The countdown is almost complete ... soon Harrison Ford will be swinging into our cinemas as the star of Indiana Jones 4: The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. But what is all the fuss about? And what makes Mr Jones so special? Malcolm Jack donned his fedora, cracked his whip and set off to find out ...

Dr Henry ‘Indiana’ Jones Jnr has safeguarded the power of God (twice), saved the very cradle of civilization, prevented some of the world’s most precious antiquities from falling into evil hands and repeatedly bested the baddest bad guys known to mankind, across one of the highest grossing movie trilogies in cinema history (it’s made $1.2 billion to date). Isn’t the adventuring archaeologist, and the actor who plays him – Harrison Ford (now aged 65) – entitled to a peaceful retirement? Probably, but he isn’t getting to put his feet up just yet.

An irresistible surge of fan power has built up behind the franchise since its booby-trap negotiating, Nazi-battling debut Raiders Of The Lost Ark hit cinema screens to a hysteric reception in 1981. A slightly darker prequel, Temple Of Doom, followed in 1984, delivering some of Indy’s most memorable moments, including a thrilling mine-cart chase. The third instalment, 1989’s The Last Crusade, delved into the Jones family past, introduced us to his dad (played by Sean Connery) and saw the hero ride triumphantly off into the sunset at its climax, in classic Hollywood fashion.

Indy’s trademark battered brown leather jacket, bullwhip and iconic dusty fedora hat might have remained hung-up forever after that exit. However, despite various spin-off comic books, video games, TV series and even amusement park rides following in its wake, fans wanted more. On May 22, 2008, after 15 years of script wrangles and four months of shooting on location in New Mexico, New Haven, Hawaii and California, the Indiana Jones powerhouse director/producer team of Steven Spielberg (the man behind Jaws and Saving Private Ryan) and George Lucas (best known for creating Star Wars) will finally give diehards what they’ve craved all this time:
Indy 4, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.

Details have remained closely guarded: about all that’s known of the new movie is that it’s set in 1957, 20 years after the last instalment (mainly to account for Ford’s grey hair and wrinkles), and will pit an older, wiser, but still hard-hitting Jones against a gang of villainous Russian agents led by Irina Spalko (played by Australian actress Cate Blanchett) in a search for mystical crystal skulls said to possess divine powers. British actor Ray Winstone and young American heartthrob Shia LaBeouf (who appeared in Transformers in 2007) will also co-star.

As Spielberg told a San Diego comic convention during filming last July: “This picture, I promise you, I’m making for you guys and girls – this is really all for you, all the fans of the series.” What is it about Indiana Jones that provokes such a passionate, powerful sentiment among cinemagoers, one strong enough to directly influence perhaps the most commanding director in Hollywood?

Who better to ask than Bruce Mann – a fan so inspired by the exploits of intrepid archaeologist Indy that he’s since become one himself? When not working as assistant archaeologist for Aberdeenshire Council, Mann’s out on biannual expeditions that take him all over the world, most often to the remote undergrowth of South America. There he’s met Indian tribes never before encountered by Western civilisation, and discovered lost Inca settlements not seen for thousands of years, prompting some newspapers to dub him “Scotland’s Indiana Jones”.

“You’re scratched from the bamboo, and you can’t breath,” he says, describing an expedition in the Bolivian jungle. “You’re soaking wet with sweat – it’s dripping off you. You’re being attacked by hornets every so often, and you have bees crawling all over you and stinging you all the time. We sort of staggered into this small clearing, and for once we could see more than six feet in front of us, at some stonework. It was nothing spectacular, it was just a fairly straightforward sort of local Inca site, but we all thought, ‘excellent’. Then, at the same time we noticed one of the biggest snakes I’d ever seen coming slithering down the tree trunk next to us ...”

Indy would have been petrified: snakes are his biggest weakness, the consequence of a fall into a tank full of them as a youngster (as revealed in The Last Crusade). After all, as tough as Jones is, he’s no Spiderman, endowed with amazing powers, nor is he even a highly trained spy like Jason Bourne. Rather,
Indy’s just a keen amateur: a college professor who likes to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty.

“The character is fantastic, and someone that everyone can relate to,” says Mann of Indy. “He’s just as flawed as the next man, unlike a superhero, and everything doesn’t always go his way – he’s always getting in way over his head. But he can still take the knocks. He’s a loveable rogue, and everyone wants to be that sort of loveable rogue. Well, all the guys do probably.”

Based on Spielberg and Lucas’ love of low budget 1950s ‘B-movies’ and ‘pulp-fiction’ adventure comic books, the Indy films are distinctly tongue-in-cheek and laced with plenty of daft humour as well as spectacular action sequences. Combined with the mid-20th century historical background and numerous exotic locations – from the Amazonian and Indian jungles to the deserts of Cairo – the movies make for sweeping, fast-paced yarns that have more in common with film classics than contemporary blockbusters.

“It’s an old fashioned type of adventure that you don’t see quite enough,” says Mann. “A lot of modern action films are shoot ’em up, kill the baddie type affairs, but there’s a lot more to the Indiana Jones films, in terms of the history. And you’ve obviously got the ultimate bad guys running around in the Nazis. There’s just much more of a twist in the tale.”

As Lucas learned recently from his Star Wars prequels, which were met with decidedly mixed reactions from fans and critics, bringing a big screen franchise back isn’t always successful. Mann believes that Indy’s return can only be a triumphant one though, because of the unique place reserved for him in the annals of action adventure antiquity.

“Even if it’s a bad film – which I’m sure it won’t be – people will still go and see it,” he says. “It’ll be like a James Bond film. Because of the power of what Indiana Jones is in movie history.”

Inspired by the antics of Jack Black in Be Kind Rewind and the film making talents of Will and Lee Carter in Son Of Rambow, fresh decided to make its very own tribute to the best bits from the Indiana Jones trilogy. From escaping hurtling boulders to swinging over treacherous waters, our cameras caught the lot. Tipping his hat to the legend was intrepid reporter Malcolm Jack. Click here and start the adventure...