When Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' "Indiana Jones" trilogy was finally released on DVD in 2003, it was one of the home-video events of the year.Audiences had waited years for the action-adventure series to come out on DVD, and few were disappointed with the frame-by-frame restoration, digital remastering and new Dolby Digital soundtrack.That's why the individual DVD release this week of all three films -- 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (renamed "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark"), 1984's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and 1989's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" -- by Paramount Home Entertainment ($26.99 each, $49.99 boxed together, various ratings) isn't such a big deal. The release of the three DVDs precedes the theatrical debut Thursday of the fourth Indy film, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."Each film contains new bonus features that those with a serious jones for Indiana will want to see, including individual introductions by director Spielberg and creator-executive producer Lucas. But they do not include either the feature-length documentary, "Indiana Jones: Making of the Trilogy," or the short features on stunts, sound and music that accompanied the 2003 boxed set.Here is a look at the three films being rereleased."Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark"The best of the three films and one of Hollywood's all-time great adventure stories, "Raiders" features end-to-end action (the giant-boulder scene has yet to be topped), Indy's (Harrison Ford) best love interest (Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood), exquisite scary creatures (snakes and tarantulas) and villains both smooth (Paul Freeman's Belloq) and evil incarnate (the Nazis).In their introduction to the DVD, Spielberg and Lucas repeat the familiar tale of Spielberg wanting to make a globe-trotting, James Bond-style film and Lucas convincing him that a story Lucas had been working on about an archaeologist-adventurer would fill the bill. They agreed that they wanted to make an exciting but low-cost B-movie, filmed quickly but in a lot of international settings.Spielberg also points out that after making a series of movies that came in late and over budget ("Jaws," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "1941"), he was determined to show Hollywood that he could be relied upon. "Raiders," he says, was finished 15 days early and on budget.Lucas says, "Of all the movies I've made, it's the one that was the most fun of all.""Indiana Jones: An Appreciation," one of the bonus features, includes comments on the series by Spielberg, Lucas, Ford (he says he was surprised by the success of the three films) and members of the cast of the forthcoming film. Spielberg cites the basket scene in "Raiders" and the crushing-chamber scene in "Doom" as among his favorites, while Lucas mentions the truck-chase scene in "Raiders."The other bonus features are "The Melting Face," an exploration of how the spectacular special effect at the conclusion of "Raiders" was achieved, a storyboard look at the "Well of Souls" scene and a photo gallery."Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom"Set in the early 1930s, before "Raiders," this film starts well in a Shanghai nightclub and includes a marvelous sequence in which Indy, youthful cohort Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) and a nightclub singer (Kate Capshaw) escape from a plane that's about to crash by clinging to an inflatable raft. But the movie slows considerably while exploring a mysterious and evil Indian cult before redeeming itself with an exhilarating mine-cart chase.In their introduction, Lucas and Spielberg acknowledge that this is the "darkest" of the three films and the one that did the worst at the box office and with critics. Spielberg admits that he likes this the least of the three, but he notes that this was the film that was most important to him personally, as he met his future wife -- Capshaw -- during the filming.Among the other bonus features, "Creepy Crawlies" finds Spielberg, Lucas and co-executive producer Frank Marshall discussing the snakes, bugs, rats and other scary animals in the three films. Spielberg tells an amusing story about how the thousands of bugs used in one of the cave sequences in "Temple of Doom" kept escaping from the movie set."Travel With Indy: Locations" looks at how Tunisia passed for Egypt in "Raiders," Sri Lanka for India in "Temple of Doom" and Spain for Turkey in "Last Crusade," as well as exploring the filming in the genuine locales of Venice, Italy; Petra, Jordan; and New Mexico and Utah for"Last Crusade."There's also a storyboard sequence on the mine-cart chase and assorted photo galleries."Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"In their introduction to the DVD, Spielberg reports that it was Lucas' idea to have Indiana Jones and the Nazis searching for the Holy Grail (the cup Jesus was said to drink from at the Last Supper, which supposedly had miraculous powers) while he (Spielberg) came up with the idea of combining that with a father-son drama.Lucas initially was dubious about offering the part of Indiana Jones' father to Sean Connery -- both because Connery was only 12 years older than Ford and he was closely identified with James Bond -- but Spielberg says he reminded Lucas that he originally wanted to make a James Bondlike adventure and that Connery didn't mind playing a character who was older than he actually was.Spielberg also points out that this is the funniest of the three films and received the most audience laughter at screenings he attended.Two bonus features explore interesting subjects but aren't long enough to be genuinely satisfying."Indy's Women: The American Film Institute Tribute" includes excerpts from a 2003 panel discussion featuring Allen, Capshaw and Alison Doody (from "Last Crusade") talking about their own characters.Allen, whose Marion Ravenwood will return in "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," says, "I felt protective of the character," and she worked closely with Spielberg to shape her character.Capshaw, noting the negative view of many film critics and feminists toward her character in "Doom," says she warned Spielberg when they were filming that "there was too much screaming" in the movie. But, she adds, "it was so much fun to play this very annoying, petulant, arrogant, whining" character.As for Doody, who thought that her part was smaller than the parts played by Allen and Capshaw, largely because of the presence of Connery's character, she admits that she had little acting experience when she was cast to play the treacherous Dr. Elsa Schneider and found the filming "difficult" and the German accent "very tough." (Doody was born in Dublin, Ireland.)"Friends and Enemies," another new documentary, includes comments by Spielberg, Lucas and the trilogy's various screenwriters about the major sidekicks, villains and heroines in the series.Perhaps not remembering that in the 2003 "Making the Trilogy" documentary, he had compared Allen to feisty and funny 1930s-1940s actresses Irene Dunne and Carole Lombard, Spielberg here says that Capshaw "was like Carole Lombard for me -- a comedienne and a great-looking woman."Finally, the DVD includes a storyboard sequence of the film's opening scenes with River Phoenix as the young Indiana Jones and additional photo galleries.(Contact Bruce Dancis at bdancis(at)sacbee.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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