Heartwarming / Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

"I thought I'd lost you, boy!"

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy.

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• As a young teen, Indy is forced to give up the Cross of Coronado and the bandit Fedora turns to him and says: "You lost today kid, but that doesn't mean you have to like it." He then gives Indy his hat, which then becomes Indy's hat, forever.
  • During the chase, when Fedora watches Indy escape the train, he can only stand there... and smile at the kid's gumption and luck. One gets the impression that he would rather be working with a kid like Indy than the dumb thugs he's teamed up with.
    • He also helps Indy out of the car with the lion in it, when it would've been just as easy to let him get mauled by it and get the cross afterward, especially when the other goons seem all too eager to try and kill him.
    • At no time does Fedora throw a punch at him or anything, even when he has the upper hand. He actually talks to young Indy, trying to reason with him and giving him every chance to surrender the Cross without getting hurt.
    • And Indy doesn't just wear the man's hat... he models his whole look after Fedora. The man made enough of an impression on Young Indy that he decided this is what a proper Adventurer Archaeologist should look like.
• When Indy finds out his father is missing, he decides to go to Venice. Marcus insists on going along since he wants to find his old friend.
• When Indy reveals the city near the site of the Grail, Henry Sr. bursts out, "ALEXANDRETTA!" with joy, and says he should have known since that was on the way back from the Crusades.
• As Sallah rides alongside the tank to save Henry Sr., he briefly tips his fez as he greets him. Despite being in a dire situation, Sallah never forgets his manners!
• After Henry saves their lives by scaring seagulls into the path of the Nazi plane and casually muses, "I suddenly remembered my Charlemagne: 'Let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky.'" Indy gives his father a look of newfound respect.
• Henry going alone to rescue his old friend Marcus being held in a tank and their greeting each other with the old toast from the University Club, complete with silly hand gestures:
  Henry: "Genius of the restoration..."
  Marcus: ..aid our own re-scu-ci-ta-tion!"
• The scene where Henry Jones Senior was overjoyed that his son did not die in the falling tank, and for the first time hugged him with genuine love.
  Henry Sr.: (sobbing) I thought I'd lost you, boy!
  • Even better? Indy gladly accepts the hug and hugs his father in return.
• Indy saving his dying father with the Holy Grail, and allowing him to finally hold the object that he has spent his life seeking.
  • Henry Sr. gives him a look as if to say, "Is this...?!"
  • And then he sets it aside to hug his son.
• Indy struggling to save Elsa from falling into the chasm, even (in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment) calling her "Honey." Was she a lying backstabber? Yes. Nazi collaborator? Oh yes. Yet he still cared about her.
  • Elsa also cared for both Henry's. Her shock at Sr. being shot probably provided the last straw and convinced her to kill Donovan.
• Indy, hanging from a cliff, tries to grab the Holy Grail but is slipping from the edge and his father needs both his hands. "Indiana? Indiana... let it go." Not only an awesome twist on Friend-or-Idol Decision, but the first time his father called him "Indiana".
  • Even moreso, the Grail is what Jones, Sr., has spent his whole life looking for and researching. The fact that he values his son more than that has to say something, especially since Indy was convinced that the Grail was the only thing his father cared about for the longest time.
  • More even than that: Indy spent the whole movie condemning his father for his Grail obsession. Now, he is risking his life to see that Henry's life work isn't lost.
• This little exchange at the end:
  Henry: Elsa never really believed in the Grail. She thought she'd found a prize.
  Indiana: And what did you find, Dad?
  Henry: Me? Illumination.
  • Jones Sr.'s not talking about the Grail when he says that. He's referring to his newfound understanding of how much his son means to him and their reforged relationship. For so long, the Grail was the most important thing in his life, to the point where he knew more about it and what it meant than any other living person. But for the first time, he finally understands that everything the Grail has ever meant, whether to history or religion or himself, pales in comparison to the son he has right here and right now. His "illumination" is that understanding.
• The Grail Knight standing just long enough for Henry and Indy to see him wave goodbye.
• The classic riding off into the sunset, with Indy reaching out to steady Marcus on his horse. Doubles as a Moment of Awesome.
  • After Sean Connery passed away in October 2020, Lucasfilm honored him by saying: "Farewell Mr. Bond, Captain Ramius, Professor Jones... you helped us all find illumination."

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