As it happens, this movie has the most wrongful portrail of India possible. What Spielberg shows about Indian people, the way he makes a mockery of their religious belief, their culture, their food is not only shocking, but abominable. I can see why he hates nazis, but I could not even make a wild guess about what he could possibly have against Indians.

WHUT?! I do not think so at all! Well TOD ain't really bad, but I hate this little pain in the ass-boy who to me is more a threat of life than sankes and crazy priests.
However, I too like Euro-centric, Christian-centric plots/artifacts etc.

Alright people are dying in poor countries , including India, but that is not because of some sacred stone or suchthing. Speilberg is making a mockery of India and Indians . I know why people all around world start hating Americans. Perhaps a begining can be made by decipting some truth.
(Even in early 20th century British were there and not Maharajahs ruling India).

i TOTALY agree! here is my reasons i like it: 1 it has funny parts in it that you don't expect 2 the lady in it is always complaining and saying i broke a nail and in the other indy movies they're all tough and stuff and it's just not funny 3 the little kid is a nice touch

and you guys should shut up about little parts which could mean somthing it's JUST A MOVIE

you know , the movie was ok .
but The Last Crusade is alotttttttttt better!!!!!!!!

you know , the movie was ok .
but The Last Crusade is alotttttttttt better!!!!!!!!

you know , the movie was ok .
but The Last Crusade is alotttttttttt better!!!!!!!!

Its a cool movie.a lot more exciting than raiders.

well, if you can call a shamelessly ignorant, offensively racist portrayal of india "a great adventure flick", then i don't see why the gas chambers of aushwitz can't be touted as examples of "fine german engineering".
i don't see either why jews can't be told to "meet moses in dachau" or christians to "suck jesus' dick" if mola ram can be told to "meet Kali in hell". Kali's not some cooked-up speilberg deity, she's a hindu goddess worshipped by a lot of people more tolerant and sensitive than speilberg.
contrast this with the treatment that the ark of the covenant or the holy grail gets in the other movies.
these things can be overlooked in tennyson or kipling, belonging as they were to an age less supposedly egalitarian. to see this in the last few decades of the last century is revolting.

I stumbled onto this site because I was interested in the speculation of another indy movie. And I would just like to point out something ridiculous that I see here.... The messages about spielberg making a mockery out of indians. I think there is a simple solution to this problem.. if your indian,and this movie offends you, just dont watch it. And for the rest of the viewing public, keep your mouths shut about it because we dont want to hear it....all it takes is a little security in your own race/religion.

Um, for all the PC nuts on this page, Kali is the Indian goddess of destruction and fear, and in Indian folklore/religion, her appearance is blamed for famines and plagues. So neither the famine in the village, nor Indy's statment about Kali being in Hell are racist in the least. They both go along with what the faith says about her.

I agree! I still think it's the third best, but that's by no means a bad thing. It is an utterly fantastic movie that deserves to be released totally uncut. It's a pity Spielberg chickened out and didn't leave the even darker stuff in. This movie is legendary. 10 out of 10. It's badass!

I think a lot of people didn't like it as much as the other 2 because it is a lot more violent.

As for me, I love that movie as well as the other two. Trying to pick on would be like trying to pick your fav child.

Temple Of Doom is a masterpiece of tension and humour. Give it a break, will ya! The John Williams score rocks!

I'll get you yet, Indy! Despite being torn to pieces by alligators.

"Right...all of us..."

Why wasn't I in Last Crusade?

" Kiss my bullwhip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

LAST CRUSADE:TOO MANY JOKES
RAIDERS:NOT ENOUGH JOKES
TEMPLE:AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a fantasticly dark peice of cinema. it scared me senseless as a child. the thought of being ripped to peices then burned alive terrified me. lol. i couldnt go to bed after watching it. now im older i love it. its a brilliant film

hey man, i'm indian ... and i had no problem with the movie ...
yea, there was some stereotyping but that occurs all the time when you're trying to replicate an entire culture into a 90-120 minute film ... it's all good ...at least there were indian actors in it ... people should stop being so sensitive about their skin color ... unless you're a and your mama too
racist pig ... then **** you
and your mama too!

TOD is by far my favourite mvie. Raiders is good, but the romantic bit in the middle is boring and it isn't until you really are half way through the film when indy starts kicking arse. The Last Crusade is the same, great film but doesn't match TOD. TOD starts with action and continues it throughout. It shows Indy cares about others first, and himself second. And then when he start skicking arse he really does. It's great.

I agree ToD is a wonderful addition to the world of Indiana Jones. It's Indy in a meatgrinder. No quests, no time to plan. It's a seat of your pants movie. And it has tons of great Indy moments: The Elephants, the Bug Tunnel Death Trap, the Card Game, and the whole Rope Bridge with the single best line in a movie....
"Oh Sh#t"
ROTLA may be may favorite, but ToD is a VERY close second.

The movie is the WORST POTRAYAL of indian culture.... I dont know where Spielberg got such information about indian people...

Indians are non-vergetarians and that too limited to goat,sheep,chicken and some sea food,but the movie shows INDIANS EATING SNAKES,LIZARDS, MONKEYS... and that too Indian Kings and Queens. Indians dont eat such kind of food. Many westners like and eat indian like food, but such a potrayal gives a very bad impression...

And one more thing... He makes mokery of inidan religion and Indian gods. This is one of the reasons the movie was banned in India.

I should say the movie shouldn't have have been banned. There would have been some protests and Spielberg would have known about this.He would have learned some thing...... By banning the movie all these went unheard and not many people in india know about this movie at all.

It's nice to see I'm not alone in recognizing the superiority of The Temple of Doom. Here are some other arguments for those "Raiders is the best" phillistines:

Willie Scott is better than Marion Ravenwood because the character brings conflict, and thus humor, simply by her force of personality and without having to force an unseen backstory.

Indy *becomes* the hero in this film. He's in it for fortune and glory, kid, fortune and glory... up to this point, but this adventure moves him squarely into the hero category. The scene where he decides to save the kids and not simply steal the stones is the exact *moment* Indy becomes a hero. That moment is what this movie is *all* about! It had to take place before Raiders, because it's about Indy learning the lessons that led to his heroic character in Raiders.

Willie Scott is annoying, granted, but so was Charles Foster Kane's second wife. :)

The evil Indy is fighting is of an elemental nature... a deep dark evil from the depths of the Earth, not just the same old boring Nazis we see in every action film. The evil in Temple is Lovecraftian instead of Hogan's Heroesian. :)

I think Temple is arguably the best action adventure movie ever made.

hey, to everyone complaining about spielberg's inaccurate racial and cultural stereotyping: american cinema manages to depict AMERICA unrealistically most of the time, so shut it

All of you that talk about Spielberg offending Indians are just a bunch of dweebs. Get a life, you prats.

Hey, to all you guys saying that its racist. Im indian i didnt really care. Most people shouldnt care either, its a good movie and it does sterotype, but no more than what Apu does on the Simpsons. Its the 21 century, and most people in the world now realise India is nothing like that, so whats the problem?

I simply did not like TOD because the stunts were WAY TOO over the top. Blew my suspension of disbelief outta the water. The whole plane crash into a mountain sled ride made me want to get up and leave.

I mean, c'mon folks!
In my book there were a few movies that "never happened", Highlander 2, Jurasic Park 2, the last two Star Trek films, and Temple of Doom are amongst them.

In response to the moron who said, "if your indian,and this movie offends you, just dont watch it. And for the rest of the viewing public, keep your mouths shut about it because we dont want to hear it...." I must ask "How did you get out of that bunker alive, Adolf?"

I'm a Last Crusade fan myself...but Temple of Doom rocks! Short Round is one of my favorite movie characters of all time! And the mine car chase is awesome!

To the guy who posted as Pat Roach: Pat Roach does in fact appear in Last Crusade...for about 3 seconds, he's the waving Gestapo agent next to Vogel in the Zepplin scene.

I love the part where Short Round saves Indy from the Black Sleep and Indy just kinda of winks at him. Great part!

I really like Spielberg movies. However TOD brings out the most perverse thought process out of him. It's difficult to believe this is the same director who gave us Schinler's List and Saving Private Ryan apart from the other 2 Indy movies. If Spielberg had offended even 10% of the offence to Muslims as he has caused to Hindus and Indians, by now there would have been multiple Fatwas on him and he would have most likely been dead by now.

It is a stupid movie. Don't you guys do research before making a movie. Spielberg, and others who try to brush off the racist stereotyping in this movie are nothing more than big time jerks.

Well, why should Hollywood portray your country and your beliefs accurately? Don't you have your own multi-million Bollywood movie industry to tell your side of the story? Why are you guys instead wasting out on that opportunity and influence by being more interested in doing song and dance numbers? And girls dancing and seducing people in the rain?

Why not have the guts to make movies about how the Moslem invaders butchered your unarmed Hindu religious people and beliefs, or how the Christians raped and plundered your people during the colonial rule?

Why? Because you people are divided and a pathetic lot. Your weakness is the reason why your Hindu nations has been attacked and conquered time and time again. And it's not changed. And even now, the psuedo-secularist Hindus themselves are involved in Hindu bashing.

Holloywood would never make a movie deemed anti-Jew. Why? Because the finances of that country are in their hands.

Hollowood would also never make an anti-Christian movie. Why? Because that's the country's fundamental belief system. No matter how much we deny it, church and state are one and the same.

Holloywood would also never make an anti-Moslem movie. Why? The violent nature and fanatical followers of the faith will make sure fatwas are issued faster than you can say "action".

Since you Hindus are divided and getting bashed by your own fellow Hindus, who would rather step on their own tolerant religion to protect religious minorities in your country, you are obviously fair game indeed.

The President of the US is not shy of his Christian roots. They have breakfast prayer meetings, and no one says anything. You guys on the other hand are so ashamed of your own Hindu religion, you dare not even have the Prime Minister so much as utter any quotes from your holy book, or be caught have any similar official breakfast prayer meetings in a temple.

So until your country and your religion is willing to stand proud on its own two feet, without being ashamed of being actually the only religion in the world besides the Buddhist to never have had any organized and systematic killing or converting of people of other faiths, by sword or violence, you should all just shut-up and get your act together.

You know, reading some of these posts, I get the feeling people take stuff in movies too seriously. I am of Indian descent and don't see any racism in the film. The Thuggee are shown as violent savages not all Indians in general. Same goes for Raiders and Last Crusade, the Nazis are shown as facist scumbags not all Germans in general.

Samhein, what the fuck is your problem , asshole? Just because some people on a message board post stuff without thinking doesn't make everybody of that nationality that way. I am proud of my Indian heritage and there are several other Indians out there who are too. And no we are not "a divided and pathetic lot" either. Maybe you should come up with a better argument instead of spewing something that sounds like it would come from KKK monthly and making yourself sound like an ignorant jackass.

"mean, c'mon folks!
In my book there were a few movies that "never happened", Highlander 2, Jurasic Park 2, the last two Star Trek films, and Temple of Doom are amongst them"

- Pfftt. Highlander 2, Jurassic Park 2 aren't worthy enough to wipe Temple of Doom's ass.

You know, I'd like to point out some of the flaws of Last Crusade:

- The film takes pleasure in making fools of it's heroes. Don't get me wrong while I enjoy seeing Connery and Ford together, theres too many moments for my taste where the Sean Connery character makes Indy look like a total jackass. Marcus Brody and Sallah on the other hand, are transformed from the wise mentor/loyal friends from Raiders into bumbling assclowns for comic relief.

- The action sequences ( except for the tank fight and motorcycle chase) while decent never rival anything in the first two films.

- the special effects are the most dated. The airplane dogfight would have been a lot better with better FX instead of the awful bluescreen.

- While enjoyable the entire film feels like a retread of Raiders only with a goofy sense of humor thrown in.

For the fellow who assumes that Indians are a pathetic and divided lot..

See your problem? You are no better than the idiot Spielberg. First of all understand, religion is meant for a man to rise above being animalian and uncultured. It is not a tool to toy around with.

Secondly, there have been movies in India about muslim violence. Your ignorance, ignominy and other such lofty ideals blind your eyes to such issues as such.

It is very dangerous to assume things about people you don't know of. Because you are then stepping into inexorable idiocy.

The President of the United States is using dumb Christians' belief that there is strength in plenty. Ho! he participated in a couple of dinners and you guys think your problems have been solved. Actually, I should pity the ignorant like you.

We take pride in having brought people from every race and religion and still remainging united as a country. Something which the US has also done. But both countries are daresay are infested with plagued minds like yours and Spielberg's.

Open your eyes and sleep, because that is what you are best at.

Spielberg isn't an idiot. He's one of the most talented directors in the world.

Your the idiot, Srihari. =)

I am an Indian.I don't think that TOD is racist.Its just a piece of fiction.It provides a decent timepass , but it is relatively bad compared to the other indy movies.It is too dark and stereotypic.But still its worth a watch.
About the racism,Spielberg needed a decent plot to make the movie.He needed a dark yet unique villain of a different creed,a different setting,new locations.So he had to take a few liberties in the portrayal of Indians.Many Indian films do picture Americans inaccurately.So there is no need to be sensitive about this movie.I do admit that initially,being a hindu and all,i did get a little insecure.But its just a stupid notion and should be discarded.I don't understand why the movie was banned in India.Free speech should be the right of any nation.I feel pity towards the censor board who needs the consent of a million priests to pass Da Vinci Code.What I can't understand is the fact that all the Bishops and Abbots can watch the movie but not the rest of the world.They had to add additional disclaimers and an adults only rating to pass the movie.Whatever the truth might be,Christianity is a strong religion.The faith and beliefs of a billion people can't be influenced by a book or movie.Same is the case of TOD-A decent film which got banned for misinterpreted racism.