Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984): Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

The Temple of Doom movie follows Indiana Jones in 1935 as a deal in Shanghai goes wrong and drags him into a rescue mission in India.

The story opens at a nightclub, where Indy makes a deal with the Shanghai crime boss Lao Che. The deal turns into a poisoning attempt and a wild chase, and Indy escapes with the club singer Willie Scott and his young sidekick Short Round. They board a plane that secretly belongs to Lao Che, the pilots bail out, and the trio leaves the aircraft to crash. A rubber raft carries them down a mountain and into a river in India.

They wash up near a starving village called Mayapore. The villagers beg Indy to bring back their sacred stone and their missing children, who were taken by forces at a distant palace. From there the film becomes a rescue story, and the full plot below covers where it goes.

The full plot of Temple of Doom runs from a Shanghai nightclub to a rope bridge over a gorge, and it ends with Indy returning the stolen stone to Mayapore. Spoilers follow.

After the raft ride, the villagers explain that their sacred stone has been stolen and their children taken. Indy agrees to help, partly out of interest in the fabled Sankara stones. The group travels to Pankot Palace, where the young Maharaja welcomes them with a lavish banquet. That night an assassin attacks Indy, and he then discovers secret passages under the palace.

Below the palace, Indy finds a hidden temple. A Thuggee cult led by the priest Mola Ram makes human sacrifices there and holds the village children as slave labor in a mine. The cult has also brainwashed the young Maharaja. Indy is captured and forced to drink a potion that puts him in a trance, and Willie is prepared for sacrifice.

Short Round escapes slavery and snaps Indy out of the trance, and Indy rescues Willie. They free the children, take back the stones, and flee through the mine in a runaway cart chase and a flood. On a rope bridge over a gorge, Indy cuts the ropes, and many cultists fall to the crocodiles below. Mola Ram clings on, and in a final fight the stones burn his hands and he falls to his death.

Indy takes back the last stone, and British Indian troops arrive and overcome the remaining cultists. The heroes return the stone and the children to Mayapore.

The Temple of Doom release date in the US was May 23, 1984, according to Box Office Mojo, and the film reached the UK on June 15, 1984 and Australia on July 19, 1984.

Paramount distributed the film in the US. The three markets opened weeks apart, with the UK about three weeks behind the US and Australia about two months behind.

The box office split, $179.9 million domestic and $153.2 million international, shows the film did solid business in both. The rating is PG in the US, the UK and Australia, according to TMDB.

To see how the opening run compares with the other films, the Indiana Jones box office page lays the figures side by side.

The Temple of Doom ending is a straight rescue: Indy beats Mola Ram on the broken bridge, British Indian troops arrive, and the stone and the children go home to Mayapore. Spoilers follow.

The mechanics are clear on screen. Indy cuts the ropes of the bridge over the gorge, and many cultists fall to the crocodiles below. Mola Ram hangs on, and in the last fight the stones burn his hands and he falls to his death. The freed young Maharaja calls in soldiers from the British Indian Army, who overcome the rest of the cult.

What does it mean? In my opinion, the key beat is not the fight but the embrace. Indy and Willie spend the film bickering, and the final scene in the celebrating village is where that turns into affection. It could be argued that the film is as much about Indy moving from treasure hunting to helping strangers as it is about the stones, since he first agrees to go partly out of interest in the Sankara stones and ends by bringing the children back.

Perhaps the most useful thing to know is what the ending does not do. Temple of Doom is a prequel set a year before Raiders of the Lost Ark, so it does not set up a direct sequel. In release order the next film is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and in chronological order it is Raiders of the Lost Ark, with no cliffhanger to resolve either way. For the best viewing sequence, the Indiana Jones movies in order page explains both options.

Temple of Doom was filmed in Sri Lanka, Macau and Elstree Studios in England, with pickup shoots in California, Idaho and Arizona. Indian authorities refused permission to shoot in India, so the production moved the Indian scenes to Sri Lanka, where principal photography began on April 18, 1983.

Sri Lanka (Kandy area): stood in for India, with shooting from April 1983.

Macau: stood in for Shanghai.

Elstree Studios, Hertfordshire, England: most interiors were shot here.

California, Idaho and Arizona: used for pickup shoots.

The mine car chase is the set piece that shows the studio side of the shoot best: Industrial Light and Magic filmed it with scaled down tunnels and a modified Nikon camera nicknamed the Nikonflex.

The best Temple of Doom trivia covers a rating change the film helped prompt and the way its mine car chase was built.

• The original title was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Death. The film was retitled before release.
• It was Lucasfilm's first prequel story. The film is set in 1935, a year before Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• India said no. Authorities refused permission to shoot there, so the Indian scenes moved to Sri Lanka.
• Most interiors were shot at Elstree Studios, and Macau stood in for Shanghai.
• The mine car chase used miniatures. Industrial Light and Magic shot scaled down tunnels with a modified Nikon camera nicknamed the Nikonflex, one frame at a time in sideways VistaVision.
• The score used a full orchestra. John Williams recorded it with the London Symphony Orchestra.
• It helped lead to PG-13. Spielberg pushed for a rating change after complaints about the film's violence, and the MPAA introduced PG-13 about two months after release.
• Kate Capshaw sings Anything Goes in Mandarin.

The later films Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) both carry PG-13 in the US, according to TMDB.