Classic Movies Live Season 7, Episode 16 – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Classic Movies Live Season 7, Episode 16 – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

From Classic Movies Live! by Heatwave Radio

June 3, 2026

About this episode

The hosts discuss the darker themes and historical significance of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

You've heard our hosts' thoughts on Raiders of the Lost Ark, this week, hear their thoughts on the pre-sequel! Released three years after the first movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom serves as a prequel to Raiders, but notably came out before prequels were popular enough to have a term in common parlance. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg wanted to do something as different from the first film as they could, and as a result Temple of Doom has no Nazis, no Marion Ravenwood, and is significantly darker than the previous installment. That darkness, in fact, would become a matter of some controversy around the time of release, leading to Temple of Doom becoming the first ever movie rated PG-13. Nowadays, Temple of Doom is additionally remembered for... not having aged particularly well. Our hosts are going to talk about all of those things! Tune in for our thoughts on this classic movie... live!

Topics covered

  • Indiana Jones
  • film analysis
  • prequels
  • movie ratings
  • classic cinema

Keywords

  • Indiana Jones
  • Temple of Doom
  • PG-13 rating
  • George Lucas
  • Steven Spielberg

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Raiders of the Lost Ark

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