Retrospective Film Review

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) • 40 Years Later — the misunderstood adventure that baffled censors

In 1935, Indiana Jones is tasked by Indian villagers with reclaiming a rock stolen from them by a secret cult beneath the catacombs of an ancient palace.

Few names are as deeply embedded in popular culture as Indiana Jones. By day, he’s a world-famous archaeology professor; by night, a heroic adventurer. Our opening sequence finds him in Shanghai, on the hunt for a priceless diamond.

But the adventure doesn’t stop here: after hijacking a plane and flying over the Himalayas, Indy (Harrison Ford), Short Round (Ke Huy Quan), and Wilhelmina “Willie” Scott (Kate Capshaw) are all forced to parachute out in an inflatable dinghy to avoid a crash-landing. They drift down a river and find themselves in India, where a tribal chief pleads with Indy to retrieve magical stones and rescue children kidnapped from his village.