Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Raiders of the Lost Ark follows Indiana Jones in 1936 as he races Nazi agents to recover the Ark of the Covenant. Working with his former partner Marion Ravenwood and his friend Sallah, Indy locates the Ark in Egypt, but his rival René Belloq and the Nazis take it. When they open it on a remote island, supernatural forces kill them, while Indy and Marion survive. The U.S. government stores the Ark in a secret warehouse. Although released second, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is set earlier, in 1935. After escaping a dangerous encounter with Shanghai crime boss Lao Che, Indy travels with young Short Round and singer Willie Scott to India. A village asks him to recover its stolen sacred Sankara stone and abducted children. At Pankot Palace, Indy discovers a fictionalized Thuggee cult led by Mola Ram, which has forced the children to work in mines. Short Round frees Indy from the cult's control; together they rescue Willie and the children. During a confrontation on a rope bridge, Mola Ram falls to his death. Indy returns the stone to the village, and the children reunite with their families. These adventures establish Indy's resourcefulness, his willingness to protect others, and his encounters with apparently supernatural artifacts.