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Idea: Preservation of the uncensored (theatrical) audio track of 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'?

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In the theatrical version of Last Crusade, when Donovan is trying to convince the Sultan of Hatay to allow him to move across his land to recover the Grail, he brings the Sultan a chest of gold treasures and says, “Precious valuables, Your Highness, “donated” by some of the finest Jewish families in all of Germany.”
In all subsequent releases of the movie, the word “Jewish” is removed.

They simply muted the audio for the duration of the word, which is why there now is a pause between “finest” and “families”.

I know this is a long shot, but does anyone have access to a theatrical print of Last Crusade?

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You have checked the 12" LaserDisc releases for this removal, right?

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When I watched a 35mm copy of Indy 3 some years ago, it already had “Jewish” omitted (English-language copy, watched in Germany at the beginning of 2000s).

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I’d like to see them reinstate the line about Jesse Owens rather than have him say Mickey Mouse… but it seems so fitting now that the Mouse owns it.

**😮ver&out:
**mumbles

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If someone has decent voice acting skills maybe they can dub it into the ld track .

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Now that would be not just fanediting, not preservation.

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I’ve got both the LD and a scan and its not present in either of them

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SpacemanDoug said:

What Jesse Owens line?

https://indianajones.fandom.com/wiki/Jesse_Owens

“Jesse Owens was supposed to be mentioned in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with the Butler’s original line before Jones knocks him out as “If you are a Scottish lord then I am Jesse Owens!” It was changed to Mickey Mouse because the filmmakers thought that many people would be unfamiliar with who Jesse Owens was. The line as originally intended is retained in the film’s novelization.”

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Nibcrom said:

SpacemanDoug said:

What Jesse Owens line?

https://indianajones.fandom.com/wiki/Jesse_Owens

“Jesse Owens was supposed to be mentioned in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with the Butler’s original line before Jones knocks him out as “If you are a Scottish lord then I am Jesse Owens!” It was changed to Mickey Mouse because the filmmakers thought that many people would be unfamiliar with who Jesse Owens was. The line as originally intended is retained in the film’s novelization.”

The line on the story CD is “Mae West.”

Unaltered said:

In the theatrical version of Last Crusade, when Donovan is trying to convince the Sultan of Hatay to allow him to move across his land to recover the Grail, he brings the Sultan a chest of gold treasures and says, “Precious valuables, Your Highness, “donated” by some of the finest Jewish families in all of Germany.”
In all subsequent releases of the movie, the word “Jewish” is removed.

They simply muted the audio for the duration of the word, which is why there now is a pause between “finest” and “families”.

I know this is a long shot, but does anyone have access to a theatrical print of Last Crusade?

I think you’re mis-remembering. I don’t think it was ever included. It might have just been in a novelization or comic book.

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I remember the Jewish line too. (I first saw the film at a cinema in the UK in '89). However, I do have access to an original US Theatrical print and the line is censored on the print:

Imgur

Those relatively flat audio lines on the optical track are where the word “Jewish” should be. This makes me wonder if all the US prints were censored from the beginning.

Here is the full clip:

https://mega.nz/#!oJ1xgKaL!5qoVEcJFRYralVJv20yNcMr0fF1fAOLyx4WV6cvlgYw

If you change the delay to play the audio 20 frames (-833 ms ?) earlier to match the waveform printed on the film (since the sound head is further down inside the projector, in order to have picture and sound in sync during projection, the audio needs to be at the same point as the picture when the picture is in the gate. So the part of the optical track for this frame already passed through the gate 20 frames ago…) you can more easily see where the dialog is missing (you can check this by switching to audio track 2 in the provided clip).

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Interesting. I wonder if this would be a thing that would depend on whether the print was 70mm or not. I know Last Crusade was a 70mm release so the 5.1 sound could be shown (that’s what I’ve read, don’t quote me on that being the reason why). Maybe that would be a release that has the line?

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The screen I saw it on in '89 was at a small seaside town in the east of England. I seriously doubt it had a 70mm setup. In fact I know it didn’t because I just checked their website and it says “The 35mm projector used from 1988 to 2013 is now on display in the theatre cafe & gallery.” So, assuming I’m not mis-remembering, and this is not The Mandella Effect, it’s more likely that British prints may have the line, while those from other markets may not.

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I have watched the theatrical release of Indiana Jones 3 in Vienna about 4 times, 2 times in the original american version and also twice in the German dub. (about 1989/90) I can definitely remember that all 4 times the “finest Jewish Families” line was included. Later I have read on imdb.com that this line was erased from all home video releases, including the comics and the novel. I own the german translation of the novelization too and the word is missing there.