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| It is no wonder why people want to travel. I think most people would like to see the world and claim that they have been to places like Venice, Egypt, and the Great Wall of China. What varies are the reasons that initiate the urge to begin with. Some people hear about the world through relatives and want to visit the wondrous places that their grandparents or parents saw in their youth. Some people have simple "wanderlust" and strike out because they know that there are new things to see and do. Some people just want the possibility of a little adventure. |
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| I fall into a combination of these categories. I have had relatives who have traveled and told me about those "far away places." I have had "wanderlust" ever since I lived in London. I have always been looking for a new adventure out there. The last facet of my want to travel is the result of watching a great number of adventure films in my youth. Listed here are the icons of the adventure cinema that have injected a sense of fun and excitement into my traveling and kept me from being the average sightseer. |
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| INDIANA JONES |
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My first and foremost inspiration. The adventurer I have taken my gear from. Indy was played by Harrison Ford in the film, Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981 and its two sequels, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Indy is the reason I spent most of my waking hours in Venice searching for the "library" instead of "oohing and ahhing" over the gondolas. Indiana Jones has ventured for a wealth of ancient treasures. In 1936, he captured the Ark of the Covenant, his most noteworthy find.
Places traveled: Peru, Nepal, Egypt, China, India, Italy, Germany, and the United States
Weapons of choice: Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector, bullwhip, fists
Quote: "I don't know. I'm making this up as I go."
Motivation: Fortune and glory. |
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PATRICK O'MALLEY |
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JACK T. COLTON |
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Jack T. Colton is the crass and rugged "hero for hire" in the film, Romancing the Stone (1984). Played by Michael Douglas, Jack Colton helped (for a price) romance novelist Joan Wilder find the lost and legendary "El Corazone" emerald in the jungles of Columbia while evading the local dictators and bad men. Jack Colton is also in the sequel, The Jewel of the Nile (1986).
Places traveled: Coulmbia, New York, Egypt
Weapons of choice: Shotgun and machete.
Quote: "Now I'm not cheap...But I can be had."
Motivation: $400 dollars ($375 in American Express Traveler's Checks) |
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Patrick O'Malley, a World War I flying ace and hero in the underrated high adventure film, High Road to China (1983). Played by Tom Selleck, O'Malley flies a rich, bratty socialite (with the help of his biplanes "Dorothy" and "Lillian") deep into volatile China to find her father in the 1920s.
Places traveled: Afghanistan, Nepal, and China
Weapons of choice: Biplane, aerial explosives, and the Lewis Gun
Quote: "You ever flown one of those kites before?"
Motivation: 60,000 pounds, British sterling |
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ALLAN QUARTERMAIN |
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LAWRENCE OF ARABIA |
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Allan Quatermain, the British explorer who scoured the Congo to find the legendary mines of King Solomon. King Solomon's Mines has been made into three films. One in 1937, one in 1950, and one in 1985. Stewart Granger's portrayal in the 1950 version is probably the most well known. The 1985 version with Richard Chamberlain and its sequel, Alan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987) are laughable at best. I grew up with Stewart Granger.
Places ventured: Africa
Weapons of choice: Rifle
Quote: "Here's where the fun begins."
Motivation: Enough cash for his son's education in England. |
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The famous T.E. Lawrence, the British Officer in World War I who successfully rallied the Arab tribes together to defeat the Ottoman Turks. Peter O'Toole played T.E. Lawrence in the epic classic Lawrence of Arabia (1962). |
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Places Ventured: England, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia
Weapons of choice: Webley MKVI revolver
Quote: "Nothing is written."
Motivation: "It's going to be fun." |
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| RICK O'CONNELL |
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ARCHIBALD CUTTER |
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Archibald Cutter, played by Cary Grant, is the two-fisted, fun-loving British officer in the film Gunga Din (1939) who wants nothing more than to find the fabled Golden Temple and get rich. Unfortunately, he runs into the Thuggee cult of Kali instead. |
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The former legionnaire turned fortune hunter, Rick O'Connell, is hired to escort two British archaeologists to find the Hammunaptra, the ancient Egyptian "City of the Dead" in 1926 in The Mummy (1999). Unfortunately, in their quest to find the Book of Amun-Ra, they awaken Imhotep, the lethal mummy. A sequel, The Mummy Returns, brought Rick O'Connell back to the big screen with Brendan Fraser reprising his original role, but unfortunately, the film was wholly inferior.
Places ventured: Egypt and England
Weapons of choice: Revolvers, shotgun, and dynamite.
Quote: "I only gamble with my life, never my money."
Motivation: "You see that girl? She saved my neck." |
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Places ventured: India
Weapons of Choice: Saber, pistol, fists, and dynamite.
Quote: "Three hours from where we're sitting, there's a gold temple waiting to be sliced away and carried off in a wheelbarrow."
Motivation: The treasure at the end of the map. |
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| LARA CROFT |
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RICK BLAINE |
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Daughter of an English lord and orphaned in her youth, Lara Croft scours the globe for ancient wonders, mainly for her own entertainment and collection. However, Lara also tends to be on the moral side of the spectrum and has protected antiquities from wayward hands. Lara has traveled all over the world in search of mysterious treasures. The "original" Lara Croft appeared in the interactive video game Tomb Raider in which Lara seeks the ancient city of Atlantis. She also appeared in the sequels, Tomb Raider II, Tomb Raider III, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, and Tomb Raider Chronicles. Angelina Jolie portrayed Lara in the horrendous Paramount film entitled, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider which is best forgotten. |
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The mysterious and seemingly indifferent Richard "Rick" Blaine, owner of Rick's Cafe in the Vichy-held city of Casablanca in Morocco. Played by the now legendary Humphrey Bogart in the classic Casablanca (1942), Rick risked his life to get exit visas for a former love and her husband right under the Nazis' noses. Rick was formerly a hired gun in Ethiopia and Spain in the 1930s, "coincidentally" always on the anti-Fascist side. He always claimed neutrality, but some of his "closer" acquaintances knew him better. |
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Places ventured: Peru, Egypt, England, Atlantis, China, Tibet, India, South Pacific, USA, Antarctica, Italy.
Weapons of choice: Double semi-automatic pistols, nickel plated.
Quote: "You people need to learn some manners. Tell me now or you've just run out of time!"
Motivation: Personal satisfaction (though I also speculate a certain amount of boredom as well) |
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Places ventured: Morocco, Ethiopia, Spain, France
Weapons of choice: Revolver (and a good dose of publicly displayed neutrality)
Quote: "I don't mind a parasite. I object a cut-rate one."
Motivation: Ilsa, and a little bit of a conscience. |
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HARRY STEELE |
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| Played by Charlton Heston, Harry Steele is the fortune hunter in Secret of the Incas (1954) who goes deep within the jungles of Peru to find the lost Sunburst, hidden ages ago by the mysterious Incan people. |
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Places ventured: Peru
Weapons of choice: Revolver
Quote: "It matters to me 'cause my name's Harry...And I'm bigger than you."
Motivation: Astronomical value of a solid gold Incan treasure. |
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