a matte painting. The third trial was created with a model bridge, painted backgrounds and puppet of Harrison Ford.

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Spielberg originally wanted acting legend Laurence Olivier to play the Grail Knight. He was approached and interested, but too ill to commit at the time. And sadly passed away shortly after the film was released. Veteran actor Robert Eddison was cast instead.

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The sword carried by the Grail Knight is a copy of the real sword of Charlemagne - used for most French kings coronations, as well as Napoleon. The sword is on display at the Louvre and has a gold hilt.

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In case there was any doubt about Elsa’s allegiances, after she picks the Grail and hands it to Donovan, we see her look at Indy and shake her head. Showing she gave Donovan the wrong cup intentionally…

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Spielberg wanted Donovan's death in one shot, so it wouldn’t look like make-up being applied between takes. Inflatable pads were added to actor Julian Glover's head and face that made his eyes recede, and a mechanical wig that grew his hair.

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The shot itself was the first all-digital composite and created by ILM over 3 months. They morphed together 3 shots of Donovan puppets at different stages of ageing. The skeleton was hung on wires like a marionette and it was then filmed being crashed against the wall.

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When the film came out, interest in Petra rocketed. Before the movie, Petra received a few thousand visitors every year. After The Last Crusade came out, that number was over a million.

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On a budget of $48m, the film grossed $474.2m – so was an enormous hit. Two more sequels have come since, but neither with the general acclaim of the original trilogy of Indy films.

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If you liked our making of story on INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, please share the opening post.

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INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE was released 36 years ago today. The third, and for some best, entry in the Indiana Jones series, reading the behind the scenes story will mean you chose wisely…

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INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE was released 36 years ago today....

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