The Most Infamous Scene in the Indiana Jones Movies Explained

You know the scene. A grisly human sacrifice. A terrified archaeologist looking on in horror from the shadows. A poor religious fanatic has his still-beating heart torn from his chest by a high priest before bursting into flames. While this seems like the kind of scene that would have been perfectly at home in a John Carpenter movie in the 1980s, instead it comes from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the second entry in the franchise (albeit a prequel to 1980’s Raiders of the Lost Ark), and one which takes a decidedly darker tone than the relatively family-friendly adventure of the previous film. 

That moment is alleged to have given birth to the PG-13 movie rating, for one thing. But it also kickstarted a small but specific subset of pop culture fascination: the concept that someone’s heart could be manually removed from their chest with no tools, using only the skills (sometimes mystical in nature) of an adversary. Fans of the Mortal Kombat franchise take note: long before Kano was rippin’ hearts out, Mola Ram was doing it…and with better fashion sense, to boot!

And while it SEEMS like the realm of pure (if icky) fantasy, it’s still worth breaking down whether any element of this gruesome little party trick has basis in scientific reality. And if that doesn’t quicken your pulse (sorry), we’ve got behind the scenes tidbits on what made it all look so good, how this singular moment helped force the MPAA to institute PG-13, and more!

Now, time for a little heart-to-heart with Tamara and Hakeem…

WATCH DOES IT FLY EPISODE 16:

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SUGGESTED VIEWING

While Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is indeed the second Indiana Jones movie, it’s actually a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark. That being said, we always endorse watching big franchises in release order rather than timeline order, because prequels tend to get a little self-referential. Watch Raiders first, then Temple of Doom, then the third film (which takes place after Raiders), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. These are the only Indiana Jones movies!

OK, not really. There are also fourth and fifth films, the generally maligned Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the somewhat better Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (the only film in the franchise not directed by Stephen Spielberg). Your mileage may vary, but if nothing else, Raiders of the Lost Ark is generally considered one of the greatest action/adventure movies of all time!

And for those of you who can sanction Jim Carrey’s buffoonery (sorry, a little Tommy Lee Jones humor there), Hakeem recommends an alternate take on the heart-ripping concept, as seen in Dumb and Dumber.

FURTHER READING

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations! 

Ancient Heart Extraction Rituals

“You have to appease those gods, so what better way than with human sacrifice! Don’t have a volcano handy? Take out their heart.”

(Hakeem references a scientific paper about heart extraction in Mesoamerica. We generally try not to link to things that aren’t readily and easily available to read, but in this case, the above abstract and this excerpt are the best we could do. But it’s so cool, we couldn’t pass it up.)

Consciousness and Organ Function 

While Hakeem throws cold water (or hot flames) on the idea that the heart itself can continue beating with no additional equipment after separation from the body, he briefly references the extremely grisly speculation that guillotine victims remained conscious after their heads were separated from their bodies. There’s further study on that, but we try not to think about it.

See also: Neuromuscular Junction

Thuggees

“While the Thuggee cult that they drew from was a real thing, they were robbers, they did murder folks, and they did all of this to serve Kali and did it in the name of this particular god, they did not take part in human sacrifice.”

The PG-13 Rating

“At the time this movie came out, it was rated PG…and there were a lot of parents who were taking their kids to see this…and then there’s this heart being ripped out of a chest, which terrified kids!”

See also: The MPAA website that Tamara references which confirms the Temple of Doom connection can be found here.

We also cannot recommend highly enough J.W. Rinzler’s incredible The Complete Making of Indiana Jones: The Story Behind All Four Films.

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

Ever wonder what makes the DeLorean in Back to the Future go? So did we! So we decided to answer those questions once and for all!

Twisters is in theaters now and we took a look at the science of the film, via the lens of the original 1996 movie!

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