Why does Indiana Jones wear a leather jacket in the dessert?

[Seb Lucas]

You try being dragged under a truck while wearing breathable cotton, see where that gets you! (it's on telly over here right now!). Oh, you want heresy? Not a single thing Indy does in the film has any bearing on the outcome of the plot. If he'd stayed home and marked papers, it would have been exactly the same!

Everything Indy does is designed soley for our amusement. Plot, what plot!?

 

[Benny Holiday]

Because he stumbled on the Fedora Lounge via his hat hobby and discovered the Outerwear section.

I reckon Nick's is the closest to the truth bar one thing: if Indy had discovered this place, he'd have had five or six (or more!) different styled jackets to wear in the desert in a variety of different coloured and treated leathers!

 

[AdeeC]

Been to a few deserts. Can get extremely cold at night. Suitable attire for evening and early morning wear. Also the best light for cool photography at those times.

 

[Dumpster Diver]

I was not amused that his Jacket was Dragged under a Benz for a quarter mile and the whip somehow never breaks and always seems to find its mark and stick.

and just like that song goes;

***Then the Hat Came back the very next day.***

I dont know why, but it bothers me when I see middle aged men who think they are being really cool trying to bite this look in public especially in this day and age.

there is a Time and place to be Indiana Jones, and that time is Halloween for 8 year olds.

Sorry To rain on the Suede parade and shrink a few Egos, but honestly It Just makes my ass cringe for some reason, dont ask me why.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I was not amused that his Jacket was Dragged under a Benz for a quarter mile and the whip somehow never breaks and always seems to find its mark and stick.

and just like that song goes;

***Then the Hat Came back the very next day.***

I dont know why, but it bothers me when I see middle aged men who think they are being really cool trying to bite this look in public especially in this day and age.

there is a Time and place to be Indiana Jones, and that time is Halloween for 8 year olds.

Sorry To rain on the Suede parade and shrink a few Egos, but honestly It Just makes my ass cringe for some reason, dont ask me why.

Having a bad day? Actually I know what you mean but I'd still much rather see middle aged men in Indy inspired clobber than in skinny jeans or polyester suits.

 

[thor]

@DD, if you go to Indy Gear/Club Obi Wan, you may go into full melt-down. Those guys in COW are hard-core Indy-philes!!! :eeek:

 

[Sloan1874]

Everything Indy does is designed soley for our amusement. Plot, what plot!?

lol

 

[Edward]

OP is pretty comprehensively covered already, but yeah:

1] Because it looks cool

2] Because it's a pastiche of 30s action-adventure-pulp seriels / films

3] Because it looks cool


Technically, yes, 1 and 3 are the same reason, but when you're playing by Hollywood Rules, it's important enough to mention twice....

Well, if anything, Indy (and Marion, of course) were the only ones that survived the opening of the Ark, so it was because of him that the Ark ended up in the USA government warehouse, not in Germany.

Well, it would have been in that valey in Egypt where they opened it - none of them were left to go back to Germany. Unless the Nazis recovered it, of course, but did they know it was there? Would not some cult group ohave found it and suck it in a cave first?

Course, Indy taking it back to the US means that in 1957 it would get destroyed in a nuclear blast (unless it's Holy Relic powers could withstand that, of course).

There is a specific line where it's explained that it had to be opened and examined before being brought to Hitler, lest something unpleasant be inside. Which, admittedly, was not to far off the mark...

Au contraire. The nastiness was outside the box. What was inside the box just dealt them what they had coming.

Whilst we are talking about Raiders, can someone please explain how he survived the submarine. Was a scene cut?

Ah, the rumoured extra twelve seconds that solved the Submarine Controversy? The easy answer is that they just didn't dive before they got the the base. AFAIK, subs only tend to dive when they need to stay hidden. If they weren't in unfriendly waters or otherwise under threat, no need to.

I reckon Nick's is the closest to the truth bar one thing: if Indy had discovered this place, he'd have had five or six (or more!) different styled jackets to wear in the desert in a variety of different coloured and treated leathers!

Oh, yes. Not to mention the hats, bags and shoes to go with them.

 

[thor]

"Ah, the rumoured extra twelve seconds that solved the Submarine Controversy? The easy answer is that they just didn't dive before they got the the base. AFAIK, subs only tend to dive when they need to stay hidden. If they weren't in unfriendly waters or otherwise under threat, no need to."

"Raiders" takes place in 1936 and WWII hadn't started yet so there weren't any threats or unfriendly waters (in theory). Maybe George Lucas thinks that there are so many good hiding places on a U-boat that the crew would never find Indy (in "Das Boot" you can see how little space there was on a U-boat).
Not the only plot/logic anomaly in "Raiders" but Hollywood is all about suspension of disbelief and enjoying a good movie.

 

[Monitor]

Well, it would have been in that valey in Egypt where they opened it - none of them were left to go back to Germany. Unless the Nazis recovered it, of course, but did they know it was there? Would not some cult group ohave found it and suck it in a cave first?

Course, Indy taking it back to the US means that in 1957 it would get destroyed in a nuclear blast (unless it's Holy Relic powers could withstand that, of course).

I'm sure that the experiment and the location of the test site was not done in such secrecy that nobody else at the SS knew about it. I suppose, had Indiana not been there to inform the US government immediately to collect the Ark, the Nazi's would've gotten there first, figured something must've went wrong and either store it themselves or, more probably, do some more tests until they learned how to properly 'control' the thing.

As for the sub controversy, I think that even Lucas once said that the sub didn't dive in. The WW2 subs move faster on the surface and since the U-boat was only supposed to get to the island, I doubt they would've traveled underwater.

 

[Otter]

i saw one of the movies and hated it.

I don't like his leather jacket either.

Please don't ban me.

burn the unbeliever !!!!!

 

[Otter]

I'm sure that the experiment and the location of the test site was not done in such secrecy that nobody else at the SS knew about it. I suppose, had Indiana not been there to inform the US government immediately to collect the Ark, the Nazi's would've gotten there first, figured something must've went wrong and either store it themselves or, more probably, do some more tests until they learned how to properly 'control' the thing.

As for the sub controversy, I think that even Lucas once said that the sub didn't dive in. The WW2 subs move faster on the surface and since the U-boat was only supposed to get to the island, I doubt they would've traveled underwater.

Very true, surfaced speed was almost double submerged speed for that type of sub, with no endurance limits other than fuel. With no immediate threat it would make sense to travel on the surface. Most early war attacks on convoys were carried out surfaced at night as pre radar a surfaced sub was hard to spot at night.

 

[Big J]

Hang on.
Spielberg made 1941.
In that film Wild Bill Kelso attempts to board a U-boat on loan to the Japanese and is captured instantly.
Spielberg must have known that Indy could not have 'hidden inside the submarine'.

 

[Otter]

Lots of access between the outer hull and pressure hull to allow servicing of the ballast and fuel tanks, wiring, plumbing, torpedo loading hatches, escape trunks, etc, etc.

 

[navetsea]

because he accidentally left his summer vest in his Millennium Falcon.

 

[Dumpster Diver]

Also note;

when Dr. Jones Pulls the hood ornament off the benz while falling under it in that Scene its like speilberg tipping his hat to the popular practice of defacing a wealthy persons auto in that way to remind those who have to parade their own wealth and status etc by owning an expensive status Symbol.

 

[Monitor]

Also note;

when Dr. Jones Pulls the hood ornament off the benz while falling under it in that Scene its like speilberg tipping his hat to the popular practice of defacing a wealthy persons auto in that way to remind those who have to parade their own wealth and status etc by owning an expensive status Symbol.

I love that part.

 

[Big J]

Also note;

when Dr. Jones Pulls the hood ornament off the benz while falling under it in that Scene its like speilberg tipping his hat to the popular practice of defacing a wealthy persons auto in that way to remind those who have to parade their own wealth and status etc by owning an expensive status Symbol.

Really? I'd always interpreted that scene as Spielberg taking a shot at Mercedes for being wartime profiteers benefitting from evil Nazis. After all, the Rolls Royce Phantom in The Last Crusade doesn't have it's ornament pulled off, and we are treated to Alexi Sayle reciting stats about how awesome it is. Clearly, this is a reference to the awesome RR powered Spitfire which will shortly stop the evil Nazis in their tracks at a time when England stood alone whilst the US bickered amongst ourselves about what to do.

For real.

 

[nightandthecity]

I dont know why, but it bothers me when I see middle aged men who think they are being really cool trying to bite this look in public especially in this day and age.

there is a Time and place to be Indiana Jones, and that time is Halloween for 8 year olds.

Sorry To rain on the Suede parade and shrink a few Egos, but honestly It Just makes my ass cringe for some reason, dont ask me why.

I can think of several reasons why you should rethink your position on this....

1] Harrison Ford made these films as a middle-aged man (36 when he made the first, 58 when he made the last)
2] The Indiana Jones character is supposed to be the same age as the actor playing him (i.e. born around 1900, in early middle age in the first films, late middle age in the last)
3] Brown leather jacket and fedora was a relatively common look among middle aged and elderly working-class men in mid-century America
4] Clothes -any clothes - look better on young people. That's because young people look better. Thus its all too easy to criticize any outfit worn by middle aged and elderly people. And if a top quality leather jacket and fur felt fedora are superior items in themselves to , say, a polyester suit, budget cargo shorts, poly baseball cap etc etc they have to be preferable wear on anybody of any age?

I rest my case!

 

[navetsea]

but what a mere company could do to survive world war if not to take order from the army? Toyota made trucks for imperial army, and mitsubishi made Zero, should they stand against the will of the nation during wartime?