Quentin Tarantino doesn’t just love making movies, he really, really loves discussing them too. He’s that guy who unexpectedly corners you in a bar, stares intently into your eyes, and regales you with an intense theory about some 80s action film.
As reported by IndieWire, Tarantino also has some provocative thoughts on the Indiana Jones movies. While appearing recently on the podcast ReelBlend, the director said that he actually enjoyed the much-despised Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, while also revealing that he doesn’t care for an older Indiana Jones flick.
“I like Crystal Skull more than the Sean Connery one (The Last Crusade),” he said. “I don’t like the Sean Connery one. I don’t like [that] one at all. … That’s such a boring one. It’s boring! And he’s not an interesting character. The joke is made immediately. It’s like Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.”
If you’re wondering what that last title is, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot is a 1992 comedy starring Rocky himself, Sylvester Stallone. It’s unclear why Tarantino’s mind made a connection between that movie and The Last Crusade.
Released in 2008, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull received, um, mixed reviews from critics. The action sequences were unsurprisingly good, given it was directed by Steven Spielberg again, but Harrison Ford was arguably too old to play the adventurer, and there was also a weird turn from Shia LaBeouf. And The Last Crusade has the best 007 of all time, Sean Connery! And young Indiana at the beginning!
Tarantino just loves a chaotic movie opinion. A couple of months ago, a clip from Sleep with Me, a long-forgotten 1994 dramedy, resurfaced online thanks to his brief appearance in it discussing the original Top Gun.
As his character explained, the film is about a man’s struggles with his homosexuality. “You’ve got Maverick: He’s on the edge, man,” he says. “He’s right on the f**king line, alright? And you’ve got Iceman and all his crew. They’re gay; they represent the gay man, alright? And they’re saying: ‘Go! Go the gay way, go the gay way.’ He could go both ways.”
Of course this theory is far from baseless: Top Gun has become an icon of gay cinema for its homoerotic undertones. You only have to watch the famous beach volleyball scene to understand why.
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Check out a scene from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:
