Wiser heads prevailed

Why did the Indiana Jones movie take so long to make? Turns out it is because the three wise men at the top couldn't agree on the plot: "If George Lucas had had his way, the new Indiana Jones movie would be called Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men From Mars, and the iconic archeologist adventurer would be battling space aliens instead of Communists."

Rico says fortunately Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg disagreed.

But there's still some good stuff: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has the bullwhip-wielding hero up against Soviet bad guys led by a black-wigged Cate Blanchett. She plays Irina Spalko, leader of the Soviet army's quest for the Crystal Skull. Marion Ravenwood, Indy's girlfriend from Raiders of the Lost Ark, is back--played again by (still-hot in Rico's eyes) Karen Allen--and together they find themselves in the South American jungle encountering quicksand, amphibious vehicles, Ugha warriors, giant ants, and a massive python. Ford is looking more academic than adventurous, although he still weighs the same as he did in the previous three Indiana Jones movies. "We chose to acknowledge the passage of years, and Indiana Jones is now the same age as I am," he says. "Part of the fun of Indiana Jones is that he's in over his head most of the time, so the physical aspects of the character are always tempered a little bit by that reality. But I've always enjoyed doing that - the physical acting. I'm still fit and capable." The new adventure, like its predecessors, derives its style and tone from the serials of the '30s and '40s. The latest film looks like it indeed will be the final farewell to a character that the American Film Institute ranked as the second-greatest screen hero, just behind Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. But Lucas has hinted there might be one more movie, and Ford is noncommittal. "I don't know," he says with a shrug. "I just work here."