Sorry but Temple of Doom is without doubt the second best Indiana jones film, sure the female lead is a bit hollow, but it encapsulates the cliffhanger type films it tries to emulate perfectly.
Raiders is surely the best film but Temple sums up all those dodgy Tarzan type old films in that it's slightly racist but has all those old adventure style stuff incorporated, a unknown landscape, tribal style old gods and mystical idols.
To me it's a lot more boundary pushing than the later films with the sacrifice scenes reminiscent of the Hammer style and 30's voodoo horror with Indy becoming possessed, also love the pure spectacle of the rope bridge scene and the crazy musical number that starts the whole film off.
Also the early bad guys remind me of all that charlie chan type shit.
So yer it may be slightly racist but that is how the old serials were.
If that is what influenced the creators then surely Temple is the most pure distillation of that era.
Last Crusade while good is just a re-run of the first film in my opinion with the Connery added and while the german bird is pretty sexy the end scene with the holy grail is a bit of a let down and the booby trap scenes are underwhelming.
I didn't mind Crystal skull at the time but the more i see it it is just excruciatingly painful.
