In the movies, a big huge guy that Indy fights is essentially what it sounds like; Harrison Ford at some point in an Indiana Jones film fights a guy generally bigger than him, and against all odds, still defeats him. Usually with some ironic gruesome demise connected to their current environment.
Indiana Jones and the Giant Sherpa fight in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Each film in the series has a sequence where Indiana Jones has some obstacle which is blocked by the big guy, inevitably the two end up fighting.
Actors Portraying The Big Guy[]
- Pat Roach as Giant Sherpa Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981
- Pat Roach as German Mechanic in Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981
- Pat Roach as Thuggee Overseer in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 1984
- George Gray as Marlboro Man in Raiders of the Marlboro County, 1987
- Pat Roach as Gestapo in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989
- Pat Roach as Nameless Big Guy in Indiana Jones vs. Predator, 1995
- Pat Roach as Shape Shifter (Giant German Overseeing Mechanic) in Indiana Jones Beyond Thunderdome, 2001
- Igor Jijikine as Colonel Antonin Dovchenko in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, 2008
Former British wrestler Pat Roach was typically the go-to-guy by Lucasfilm when they needed a big huge guy. All in all he was utilized 5 times in the series.
Pat Roach[]
- Main article: Pat Roach
For Raiders of the Lost Ark, producers hired former British wrestler Pat Roach to play not one, but two big huge guys for the film. Due to a shortage of tall, muscular British men at the time, Roach was considered a godsend. He would later become the prototypical BHG, and the standard for those that follow him. A tight schedule in 1986 forced Roach to be absent for the third Indiana Jones film.
Indiana Jones and the German Mechanic fight about the Flying Wing in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
He was later replaced for the to-date final Indiana Jones film due to death. Roach is the only actor to appear twice in a single movie.
- Giant Sherpa is basically what it sounds like. He attacks Indy in a bar and they fight for most of the time. Interestingly this character is the only one to side with Indy against the Nazis, when Toht orders them both killed due to the stalemate in their fight. It ends with Indiana Jones clobbering him with a table. Giant Sherpa is also the only BHG whose death is never confirmed, though most people assume he burned to death as the Raven Saloon burned down around him.
- German Mechanic, the prototypical BHG, is a bald over sized German who tries to stop Indy from stealing the plane which is scheduled to carry the Ark out of Egypt. He spots Indy overtake the wussy co-mechanic from a distance and then boldly challenges him to a duel of fisticuffs. The fight seems to be going his way for most of it, but is then shredded by an errant propeller.
Pat Roach as the Thuggee Overseer in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
- Thuggee Overseer, his largest role to date, is seen throughout most of the second film in the background. When Indy leads the children's revolt, Thuggee Overseer intervenes and the two fight, eventually falling onto a conveyer belt leading to a huge rock crusher. Aided in his fight by the Marajahah (who uses a Indy voodoo doll), this fight seems more even handed as the two combatants share a series of blows with one another. Thuggee Overseer is killed when his robes get caught in the rock crusher and he's sucked in.
- Gestapo, the only BHG who is cut out of the film, was to fight Indy in the Nazi zeppelin. During publicity for the film, Roach alluded that Steven Spielberg was unable to satisfy his wife Kate Capshaw and in retaliation Spielberg ordered all footage of Roach cut from the film and destroyed. The delay caused the film to be late for its release date. Very few photographs or footage of Gestapo remain and are prized by collectors.
- In 1995, Spielberg was forced to hire Roach for Indiana Jones vs. Predator when the original actor died suddenly of a heart attack. Roach was brought on quickly and filmed his sequence in a week. Known only as Nameless Big Guy, he stands guard at the Aztec citadel where Indy needs information about the Predator's weaknesses. They fight for roughly 4 minutes until he's pushed into a giant fire pit and roasted alive.
An autographed still of Pat Roach as Gestapo in Last Crusade (1989)
- In the non-canon entry of the series Roach is brought back after the feud with Spielberg had ended. Roach had saved Spielberg's life by pulling him from a burning car wreck. Roach plays Shape Shifter who works for Auntie Entity and has the power to change his appearance. As an in-joke Roach's appearances are all based on past characters and thus is nicknamed by fandom as Giant German Overseeing Mechanic. In the last car chase, Indy and GGOM fight amongst the various vehicles until GGOM is accidentally run over by Auntie Entity herself. This role was Roach's final appearance in the series.
George Gray[]
- Main article: George Gray
George Gray was an American wrestler who filled in for Pat Roach who was sick in bed with the flu. At 6.9' in height Gray was an imposing individual and proved a good BHG for Harrison Ford.
- Marlboro Man is the personal assistant to main villain Lord Baron Stanley and engages into fisticuffs with Indy mid-way through the film. While Indy is trying to commandeer a river steam boat, Marlboro Man intervenes and they fight on deck while trying to avoid the ship from sinking. He falls into the paddle wheel and is drowned.
Igor Jijikine[]
- Main article: Igor Jijikine
After the death of Pat Roach, Spielberg and Lucas hired Russian-born actor Igor Jijikine to fill in as the new BHG for the last film. He plays a large Russian colonel who engages into several fights with Indy until his demise towards the end of the film.
Igor Jijikine meets a bad end in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
- Colonel Antonin Dovchenko is a Russian agent working against the U.S. to find the lost city of gold. In the film's opening he engages in a small fight with Indy before they are both propelled by a rocket sled out of the warehouse. He fights with Indy a second time in the jungles of South America, during a pursuit. Surrounded by siafu (which are being repelled by the crystal skull) he and Indy pound the ever loving crap out of each other until Dovchenko is finally knocked out, falling into the ants and then carried off (to be slowly consumed) into their underground nest.