Is Indiana Jones a Hack?

[speedermike]

I've been thinking about Indy lately, and it struck me that as an archeologist, he's kind of a hack.  All of his big finds (Ark of the Covenant, Sankara Stones, The Holy Grail, the Cross of Coronado,) were stumbled upon.  He didn't do any research for any of those things, he just picked up where others left off.  Even the gold statue from the opening of Raiders was located by Forrestal first.  So here's the questionn...was Indy any good at being an acheologist?

[Tracy]

Not necessarily.  But if he were an English Professor, I would have to call him a failure.

[name]

I've always found it funny how destructive he is in his methods.  Watch Holy Grail again when he finds an ancient Knight buried in the catacombs of Venice....Rip, tear, break, toss...

[Morgbug]

Typical Hollywood representation of any type of specialty.  How exciting would it be to actually watch Indy going through the card catalogue, hike up several flights of stairs, pull some dusty tomes from some equally dusty stacks and then page through ancient writings?  Not really, right?  So creative liberties are taken to make things more exciting. 

You need to turn your brain off to watch pretty much anything that comes out of Hollywood or in movie/tv-land in general.  Life, jobs, etc. are pretty much boring.  Science isn't near as exciting as CSI would have you believe.  It's all garbage if you're examining it for factual accuracy. 

Turn off brain and you're happy.  Think about the details and you'll find horrible inconsistencies abound. 

[name]

oh no ****.  How awesome would it be so watch indy and friends meticulously roping off three foot squares and sifting through the dust to catalogue every little chip of pottery!  Why do all that when you can just kick an ancient statue over through a wall or two and then haul the big money prize out on ropes!

[Darth Slothus]

Typical Hollywood representation of any type of specialty.  How exciting would it be to actually watch Indy going through the card catalogue, hike up several flights of stairs, pull some dusty tomes from some equally dusty stacks and then page through ancient writings?  Not really, right?  So creative liberties are taken to make things more exciting. 

You need to turn your brain off to watch pretty much anything that comes out of Hollywood or in movie/tv-land in general.  Life, jobs, etc. are pretty much boring.  Science isn't near as exciting as CSI would have you believe.  It's all garbage if you're examining it for factual accuracy. 

Turn off brain and you're happy.  Think about the details and you'll find horrible inconsistencies abound. 

Thanks Brent. I started from the top of this thread, and was thinking exactly what you wrote/posted. Thanks for the reality check. Like you say so many movies would REALLY SUCK if they perfectly attuned to reality.

DS

[speedermike]

Wait...no one's getting my point.  I don't want to see Indy do hours of research before he sets out for a treasure, I just was pointing out that he gets pulled into things after all of the hard work has been done.  For instance, Henry Jones studied the Holy Grail for years, and we know this through a few simple scenes and quick lines of dialogue.  Indy just jumps in at the end and gets all of the credit.

and guys...I was being sarcastic!