Before John Rhys-Davies was the criminally underappreciated gem of badassdom that was Gimli, son of Gloin, he was the criminally underappreciated mountain of aptitude and virility known as Sallah, aka that fat guy you were mildly amused by in Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. "Hold on," you probably think at this point. "Wasn't the guy little more than a fairly competent comedy sidekick, good for a couple of laughs and the same number of plot devices?" Yes, he was, and yes, it is a crime.
Consider the backstory of Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir, the best and most powerful digger in Egypt at a time where the digging circles were pretty, uh, chaotic, even in real life. Only, he doesn't exist in real life -- he exists in the goddamned Indiana Jones-verse, where a mild-mannered university professor punches Nazis into chopper blades and his even milder dad is James Bond. That is the world where Sallah plies his trade in the most brutal digging scene imaginable, and rules it like it's nothing. While fighting Nazis on the side. And managing to avoid the two worst movies in the franchise. That's skill.
Lucasfilm
Note that this picture features both Indy and Sean Connery, and Sallah still manages
to look the coolest of the lot.
What's more, Sallah is an extremely nuanced character, unlike certain alumni of the franchise that I could name if I wanted to kick people whose careers are already at a "screaming at caged children in music videos" stage. He has a huge family, a vibrant life, a sense of humor that is far too nuanced for a bit-part character, and even a bad habit (his love of Gilbert & Sullivan tunes). What we have here is basically a heroic version of Tony Soprano, juggling his duties, contacts, and family life while fighting external threats (Sallah's Nazis to Tony's cops and opposing criminals) and trying to live his life.
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