- "You lost today, kid, but that doesn't mean you have to like it."
- ―Jake[src]
Jake[1] also known as "Fedora" was a leader of a gang of hired treasure hunters who retrieved the Cross of Coronado from a canyon site in Utah in 1912. On this looting excavation, he wore a leather jacket and brown fedora. When his back was turned, a young Indiana Jones stole the Cross and escaped across the Utah landscape on horseback and circus train. Jake and his men chased Indy with cars, and even helped Indy escape a dangerous situation in the lion car of the train. Eventually, after Jones returned to his home with the cross, Jake and his gang arrived at the Jones house and, with the assistance of the local Sheriff, rightfully claimed the salvaged artifact for his client, Panama Hat.
He admired young Jones' ingenuity and courage while attempting to claim it.
When he and his colleagues left the Jones' homestead, he placed his Fedora hat onto young Jones' head before walking out the door. Indy may have also based his future outfit similar to what Fedora wore.
In 1943, Jake and Indy reunited in Utah.
Behind the scenes
The role of Jake was played by Richard Young.
Early drafts of The Last Crusade alluded to him being Abner Ravenwood, Indiana's mentor.[source?] This can be seen in the final film since he is featured more prominently in the introductory sequences and has many closeups, not to mention the overall similarity to mature Indy. However all references to his identity have been removed from the final cut.[source?]
Jake's name is not heard in the film. "Fedora" is the name of the character given in the script and credits, but it is most probably the moniker of this otherwise unnamed character. In one script, Roscoe mentions the name 'Garth' just before handing the unearthed box to him. He appears in the Wolfgang Hohlbein novel Indiana Jones und das Verschwundene Volk (Indiana Jones and the Lost People) where it is revealed that his real name is Jake.
A few months after the premiere of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Richard Young returned to the role of Jake in a live performance for the opening show (which was produced by Steven Spielberg) of the 1989 National Boy Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia.
Appearances
- Young Indiana Jones and the Plantation Treasure (Indirect mention)
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (First appearance)
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade novel
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade comic
- Indiana Jones und das Verschwundene Volk
- LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (Non-canonical appearance)