Way too Late at the Movies DOUBLE FEATURE: Darby O'Gill and the Little People and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

My brother Albert is a fan -- if a fan is the right word -- of 1959's Darby O'Gill and the Little People. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's like with some of the things I take a shine to: They're just stupid enough that you can't stop watching, and by the time you figure out you're maybe wasting your time, there you are already done with the movie and thinking, "Well, it wasn't that bad now was it."

Hold on to that thought as I discuss first Mr. O'Gill, and then move on to Dr. Jones.

Darby O'Gill might be the first movie I saw though memes first -- live memes presented by my brother.

Lots of scenes like this, with little people dancin' about and Mr. O'Gill pretending as most actors do when called upon to play a musical instrument.

I'm not sure there's much of a story here: Darby loves to tell tall tales and doesn't do much work anymore, so a replacement is brought in. Good thing Darby has a daughter who's pining, and not after the lockjawed local yokel whose mother wants Darby's daughter to marry because why not?

A lot of this felt set up to give Disney practice with filming techniques that would later be used to better effect. Still, it's a silly enough film and story to keep you watching if only to see what happens next.

I do like the idea of miniature horses, though. Pretty cool.

Next, let's move on to 2023's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and the "Well, it wasn't that bad now was it" vibe I mentioned earlier.

Indy is old. So old.

I have to confess I haven't seen the entire film; I missed the beginning. But suffice it to say there are post-World War II Nazis about and they've found some hunk of junk time portal detector invented by Archimedes, heretofore best known for jumping out of his tub starkers and shouting "Eureka!" when he figured out a way to see if the king's crown was gold or gold-ish.

I think at the end they imply or say or I don't really know but Archimedes really invented the thing to find someone in the distant future who could come to the battle of Syracuse and do some rescuing. Maybe they do say it; the summaries of the film I'm reading online certainly do.

Biggest missed opportunity: That kid who flew the second(!) plane through the time portal should have said "Fly, yes. Land, no," when the lady (whoever she was; I didn't see the beginning or do the reading) asked if he could fly the plane.

Then boom at the Battle of Syracuse and the planes are flying overhead and the idiot Nazis in the plane, being idiot Nazis, begin shooting at everyone, thus ensuring that anyone with a ballistic-style missle weapon was going to start targeting them, making the grand plan of the Head Nazi to turn around and get out of there fail because the plane is hit and crashes and everyone dies.

Not the kid flying the second plane, who successfully lands the plane conveniently close to where Indy and the Lady land after parachuting out, and where Archimedes can find them. Who knew the airport in Syracuse was that convenient to the battlegrounds?

Indy, of course, wants to stay with Archimedes, who at this point isn't actually dead, which is what happened at the end of the Battle of Syracuse, but the Lady, fearing TIME PARADOX knocks him out and brings him back to the 1960s where he's reunited with Marion who brings ice cream but nobody really cares because oh finally the movie is over.

And wow, Sallah, you really became a cabbie in New York? I guess you do you.

Verdict: I'd probably watch it again, just for the sake of saying I'd seen the whole thing. But only for that reason.