In Stoppard’s version, Henry’s initial reaction is to laugh, before asking, “ Do you think that my son would be that stupid?” His face then falls as he realizes the answer is yes. In the castle, when the SS officer demands that Indy fork over the grail diary, Boam’s draft has Henry incredulously ask Indy if he brought it with him. This bestows an escalation: at first it’s a mystery, then it’s a life-or-death struggle.Įscalation can also improve scenes and beats. Stoppard’s revised draft loses the corpse and delays Indy’s first encounter with danger until after he’s found the knight’s tomb. Yet, once in Venice, they adopt a breezy mood and Indy flirts with Elsa (Alison Doody). You’d think he’d mobilize the police to find his dad, but there he is, drinking wine and taking his time. Boam’s draft kicks this off with an early proof of danger: still in America, Indy (Harrison Ford) and Brody (Denholm Elliott) find a murdered housekeeper in Henry’s backyard. Last Crusade’s first act follows Indy searching for his father. Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade EscalationĪs the story progresses, stakes grow. But before that, here are some general lessons that emerge from my comparison. If you are interested in seeing in a full dissection of the revisions, you will find a link to my breakdown and both scripts at the end of this article. Since we can’t know whose pen revised which pages (although Spielberg did say that “Tom is pretty much responsible for every line of dialogue.” Let’s just call it a collaboration of some titans of storytelling. Some scenes were filmed but omitted during the edit, like an extended chase through the Zeppelin in which Indy and Henry are pursued by a Gestapo agent and a World War One flying ace.Īnd then there was the uncredited script polish by Barry Watson – you know, the Barry Watson? Never heard of him? Perhaps if we peek under his pseudonym… ah, yes: Sir Tom Stoppard, a four-time Tony winner who later bagged an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love. So who was that? Spielberg himself made certain revisions, such as expanding the desert tank sequence from a few pages to over eleven – injecting some much-needed action into the story. Whoever made these changes possessed a profound grasp of story craft. Whole sections of the Boam draft were reimagined, major set pieces were added, and the pacing and tone were markedly transformed. Differences come as no shock, but with Last Crusade they aren’t just a few deleted scenes and some line changes. Boam’s final draft, dated Ma(ten weeks before production) differs drastically from the published script which reflects the released version of the film.

Last Crusade was written by Jeffrey Boam, from a story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes.

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