The Swordsman Shot First

httpv://youtu.be/TAoJrNbgUoI

This is a cool little video that helps explain the backstory of one of the most famous scenes from the Indiana Jones series. Originally, when Indy meets the badass swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark, there was supposed to be an elaborate fight sequence where he does battle with his whip and such. But after a long, hot day of filming, Harrison Ford wondered why Indy didn’t just pull out a gun and shoot him. They did just that, and an iconic scene was born.

I didn’t realize that any footage of the original fight existed, but here we are, and as you can see it’s probably good they went with the abridged, whip-less version. Improv has created some of the best movie moments in history, and it certainly helped the film here.

At first when I read the title of this, I thought the swordsman was going to pull out a gun and shoot at Indy first, a-la-special edition Greedo, but surprisingly this didn’t end up being a dig at Lucas. I wonder if the Indy films will stay unaltered forever? That is, if you don’t count them making new movies as altering the series.

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2 Comments

  1. Harrison Ford and many of the cast and crew had food poisoning and so when the scene started Ford pulled out his pistol and the director thought it was hilarious. Thats what really happened.

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