A much-anticipated trip to experience the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland prompted this week’s watch; the second installment of Spielberg’s Indy trilogy that I’ve always referred to as “the gross one”: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Disc/Download). As a child, I couldn’t get past the monkey brain scene, but as an adult, I made it all the way through pits of fire and creepy crawlies, and a sprawling underground city of child slave labor. When I tell you I have earned that trip to Disneyland, believe it.
Although my favorite Indiana Jones movie will always be Last Crusade, the sheer weirdness of Temple of Doom bumps it up to second place in my eyes. Imagine, you create a character that looks like he came straight from the Golden Age of Cinema, a hero adults and children can all rally around, and then you… send him into a whirlpool of black magic and voodoo cults. You serve him eyeball soup and raw beetles. You give him a heroine who, while stylish and beautiful, is fairly annoying throughout the entirety of the film. If not for Short Round and the fabulous production design, there wouldn’t be much to recommend in this movie. However, the relationship between adventurer and precocious child is every bit as fun as the one between adventurer and precocious old man in Last Crusade. This movie takes the viewer on a circuitous, bizarre ride, but it manages to keep Harrison sweaty and shirtless for a satisfactory amount of time. And at this particular moment in my life, that’s enough for me.
Make no mistake, the banquet scene is still gross. It helps if you have a cocktail and a blindfold, and preferably an empty stomach. While watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, I recommend drinking this Temple ‘Tini.
Temple ‘Tini
1 1/2 oz Dark Spiced Rum
1/4 oz Banana Liqueur
1/4 oz Vanilla syrup
3/4 oz Cold Brew
3 dashes Ginger Bitters
Gummy snake (garnish)
Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a gummy snake.
Although the Disney Imagineers built a ride inspired by the production design of Temple of Doom, I really wish they had instead focused on the Shanghai nightclub where this story begins. Like Rick’s Café, Club Obi Wan looks like the perfect place to sip a cocktail amid the chaos of war, or crowds of screaming children. A missed opportunity, Disney. Cheers!
Cinema Sips 
As a kid and naturally a huge fan of Data in The Goonies, this was always my favorite Indy film. I watched it over and over and over and over again. I always laughed a lot at this one. When Indy yells through the stone walls at Willie, “WE ARE GOING TO DIE!” I just cracked up. I don’t know. My eight to ten year old heart just soared when all those kids were set free.
It’s so funny you say that because midway through I turned to my husband and said, “This movie has such a Goonies vibe!” Even beyond Ke Huy Quan, haha. I’m glad I powered through the banquet scene (with my eyes closed).