The Oxford resident and employee of Capitol Comics on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh can't wait until Thursday. That's when he'll go to his nearest multiplex, plop down his hard-earned cash and buy a ticket to see Harrison Ford back in whip-cracking, cave-excavating, epic adventure mode again.

In case you've been living in a cave, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," the fourth installment in the saga of archaeology professor and all-around adventurer Henry Walton Jones Jr. (that's Indy, to you and me) will be released in time for Memorial Day weekend.

Yes, the iconic danger-seeker returns -- and, may I add, not a moment too soon. When Ford stepped into the role in the 1981 movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark," it whipped (pardon the pun) the moviegoing public into a ticket-buying frenzy, as the $20 million movie ended up grossing $384 million worldwide. With Steven Spielberg behind the camera and George Lucas overseeing it all, "Raiders" was an exciting, enthralling adventure, a wham-bam throwback to the serials of the '30s and '40s that didn't treat the audience like dumb cattle.

It was as smart and witty as it was tense and action-packed, complete with a protagonist who was both heroic and human. (Who could forget Indy's response when he was asked how he was going to approach a dangerous situation: "I don't know, I'm making this up as I go.")

Gregory, 26, wasn't born yet when "Raiders of the Lost Ark" came out. He says he was more a fan of 1984's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."

"During the summer when school was out and everything, I used to go to my mom's cousin. She used to watch me during the summer. And she had 'The Temple of Doom,' and I literally watched that thing every single day, when I went to her house over the summer."

"Kingdom" has been a long time coming. The film has toiled in development hell for so long -- with everyone from M. Night Shyamalan to "Shawshank Redemption" director Frank Darabont to playwright Tom Stoppard attached or rumored to help Ford, Spielberg and Lucas flesh out the story -- that folks wondered whether Ford would ever put the fedora on again.

Though the movie is shrouded in secrecy (we're talking signing nondisclosure agreements secrecy here), this much we do know: Karen Allen returns to reprise her "Raiders" role as spunky heroine/love interest Marion Ravenwood. It Boy Shia LeBeouf plays her son and Jones's newest sidekick. And Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett is the villainous Soviet agent who headlines the Russian baddies in the picture. Basically, they are all in hot pursuit of this Crystal Skull of Akator.

While longtime fans are certain they will enjoy the latest chapter in the Indy saga, there's also the issue of whether younger audiences will be psyched to see some old guy, this Reagan-era relic, jump over things, especially since "Iron Man" is still playing.

Carolina Theatre senior director Jim Carl, who will screen a 35mm print of "Kingdom" at the Durham theater beginning Thursday, says that moviegoers -- both young and old -- at his establishment have been anticipating the movie's release. Carl said he thinks the 19-year wait since "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" has built excitement for the film.

"I've got a widespread excitement about this film from across the board," Carl says. "The last time I've seen something like this, it was 'The Phantom Menace.' Even though there was a 16-year gap since 'Return of the Jedi,' and regardless of everyone's opinions of the film afterward, everybody was excited to see it and it became the No. 1 movie that year. I think you're seeing something similar here."

New York-based film critic Steven Boone says kids would be nuts not to take in "Kingdom."

"I just dig that Spielberg has promised a return to the old-fashioned classical storytelling techniques of the first three Indy flicks," Boone says. "It's an opportunity to do for young audiences in the '00s what 'Pulp Fiction' did for coarsening tastes in the '90s: remind us what big screen cinema that thrills primarily through the three C's -- cuts, composition and choreography -- looks and feels like. Weightless, green-screened, CGI-soaked spectacles like 'Speed Racer' are more appropriate for the iPod screen."

But even if the young crowd won't feel "Kingdom" all that much, it's still nice to have Indy back, reminding those who do remember of a time when summer movies figuratively and literally gave you more bang for your buck.