Indiana Who?

One of my all time favourite fictional characters is that played by Harrison Ford ,namely Henry Walton Jones Junior in the Indiana Jones movies.

The character first appeared in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, to be followed by Temple of Doom in 1984, The Last Crusade in 1989 and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008.

Alongside the more widely known films , the character is also featured in a series depicting his youthful adventures and encounters with historic characters, novels, comics, video games, and other media.

Jones is an interesting character with a stark contrast between bookish and starchy University Professor in his day-job and a swashbuckling and fearless searcher and protector of great antiquities in his spare time (or on legitimate projects funded mostly by evil benefactors)

In the series of blockbuster films Indy has encountered a Nazi quest to exploit the Ark of The Covenant, a secretive and ruthless Indian Cult, yet another Nazi initiative to obtain the Holy Grail and a Russian Plot to harness alien super-powers.

It is good entertainment blending the ingredients of hard fact with a good dollop of fantasy and typical of its creator George Lucas who sought to emulate the comic book and action  figures from his own childhood.

Reaching far into his formative years Lucas has said  that Indiana Jones is modelled after the strong-jawed heroes of the saturday picture house matinees and fantasy comic publications that he and his long time collaborator Steven Spielberg enjoyed in their respective formative years .

Rider Haggards' safari guide/big game hunter Allan Quartermain of King Solomon's Mines , who dates back to 1885, is a potential role model for the Jones legend.

The two movie moguls first discussed the Indiana Jones project in Hawaii around the time of the release of the first Star Wars film. Spielberg is reported to have told Lucas how he wanted his next project to be something fun, like an 007 James Bond film (this would later be referenced when they cast veteran Sean Connery as Henry Jones, Sr.in The last Crusade).

According to sources, Lucas responded to the effect that he had something "even better,"or that he'd "got that beat.".

Another of the possible influences for Indiana Jones often mentioned is Professor Challenger created by Conan Doyle in 1912 for his novel, The Lost World. Challenger was based on Doyle's physiology professor, Sir William Rutherford, an adventuring academic, albeit a zoologist/anthropologist unlike Jones' own discipline.

Our hero was originally named Indiana Smith, after an Alaskan Malamute dog called Indiana that Lucas owned in the 1970s. Spielberg disliked the name Smith, and Lucas casually suggested Jones as an alternative. The Last Crusade script references the name's origin, with Jones's father revealing his son's birth name to be Henry and explaining that "we named the dog Indiana", much to his son's embarrassment.

However, as with most larger than life personalities there has been speculation that they may have been based on actual individuals. In the case of Jones, many names  have been  put forward from all walks of life where academia may have overlapped with some sort of adventurism or pioneering.

These have included an Italian Circus Strongman, German Archaeologist and even the British soldier and enigma TE Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia.

In the case of Indiana Jones I feel that there are only really two main candidates, Percy Fawcett and Roy Chapman Andrews..........(to be continued)