The movie was re-released on VHS video in 1999, on DVD in 2003 and again in 2008 for a Special Edition DVD release.[1] In 2012, the film received a high-definition home video release as part of Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures.
The film is set a year before the events in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indy is delivering the remains of Emperor Nurhachi to a gangster named Lao Che in a nightclub, Club Obi Wan, in Shanghai, China, in exchange for a large diamond. Lao introduces Indy to Willie Scott, the club's singer and his "girlfriend". After Indy sips his drink, Lao starts laughing ominously as he pulls out a vial of blue liquid. Willie asks what it is, and Lao replies that it is the antidote to the poison Indiana just drank. Indy's friend Wu Han, in disguise as a waiter, pulls a gun and threatens to shoot if the antidote is not handed over. However, Lao Che's son Chen shoots and kills him. A brawl ensues, with Indiana Jones trying to grab the antidote and Willie Scott trying to grab the Peaco*ck's Eye.
Willie finds the antidote and slips it in her dress. Chen is killed, and Lao Che's other son, Kao Kan pulls a machine gun on Indy. Indy and Willie just barely avoid the mad man's gunfire by hiding behind a rolling gong which Indy cut with a large sword. The two make their escape when the gong crashes through a window. After several awnings break their fall, they land in a car driven by Short Round, Indy's kid sidekick. Indy drinks the antidote after grabbing it out of Willie's dress. A car chase follows, with Willie dropping Indy's gun in the chaos. The three heroes arrive at an airport with Lao Che and Kao Kan right behind them. Indy, Willie, and Short Round board the cargo plane, with Indy saying that Lao Che made a good try. He shuts the door and Lao Che is written across the door. Lao Che says goodbye to Indy and tells his pilot to kill all of them. The plane flies off.
It turns out that the plane was owned by Lao Che, and the captains abandon the plane, leaving the passengers to die. They survive by using a raft as a parachute. They land in India, where they come to a village with no children. The inhabitants explain that the Thuggee cult of Pankot Palace has taken all of their children and their sacred stone that protects the village. They then lend the heroes elephants so they can reach the palace.
Initially the palace seems normal enough; the Maharajah's prime minister Chattar Lal acts insulted by his questions about the village's claims. In retaliation he brings up Jones' shadier elements as an archaeologist, in particular the Sultan of Madagascar's threat of castration should he ever return. Indy is later attacked in his room by an assassin, which leads him to find a secret door in Willie's room. Beneath the palace is a vast underground chamber where the village rock and two more are held by Thuggees. Indy, Willie, and Short Round watch as the Thuggee high priest Mola Ram sacrifices a human to the goddess Kali. The cult uses the village's children to dig for the remaining rocks within the mines of the palace, in hope that with all of them they can rule the world.
Indy, Willie, and Short Round are captured by the Thuggee and separated: Indy sides with the Thuggee after being whipped and tortured to drink the "blood of Kali Ma", Willie is kept as a human sacrifice, and Short Round is put in the mines alongside the village children. Short Round escapes and helps Indy return to his normal self (with the help of a torch and also figuring out that extreme pain breaks the trance), which allows him to save Willie, take the Sankara stones, and free the children. Indy then has a fist fight with the huge, bearded Chief Guard on a moving conveyor belt fitted with a rock crusher. Their confrontation ends with the guard's red sash being caught in the machinery. Despite Jones' attempt to save him, the man is pulled into the machine and crushed to death.
Indy and his friends get in a mine car chase with the Thuggees. The trio eventually run through the rest of the mine tunnels, out to an exit at the end of a mountain. Shorty and Willie run to an old bridge, where they meet up with Mola Ram and his minions, while Indy fights more Thuggee soldiers on his way to the bridge. Indy then meets up with Mola Ram on an old bridge. Indy breaks the bridge (with the help of a sword) and everyone clings on to the broken bridge, while most of Mola Ram's men plummet to their deaths by crocodiles in the river.
During the fight with Mola Ram on what remains of the bridge, Indy accuses the evil priest of betraying Shiva. Using the dark magic he learned from the Thuggee, the anger of the god apparently causes the stones in Indy's bag to catch fire and two fall to the crocodile-infested river below. As the final stone falls out of the bag, Mola Ram grabs it, but it burns his hand, causing Mola Ram to lose his grip on the bridge railing and fall into the river, where he is torn apart and eaten by the hungry crocodiles. Indy catches the then-cool stone. The remaining Thuggee are subdued by the British Army.
Indy and his friends triumphantly return to the village with their sacred stone and their children. After Willie tells Indy she is going back to Missouri, he brings her towards him with his whip, and they share a kiss, but not before Short Round's elephant sprays them with water.
- Director .... Steven Spielberg
- Associate Producer .... Kathleen Kennedy
- Costume Designer .... Anthony Powell
- Production Designer .... Elliot Scott
- Director of Photography .... Douglas Slocombe
- Editor .... Michael Kahn, A.C.E.
- Music .... John Williams
- Executive Producers ....
- George Lucas
- Frank Marshall
- Screenplay ....
- Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz
- Story .... George Lucas
- Producer .... Robert Watts
- Casting ....
- Mike Fenton, CSA
- Jane Feinberg, CSA
- Mary Selway Buckley
- Marci Liroff
- Second Unit Director .... Michael Moore
- Choreography .... Danny Daniels
United Kingdom production crew
- Assistant Director .... David Tomblin
- Production Supervisor .... John Davis
- Production Manager .... Patricia Carr
- Second Assistant Directors ....
- Roy Button
- Steve Harding
United States production crew
- Production Manager .... Robert Latham Brown
- First Assistant Director .... Louis Race
- Second Assistant Director .... Louis G. Friedman
- Sound Design .... Ben Burtt
- Visual Effects Supervisor .... Dennis Muren
- Mechanical Effects Supervisor .... George Gibbs
- Stunt Arranger (Studio) .... Vic Armstrong
- Stunt Arranger (Location) .... Glenn Randall
- Production Controller .... Arthur Carroll
- Marketing and Promotion .... Sidney Ganis
- Script Supervisors ....
- Phyllis Townshend,
- Pamela Mann Francis
- Production Secretary .... Linda Rabin
- Additional Photography .... Paul Beeson, BSC
- Operating Cameramen .... Chic Waterson, David Worley
- Assistant Cameramen .... Robin Vidgeon, Chris Tanner
- Second Assistant Cameramen ....
- Tony Brown,
- Danny Shelmerdine
- Dolly Grips ....
- Colin Manning,
- John Flemming
- Camera Maintenance .... Nobby Godden
- Sound Mixer .... Simon Kaye
- Boom Operator .... David Sutton
- Sound Maintenance .... Taffy Haines
- Chief Art Director .... Alan Cassie
- Art Director .... Roger Cain
- Set Director .... Peter Howitt
- Assistant Art Directors .... Peter Russell, Stephen Scott
- Production Illustrators ....
- Edward Verreaux,
- Andrew G. Probert
- Draughtsman .... Richard Holland
- Construction Manager .... Bill Welch
- Property Master .... Barry Wilkinson
- Scenic Artist .... Ted Mitchell
- Production Buyer .... John Lanzer
- Chief Modeller .... Derek Howarth
- Modellers .... Keith Short, Brian Muir,
- Valerie Charlton,
- Stuart Smith
- Chief SFX. Technician .... Richard Conway
- Floor Effects Supervisor .... David Watkins
- Senior SFX. Technicians ....
- Trevor Neighbour,
- David Watson
- SFX. Technicians .... Bob Hollow, Brian Morrison,
- Rodger Shaw
- SFX. Assistants ....
- Peter Davey,
- Stephen Hamilton,
- Joss Williams
- Chief SFX. Wireman .... Bob Wiesinger
- Wardrobe Supervisor .... Ron Beck
- Assistant Costume Supervisor .... Joanna Johnston
- Wardrobe Mistress .... Janet Tebrooke
- Wardrobe Master .... Patrick Wheatley
- Makeup Supervisor .... Tom Smith
- Chief Makeup Artist .... Peter Robb-King
- Makeup Artists .... Linda De Vetta, Dickie Mills,
- John Webber
- Chief Hairdresser .... Colin Jamison
- Hairdresser .... Janet Jamison
- Unit Publicist .... Susan D'Arcy
- Stillsman .... Keith Hamshere
Post-Production Services by Sprocket Systems A Division of Lucasfilm Ltd.
- Re-Recording Mixers .... Ben Burtt, Gary Summers,
- Randy Thom
- Assistant Film Editors .... Colin Wilson, Bruce Green
- Steve Kemper
- Supervising Dialogue Editor .... Laurel Ladevich
- Dialogue Editors ....
- Gloria S. Borders,
- Richard Hymns
- Sound Effects Editors .... John Benson, Teresa Eckton,
- Ken Fischer, Suzanne Fox
- Assistant Sound Editors ....
- Tom Christopher,
- Kathleen Korth,
- Mary Helen Leasman,
- John Watson,
- Christopher Weir
- Sound Assistants .... Karen Harding,
- Steve Klocksiem
- Foley Artist .... Dennie Thorpe
- Audio Engineers ....
- Howard W. Hammerman,
- Tomlinson Holman,
- Brian Kelly
- Audio Technicians .... Tom Johnson, Tom Martin,
- Gary Rydstrom,
- Dawn Warkneking,
- Kris Handwerk Wiskes
- Sprocket Systems Administration ....
- James Kessler,
- Catherine Coombs,
- K. C. Hodenfield, Susan Leahy
- Supervising Music Editor .... Kenneth Wannberg
- Music Recording Mixer .... Lyle Burbridge
- Orchestrations .... Herb Spencer
- Music Recording Consultant .... Bruce Botnick
- Dance Sequence Playback Arranged by .... Peter Howard
- Assistant Choreographer .... Caroline Hamilton
- Production Accountant .... George Marshall
- Location Accountant .... Stefano Priori
- Assistant Production Accountant .... Tony Miller
- Assistant to Production Controller .... Barbara Harley
- Research .... Deborah Fine
- Indian Advisor .... Cristi Janaki Rathod
- Assistant to Mr. Lucas .... Jane Bay
- Assistant to Mr. Marshall .... Mary T. Radford
- Assistant to Ms. Kennedy .... Kate Barker
- Secretaries to Mr. Spielberg ....
- Kathleen Switzer,
- Patsy De Lord
- Secretary to Mr. Watts .... Rebecca West
- Studio Teachers .... Adria Later, Janet Willis
- Transport Manager .... Vic Minay
- Animal Handler .... Mike Culling
- Mr. Ford's Stand-In .... Jack Dearlove
- Marketing Coordinator .... Susan Trembly
- Chargehand Standby Props .... Joe Dipple, Bernie Hearn
- Chargehand Dressing Props .... Charles Ixer, Peter Wallis
- Prop Storeman .... Tommy Bacon
- Standby Prop .... Martin Kingsley
- Assistant Construction Manager .... Bert Long
- Construction Storeman .... Dave Middleton
- Master Carpenter .... Anthony Youd
- Master Plasterer .... Kenneth Clarke
- Supervising Chargehand Plasterer .... Kenneth Barley
- Master Painter .... Bill Beecham
- Supervising Rigger .... Red Lawrence
- Supervising Stagehand .... Micky Driscoll
- Standby Carpenter .... Stephen Hargreaves
- Standby Plasterer .... Ray Staples
- Standby Painter .... Bob Betts
- Standby Rigger .... Fred Crawford
- Standby Stagehand .... George Gibbons
- Gaffer .... Martin Evans
- Best Boy .... Ray Meehan
- Rigging Gaffer .... Tommy Brown
- Drapes .... Barry Wilson
Second Unit (London)
- Second Unit Director .... Frank Marshall
- First Assistant Directors ....
- David Bracknell,
- Michael Hook
- Operating Cameraman .... Wally Byatt
- Assistant Cameraman .... Keith Blake
- Second Assistant Camraman .... Martin Kenzie
- Dolly Grip .... Jim Kane
- Floor Effects Supervisor .... David Harris
- Gaffer .... Eamonn Dunne
- Chief Makeup Artist .... Connie Reeve
- Hairdresser .... Hilary Haines
- Standby Props .... Steve Short, Simon Wilkinson
- Standby Carpenter .... Roger Dawson
- Standby Plasterer .... Michael Quinn
- Standby Painter .... Tony Caccavale
- Standby Rigger .... Tom Parker
- Standby Stagehand .... George King
California
- Second Unit Director .... Glenn Randall
- Director of Photography .... Allen Daviau
- Art Director .... Joe Johnston
- Location Manager .... Richard Vane
- Production Co-ordinator .... Lata Ryan
- Operating Cameramen .... John Connor, John Stevens
- First Assistant Cameraman .... Eric Engler
- Key Grip .... Ken Phelps
- Gaffer .... Pat Kirkwood
- Property Master .... Danny Colangelo
- Wardrobe Mistress .... Barbara Kassel
- Makeup Artist .... Yvonne Curry
- Hairdresser .... Lynda Gurasich
- Stunt Co-ordinator .... Dean Raphael Ferrandini
- SFX. Supervisor .... Kevin Pike
- Raft Camera Mounts .... Art Vitarelli
- Transportation Co-ordinator .... Dave Marder
- Sound Mixer .... David McMillan
- Sound Boom Operator .... Stephen Powell
- Stills Photographer .... Ralph Nelson, Jr.
- Production Accountants .... Bonnie Radford,
- Diane Dankwardt
- Ski Unit Co-ordinator .... Clifford Mann
- Producer's Secretary .... Annie Berardini
- Producer's Assistant .... Patrick Crane
Asian Unit (Macau & Sri Lanka)
- Assistant Director .... Carlos Gil
- Second Assistant Director .... Ian Bryce
- Script Supervisor .... Ceri Evans
Macau
- Production Supervisor .... Vincent Winter
- Production Manager .... Pay Ling Wang
- Assistant Director .... Patty Chan
- Location Manager .... May Leung
- Stills Photographer .... Jeff Marks
Facilities in Macau Supplied by Salon Films (H.K.) Ltd.
Sri Lanka
- Production Supervisor .... Chandran Rutnam
- Location Manager .... Peter Manager
- Production Manager .... Willie De Silva
- Unit Manager .... Asoka Perera
- Assistant Director .... Ranjit H. Peiris
- Steadicam ® Photography .... Garrett Brown
- Art Director .... Errol Kelly
- Production Secretary .... Rita De Silva
- Sound Mixer .... Colin Charles
- Boom Operator .... Gary Weir
- Sound Maintenance .... Colin Dandridge
Facilities in Sri Lanka Supplied by Sri Lanka Location Services Ltd.
Aerial Unit
- Second Unit Director .... Kevin Donnelly
- Director of Photography .... Jack Cooperman, ASC
- Pilots ....
- Art Scholl,
- Lennard von Clemm,
- Ross Reynolds
- Jump Master .... Larry Lee Perkins
Visual Effects Produced at Marin County
- Chief Visual Effects Cameraman .... Mike McAlister
- Optical Photography Supervisor .... Bruce Nicholson
- General Manager, ILM .... Tom Smith
- Production Supervisor .... Warren Franklin
- Matte Painting Supervisor .... Michael Pangrazio
- Modelshop Supervisor .... Lorne Peterson
- Stop Motion Animator .... Tom St. Amand
- Supervising Stage Technician .... Patrick Fitzsimmons
- Animation Supervisor .... Charles Mullen
- Supervising Visual Effects Editor .... Howard Stein
- Visual Effects Cameraman .... Mike Owens
- Assistant Cameramen .... Kim Marks, Pat Sweeney,
- Randy Johnson, Joe Fulmer
- Production Coordinator .... Arthur Repola
- Stage Coordinator .... Edward Hirsch
- Optical Camera Operators .... John Ellis, David Berry,
- Donald Clark
- Optical Line-Up .... Tom Rosseter, Ed Jones,
- Peg Hunter
- Lab Technicians .... Tim Geideman, Jeff Doran,
- Louis Rivera
- Effects Creative Consultant .... Phil Tippett
- Stop Motion Technicians .... Davod Sosalla,
- Randy Ottenberg, Sean Casey
- Matte Artists .... Christopher Evans
- Frank Ordaz, Caroline Green
- Matte Camera Supervisor .... Craig Barron
- Matte Photography ....
- David Fincher,
- Deborah Morgan
- Storyboard Artists .... Stan Fleming, Phil Norwood
- Chief Model Makers ....
- Paul Huston,
- Barbara Gallucci,
- Charlie Bailey, Ease Owyeung,
- Michael Fulmer
- Model Makers ....
- Wesley Seeds,
- Barbara Affonso, Larry Tan
- Marc Thorpe,
- Scott Marshall, Chuck Wiley,
- Pete Ronzani, Jeff Mann,
- Ira Keeler, Richard Davis,
- William George,
- Mike Cochrane
- Head Effects Animator .... Bruce Walters
- Effects Animators ....
- Barbara Brennan,
- Jack Mongovan,
- Ellen Lichtwardt,
- Rebecca Petrulii,
- Sean Turner, Suki Stern
- Visual Effects Editor .... Michael Gleason
- Assistant Effects Editor .... Michael Moore
- Additional Photography .... Rick Fichter
- Stage Technicians .... Bob Finley III, Dick Dova,
- John McLeod, Dave Childers,
- Harold Cole, Lance Brackett,
- Merlin Ohm, Mike Speakman
- Miniature Pyrotechnics .... Ted Moehnke, Peter Stolz,
- Bob Finley, Jr.
- Still Photography ....
- Terry Chostner,
- Kerry Nordquist,
- Roberto McGrath
- Engineering ....
- Michael MacKenzie,
- Wade Childress,
- Greg Beaumonte,
- Jerry Jeffress, Kris Brown
- Machine Shop ....
- Udo Pampel,
- Christopher Rand
- Location Coordinator .... Patty Blau
- Administrative Staff ....
- Chrissie England,
- Cheryl Durham,
- Susan Monahan, Paula Karsch,
- Kathy Shine, Karen Ayers,
- Karen Dubé, Ned Gorman,
- Geoffrey de Valois
- Effects Processing .... Monaco Labs
- Negative Cutters .... Jack Hooper, Tom Hooper,
- Gary Burritt
- Color Timers ....
- Jim Schurmann,
- Terry Claborn
- Titles and Additional Optical Effects .... Modern Filma Effects
- Additional Optical Line-Up .... Jacques Protay
- Stunts ....
- Vic Armstrong, Wendy Leech,
- Felix Silla, Roy Alon,
- Dickie Beer, Peter Brace,
- Andrew Bradford, Terry Cade,
- Graeme Crowther, Dean Raphael Ferrandini,
- Terry Forrestal, Marietta Gillman,
- Ted Grossman, Reg Harding
- Frank Henson, Nick Hobbs,
- Billy Horrigan, Donna Keegan,
- Bronco McLaughlin, Wayne Michaels,
- Gareth Milne, Greg Powell,
- Glenn Randall, Bill Reed,
- Doug Robinson, Denise Ryan,
- Colin Skeaping, Rocky Taylor,
- Tip Tipping, Malcolm Weaver,
- Chris Webb, Jason White,
- Chuck Waters, Fred Washburn
- Dancers ....
- Debbie Astell, Maureen Bacchus,
- Corinne Barton, Carol Bebbington,
- Sharon Boone, Elizabeth Burville,
- Marisa Campbell, Christine Cartwright,
- Andrea Chance, Jan Colton,
- Louise Dagleish, Lorraine Doyle,
- Vanessa Fieldwright, Brenda Glassman,
- Elaine Gough, Sue Hadleigh,
- Sarah-Jane Hassell, Samantha Hughes,
- Julie Kirk, Deirdre Laird,
- Vicki McDonald, Nina McMahon,
- Julia Marstand, Gaynor Martine,
- Lisa Mulidore, Dawn Reddall,
- Rebekkah Sekyi, Clare Smalley,
- Lee Sprintall, Jenny Turnock,
- Ruth Welby
"Anything Goes"Music & Lyrics by Cole Porter
Thanks to the Governments of Sri Lanka and Macau for their help
Photographed at Thorn EMI-Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, England
and on location in
Sri Lanka, Macau, Mammoth Mountain
and the Tuolomne and American Rivers in California
Thanks to
Balfour Beatty Nuttal Victoria Project, Sri Lanka
Physical Conditioning for Mr. Ford by Body by Jake, Inc.
Lighting Equipment and Crew from Lee Electric Ltd.
Metalwork by Norank Engineering Ltd.
Rafts by Maravia Corportaion
Catering by Location Caterers
Auburn Duesenberg Constructed by Specialty Cars
Production Vehicles Courtesy of GMC Truck and Bus
Air Transportation by Pan Am and Air Lanka
ADR by Mayflower Recording Ltd.
and Warner Hollywood Studios
Music Recording at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Thanks to Reed Smoot
Color by Rank Laboratories®
Prints by Deluxe®
Lenses and Panaflex® Cameras by Panavision®
A Lucasfilm Ltd. Production
Original Soundtrack on Polydor Records and Tapes
Dolby Stereo® in selected theatres
Novelization from Ballantine Books
™ and © Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) 1984 All Rights Reserved
No. 27401Motion Picture Association of America
The persons and events in this film are ficitious.
Any similarity to actual persons or events is unintentional.
This motion picture is protected under the laws of the United States
and other countries. Unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition
may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.
Paramount
A
Gulf+Western
Company
Several elements considered for Raiders of the Lost Ark were recycled for use in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. A sequence in Shanghai (where Indiana Jones uses a rolling gong to shield himself from machine-gun fire), a ride down a mountainside in an inflatable life raft to escape a crashing plane, and a mine cart chase were all written into Raiders' first draft.[3] Even the idea of Jones ensnaring and pulling a woman back to him with his bullwhip was proposed by Steven Spielberg to George Lucas and screenplay writer Lawrence Kasdan during the first film's story conference in 1978.[4]
Although he had heard rumblings that Raiders II was going be a prequel, Kasdan was not involved with the screenplay.[3] At that stage in his career he was not inclined to write anyone else's stories ever again but would make an exception for Star Wars sequel Return of the Jedi (1983) out of gratitude to Lucas for helping establish his foothold in the industry with Raiders and support in seeing Body Heat (1981), Kasdan's directorial debut, get made.[5]
The Indiana Jones follow-up would instead be penned by husband-and-wife writing team Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz with whom Lucas was working to develop Radioland Murders (1994). A dance number considered during Radioland Murders' lengthy gestation period would eventually make its way into the opening sequence of Temple of Doom.[3]
Most of Temple of Doom's filming was done on location in Sri Lanka and at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England. Macau served as a substitute for Shanghai. There was a denial of filming in North India and Amber Fort due to the Indian government finding racism and offense in the script and demanding changes. This led to the filming of India in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Due to the graphic scenes, dark theme, and cultic overtones, this film received mixed reviews from many critics. The film is much darker in tone than its predecessor (a fact which Lucas attributes to the messy divorce he was going through during the film's production), and has been criticized for being overly violent and scary, as well as for its gross misrepresentations of Indian culture. Despite its PG rating, it is the darkest Indiana Jones film. It also had been praised for being different to the other films and Mola Ram is considered by even the hardest-to-please critics to be the best Indy enemy to date.
The film did, however receive a positive rating of 77% from critics and 82% from audiences on film aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, calling it, "an ingenious adventure spectacle that showcases one of Hollywood's finest filmmaking teams in vintage form."[6]
Some fairly gruesome scenes in Temple of Doom, as well as other PG-rated films of the time such as Gremlins (another film of Spielberg's) caused a significant public outcry. Spielberg spoke to the MPAA about creating a new rating covering the middle ground between a clear PG and a clear R that his films often found themselves on. This led to the creation of a new rating category: PG-13. The film has very violent scenes, scenes with bugs which can be disturbing to people with Entomophobia, a particularly graphic scene involving cardiectomy and, just like Raiders, the casual use of profanity.
The film was released on VHS, Beta and LaserDisc in 1986. It was later reissued on DVD in 2003 and 2008, and Blu-ray in 2012.
There was a Temple of Doom toy line released by LJN in 1984. The line was very short-lived and only had three figures.
