The Jones Boy In a New Box

By RICHARD CORLISS

Return with us to those thrilling days of yesteryear: the '80s, when a fedora-topped, whip-cracking, ophidiophobic archaeologist kindled the innocent spirit of antique adventure-movie serials in a generation of kids who had never been to a Saturday matinee. After Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg are hatching a fourth episode, to star the sexagenarian Harrison Ford. But why wait for that film? Relive the first three in a spiffy new DVD boxed set from Paramount Home Video.

Instead of the familiar track of filmmakers' comments (Steven: "That was fun." George: "Yep."), The Adventures of Indiana Jones offers nearly three hours of shorts, adroitly directed by Laurent Bouzereau, that use interviews and archival footage to detail the contributions of stunt doubles and sound technicians. PC users can hook the discs up to Indianajones.com for special features. But this is basically retro moviegoing at its coolest. Settle in front of the TV set. Bring popcorn and Jujubes.

--By Richard Corliss