WI: Indiana Jones IV Gets Made Earlier?

The film that would eventually turn in to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was in development hell for almost two decades, and didn't get released until nineteen years after the previous installment. By that point Harrison Ford was well past his prime for an action role as the title character, and the film itself seems to have a mixed reaction at best. I've never met anyone who loves it, but some people seem to at least like it.

What really put the film on hold seems to be that Steven Spielberg wanted to focus on other films, and George Lucus got his hands full with the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

What if things were maybe a little different though, and a fourth Indiana Jones film was released sometime between 1989 and 1996? Do you think it would have turned out better or worse than the OTL fourth film?

Also, how much do you think the plot would have resembled the KCS? Apparently they wanted to have it set in the 50's and still do the mock B-movie idea, but I'm guessing it would be set earlier in the 50's since Harrison Ford wouldn't have aged that much. Another things I found interesting is that after directing Schindler's List, Spielberg said something about not being comfortable with having the Nazi's as villains. If the films gets made before Schindler's List or it's butterflied away, that could change (though the loss of a film like that might not be worth it, depending on your point of view).

Needless to say though, no Shia LeBeouf possibly filling the Indy role in the future. Might a Indiana Jones V get made though?

Thoughts? Ideas?
 
Don't get me started on "Schindler's List"'s place in film history...

I think it'd resemble the same story, but probably be simplified in certain areas. While some of the more lampooned aspects - the aliens and the nuclear fridge - might remain, I think the family plot would be brushed away somewhat, and I think that would actually make the entire movie a lot more "buyable" to people.
 
Don't get me started on "Schindler's List"'s place in film history...

I think it'd resemble the same story, but probably be simplified in certain areas. While some of the more lampooned aspects - the aliens and the nuclear fridge - might remain, I think the family plot would be brushed away somewhat, and I think that would actually make the entire movie a lot more "buyable" to people.

Okay, here's my idea, Speilberg makes this after he makes Schindler's List. While the story is somewhat the same as OTL there are changes. First of all with Ford only being about 53 years old you could set the film earlier. Maybe in 46 or 47. You could also tie it somehow to Roswell, but get rid of the family plot.
Anyway the movie is filmed in 94 and released in 95 or 96. BTW Who would be in some of the other roles? any ideas?
 
I think it could have been made a little darker. Instead of soviet soldier being pulled into anthole he either stops moving or is reduced to a skeleton.
 
Anyway the movie is filmed in 94 and released in 95 or 96. BTW Who would be in some of the other roles? any ideas?

Depends if the still decided to make the villain male or female. And I think at this point Sean Connery wasn't retired yet, so it's possible he might appear again as the elder Jones. Denholm Elliott died in 1992, so I'm not sure if they would recast the part of Marcus Brody or just "retire" his character.
 
Depends if the still decided to make the villain male or female. And I think at this point Sean Connery wasn't retired yet, so it's possible he might appear again as the elder Jones. Denholm Elliott died in 1992, so I'm not sure if they would recast the part of Marcus Brody or just "retire" his character.

Would they want to rehash the father son story. While I loved The Last Crusade, I wonder if they'd want to go in a different direction. However, they could add something about his father being a supposed communist sympathizer because the Russians captured him, but we already know he's a grail expert. Maybe Connery makes a cameo of sorts, but it wouldn't be a full on role. For all we know it could have been a different kind of film. Maybe more Noir Like if its set in the late 40's.
 
It was not a terrible film and to me it was certainly more enjoyable than Indy II. That said, the Russians were just not evil enough to suit an Indiana Jones movie. Whereas in Indy I and III, the Nazis wanted to kill and enslave everybody with the power in these religious relics, the Soviets just wanted to use strange powers to brainwash us all so we would want to be commies. That, to me, is far lower down on the evil-o-meter, even though it did fit the 1950's mold pretty well.

I had no problem with Harrison Ford being older and the whole family dynamic that evolved - even the happy ever after wedding. It just would have better if it was Spielberg making something more like...Iron Sky. Nazis again. From the Moon. Here to conquer us all again. If for no other reason than we could hear "Nazis, I hate these guys" again.
 
It was not a terrible film and to me it was certainly more enjoyable than Indy II. That said, the Russians were just not evil enough to suit an Indiana Jones movie. Whereas in Indy I and III, the Nazis wanted to kill and enslave everybody with the power in these religious relics, the Soviets just wanted to use strange powers to brainwash us all so we would want to be commies. That, to me, is far lower down on the evil-o-meter, even though it did fit the 1950's mold pretty well.

I had no problem with Harrison Ford being older and the whole family dynamic that evolved - even the happy ever after wedding. It just would have better if it was Spielberg making something more like...Iron Sky. Nazis again. From the Moon. Here to conquer us all again. If for no other reason than we could hear "Nazis, I hate these guys" again.

At one point they did actually write a script for a film called Indiana Jones and the City of God which would have had Indy fighting Nazis that had escaped to South America before the end of WWII. No idea what the City of God is though...and like I mentioned before, Spielberg didn't seem comfortable about having the Nazis as the villains again.
 
...and like I mentioned before, Spielberg didn't seem comfortable about having the Nazis as the villains again.

Yeah, I recall reading a quote by Spielberg stating to the effect that he couldn't make a movie depicting "Those Wacky Nazis" again after Schindler's List.

If Indy IV came out in 1996, then the setting might have been 1945, which would have been a perfect setting for Indy to foil a last-gasp Nazi plot to turn the war in their favor a'la Hellboy or Hellsing, except for the aforementioned trauma. In that case, the Japanese might have been the villains instead. Or the film would have taken place a few years later, in the late 1940s, with the Cold War theme of OTL's Indy IV.
 
Yeah, I recall reading a quote by Spielberg stating to the effect that he couldn't make a movie depicting "Those Wacky Nazis" again after Schindler's List.

If Indy IV came out in 1996, then the setting might have been 1945, which would have been a perfect setting for Indy to foil a last-gasp Nazi plot to turn the war in their favor a'la Hellboy or Hellsing, except for the aforementioned trauma. In that case, the Japanese might have been the villains instead. Or the film would have taken place a few years later, in the late 1940s, with the Cold War theme of OTL's Indy IV.

Maybe they could make him fight the Russians trying to find the Spear of Destiny. Something like that.
 
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