How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Quote #1
DONOVAN: I trust your trip down was comfortable, Dr. Jones. My men didn't alarm you, I hope.
When it comes to masculinity, Donovan's a poser—the kind of man who needs henchmen to do his dirty work for him, the kind who equates money with power and influence, and the kind who wears tailored suits and doesn't get his hands dirty. This puts him in stark opposition to Indiana.
Quote #2
BRODY: Your father and I have been friends since time began. I watched you grow up, Indy; I watched the two of you grow up. I've never seen you this concerned about him before.
INDIANA: (Entering the house:) Dad? (To Marcus:) He's an academic, a bookworm. He's not a field man.
Indiana and Henry represent two different versions of masculinity. Indiana values brute force and risk: as he says proudly, he's a "field man." He's out there riding horses, shooting guns, and wearing a rad leather jacket—you know, playing into all those traditionally "masculine" Western values. Henry, on the other hand, is a bookworm who prefers using his brain to using his muscles.
Quote #3
BRODY: How will we recognize this Dr. Schneider when we see him?
INDIANA: I don't know. Maybe he'll know us.
ELSA: Dr. Jones?
INDIANA: Yes.
ELSA: I knew it was you. You have your father's eyes.
INDIANA: And my mother's ears, but the rest belongs to you.
ELSA: Looks like the best parts have already been spoken for. (To Brody:) Marcus Brody?
BRODY: (Taking off his hat:) That's right.
ELSA: (Extending her hand:) Dr. Elsa Schneider.
Um, yeah, guys. Women can be archaeologists and earn doctorates, too. We don't know if this exchange says more about Indiana's and Brody's personal values or about society's values at the time. What do you think?
Quote #4
ELSA: Just like your father: giddy as a schoolboy. Wouldn't it be wonderful if he were here now to see this?
INDIANA: He never would've made it past the rats. He hates rats. He's scared to death of them.
Indiana seems to say this to take his dad's masculinity down a peg—as in, "Dad couldn't do this thing that I'm doing." Guess somebody forgot how much he hates snakes… Does Indiana feel the need to be better than or different from his dad in order to feel secure in his own masculinity?
Quote #5
ELSA: What were they looking for?
INDIANA: This.
ELSA: The Grail diary.
INDIANA: Uh huh.
ELSA: You had it. You didn't trust me.
INDIANA: I didn't know you. At least I let you tag along.
ELSA: Oh, yes. Give them a flower, and they'll follow you anywhere.
INDIANA: Knock it off. You're not mad.
ELSA: No?
INDIANA: No. You like the way I do things.
ELSA: It's lucky I don't do things the same way. You'd still be standing at the Venice pier.
He let her "tag along"? Yeesh. "You're not mad," and "You like the way I do things"? Um, no, dude. Indiana's letting a bit of his chauvinism show here, and Elsa rightfully puts him in his place when she reminds him that without her, he'd still be twiddling his thumbs on a pier.
Quote #6
INDIANA: Leave me alone. I don't like fast women.
ELSA: And I hate arrogant men.
It's a cliché for some people that to be masculine is to be in control of your little lady. Here, Indiana says what he thinks he's expected to say as a man, but, given that he and Elsa are totes making out, it's pretty clear that he doesn't mind aggressive women that much.
Quote #7
Vogel holds Elsa at gunpoint.
VOGEL: Put down the gun or the Fräulein dies.
HENRY: But she's one of them.
ELSA: Indy, please!
HENRY: She's a Nazi.
INDIANA: What?
HENRY: Trust me.
ELSA: Indy, no!
VOGEL: I will kill her!
HENRY: Eh? Go ahead.
INDIANA: No! Don't shoot!
HENRY: Don't worry. He won't.
ELSA: Indy, please. Do what he says.
HENRY: And don't listen to her.
VOGEL: Enough! She dies!
Elsa screams.
INDIANA: Wait! Wait.
Indiana slides his gun over to Vogel. Vogel lets Elsa go, and she runs into Indiana's arms.
ELSA: I'm sorry.
INDIANA: No. Don't be.
Elsa takes the Grail diary from Indy's pocket, smiles, and hands it to Vogel.
ELSA: But you should've listened to your father.
She's right; he should have listened to his dad. But that would go against Indiana's idea of masculinity. "Real" men are wiser than their old, bookish dads, right? Well, um, perhaps, but we're guessing "real" men don't get played the way that Elsa royally played Indiana here, either…
Quote #8
INDIANA: How did you know she was a Nazi?
HENRY: Hmm?
INDIANA: How did you know she was a Nazi?
HENRY: She talks in her sleep.
Guess Dad's not a total nerd, after all. Indiana's stunned by this revelation because he doesn't see his dad as someone who embodies any of the traditional values of masculinity that Indiana values—things like strength, virility, or magnetism.
Quote #9
ELSA: It's perfectly obvious where the pages are. He's given them to Marcus Brody.
HENRY: Marcus? You didn't drag poor Marcus along, did you? He's not up to the challenge.
DONOVAN: He sticks out like a sore thumb. We'll find him.
INDIANA: The hell you will. He's got a two-day head start on you, which is more than he needs. Brody's got friends in every town and village from here to the Sudan. He speaks a dozen languages, knows every local custom. He'll blend in, disappear; you'll never see him again. With any luck, he's got the Grail already.
Cut to the middle of a chaotic Middle Eastern bazaar and Marcus Brody sticking out like a sore thumb.
BRODY: Uh, does anyone here speak English—or even ancient Greek?
If Indiana and Henry are on different sides of the planet when it comes to masculinity, Brody's in a whole different galaxy. He's an academic to the max, and not nearly as resourceful as either of the Jones men. That's why the idea of him smoothly slipping away from the bad guys is so easily played for laughs. But does this make him less "masculine"?
Quote #10
STREET VENDOR: Water?
BRODY: Oh, water? No thank you, sir. No. Fish make love in it.
Most of the comic relief that Brody provides in the film comes from his refusal to fit in with society's expectations of what it means to be a man. He's polite, easily flustered, grossed out at the thought of procreating fish, and capable of getting lost in his own museum.
Quote #11
BRODY: Henry, the pen.
HENRY: What?
BRODY: Well, don't you see? The pen is mightier than the sword.
After Henry cleverly blinds a Nazi aggressor with the ink from his fountain pen, Brody's stoked because brains have beaten muscle, proving that you don't need a bullwhip and a fedora to unarm a bad guy.