George Lucas

This year at ShoWest, we got the rare opportunity to chat with George Lucas about his upcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars theatrical release. It's a project he seems quite enthusiastic about. And hopeful. He truly believes that it will restore faith in certain longtime audience members who have maybe given up on that particular franchise. Even if it doesn't, he really doesn't seem to care either way, though. Why? "It's not that you can't please everyone. It's that you can't please anyone. I learned that long ago." That, and he knows he has another, bigger problem to worry about this summer. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He's already built an imaginary bomb shelter over his head. Because he knows people aren't going to like it by default.

"When you make a movie like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, people automatically expect the Second Coming. They set themselves up to hate it. I went through the same thing on Star Wars. Nobody is going to be happy. When you make a movie like this, all you can do is lose." It's a statement he has made many times. And fans on the Internet have reiterated the sentiment tenfold without having seen more than two minutes of the film via the handful of trailers and TV spots that have slowly spilled forth from Paramount.

Lucas has made it clear that this new addition to the Indiana Jones franchise is not coming from the same place as the last three films. Dr. Jones has aged appropriately, and the events seen in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull take place approximately twenty years after we last saw Indy and Company in The Last Crusade. Where those films reflected the black and white adventure serials of the 30s and 40s, Lucas and his director Steven Spielberg wanted this new film to reflect the B movies of the 1950s.

George tells us, "The new film takes place in that time period, so we wanted to look at what kinds of B movies were popular in the fifties. We wanted to use that as our uber-genre. With this new film, we didn't look at it as a Saturday matinee serial from the 40s. We wanted it to reflect what was going on with the B movies of the fifties." What are some of those influences? Well, after speaking with Lucas, we were able to come up with the ten films you need to see before embarking on your holly quest to catch Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in theaters. After viewing the films on this proceeding list, you will have a better understanding of the mythology and subtext found in George Lucas' latest film.

Movie Picture1) {7} (1950): As Lucas puts it, When we made the original films, they all took place in the 1930s. They would have been impossible to do without having the Nazis as our antagonists. Now that we are dealing with the 50s, it's the same thing with the Russians. Because that's who we were up against at that time. This was the second post-war science fiction film to hit in the 1950s, and it delivered a powerful anti-nuclear war message. This same message is prevalent in the underlining
Movie Picture2) {10} (1950): Based on a 1885 novel by Henry Rider Haggard, the exploits of Alan Quartermain have long served as a template for the Indiana Jones character. In this particular film, Quartermain finds himself unwillingly thrust into a worldwide search for the legendary mines of King Solomon. The look and feel of Indiana and his past adventures are quite apparent here, and his new quest follows some very similar through lines. Like Quartermain, Jones is reluctantly forced into helpi
Movie Picture3) {12} (1951): In creating the lastest Indiana Jones escapade, Lucas didn't just look to the adventure films of the 1950s. The B grade science fiction films that came out of that era have also heavily influenced his script. And no other film has had quite the impacted this masterpiece has had on the director. {13} has served to influence pretty much everything Lucas has created up until this point. You can look for Klaatu's message of peace to be heavily referenced in the science f
Movie Picture4) {15} (1953): Speaking of being under the influence. Without this Dr. Suess fantasy film from the mid-fifties, we wouldn't have {16} or Indiana Jones. While many site the {17} serials, the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa, and Joseph Campbell's {18} as planting the seeds of inspiration for the creation of {19}, it was really {20} that Lucas stole huge chunks of exposition from. Not to mention various visuals that must have tattooed themselves on his young, impressionable brain. The
Movie Picture5) {22} (1954): Ants? Why did it have to be ants? Indiana Jones has gone up against snakes, rats, bugs, and various other creatures in his previous films. In {23}, its an army of angry fire ants that try to keep him from his intended goal. The critter of choice this time out was directly influenced by this Cold War mutation film, which saw Atomic energy creating giant Ants that terrorize our universal community at large. Again, this B movie deals with themes of nuclear radiation and
Movie Picture6) {24} (1954): Speaking of ants, this film also had a lot to do with influencing the obligatory critter scenes in {25}. Ants were a major problem back in the 1950s, and, like the Russians, George Lucas just couldn't create the perfect 50s throw back without including them in the mix. {26} is more of an action-adventure yarn than it is an environmental warning wrapped up in a cheesy horror flick. Based on the short story Leiningen Versus the Ants, the plot finds Charlton Heston guar
Movie Picture7) {27} (1955): No fifties era film would be complete without the requisite greaser. And there is no bigger influence on that cultural paradigm than James Dean himself in what would become his signature role. While the character of Mutt Williams (played by Shai LaBeouf) is based on the numerous B movie thugs seen in such films as {28} (1955) and {29} (1956) , it is Dean's Jim Stark that serves as the perfect archetype for this particular brand of sidekick. While Mutt also has touche
Movie Picture8) {33} (1956): With Indiana Jones, its more like Around the World in A Day. As with all of the previous Indiana Jones adventures, {34} spans the globe as our treasure seeking archeologist goes from one world location to the next, seeking out the Lost Temple of Akator. The inspiration for the exploits of this world-weary traveler can be traced back to this particular film, which is based on Jules Verne's classic novel. The plot finds an English gentleman by the name of Phileas Fogg
Movie Picture9) {35} (1945-1955): This 37 film set contains all of the Atomic Testing propaganda films from the forties and fifties, and a lot of these iconic scare tactics influenced what we will see in {36}. It's a little known fact, but back in 1955, Doc Brown was actually going to use an Atomic Test exercise to send Marty McFly {37}. That scene was later changed, and instead of a nuclear blast, the needed 1.21 gigawatts came from a bolt of lighting. Producer Steven Spielberg has remained fas
Movie Picture10) {38} (1993): While this last film wasn't produced in the 1950s, it revolves around the trade and exhibition of the 1950s B movie and its market place. It certainly gives a bird's eye view of what it was like to be a kid back when a lot of these films were being produced. Cold War paranoia, Atomic testing, mutated alligator men! It's all here in this exciting ode to the films that Lucas and Spielberg are trying to emulate with {39}. The film was directed by longtime Spielberg col

George Lucas is quite prepared for the negative reviews that are bound to come his way later this May. But he hopes that, after viewing a few of the films that served as inspiration for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, you'll have a little better understanding of its roots in 1950s B movie lore. Stay tuned for more Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull news as it becomes available.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opens Thursday, May 22nd, 2008.