Sean Connery’s role as Indiana Jones’ father in the film ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ became one of the most memorable of his career, but the filming itself wasn’t always smooth. One crew member recounted being terrified by the actor’s threats while working on an iconic tank scene.
The presence of Sean Connery as Professor Henry Jones, the protagonist’s father, is often cited as the element that makes the third film, The Last Crusade, special, and it is considered one of the best roles of his later career. Connery, famous for playing fearless heroes like James Bond and roles in films like Highlander and The Untouchables, played a different sort of character here — a “bookworm,” as Indiana Jones describes him. Despite the gentle nature of his on-screen persona, the actor was prone to mood swings on set, which one crew member experienced firsthand.
The defining sequence in question involves Professor Jones’ rescue from a tank where he is held captive by the Nazis. Hollywood special effects legend Mike Dawson explained that the tank was an impressive piece of engineering built from scratch. Dawson’s primary role was to create the smoke effect. During the chase, Indiana Jones blocks the tank’s cannon, causing an explosion that fills the vehicle with smoke.
In the late 1980s, the methods for special effects were less refined and not as comfortable for actors compared to modern techniques, which would simply use water vapor. Dawson explained that back then, they used gasoline and gas to create the smoke. This resulting smoke was notably hotter and more acrid than what is utilized today.
Following one of the takes, Sean Connery became enraged and confronted the technician responsible for the smoke. The actor, speaking with a Scottish accent which he used when he was angry, threatened the technician, stating that if the special effects device was brought near him again, he would physically assault the technician with it.
Mike Dawson recalled feeling as if Connery, the famous James Bond, was genuinely going to harm him, and he fled in fear. Dawson claims the actor eventually calmed down. However, even over three decades later, Dawson remains convinced that Connery “meant exactly what he said then” and that he would have followed through on the threat.
