Charles Austin Miller

Question: Could Indy ever survive the nuclear blast in a fridge?

Answer: This universally reviled and ridiculed scene has been analysed many, many times, and the conclusion the world has come to is the obvious one: No, one cannot survive a nuclear explosion in a refrigerator. Do not attempt.

Answer: If you were far from the initial explosion, the lining of the fridge may protect you from some residual radiation, but it would not protect you from the force of the blast or the intense heat. Being thrown by the blast would kill you whether you were inside a metal box or not.

Answer: Inconceivable heat and bombardment by gamma radiation notwithstanding, the sheer G-forces of being blasted miles away in a matter of seconds (and the terrific impact of striking the earth) should have pulverized Indy to jelly inside the refrigerator. So, factually speaking, no normal human being was walking away from that one. However, of course, Indiana Jones is no normal human being, and he had already impossibly survived so many catastrophes in his life that we just accept that the guy is charmed or protected by the hand of God. That's the running gag of the entire Indiana Jones franchise.

Charles Austin Miller

Question: Does anyone know for sure if Harrison Ford wears the same hat in each movie or are there multiple copies. I'd like to know for sure, not speculation or guesses.

Grumpy Scot

Chosen answer: Not only does he wear a different hat in each movie, he wears several different hats within the same movie. After Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harrison Ford was given the original hat, which he personally helped the costume designer give its old and worn but well-loved appearance, to keep for his own.

Phixius

Answer: There were not only multiple Indy hats used in each movie, but multiple styles and sizes of Indy hats used for various scenes. In "Raiders," for example, Herbert Johnson hatters in London produced 45 copies of the hat for use in that movie alone. Those hats were used by Harrison Ford himself, his stand-ins and stuntmen. In dark scenes, where lighting was critical, Ford wore a version of the hat with a modified brim to accommodate facial lighting; and, in the daylight "Basket Chase" scene in Cairo, the style of hat is noticeably different with a slightly wider brim. The hats vary greatly from movie-to-movie, as well, with variations in brim, crown and felt color. By the last movie, "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," the hat is distinctly different from the original used in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Charles Austin Miller

Question: I can't quite read what book Indy's college associate friend pulls out of his desk right before his wedding and I was wondering what it was.

Answer: It is a Christian Book of Common Prayer, which contains the Marriage Ceremony, Funeral Ceremony, Baptism Ceremony, etc. The gilt lettering on the spine plainly reads "Common Prayer"; and, indeed, the shot of this book immediately transitions to a shot of the Book of Common Prayer from which the minister performs the wedding ceremony for Indy and Marion.

Charles Austin Miller

We might speculate that it's the same Book of Common Prayer used to perform the funeral ceremonies for Marcus Brody and Henry Jones Sr., whose deaths were briefly referenced early in the film.

Charles Austin Miller

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