Indiana Jones Once Starred In A Wild '90s Super Bowl Halftime Show

The mid-1990s were a strange time, and one of the strangest things to happen in that era was a Super Bowl halftime show based around Indiana Jones. While there have been some other oddly themed halftime shows, including a "Peanuts"-themed show in 1990, the "Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye" show definitely takes the weird cake. The halftime show featured R&B legend Patti LaBelle in an elaborate temple goddess costume and jazz crooner Tony Bennett in a pretty standard white suit, singing a mix of their own songs and ending with Elton John's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?," all interspersed with a story about the Temple of the Forbidden Eye theme park ride, which was then set to open at Disneyland. That's way weirder than Katy Perry and her infamous left shark, and Perry's 2015 halftime show got its own documentary!

In the 11-ish minutes of chaos that form the 1995 Super Bowl halftime show, actors playing Indiana Jones and his love interest Marion Ravenwood parachute into the stadium, fight some opponents (including some with massive, living pythons on their shoulders), and recaptured the Vince Lombardi trophy from the temple. The complete "Indiana Jones" timeline is a little complicated, but I sure don't remember anything about the Lombardi trophy popping up...

Pyrotechnics and big, complex stages are standard fare for the Super Bowl halftime show, but it's pretty rare that organizers of the biggest night in football go to the extremes they did in the 1995 show. The stage was largely lit by huge flaming braziers and the temple stage itself is absolutely bonkers, with an absolutely massive temple guardian head flanked by two cobras. Not only that, but there were two very real snakes named Storm and Slither that appeared on their handlers' shoulders. It turns out that Indy isn't the only one afraid of the serpents, as Patti LaBelle was reportedly terrified of them and screeched if they got too close. (Why did it have to be snakes?!)

A lot of people tune into the Super Bowl just to watch the commercials, movie trailers, and halftime show, so it's fun when there's a spectacle. Just, uh, maybe not this kind of spectacle.

If you're looking for more information about Indiana Jones, check out /Film's oral history of the memorable climax of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."