Alternate Ending
FADE IN
Indy appears asleep in his lazy boy chair with the brim of fedora over his eyes.
He hears a knock at the door; camera pans right to the door.
"All right....I'm coming..."
It's PhoebeWallerBridge aka Helena & Mutt in class A U.S. ARMY uniform--a new 2LT Paratrooper; 82nd Airborne arm in arm...
"Dad! It's going to be great! I just graduated jump school and have a platoon back at Bragg...in a few years I'll command a company...go to Ranger school...maybe try out for Special Forces...they got a new way of jumping...High Altitude Low Opening..."
Close up of Indy...Indy looks knowingly at Helena...focus in on her who reacts with a wink...
"I've free fall jumped out of a perfectly good airplane long ago..."
"Great pops! Maybe i'll do a tour in Vietnam to get my Combat unit patch and Combat Infantryman's Badge..."
Indy angry knowing what will happen "you are NOT going to Vietnam..."
2LT Mutt takes an unarmed combat stance...and does some judo chops and kicks...
Fed up, Indy draws his gun and shoots Mutt in his left leg...
"Indy! I can't believe you just did that!"
"Man's got to know his limitations..."
Helena goes to aid Mutt on his butt and takes her scarf and ties it around his leg as a pressure dressing...
Marion walks in...
Astonished, she drops her bag of groceries...
"You just shot our SON!"
Flustered....Marion picks up Mutt and walks him to the door...
"I'm taking him to the ER--no thanks to YOU!!!"
Indy grimaces; "They'll thank me later..the war won't end for us until 1975 so he'll get his chance when a bit older and wiser..COLONEL Mutt Jones...nice ring to it..."
Over-hearing him, Helena knowing that what Indy did was right, goes to Indy...
"He won't die in the 1968 Tet offensive...you are a good father..."
"I try..."
Helena kisses him.
"I understand you now. "
She looks into his eyes...then turns away....
"I'll give them a ride to the hospital..."
Pleased and smiling...Indy whispers...
"A man's got to do what a man's got to do..."
Indy theme music triumphs....
FADE OUT
****
WHY?
THEME
Indy 5 ends with a downer of Mutt having died in Vietnam casting a pall over not just the movie--but the entire series--which should be about swashbuckling, being larger than life and OVERCOMING. If you can't overcome, you go down in flames...
HEARKENS BACK
This is a reprise of the swordsman showboating in ROTLA where Indy just shoots him refusing to indulge him...
SNARKY FUNNY
This is totally in line with the witty 1-liners used throughout the series from world-weary Indy
STORY ARC
After all that Indy and Helena just went thru---she has changed as a person and understands the need for good men--and women to take decisive action to defeat evil--in this case the MILINDCOMP's Vietnam war RACKET $$$
HUMILITY
This scene debunks military egotistical badge hunting--that might get you KILLED. Reminds everyone that military SERVICE should be about SERVICE--not self
J316
SA!
JBIR
