George Lucas has not ruled out doing Indiana Jones 5, with Shia LaBeouf taking the lead and Harrison Ford playing a Sean-Connery style role.

This will keep the franchise going, but Shia LaBeouf? What happened to Indiana Jones being the epitome of the All-American hero?

Harrison Ford is — OK, was — a man’s man, in the mold of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. Shia? He’s the type that gets rescued by Gary Cooper.

George, let’s see how Indiana Jones 4 turns out before giving Shia the keys to the car. “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” may be five years too late and a really dumb name for a movie.

While we’re at it, George, why don’t you just leave the good you have done alone? Star Wars was fine with three movies, even the one with the teddy bear picnic at the end. Episodes 1, 2 and 3 may have had a moral imperative to be made, but not by you. They were too much, too fast, too badly acted.

Heck, you couldn’t even leave American Graffiti alone. There’s a movie that didn’t need a sequel, like “Caddy Shack” and “Predator.”

If you want to do the Star Wars films in 3D, go for it, George. If you want to digitally replace Howard in “Howard the Duck,” go for it. Get Robin Williams to help you, then you can redo “Hook” together. You can even re-image “1941” with Stephen Spielberg, if you want to.

Just leave the good stuff alone.

Yes, Shia can act and is funny, but he is not a man’s man. He is not an All-American hero. He’s the sidekick.

To whom? That’s an excellent question. Figure that one out and you may have yourself the golden ticket. It isn’t Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Ben Pitt or Vince Vaughn.

Perhaps we need an American-Idol like competition to manufacture the next American Man. Naw. If there was someone out there, we would know it. And he would kick major ass.