Raiders of the Lost Ark
| Raiders of the Lost Ark | |
|---|---|
| File:Raidersdvd.jpg | |
| Directed by | Steven Spielberg |
| Written by | George Lucas, Philip Kaufman, Lawrence Kasdan |
| Produced by | Howard Kazanjian, George Lucas, Frank Marshall |
| Starring | Harrison Ford Karen Allen |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date | 12 June 1981 |
Running time | 115 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20,000,000 |
Raiders of the Lost Ark, also known as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, is a film released by Paramount Pictures in 1981. Directed by Steven Spielberg, it is a fantasy adventure and the first released, though the twenty-fourth, chronologically, in a series of film and TV productions about the adventures of the heroic fictional archaeologist Indiana Jones.
Plot summary
The story introduces us to archaeologist, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford). Jones is a professor of archeology and also acquires artifacts for Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott), who works for a museum. On his adventure in the film, he is accompanied by Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and Sallah (John Rhys-Davies). His adversary is Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman).
Set in 1936, the story begins with Jones's journey into the South American jungle with a few local guides to find a hidden temple that houses a golden idol head. Jones avoids various traps, betrayal by both his guides (one played by a young Alfred Molina), and, in a memorable and much-parodied scene, a giant rolling boulder that chases him out of the temple. Waiting for him outside is his old enemy, French archaeologist Rene Belloq, and a small army of natives. Belloq steals the idol from Jones, who barely escapes in his nearby float plane.
Back at the American university where he teaches, two US Army intelligence men explain to Jones and Brody that a secret, cryptic Nazi message mentions a Prof. Ravenwood being under the scrutiny of German intelligence. Jones, a former student of Ravenwood, interprets the message as an indication that the Nazis are close to finding the Ark of the Covenant — a golden chest that held the remnants of the original Ten Commandments. Legends imply that Hitler could use the Ark to render his army invincible.
The Germans believe that Ravenwood has the headpiece of the Staff of Ra needed to pinpoint the Ark's resting place. The headpiece is a golden disk that, when affixed to the top of a staff of a specific height, focuses a beam of sunlight on to a model of the ancient Egyptian city Tanis and thus reveals the Ark's location. According to Ravenwood, the Pharaoh Shishaq stole the Ark from Jerusalem and hid it in the Well of Souls, in Tanis, before the city was consumed by a sandstorm.
Jones flies to snowy, mountainous Nepal to speak with Marion Ravenwood, the professor's tough-minded and independent daughter, only to find that her father died and that she's reluctant to part with the headpiece. A Nazi agent named Toht who has followed Jones to Marion tries to take the piece from her by threatening her with a hot iron. Marion teams up with Jones, following a fiery shootout between him and Toht's hired thugs which results in Marion's tavern being burned to the ground. During the gunfight Toht briefly seizes the medallion which had been lying in a nearby nest of flame. The object burns its image into his hand.
Jones and Marion fly to Cairo and meet Jones's friend Sallah, a skilled Egyptian digger and archaeologist, to find help in decoding the markings in the headpiece that specify the height of the staff needed to hold the headpiece. While touring Cairo's markets, Marion and Jones are chased by hired swordsmen. Nazi operatives grab Marion and throw her in a truck, but the vehicle crashes and explodes when Jones shoots the driver with his pistol. Assuming that Marion was killed in the blast, an enraged Jones encounters Belloq once more in a Cairo tavern and wishes to kill him despite Belloq's sermon about the Ark's wonders. Sallah and his children rescue Jones from Belloq's henchmen.
That evening, Sallah takes Jones to an old wiseman who decodes the markings. He notes that one side of the headpiece says that the staff must be shortened out of respect for the Hebrew God. It appears that the Nazis have misread the headpiece (since they only have a copy of one side's markings from the image on Toht's hand). Their staff is too long, and they are thus digging for the Ark in the wrong location.
Infiltrating the dig, Jones and Sallah use the headpiece in the map room to then find the Ark deep within the snake-infested Well of Souls. Belloq and the Germans, led by the sadistic Col. Dietrich and his assistant Gobler, surround the entrance, take the Ark, and leave Jones and Marion to die in the snake-infested pit. The duo escaped though a weak stone wall and arrive in time to see a Luftwaffe flying wing being prepared to ship the Ark to Berlin.
After attempting to stop the pilot and accidently setting the plane into a trundling circle, Jones gets entangled in a fight with a muscular soldier (Pat Roach) around the spinning propellers of the plane. Marion knocks out the pilot and fends off some infantrymen with the plane's machine gun while Jones hides his face when his opponent is torn apart by a propeller. Gasoline leaking from a refuelling truck ignites and destroys the plane, causing Belloq and Dietrich to put the Ark on a truck instead. It will be driven to Cairo and shipped to Berlin from there.
Stealing a horse, Jones chases the truck convoy. He manages to take the wheel of the truck, throw the passengers off the back, fend off the other support vehicles, and escape, all in a rather dramatic chase scene. Retaking the Ark, Jones and Marion depart from a happy Sallah and sail with it on a tramp freighter bound for England.
A Nazi U-boat with Belloq and Dietrich stops the ship and takes the Ark and Marion, but Jones, having hidden himself somewhere on the ship, covertly boards the U-boat. It docks at a submarine pen on an island in the Aegean Sea, where Jones steals a soldier's uniform. Threatening to destroy the Ark with a rocket launcher, Jones is soon convinced by Belloq to surrender, giving in to his own deep desires as an archaeologist to see the Ark's contents.
Marion and Jones are tied up and forced to view a ceremony where Belloq opens the Ark in front of a group of German soldiers. Strangely the soldiers who touch the Ark are not struck down, as would be expected, but are able to remove the lid. Inside there is only sand which appears to disappoint Belloq and amuse both Toht and Jones. The symbolism of the Ark containing only sand is known only to the director of the film. As Belloq ponders the Ark's disappointing contents a humming sound starts and strange and mysterious spirits emerge from within. At first they appear like angels and delight the witnesses but then they suddenly transform into hideous Angels of Death. Jets of fire and energy appear, zapping the soldiers through their chests and killing them instantly. Afterwards, Dietrich and Toht's faces melt, and Rene Belloq's head explodes. Jones and Marion are spared because Jones realizes that the spirits must not be viewed and shuts his eyes and instructs Marion likewise. The couple thus escape the wrath of God.
Later, back in Washington D.C., the two Army intelligence representatives tell a suspicious Jones that "top men" are studying the Ark, but in a dramatic irony the Ark is sealed in a wooden crate and stored in a giant government warehouse filled with countless other similar crates.
Cast listing
| Actor/Actress | Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Harrison Ford | Indiana Jones |
| Karen Allen | Marion Ravenwood |
| Paul Freeman | Dr. Rene Belloq |
| Ronald Lacey | Major Toht |
| John Rhys-Davies | Sallah |
| Denholm Elliott | Dr. Marcus Brody |
| Alfred Molina | Satipo |
| Wolf Kahler | Colonel Dietrich |
| Anthony Higgins | Gobler |
| Vic Tablian | Barranca/Monkey Man |
| Don Fellows | Col. Musgrove |
| William Hootkins | Major Eaton |
| Bill Reimbold | Bureaucrat |
| Fred Sorenson | Jock |
| Patrick Durkin | Australian Climber |
| Matthew Scurfield | 2nd Nazi |
| Malcolm Weaver | Ratty Nepalese (as Malcom Weaver) |
| Sonny Caldinez | Mean Mongolian |
| Anthony Chinn | Mohan |
| Pat Roach | Giant Sherpa/1st Mechanic |
| Christopher Frederick | Otto |
| Tutte Lemkow | Imam |
| Ishaq Bux | Omar |
| Kiran Shah | Abu |
| Souad Messaoudi | Fayah |
| Terry Richards | Arab Swordsman |
| Steve Hanson | German Agent |
| Frank Marshall | Pilot |
| Martin Kreidt | Young Soldier |
| George Harris | Katanga |
| Eddie Tagoe | Messenger Pirate |
| John Rees | Sergeant |
| Tony Vogel | Tall Captain |
| Ted Grossman | Peruvian Porter |
| Peter Diamond | German Soldier (uncredited) |
| Romo Gorrara | German Soldier (uncredited) |
| Barrie Holland | Archivist (uncredited) |
| Dennis Muren | Nazi Spy on the Airplane (uncredited) |
| Glenn Randall Jr. | Flying Wing Mechanic (uncredited) |
| Michael Sheard | U-Boat Captain (uncredited) |
Crew listing
- Direction: Steven Spielberg
- Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Alfred Molina, and Denholm Elliott
- Writing credits: George Lucas (story), Philip Kaufman (story) and Lawrence Kasdan (screenplay)
- Composer: John Williams
- Editor: Michael Kahn
- Sound effects editor: Richard L. Anderson, who included the Wilhelm scream in the film
- Producers: Howard Kazanjian, George Lucas, Frank Marshall, Robert Watts
Production
George Lucas originally became involved in the project in 1977. Like Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, he saw it as an opportunity to create a modern version of the serials of the 1930s and 1940s. The early 1970s had been dominated by action films either with a certain gritty realism, such as the Dirty Harry series, or that were massive productions with huge casts and elaborate special effects such as The Poseidon Adventure. By contrast Raiders of the Lost Ark is comic book-like in tone, with a glamorous heroine, over-the-top villains, and impressive stunt work combined with moments of comedy. It was also limited in its ambitions as it was shot in only 73 days, the plot is rather straightforward, and there are only a few principal characters.
Lucas had conceived of the idea in discussion with Philip Kaufman who had worked on a treatment. In a "Making of..." TV special, Lucas said that the mental picture of Indy chasing the truck on horseback, in the style of a western hero chasing a runaway stagecoach, was his initial inspiration for the film. He told his colleague, "I want to see this movie!"
Steven Spielberg had expressed an interest in directing a James Bond film, but to no avail from EON Productions, the company that owned the rights to the character. Lucas convinced his friend Spielberg that he had conceived a character "better than James Bond": Indiana Jones. While on holiday in Hawaii, the pair worked out the basis for the film. At the time, Spielberg's career was suffering due to the expensive bomb 1941 so it was agreed that Lucas would produce and Spielberg would direct. A new screenplay was commissioned from Lawrence Kasdan. Raiders was conceived by Paramount Pictures as a star vehicle for Tom Selleck but he was not available due to a commitment to star in the American television show Magnum, P.I., so Harrison Ford was cast instead.
Reaction
The $20-million film was a huge success, easily the highest grossing film (earning $210 million approx.) of 1981, and, at the time, one of the highest-grossing movies ever made. According to the 2005 edition of The World Almanac (from Variety data), the first two Star Wars films are the only pictures released prior to 1981 that have out-earned Raiders.
The box office success of the film led to a prequel — Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and a sequel Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
In 1998, the American Film Institute placed the film at number 60 on its top 100 films of the first century of cinema. In 1999 the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
A fourth, as yet title-less, movie is apparently in pre-production for 2006. The Indiana Jones franchise eventually expanded to books, games, a television series, and even theme park attractions. (See Indiana Jones for more information.)
An amateur shot-for-shot remake was made by Eric Zaya. It was given some notoriety by Harry Knowles of aintitcoolnews.
Soundtrack
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
Raiders Of The Lost Ark is the soundtrack that is most notable for featuring the rousing and iconic song The Raiders March that came to symbolize Indiana Jones. The tune was composed by John Williams. The score also featured three other prominent themes: the grand yet mysterious "Ark Theme", a theme associated with Marion, and the loud, pompous Nazi March. The score would receive an oscar nomination for best original score, but would lose to Vangelis' electro-synth based score for "Chariots of Fire".
Tracklisting
- "The Raiders March"
- "Main Title: South America"
- "In The Idol's Temple"
- "Flight From Peru"
- "Journey To Nepal"
- "The Medallion"
- "To Cairo"
- "The Basket Game"
- "The Map Room: Dawn"
- "Reunion And The Dig Begins"
- "The Well Of The Souls"
- "Airplane Fight"
- "Desert Chase"
- "Marion's Theme"
- "The German Sub/To The Nazi Hideout"
- "Ark Trek"
- "The Miracle Of The Ark"
- "The Warehouse"
- "End Credits
Awards
Raiders of the Lost Ark was nominated for eight Academy Awards in 1982 and won four (Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration). It won numerous other awards including seven Saturn Awards.
Home video release issues
For its 1999 VHS re-issue, and the subsequent DVD release four years later, the outer package has been retitled Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. However, the title in the film itself remains unchanged, even in the restored DVD print. The newer video boxes of the movie on VHS and DVD are likely titled Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark in order to correlate with the film's prequels and sequels.
Video games
The only video game based exclusively on this movie is Raiders of the Lost Ark (Atari 2600), released in 1982 by Atari for their Atari 2600 console.
Trivia
- The gag where Indiana Jones shoots the sword-wielding assassin in the market was improvised on the set. Harrison Ford had been suffering from dysentery and exhaustion due to the extreme heat of Tunisia during filming. As originally planned, the scene was elaborately choreographed, with Jones facing the expert swordsman and trying to defeat him with just his whip. Some footage of the planned fight was shot (and was seen in at least one of the movie's trailers) but the filming was proving to be very tedious, and at some point Ford had had enough. It has been widely reported that he said to Spielberg, "Why don't we just shoot the f****r?" Spielberg liked the idea, scrapped the rest of the fight scene, and filmed the brief sequence of the shooting that appears in the movie.
- Comic book artist Jim Steranko was commissioned to produce original illustrations for pre-production, which heavily influenced Spielberg's decisions in both the look of the film and the character of Indiana Jones himself.
- The scene in which Jones threatens Belloq with a Panzerfaust was shot in the exact same Tunisian canyon where George Lucas shot a scene involving Tusken Raiders attacking Luke Skywalker in his Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977).
- When Belloq is negotiating with the Panzerfaust-toting Jones, it appears that a fly crawls into actor Paul Freeman's mouth. In the DVD version, however, you can see it fly off at the moment it "enters" his mouth.
- Pat Roach, the actor who played the large mechanic with whom Jones brawls in the famous plane sequence was seen as such a formidable physical opponent for Jones that he returned in both Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in similar roles as huge, burly fistfighters.
- In the airplane scene, a drivechain can be seen turning the plane's undercarriage.
- In the scene where Indiana Jones is lifting the Ark of the Covenant out of its holding place in the Well of Souls, one of the hieroglyphs is meant to resemble Star Wars characters C-3PO and R2-D2.
- When Indiana Jones is breaking out of the Well of Souls, he shoves a heavy stone block out of the wall. The sound effects and shadow indicate the block bounced twice - on desert sand. 217.113.72.39 12:06, 9 February 2006 (UTC)
- The U-boat scenes were shot at La Rochelle, both outside the harbour and inside the U-boat bunkers there, built by the Germans in 1942. Filming was done here due to the need to obtain a U-boat to film with — the film "borrowed" the U-boat that was being prepared for filming Das Boot.
- The film was originally set to be rated R by the MPAA because, during the climax where the Nazis who look at the Ark die, there was a visual of an exploding head. After it was obscured underneath a column of fire, the rating was lowered to PG (there was no PG-13 at the time).
External links
- IndianaJones.com, the official site
- The Indiana Jones Wiki
- TheIndyExperience.com,
- Raiders of the Lost Ark at IMDb
- Indy-Net.co.uk
- The Raider.net
- Roger Ebert's Great Movies review of Raiders of the Lost Ark [1]