Indiana Jones and the Fall of My Favorite Hero

As we brace for the impact of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, I remember the worries that gripped me in 2008 before the arrival of the disappointing fourth film in the series.

When friends, readers, and students ask me to name my favorite film, I have a standard answer: On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, it’s Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, it’s Three Colors: Blue. And on Saturdays? Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Forty years of disappointment with the second, third, and eventually fourth film in …