Indiana Jones coming to DVD!

E! Online ^ | 5/6/03 | Josh Grossberg

[BaghdadBarney]

The man in the hat is back - and on DVD for the first time.

Looking to tide folks over until the eventual release of the fourth Indiana Jones feature, Paramount Home Entertainment announced Tuesday that it finally plans on releasing the first three Indy films on November 4, 2003 as part of a four-disc DVD set.

Dubbed The Adventures of Indiana Jones: The Complete DVD Movie Collection, the set will not only feature all three Indy flicks -1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - but will also include a disc devoted to bonus material, including brand new interviews with director Steven Spielberg, producer-writer George Lucas and star Harrison Ford.

"When we began, we kind of went on our own Indiana Jones archaeological dig in the Lucasfilm archives to see what we had and kind of hit a treasure trove of materials," says Jim Ward, vice president of marketing for Lucasfilm (which is producing the set with Paramount) and an executive producer of the DVD. "What we're trying to do right now is figure out what will go on that final disc...we have a lot of great never-before-seen things."

In the name of fortune and glory, the filmmakers didn't hesitate to raid the vaults. Among the goodies unearthed for the bonus disc: interviews with cast and crew members, new behind-the-scenes documentaries, featurettes on visual effects and music and hithtero unreleased footage cut from the original films.

One highlight is a deleted fight between Indy and a Cairo swordsman that Spielberg spent days choreographing only to have Ford--under the weather because of a stomach virus--improvise and just shoot the baddie, which wound up in the finished Raiders and was one of the best-remembered moments. The full scene has been resurrected for the DVD.

The Indy DVD set is expected to retail for approximately $50.

[BaghdadBarney]

No matter what one thinks of the politics of Lucas, Spielberg and Ford, these three flicks are among the best ever produced in the history of American film. The DVD is way overdue.

[goldstategop]

I've loved Indy Jones adventures. I wonder how good the fourth movie's gonna be.

[b4its2late]

Breaking News?

[Constitution Day]

Breaking News?

It seems to be a slow news day.

[smith288]

Breaking?

[goldstategop]

LOL!!!

[wardaddy]

I can handle Lucas and Speilberg, Speilberg got right on the war.

Ford?...sorry....he's no different than Ed Harris or Nick Nolte. We avoid him. Shame.

[goldstategop]

Do you have Star Wars? Better dump the trilogy fast.

[Sgt Hulka 123]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

[BaghdadBarney]

I never realized "Breaking News" is only reserved for politics and foreign affairs... If you're not interested don't read it...

[Frank_Discussion]

Kinda. As it was said above, the Hollywierdness associated with the players/producers of these movies notwithstanding, they are pretty gung-ho feelgood movies and worthy of attention.

(Personally, I think Harrison Ford is a decent guy, but just a little off bubble from too much Kalifornia sun, with a heavy dose of mid-life crisis. I sincerely hope the guy comes to his senses someday.)

[ScottinSacto]

and it was close to the last time any of them made a movie worth the time watching it...especially Ford. The new Star Wars hides a lack of plot behind special effects. Speilberg's AI was devoid of anything interesting, and Ford (with the exception of Air Force 1) can't seem to choose a movie that anyone else wants to see (or would reccomend after being suckered into it).

[absinthe]

I've had them on DVD from Asia for a while, but Asian DVD video quality is poor (lots of compression artifacts). I'm not sure why...the disks are DVD-9's (2-layer) so it's not that they need to skimp on bits.

It'll be nice to get the ones made here in the USA.

[rightisright]

Can't wait until we see the new scene in the Cairo marketplace where instead of shooting the sword-wielding bad guy Indy instead karate chops him (or some such nonsense - see Greedo shooting first, or FBI agents with badges instead of guns in ET).

[GraniteStateConservative]

1981 was an awesome year.

Year 1 of the Reagan Presidency
Raiders of the Lost Ark comes out
52 hostages released from Iran
Reagan survives the assassination attempt

[ffusco]

I'm waiting for "Pretty Woman" The director's cut........

[Psycho_Bunny]

God, I hated the Indiana Jones movies.

[goldstategop]

That one was released a few years ago on laserdisc. I think its out now on DVD. I don't watch it for Julia Roberts or Richard Gere's politics. ;-)

[blue jeans]

re: these three flicks are among the best ever produced in the history of American film

Not to be picky, but I think you're only partly right.

1) The first one was great... no doubt about it.
2) The second was not (& I don't think it held a candle to the first).
3) The third was a retread of the first (i.e. make the Nazi's the villians again.... a sure-fire formula)

In fact, I think the Back To the Future followed in the same footsteps. First one is ground-breaking, second is too dark, doesn't sell as well, and the third retreads alot of the first.

Btw, the opening scenes from UHF (that crumby Al Yankovich film), had a hilarious parody of the first Indy film. Worth seeing just that 5 minutes.

[goldstategop]

Swashbuckling adventures are not to every one's tastes.