'Indiana Jones' On DVD

"The Adventures of Indiana Jones" is one of the most popular film franchises of all time. Much to the delight of its fans, the collection will finally be released on DVD Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2003.

Jess Cagle, entertainment contributor and People magazine senior editor, has all the details in The Early Show's Home Theater segment.

Since the early 1970s Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have been two of Hollywood's most successful and influential filmmakers. So when they teamed up in the early '80s it was bound to be something special.

When "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" was released in 1981, it brought the excitement and adventure of the 1930s and '40's Saturday-matinee serials to a new level. At the time, Newsweek called it "The film Hollywood was born to make." Harrison Ford was cast only three weeks before filming began.

Spielberg says, "George and I went after Tom Selleck, and a man who became a very close friend of mine, Bob Daily, at that time the head of CBS, said, 'Wait a minute, we have a series commitment with Tom Sellek called Magnum P.I.' And Tom had a TV series that took him to great heights of fame and fortune and we had nothing."

Lucas, adds "And I said, 'Well, what are we going to do now?' And Steve said, 'Well, what about Harrison?'"

Which was lucky for Karen Allen, who played Marian Ravenwood in "Raiders Of The Lost Ark." She says, "For me, Harrison was kind of my guide. He was the flashlight in the darkness for me, because I could sit back and watch how he worked in this type of filmmaking, which is very technical for an actor an awful lot of the time"

For "Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom," they chose actress Kate Capshaw, (Spielberg's wife) who had made only one feature film before. More than 120 hopefuls had sought to play nightclub singer, Willie Scott.

Capshaw says, "I was like going to camp. We were with master filmmakers and they knew what they wanted and they knew how to get it and you just had to keep up, you just had to keep up with them."

By the time "Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade" was released in 1989, the creative team knew they needed to add something special to the mix. Indy teamed with Dr. Elsa Schneider, played by Alison Doody, to dodge Nazis on his quest for the ultimate treasure, the Holy Grail. Audiences also met his dad, played by Sean Connery, who in reality is only 12 years older than Ford.

Doody says, "For me the hardship was living up to the first two. So, the one great added plus that we had in 'Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade' was having James Bond with us. I think the third film worked really well because of the father-son relationship."

With the new DVD box set, not only will viewers get newly restored versions of the film, but a fourth disc including more than three hours of bonus material from behind the scenes.

A much different, yet just as groundbreaking, action film "Matrix Reloaded" hits DVD store shelves this week. The DVD has hours of bonus footage, including a behind-the-scenes view of a freeway chase.