SEQUELS LIKE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK set us up for a fall, I’m afraid.  Empire is a classic example of second-movie-is-brilliant syndrome.  Taken part-to-whole, one might think that most sequels (especially #2 in a series) are as good or better than the first.  Some say it of Aliens.  Other say it of Toy Story 2.

You don’t hear that said of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  I only hear about the movie these days in the context of the heart-rending scene and the stereotypical sidekick.

Turns out that Spielberg and Lucas also have issues with the second Indy movie.  Now that the flick is about to come out on Blu-Ray, people are thinking about the series again.  In a world where movies can seem like extensions of long-term intellectual properties devoid of personal influence, it’s strange to hear about how the personal situations of the two great movie-makers influenced such a major production.

You can check out more on the story behind the movie in this article from last week at Grantland.  It’s a fascinating read: not enough to make me want to watch the movie again, mind you, but fascinating enough to help fill in some of the subtext of one of the most important film series of my childhood.