Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, and John Rhys-Davies with Alfred Molina
Grade: Classic

Despite what the smart aleks out there would like people to believe, the commonly used joke from The Big Bang Theory is nothing more than that, a joke. Without Indiana Jones intervening, the Nazis didn’t know where Abner was, so they didn’t know where Marion was as a result. Jones was the one who found her and they followed him. He is the who got the headpiece for the Staff of Ra and actually found the Well of Souls. Without it, they would have just continuously dug, going off of Belloq’s wrong calculations that he got from Tohl’s burned hand from grabbing the medallion. So, credit is given to The Big Bang Theory for a solid joke as far as nerd-based sitcoms go, but don’t be an idiot and take it as an undisputed fact because it’s not. This screenplay covered all its bases.

Summary

In South America in 1936, American archeologist Indiana Jones (Ford) leads a small group through the jungle. He takes a dart out of the tree and touches its tip before letting it fall. Satipo (Molina) grabs the dart and deduces that the Hovitos tribe are near and are following them. He also realizes the poison on the dart is still fresh and only three days old. The other guy argues that the Horvitos would have killed them already if they knew they were there. Jones gestures for the other pieces of the torn map, so Satipo hands it over to him. While he looks at it, the other guy cocks his gun. Jones can hear it. In a flash, he turns and uses his bullwhip to grab the gun and throw it into the nearby river. The guy runs off. Moving on, Jones leads Satipo to the temple mere steps away. Jones knows they are in the right spot where Forrestal cashed in. As he puts sand into a small bag, he details how Forrestal was a competitor of his that was very good. Referring to the temple they are about to walk in, Satipo tells Jones that no one has come out of there alive. Even so, Jones leads him inside. Satipo notes the giant spiders on Jones’s back, but he doesn’t freak out. He just calmly uses his whip to brush them off. He turns Satipo around and sees even more spiders on him, so Jones uses his whip to do the same to Satipo. They get in further, and Jones has him stop. He warns him to stay away from the light that is shining into the room. To test the booby trap set in place, Jones flashes his hand where the sunlight is and a spiked fence comes through the wall in front of him, prompting Satipo to yell. A skeleton is already dead and stuck into it, as he clearly fell for the trap. Jones takes one look at the skeleton and realizes it’s Forrestal. Next, there is a giant gap in the pathway, so Jones uses his whip to swing from one side to the other by latching it onto the branch above them. He swings it back for Satipo to use to get across. He does, but he almost falls after the branch lowers due to his weight.

Jones grabs him by the belt and helps him to safety. They get into the main room and see the Golden Idol on a pedestal. Satipo thinks there’s nothing to fear here and goes to walk, so Jones has to stop him and shove him against the wall. He knows it can’t be this easy. He grabs a post and uses it press down on a covered button on the stone by their feet. Once the button is pressed, a dart shoots out of a column and straight into the post Jones is holding. Jones just hands it over to Satipo. Telling Satipo to wait at the doorway, Jones carefully steps all the way to where the Golden Idol is. Examining it, he takes out the bag of sand he made before walking in. Looking at the idol, he weighs the sand in his head and takes some out of the bag. Next, he switches the idol for the bag to maintain the weight the idol has on its pedestal, in an effort to not set off any more booby traps. At first, he thinks he did it safely, but the platform the sandbag is on lowers, and the rumblings are heard right after. The rocks inside the temple begin to fall. Both realize they are in for trouble and make a run for it. Jones runs across the floor and just narrowly escapes all of the darts and rock booby traps in the walls. Satipo uses the whip to swing over the gap. Jones gets near the gap and calls for the whip, but Satipo wants the idol first. The door is slowly closing, so there is no time to argue. Jones throws him the idol, but Satipo backstabs him by leaving the whip there so he can steal the idol for himself. Jones jumps to the other side and almost falls down, though he’s able to hold onto a branch in the ground. He pulls himself up, grabs the whip, and gets out from under the door before it closes. Just as he’s about to move forward, he sees Satipo is dead, as the booby trap fencing killed him. Jones picks up the idol from the ground and goes to leave. Just then, he sees the last trap, which is a boulder that is unleashed upon him. Jones sprints out of the temple to elude the giant boulder and jumps out just in time. Unfortunately, the Hovito tribe is there waiting for him. They killed the guy from earlier.

Rival archaeologist René Belloq (Paul Freeman) appears and talks trash to Jones about how there is nothing Jones can possess that he can’t take away. As Jones hands over his gun, Belloq tells him that he chose the wrong friends and how it will cost him, demanding the idol. Jones comments how it’s too bad the Hovitos don’t know Belloq the way he does. Belloq jokes that he could warn them, if only he spoke Horvitos. Belloq holds the idol in the air and begins a chant in Horvitos, leading the tribe to bow. Using this as a distraction, Jones takes off into the jungle and Belloq sends the Horvitos after him. Jones yells at his pilot friend Jock (Fred Sorenson) to start the engines on the boat plane since the entire tribe is chasing and shooting arrows at him. Jock is fishing until he sees Jones. Jones uses a tree vine to swing into the river and then he swims over to the boat plane. They just barely escape. While in the air, Jones begins to freak out because there’s a giant snake in his seat. Jock tries to calm him down because it’s just his pet Reggie, but Jones yells aloud about how much he hates snakes. Sometime after, Jones is doing his day job, as he’s a professor at a university. His lecture is about the neolithic era. As he goes on, all the girls in the class are in love with him. One of the girls literally has “Love” and “You” written on her eyelids. She blinks at him and it distracts him mid-speech. What also distracts him is museum curator Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) entering the room too. Jones dismisses the class at the bell and goes right into talking to Brody as soon as everyone leaves. He tells Brody how he had the idol in his hand, but Belloq snatched it, which doesn’t surprise Brody at all. He doesn’t even want to hear the story, which is too bad because it’s a great one. Brody just comments how he’s sure everything Jones does for the museum conforms to the International Treaty for the Protection of Antiquities. Jones is still confident he can get it, as he knows Marrakech is the only place Belloq can sell the idol. All Jones needs is $2,000. He also offers some good pieces he got along the way.

Brody says the museum will buy them no questions asked, but he ignores the stuff about the idol. Jones argues that the pieces are at least worth the ticket to Marrakech. However, Brody moves past this and says there are people from Army Intelligence waiting for them. They knew Jones was coming before he did, but they wouldn’t tell Brody what they want. Jones follows him out the door but questions why he would want to see them.

In a separate lecture hall, Jones and Brody meet with United States Army Intelligence agents Major Eaton (William Hootkins) and Colonel Musgrove (Don Fellows). They note how Jones is a professor of archaeology, an expert in the occult, and an “obtainer of rare antiquities”. Once they get a confirmation from Jones that he studied under Professor Ravenwood at the University of Chicago, they ask if they know of his whereabouts. Jones isn’t sure. All he heard were rumors about him being somewhere in Asia. He hasn’t spoken to Ravenwood for 10 years, vaguely adding how there was a falling out between them. Making sure Jones knows this conversation is strictly confidential, Musgrove reveals that their European sections intercepted a German communique sent from Cairo to Berlin. Eaton interrupts to say that the Nazis have had teams of archaeologists running around the world looking for all kinds of religious artifacts over the last two years. Adolph Hitler is apparently obsessed with the occult. Right now, there is apparently a German archaeological dig going on inside the desert in Cairo. Musgrove says they have some information but can’t make anything out of it, hoping Jones can. He reads off, “Tanis development proceeding”. Immediately, Jones and Brody share a look. Musgrove adds on, “Acquire headpiece. Staff of Ra. Abner Ravenwood, U.S.”. Jones realizes the Nazis have discovered Tanis. The agents don’t know what this means, so Jones reveals that the city of Tanis is one of the possible resting places of the Lost Ark, the Ark of the Covenant. It’s a chest that the Hebrews used to carry around the Ten Commandments in, the original stone tablets that Moses brought down out of Mount Horeb and smashed. The Hebrews took the broken pieces and put them in the Ark. When they settled in Canaan, they put the Ark in the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. It stayed there for many years until it randomly disappeared. Brody says that an Egyptian pharaoh invaded Jerusalem in 980 BC and he may have taken the Ark back to the city of Tanis, hiding it in a secret chamber known as the Well of Souls.

However, about a year after the pharaoh returned to Egypt, the city of Tanis was consumed by the desert in a sandstorm that lasted a whole year. It was wiped clean by the wrath of God. Musgrove sees that they came to the right men, but Jones denies this. He says Abner Ravenwood is the real expert on this subject. Ravenwood did the first serious work on Tanis and collected some of its relics. It was his obsession, though he never found the city. Eaton admits they are suspicious of Ravenwood since he was mentioned so prominently in a Nazi cable. Brody assures Eaton that Ravenwood is not a Nazi. Musgrove questions why the Nazis would want him then, so Jones assumes it’s because the Nazis are looking for the headpiece of the Staff of Ra and they think Abner has it. Eaton is still confused at this part, so Jones talks about how tall the staff is and how its capped with an elaborate headpiece. He draws it on the chalkboard for them to get an idea. As he draws it, he mentions how the headpiece is in the shape of the sun with a crystal in the center of it. The idea is to take the staff into a special room in Tanis, a map room with a miniature of the city all laid out on the floor. If you put the staff in a certain place in a certain time of day, the sun would show through the headpiece and come through it to the floor in a beam form. With this, it would give the exact location to the Well of the Souls where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. That is what the Nazis are looking for. Eaton asks what the Ark looks like, so Jones shows him a picture of it in his book. In the picture, there are beams of light shooting from it. Jones assumes it’s lightning, fire, or even “the power of God or something”. Seeing this, Eaton is beginning to understand Hitler’s interest in this. Brody adds that the Bible speaks of the Ark leveling mountains and laying waste to entire regions. An army which carries the Ark before it would be invincible. That night, Brody goes to Jones’s home to tell him that the agents want Jones to be the one to get the Ark before the Nazis do. Jones couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity.

Brody also says they are going to pay him handsomely for the job. Jones wants to make sure the museum gets the Ark when they’re finished, and Brody confirms this as part of the deal. They toast. The Ark represents why they got into archaeology in the first place. Brody admits he’s jealous because he would have gone after it himself had this been five years ago. Bypassing this, Jones begins to pack his suitcase while he talks about how to locate Abner. He thinks he knows where to start, though he stops for a moment once he questions if Marion (Allen) will still be with him. Brody deems it possible but adds that Marion is the least of his worries right now. Man has been searching for the Lost Ark for 3,000 years. It can’t be taken lightly. No one knows its secrets and it’s like nothing Jones has gone after before. Jones laughs at Brody trying to scare him off, pointing out how he doesn’t believe in magic, superstitions, or hocus pocus. He’s comments how he’s going after a find for incredible historical significance and Brody is talking about the Boogeyman. Besides, he’s a cautious fellow regardless. Part of his packing involves Jones packing his gun. With this, Jones takes a flight to Nepal and puts his signature fedora over his eyes to sleep almost as soon as he gets on the plane. Unbeknownst to him, Gestapo agent Major Arnold Tohl (Ronald Lacey) is also on the plane observing him. In Nepal, Marion is in a bar and has a drinking contest with a heavy-set man. Everyone in the bar is betting money on it. Though Marion nearly drops, she manages to beat the guy. Once everyone heads out right after, Jones walks in. She smiles seeing him. She knew he’d come back walking through her door eventually, as it was inevitable. She asks what he’s doing in Nepal, which is a fair question. As Jones mentions how he needs one of the pieces her father Abnel collected, she punches him in the face. Marion said she learned to hate Jones over the last 10 years. Jones says he never meant to hurt her, but she goes on about how she was a child and was in love. She notes how it was wrong and he knew it, but Jones argues that Marion knew exactly what she was doing. She says she knows now and this bar is her place. She demands he leave.

Jones says he did what he did, and she doesn’t have to be happy about it. Nevertheless, maybe they can help each other out now. Getting back on topic, he brings up again how he needs one of the pieces her father collected, a bronze piece with a hole off-center and a crystal. She knows it, so Jones asks where Abner is. Finally, she reveals that Abner is dead, prompting Jones to apologize. Marion again brings up what Jones did to her and her life, and Jones replies that he can only apologize so many times. An angry Marion tells him to say it again anyway while she pushes some of her shot glasses to the ground to break them. Once he says it again rather coldly, Marion goes on about how everyone is sorry, including Abner who dragged her all over the earth looking for his bits of junk. She’s sorry for being stuck in this dive bar. Jones ignores her complaints and brings up the “worthless bronze medallion”, wanting to know if she will give it him. She replies “maybe”, though she doesn’t know where it is. Jones thinks she could find it and offers $3,000. Marion does say this will get her back but not in style, so Jones says he can get her another $2,000 when they get back to America. He tells her its important and to trust him. When he smiles at her, Marion tries to hit him again, but he grabs her hand and puts the cash in it. He asks again if she knows where it is, but Marion laughs and tells Jones to come back tomorrow because she said so. Once Jones leaves, Marion sits down. She had the bronze medallion around her neck the entire time. It was just hiding in her shirt. While she takes it off to examine it, it miraculously fans the flame of the candle in front of her. She hangs the medallion on the candlestick and then puts the cash away that Jones gave her. Just then, Tohl opens the door with his henchmen. Marion tries to tell him the bar is closed, but Tohl details how he wants the same thing Jones wants. He says Jones probably mentioned how there would be other interested parties, but Marion replies that it must have slipped his mind. Tohl states that he hopes Jones hasn’t acquired it for her sake. She questions if he is willing to offer more, and he confirms while asking if she has it.

She blows smoke into Tohl’s face from her cigarette and tells him that she doesn’t. However, she knows where it is. Tohl wants to know where it is now and has his men circle her. Marion still tries to act tough by saying no one tells her what to do in her place. Tohl has his men grab her, and he pulls out a piece of iron from the fire. Just as he’s about to torture her and she’s willing to give up whatever information at this point, Jones reappears and smacks the weapon out of Tohl’s hand with his whip. It lights the curtain on fire, and Jones points his gun at Tohl to get him to let Marion go. Once one of the henchmen cocks his gun, Jones fires at that guy and it turns into a shootout. Marion is able to fight off Tohl and takes cover. Eventually, Jones shoots several logs out of the fire, and they roll out and set one guy one fire. After Jones shoots that guy, one of the barrels gets shot and Marion drinks the beer that comes out before hitting some guy in the head with a post. The bigger henchman gets a hold of Jones and slams him on the bar. Tohl uses the bottle of whiskey to set the main part of the bar on fire. As Jones is being choked over the counter, he asks Marion for whiskey since she’s sitting there for cover. She hands him the bottle, and he breaks it over the guy’s head just in time to get away from the line of fire that was coming his way. Tohl orders his guys to shoot Jones and Marion. Hearing this while he’s fighting the one guy, Jones is able to shoot his pistol in the middle of the struggle to take out another guy. Tohl takes cover behind a burning table and finds the medallion. He grabs it, but it burns his hand severely, which forces him to drop it. He runs through the door and into the snow outside to cool off his hand. After Jones takes out another guy, he comes face to face with a gun-toting henchman. Thankfully, Marion shoots the guy first and saves Jones. She notes how her medallion is in the fire, so she grabs a rag and uses it to pick it up. By the time they get outside, the bar is in shambles (“Well Jones, at least you haven’t forgotten how to show a lady a good time”.)

Marion tells Jones that until she gets back her $5,000, he’s going to get more than he bargained for. Holding the medallion, she declares “I’m your goddammed partner!”.

Jones and Marion fly to Cairo, Egypt and meet with Jones’s friend Sallah (Rhys-Davies). As they settle in at Sallah’s home, a monkey entertains the children on the balcony outside, and it crawls onto the startled Marion’s shoulder. With this, Sallah’s wife welcomes the monkey to stay, even though Marion doesn’t really want it. Jones can’t help but smile at Marion who smiles back. Jones sits down with Sallah, and Jones says he knew the Germans would hire Sallah since he’s the best digger in Egypt. Sallah considers his services to be entirely inconsequential to them. They have hired every digger in Cairo since the excavation is enormous, hiring only strong backs and paying pennies for them. Jones asks when they found the map room, and Sallah reveals that it was three days ago. He talks about how they’re all stupid, except once clever French archaeologist. Jones realizes its Belloq and laughs because of course this motherfucker is screwing him again. Moving on, Sallah says the Germans have a great advantage over them. They are close to discovering the Well of Souls. Jones knows they aren’t going to find it without the medallion and shows it to Sallah, asking who can tell them about the markings. Sallah knows a guy they can talk to. However, there is one thing that troubles him. If the Ark ends up being there in Tanis, Sallah thinks it’s not meant to be disturbed by man. Death has always surrounded it, and it’s not of this Earth. Getting into town, Jones walks with Marion, and Marion is holding the monkey. He’s not sure they need it, but Marion jokes how it’s their baby and he has Jones’s looks. He jokes that the monkey has her brains, but she says she noticed it because it’s a smart animal. Just then, the monkey jumps off her and runs away. Jones tells her the monkey will be fine and gives her a date to eat. Unbeknownst to them, the monkey runs over to a man with an eyepatch, and he goes inside some building. Two undercover Nazis stop the man, and they all salute each other, including the fucking monkey. The guy points in the opposite direction, and the Nazis acknowledge it.

All three men spot Jones and Marion walking downtown, and the Nazis gets some locals ready to attack. As they walk, Marion asks Jones why he hasn’t settled down and has 8 or 9 kids like his friend Sallah. Jones jokingly implies that he does, but she knows he’s lying, as her father had him figured out a long time ago. He said Jones was a bum, the most gifted he ever trained. He loved Jones like a son. It took a lot for Jones to alienate him. Jones argues that it wasn’t much. It was just Marion.

Suddenly, the locals hired by the Nazis attack. Jones sees them coming at the last second and is able to fend them off before putting Marion on the back of a horse-drawn carriage to keep her safe. When he uses the whip to fend a couple guys off though, the carriage starts moving. The Nazi and the eyepatch guy see Marion on the move and chase her. Marion jumps off the back since it’s moving slow and grabs a frying pan. One guy gets close with a knife, prompting Marion to run. She goes inside a building and smacks the dude with the frying pan when he gets in the doorway, knocking him out. She drags him in and then gets into the alley. Once she sees everyone else coming her way, she gets into a basket to hide. They all run past her. The Nazi monkey spots her, jumps onto the basket, and screeches at the group to get their attention. They see her and run back. Jones gets to the horse-drawn carriage and sees that Marion is gone so he calls for her. He gets back into the crowd but runs into a swordsman. Everyone moves out of their way, and the swordsman tries to intimidate Jones. In what might be one of the greatest cinematic moments of all time, an unintimidated Jones just pulls out his gun and shoots him. He sees the Egyptians carrying the basket with Marion inside and chases them down some alleyways. On one street, everyone there is carrying a basket above their head, and they’re all dressed exactly the same. Not having any other option, Jones starts knocking everyone’s basket down which causes a major scene. He finally spots the one he’s looking for and chases these two again. However, once he turns a corner, a man is waiting there with a machine gun and fires at him. While Jones takes cover, the two men put the basket containing Marion in the back of a truck. The truck begins moving, so Jones pops out and shoots the guy hanging off the door. Then, he shoots the driver. The guy crashes the truck full of explosives, and it blows up. Marion is dead.

Later, Jones has a drink outside and the monkey is with him. The Nazis approach Jones and walk him over to talk to Belloq in a restaurant. Jones wants to kill him right there and doesn’t think the Arabs in the room would care. Knowing why he’s mad, Belloq reminds Jones that he’s not the one who brought Marion into this. He has Jones sit down and comments how his taste in friends remains consistent, referring to the monkey. Belloq talks about how things are going to end between them and how he may need to find a new adversary closer to his level. Jones replies to check the local sewer. Belloq bypasses this to talk about how similar they are, how archaeology is their religion, how they have fallen from the purer faith, how their methods aren’t much different, and that he considers himself a shadowy reflection of Jones. Belloq argues that it would take only a nudge to make Jones like him. Using a $10 pocket watch as an example, he deems it worthless. However, if he were to bury it in the sand for 1,000 years it becomes priceless like the Ark. Men will kill for it, men like himself and Jones. An agitated Jones refusing to make eye contact and looking ahead, he points out how Belloq’s boss Hitler is just waiting to take possession. Belloq states that this will all happen in good time, when he’s finished with it. He goes on about how the Ark is a transmitter, a radio for speaking to God and it’s within his reach. Finally looking at him, Jones asks if he wants to talk to God and suggests they go see him together because he has nothing better to do. Jones shoves the table forward and goes to grab his gun. Unfortunately, every Arab in the place pulls out a rife and points it at Jones. Thankfully, all of Sallah’s kids enter the room and hug Jones and take him outside. This stops everyone from firing, and Belloq lets him know that it will take more than children to save him next time. On the way out, Jones grabs the monkey. Outside, Sallah is there to greet him, as he luckily assumed where Jones would be. Jones helps the kids into the truck and tells Sallah that Marion is dead. He knows. Meanwhile, the monkey is in the front seat and looks at the eyepatch guy from a distance. He gestures to the monkey to lay low, so he does. Even so, Sallah says he has a lot to tell him. First, they will take the kids home. Then, he will take Jones to the Old Man.

At the Old Man’s shop, the eyepatch guy puts a poison liquid on the dates about to be served to Jones and hides. At the same time, Jones talks to Sallah and questions how Belloq managed to get a copy of the headpiece since there aren’t pictures or duplicates of it anywhere. Sallah saw one with his own eyes, except around the edges, which were rougher. In the center, Belloq embedded a crystal and surrounding the crystal were raised markings just like the one they have. Belloq and Col. Dietrich (Wolf Kahler) made their calculations in the map room this morning. When they got out of the map room, they gave Sallah and his team a new spot to dig that was away from the camp. The Old Man interrupts to detail what he found on the medallion. It says to not disturb the Ark. Ignoring this, Jones asks about the height of the staff and if Belloq got it from there. The Old Man confirms and says it’s about 6 kedam high, which equates to 72 inches. However, he flips the medallion over to show them that it also says to take back one kedam to honor the Hebrew God who owns the Ark. Jones realizes Belloq’s staff is too long because his headpiece only had markings on one side of it. They’re digging in the wrong place! Happy, Jones tosses the food from the bowl into the air because he’s about to eat it, but Sallah catches it before he can. He sees the monkey dead on the ground with the date next to him, so he tells Jones they are bad dates.

With this, Jones and Sallah have now been given time to find the Ark before the Nazis seemingly by the grace of God. Even so, this won’t be easy with so many people out there trying to get it.

My Thoughts:

Films like Raiders of the Lost Ark is why audiences go to the movies. It’s an adventure like no other and provided the blueprint for its genre upon its release, and that’s even with in mind all of the previous adventure movies and serials that influenced the movie in the first place. Through the two godfathers of blockbuster cinema in Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and the invaluable work of Lawrence Kasdan’s screenplay, these three students of the game came together with their wealth of knowledge and passion for cinema’s past to create a modern homage to those older productions while creating a new adventure that respects but triumphs over them all. It was a perfect storm and a dream team association that helped create one of the greatest movies of all time. By picking star Harrison Ford out of necessity once Tom Selleck had to back out of the role due to his television commitments and bringing in the greatest composer in the history of film in John Williams, what is now known as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark was an example of all the right pieces coming together as an act of divine intervention to give generations of moviegoers what would become their favorite movie or helped influence them in falling in love with the art of storytelling. Capturing the imagination of children everywhere and reminding adults of the movie “magic” they haven’t felt since they were kids, Speilberg’s once-in-a-lifetime adventure and franchise-starter is why we watch movies.

All of it can be credited to Indiana Jones.

The success of such a blockbuster is usually predicated on its star, and there is no one who clicks so seamlessly with a character than Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, arguably the greatest cinematic hero of all time. The legend begins with one of the most iconic character introductions in history, an expertly written sequence that instantly grabs the attention of audiences worldwide and tells us everything we need to know about the adventurer and professor. It starts with Jones stepping through the shadows of the Peruvian jungle, using his whip to snatch a gun out of a traitor’s hand and tossing it into the river before leading the charge into a temple. He doesn’t waste time or words. Jones lets Satipo and the audience in on just enough for everyone to get a full idea of who this man is and what he’s about. Without saying much at all, the viewer can sense his experience. Through his seriousness in his careful steps, filling this bag with sand seemingly inexplicably before walking in, and finding more uses for a whip that we could ever concoct in real-life scenarios in mere minutes of screentime, Jones engages the viewer with the increasing suspense involved in every one of his succeeding actions. Finally, they get to the main room inside the temple. They can see the prize before them, but Jones holds back the novice Satipo from stepping forward. Even though the Golden Idol is right there in all of its glory, he knows it can’t be that easy, especially considering the previous traps they just went through. What becomes a signature detail of the franchise as recognizable as Jones and his fedora, we get the first instance of the world building of Indiana Jones, with the hero having to solve a few puzzles enroute to his goal. If he fails, certain death is near. It all started with Raiders of the Lost Ark and has become a staple of the adventure/treasure hunting subgenre. It’s probably the best gift Raiders has given cinema as a whole and is part of the escapism of the franchise that we can’t get enough of, as each sequel maintaining this tradition of solving these puzzles and avoiding booby traps never gets old.

It’s the type of movie magic and fun that films have been rightfully trying to recreate ever since.

It all leads to the moment where Jones gets up close and personal with the Golden Idol, the first artifact of the series that Jones comes across that has lived in our collective consciousness since 1981. The visual of it shining in Jones’s sweaty face, as he attempts to switch it with the sandbag he created minutes before in hopes that it maintains the weight of the platform, so it doesn’t trigger the rest of the traps is a level of anticipation and adrenaline that no shootout or car chase could ever dream of accomplishing, a testament to Spielberg’s craft as a filmmaker. It’s just a silent moment of the hero switching objects without saying anything. It’s all expression, timing, and acting. Everyone involved is believing in the moment, building up the suspense to a fever pitch to explain the gravity of the situation to the novice viewer who is just walking into this world for the first time that these characters live in every day. Then, we see Jones finally smirk as if it all worked out, only for the rumblings to be heard immediately after and him having to run out to just narrowly escape all the traps set for such an attempt at thievery. In further examples of the world building of the franchise, audiences also get to see the real trouble Jones walks into in his treasure-hunting escapades. In this first 15 minutes, Jones runs into three antagonists who all try to double cross him for the priceless artifact, with the last one succeeding. As fun as it is to see the many traps and scenarios Jones has to figure a way out of in pursuit of his goals, it’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what he has to face. Though he’s not a white knight himself, the quest for these artifacts conjures up villains out of the blue who are willing to do anything for these objects and plenty of gray-area characters who seek riches, notoriety, or other selfish gains that can and will cost lives. In their meetup at the restaurant in Egypt, rival archaeologist Rene Belloq suggests there isn’t too much of a difference between himself and Jones. They both have a love for archaeology, their methods aren’t much different, and they aren’t very religious.

The latter is only further evidenced by Jones’s telling of the Ark of the Covenant’s backstory to Army Intelligence in the first act, which he somewhat half-heartedly speaks about the “power of God” and how he doesn’t believe in “magic” or “superstitions” when Brody tries to stress this part to him. Clearly, he softens his stance following the ending of this film and by the time of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade because his ability to find his way through the temple within in the Canyon of the Crescent Moon in Alexandretta proves he’s the “Chosen One” and he had to have some belief to get through the three challenges to get to the Holy Grail. Even so, he’s still not someone who spouts his beliefs because as a professor he has to deal in facts and evidence, so bringing such details up is irrelevant as far as the profession goes. Plus, some of the stuff spoken about in the Bible or the myths and legends that he comes across are inexplicable and can’t even be spoken about afterwards from his perspective without sounding like a religious nut or conspiracy theorist. The events of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull alone would make Jones the most famous person in the world if everyone understood what he went through, but the fact of that matter is that he would just look insane or be discredited by his many respected colleagues if he retold his accounts exactly how they happened without physical proof. This is why his speech to Helena about the Antikythera in the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is essentially an encapsulation of his life’s work and why he’s not living in fortune and glory in his older years. He doesn’t want to sound like some old crazy person detailing how he got to the Holy Grail or how he found the Crystal Skull because it would fall on deaf ears to someone who hasn’t lived it. So, he says he doesn’t believe in magic but vaguely adds, “A few times in my life, I’ve seen things. Things I can’t explain, and I’ve come to believe it’s not so much what you believe. It’s how hard you believe it”.

It’s a great way of calling back to how he managed to get across that bridge in a leap of faith in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade without having to divulge into details with the young, money-hungry Helena who has traits of both Jones and Belloq in her, with Jones finding his way into her life being divine intervention in itself to make sure she doesn’t become the new Belloq.

Still, Belloq’s argument is that it wouldn’t take much more than a nudge to make Jones like him, but this is where critical analysis of the protagonist comes into play. Though it’s true that Indiana Jones and Rene Belloq may be similar on the surface and that there is a race between both men to be the one to make these discoveries or succeed in grabbing the MacGuffins across the world first, the line between hero and villain is bolded much more than retrospective reviews have given Jones credit for. He’s not Superman in that he does no wrong in pursuit of his goals. In one startling revelation that didn’t age well, it’s implied upon reuniting with Marion in Nepal that he had a relationship with her when she was underage. There’s also an element of Jones liking the notoriety that comes with his job, which is something that plays into the prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. When Short Round asks what the Sankara Stones were, he refers to it as “Fortune and glory”, implying that this is what’s driving him. What these critics don’t acknowledge however is Jones has plenty of motivating factors outside of this, especially when he finds out about the child slaves in the mines in Temple of Doom because it drives him to stay and free them when he could have hightailed out of there once he got the stones. In Raiders, he’s motivated by the fact that the people of Earth have been looking for the Ark for 3,000 years and it could be the greatest discovery in human history. As an archeologist, this motivation is kind of expected. Why can’t he be partly motivated by this along with being lucky enough to being paid “handsomely” at the same time? This has to factor in at some point. He’s not a hired gun in the sense that he’s a mercenary and doesn’t care about anything other than the money. He’s a “hired gun” as he’s one of the best archeologists in the world and he’s being asked to help, his ability to obtain rare antiquities is noted by the government itself, and he’s an expert in the occult, which is huge here considering what they’re after. The job fell into Jones’s lap out of necessity and because he is the man for the job.

Even if he doesn’t have the extensive knowledge of the subject that Abner has, they can’t find him, so Jones is the only person they can turn to. With Jones already having a background in the subject and reveling in the opportunity is huge in convincing him to go, it’s still not just that. On top of him making sure that the museum gets the Ark when the military is done with it, a promise which is famously not kept in the “Top men” ending, it’s the idea that if its power is real, Adolph Hitler could make his army invincible. That is the threat at hand, and that is the difference between him and Belloq. Jones and Brody show legitimate concern when hearing how far the Nazis already are with their discovery of Tanis. It’s also why Jones is disgusted with Belloq working for the Nazis. Had he been working for himself, Jones would be nothing more than annoying with Belloq, as it would be just another chapter in their professional rivalry. Belloq is the one who took it a step further and sold out, being cool with working under Hitler just to obtain the Ark first, showing how he is willing to cross a line that Jones isn’t. Indiana Jones would rather do it the right way or die trying, which is why he can’t stand the sight of Belloq the next time he sees him as opposed to their crossing paths in Peru. Belloq doesn’t see it through the lens Jones does. He’s only looking at what it will do for him. Jones is the one who sees the bigger picture, which is why he can’t believe that Belloq has gone that far into the deep end for his own personal gain. Yes, Jones wants to be the one to discover the Ark just as well. His love for archeology and things like the Ark is what got him into the profession in the first place, as noted in the first act, but it’s not as simple as that. Jones’s role in all of this is what makes his role as the hero difficult. People have pointed to the fact that he had a chance to save Marion when she was tied up in the tent on the excavation site, but Jones is the only one who is looking at the situation objectively. Sure, from a cinematic perspective, the hero should save the girl who he thought previously died in a fiery explosion and beat everyone’s ass to save the day, but is everyone just ignoring the reality of what’s happening around these characters?

This is where Indiana Jones differs in being the intelligent badass that he is. He is about to get Marion out of there, but the reality of the situation is that the Ark is real, and they are close. This whole mission is depending on Jones finding the Ark before the Nazis. If he were to save Marion and help her escape, it would alert the entire camp of his presence and could get them both killed. We love Marion, and Jones’s eyes when he sees that she’s alive tells us that he loves her too. However, sometimes the hero has to make the difficult decisions that others don’t. He puts the gag back on her, kisses her on the forehead, and promises to come back to get her. With Ford’s conviction as the protagonist, the viewer shakes their head but can’t help but acknowledge that Jones has everyone’s best interests at heart. He’s right. He has to do this. In that moment of time, the Ark is more important. Don’t let hindsight fool you. They were far too deep into this mission to throw it away with an idiotic escape attempt mid-discovery. These are the types of difficult conversations a leader has to make. Rarely does an object supersede someone who would be the enduring love of his life, but the Ark potentially giving the Nazi army an invincible power does. He makes the decision and has to live with it. It’s a sacrifice that heroes have to make, and how can you really argue his point? On that excavation site, it’s literally Jones, Sallah, and Marion and an entire Nazi army and hired diggers. Jones is absolutely correct in his assessment of the situation. The dichotomy of Indiana Jones is also played with at the end of the second act where he disguises himself as a Nazi soldier and points the rocket launcher in their direction, threatening to blow up the Ark unless he gets Marion to tease everyone including the audience that it’s really about her. It’s why she smiles that infectious smile upon seeing him on that hill. Then again, how could it not be about her? Wasn’t Karen Allen an absolute bombshell?

Damn, Indy. Stop playing with her.

Nevertheless, after Belloq further details the difference between him and Jones unintentionally but hilariously by commenting, “Your persistence surprises even me”, he calls Jones’s bluff and challenges him to blow the Ark “back to God”. He knows that Jones’s entire life has been spent in pursuit of archaeological relics and he has a general thirst for knowledge and the discoveries of the past. He is just as curious as Belloq, and Belloq knows it because of their shared passion for history. He knows Jones wants to see it opened, how the Ark itself is history, and could have “treasurers beyond your wildest aspirations”. This is part of the fun, as Jones’s passion for this sort of thing, especially in the character’s younger years is his biggest flaw. The importance of life, Marion, and his family isn’t something he truly understands until Dial of Destiny. Here, he does love Marion. It’s why he was willing to attempt such a daring mission in the first place by hanging onto a U-boat in the middle of the Aegean Sea and kicking a Nazi’s ass to take his uniform to go undercover, but the Ark is something that will live forever. He got this far, and it’s right there in front of him. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. Everyone there knows it. The curiosity factor that a professor of archelogy is going to have is too strong to not want to see it through at this stage of the narrative. It pains him when he puts that rocket launcher down. It’s obvious, but Belloq got him because it’s just part of who Jones is. He’s human after all. He can’t help it. Despite the many feats he’s able to accomplish, he has many faults that are all his own and it takes him years to overcome such flaws in his character. Had this situation arose earlier in the movie and he had the weapon pointed at them to free Marion, he may have meant it wholeheartedly. Sadly, the fact that the Ark is right there in front of him and living history could happen in front of his eyes is much too exciting to barbarically blow it up without knowing what could have been. It’s a great scene that further complicates the details of Jones and what makes him this one-of-a-kind hero, the gravity of what the Ark is and what it represents, and the awe-inspiring, unforgettable climax that is one of the best in cinema’s history.

With that being said, Belloq already said his goodbyes to Marion when they tossed her into the Well of Souls with Jones. To his credit, he was saddened by Deitrich throwing her down there, as his closing of his eyes was felt. However, he went along with it and loudly passed it off as not being meant to be. Because of this, it begs the question why Deitrich decides to play hardball with Jones in the rocket launcher scene. He didn’t give a single fuck about Marion previously and even said to Belloq “She’s of no use to us. Only our mission for the Führer matters”. He tells Belloq this rather sternly in a dressing-down manner and even questions if Belloq still has the objective clear in his mind, raising concerns on his judgment. After all, Deitrich did note how squeamish Belloq was acting earlier when the idea was to bring Tohl into the situation after Belloq argued that Marion knew nothing and should be safe from interrogation. So, what changed on his end? Why is Deitrich the one that suggests they will refuse to give up Marion when Jones threatens them? Why should he give a fuck about her? The only reason they have Marion there is because they snatched her from Katanga’s ship when the Nazis stop them when looking for Jones and the Ark. Katanga tries to lie and barter with Deitrich that Marion has value with where they are headed and can bring a good price for them, but Dietrich just gets mad at Katanga having the audacity to make demands. Belloq chimes in because he wants Marion as part of his compensation and “If she fails to please me, you may do with her what you wish”, but why even have this hassle hanging over his head? Again, Belloq made peace with it already but he’s later able to get Dietrich on board with going to war with Jones over Marion? At that point in the film, she offers nothing but bomb pussy (probably). It really doesn’t make a lot of sense to take it that far with her, as much as the audience has fallen in love with her.

There are so many scenes that still generate goosebumps to this very day. Not to be that guy, but Raiders of the Lost Ark is the epitome of the phrase, “They just don’t make them like that anymore”. Scenes like a disguised Jones using the Staff of Raw in the miniature room to find the location of the Well of Souls and the joy that comes across his face when the sunlight shines through it is something that brings us genuine happiness. Then, you have unforgettable scenes like the incredible silhouette of Jones in front of the sunset while the team digs, the follow-up shot in the nighttime that looks like it’s straight out of The Ten Commandments, the snake-filled Well of Souls being Jones’s worst nightmare and seeing the Ark for the first time inside (“Snakes… why did it have to be snakes”), and the scene on Katanga’s ship where the romance of Jones and Marion hits its apex. Details of the beginning of their relationship aside, Jones trying to rest and Marion telling him to stop being a baby when she tries to help with his wounds was perfection (“Well goddamn it, Indy! Where doesn’t it hurt?”). The pointing to the elbow, her kissing it, and continuing until he points to his lips is about as cute as it gets. For the record, the callback to this in Dial of Destiny is one of the best scenes of the sequel. It’s everything we love about these two, their bickering and chemistry, and their on-again/off-again relationship that has been instrumental in winning over generations of audiences.

Something needs to be said about the expert simplicity of Indiana Jones‘ fight choreography as well. It’s basic but becomes an emphatic staple of the franchise. Even if it may be unrealistic, the punches having these loud sound effects makes each one sound more devastating than the last, and it makes the simplest one-on-one battles turn into heavyweight boxing matches of epic proportions. It turns Jones’s fights into these hard-nosed, drag-out wars with a lot of back and forth, but they are basic enough that the sequences could be copied by kids playing make-believe, letting everyone in on the fun. Not that this was the intention, but it’s just part of the adventure format and is why it’s a huge contrast from what classifies as a straight action movie or thriller. It allows us all in on the excitement of the fight and the possibilities of this cool, badass professor who can teach a class but have a shootout with Nazis and punch out an officer believably on the weekend. He’s not Jet Li, but he can throw hands and is the most resourceful hero there is, which is what makes him the most accessible and relatable. There’s something special about this approach that makes these Indiana Jones movies the inviting, if not death-defying action-adventure franchise that it is. Going along with this, the many fights and shootouts are excellent of course, but things like the truck sequence is somehow even better! Jones jumping from the stolen horse to the Nazi truck containing the Ark to take over driving while fighting the driver, nearly falling off himself, climbing UNDER the moving truck, and getting back onto it to commandeer it after using his whip to hang on to the back is something that will capture every kid’s imagination until the end of time. There’s literally nothing cooler than Indiana Jones pulling off such a feat in the nonstop, breath-taking, legendary sequence.

Being that Raiders of the Lost Ark is still an action-adventure movie, there’s a lighthearted, amusing tone at play that welcomes audiences of all kinds. There are a crop of moments that sit in our collective memories in regards to the humor just as much as the action sequences do like Marion falling into Jones’s arms when she falls of the statue, yelling at him and calling him a traitor, and then jumping onto his back like a monkey after she sees all the snakes on the ground. Another is Jones shoulder-checking Belloq when he’s in disguise as a Nazi, so Belloq doesn’t do anything, and Belloq’s on-the-nose hypothesis about why his calculations aren’t leading to the Ark that is the understatement of the year (“Perhaps there’s some vital bit of evidence that eludes us”). One that still gets us to laugh out loud other than Jones hiding on Katanga’s boat when it’s seized by the Nazis is when Jones is caught in the Well of Souls by Belloq. He goes right back to shit-talking Jones with, “Once again Jones, what was briefly yours is now mine. What a fitting end to your life’s pursuits. You’re about to become a permanent addition to this archeological find. Who knows? Maybe in a thousand years, you might be worth something”. Jones’s defeated laugh and saying, “Son of a bitch” to himself is hilarious. The same could be said at Jones’s authentic response of seeing the shirtless giant that challenges him to one of the best fight scenes of all time by the Nazi plane. He’s looks at him as if to say, “Damn it. Alright, I’m coming”. It’s that authenticity and relatability that Harrison Ford just exudes so effortlessly as the protagonist. It’s further exemplified when he’s told the Ark is being loaded onto a truck headed to Cairo and Sallah asks how he’s going to do it to which Jones replies, “I don’t know. I’m making this up as I go”.

How can you not love this guy?

Then, there’s Marion Ravenwood. In an effort to subvert expectations as the love interest, the ungodly beautiful Marion is introduced to audiences beating a large man in a sit-down, shot-for-shot drinking contest, which is funnily enough the most unbelievable part about Raiders of the Lost Ark. Even so, the transition from her closing her bar for the night and then the silhouette of Jones from the candlelight shining in her face and her smiling while stating, “Indiana Jones…” still gives us chills all these years later. As Marion Ravenwood, Karen Allen has this star quality about her that is indescribably charming. Though Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones and always will be, an argument could be made that Tom Selleck would have done a good job as the star. Before you start flipping out, we’re not saying it would have been one and the same, as Ford has proven he is irreplaceable as Jones. However, it’s not crazy to see what those executives saw in Selleck when he was at the top of his game in the 80s. What’s funny is that I can’t see anyone else being as strong as Karen Allen was as Marion. No one has that combination of scrappiness, beauty, a smile that could light up a room, a genuine toughness rooted in experience and believability, or a strong enough personality to meet Ford or any of the antagonists at that level and be as convincing as her. She really was one of a kind. How this didn’t translate to consistent work at the top of Hollywood for the rest of the decade and beyond is a massive waste of Karen Allen’s talents. Allen should have been in demand as any one of her actress peers of the time. How can you watch a scene like Marion trying to outwit Belloq as they drink in the tent, him trying to flirt with her, and her playing with him while planning an exit strategy before Tohl surprises them and not see how cool Allen is as an actress? She’s not just a love interest. Her acting depth, likability, and movie star charisma in Raiders of the Lost Ark alone should have carried her to greater heights in the industry.

Raiders of the Lost Ark isn’t just about Indiana Jones going from set piece to set piece, but it should be said that its set pieces are still some of the best in cinema history anyway. The miniature room and the Well of Souls design with the dragon statue are flat-out awesome. It does seem a little wild that Jones was able to shake a giant snake statue that easily with just his legs, but hey, a suspension of disbelief is expected with this sort of thing. That’s the only explanation we have for Jones holding onto that German U-boat enroute to the island. Nevertheless, these practical effects and set pieces are such a lost art in film, and Raiders of the Lost Ark as a whole is one of the best examples outside of the original Star Wars trilogy as to why. There is something so cinematically magical about scenes like Marion running into these skeletons on the way out of the Well of Souls before a fearless Jones leads her out, or the iconic climax where the viewer finally gets to see the terrors involved in the opening of the Ark. Maybe it’s the beauty of 1980s cinema, but there is something about it that is just so special. It’s hard to explain, but simply put, it’s scenes and moments like these that capture why we go to the movies.

Even though you know it’s not the end, there is a rush of sadness that overwhelms when Marion shouts “Nooo!-” before they cover the Well of Souls with the stone. It’s devastating, as to people like Sallah and Belloq who even closes his eyes because he did bond with Marion, it’s a permanent end to her and Jones as far as they know. It really does hit us with how it’s handled. It’s legitimately frightening and definitive in-context. Along with the threat of the Nazis on numerous occasions and how scary it could be if they are caught, the horror elements that are delectably “1980s” enhance the movie magic to push the movie into the annals of cinema history that very few films belong in. That climax can’t be understated enough. Even the visual of the blurred angel turning into a demon is incredible. Maybe it wasn’t for kids, but then again, Indiana Jones did warn Marion and basically everyone to not open their eyes because that’s what heroes do.

And for those that are mad at Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for crossing the line of credibility, Raiders of the Lost Ark was the first movie in the series and jumped directly into the pool of otherworldly exploits as soon as the swastika burned off the Ark in the foreshadowing moment on Katanga’s ship. Each sequel raised the bar in how far they were willing to stretch the imagination, so going down the alien route isn’t nearly as far off as fans like to argue. If the goal is to raise the stakes of each sequel to make it worth coming back to, Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny absolutely align with the many adventures of Indiana Jones.

Raiders of the Lost Ark makes us excited about the movie business, storytelling, and filmmaking. It’s one of the few films in existence that has everything without being too much. It’s gives you chills to the point where you imagine how awesome it would have been watching it for the first time in 1981, and it’s influence on cinema and pop culture as a whole cannot be understated. It was the beginning of a legacy. From the hero himself to the all-time theme song to the ominous ending that leaves us wanting more, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is a “Classic” in every sense of the word. Seamlessly blending exciting action, romance, humor, and genuine terror, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan, and Harrison Ford work together to remind us how special and impactful cinema can be when some of the most imaginative minds in the business decide to create something everyone can enjoy.

Fun Fact: As mentioned previously, Tom Selleck was cast as Indiana Jones but had to drop out once CBS greenlit Magnum, P.I. and he was contractually obligated to the show. Other actors considered were Jack Nicholson, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Nick Nolte, David Hasselhoff, Jeff Bridges, Sam Elliott, Tim Matheson, Harry Hamlin, Nick Mancuso, Peter Coyote, and John Shea. For Marion, George Lucas wanted Debra Winger, but she wasn’t interested. Steven Spielberg wanted his then-girlfriend Amy Irving, but she wasn’t available. Others considered were Sean Young, Wendie Malick, Remington Steele‘s Stephanie Zimbalist, and Barbara Hershey. Giancarlo Giannini was considered for Belloq, and Danny DeVito was approached to play Sallah. However, there were complications with Taxi and DeVito’s agent wanting too much money. Klaus Kinski was offered Tohl, but he chose to star in Venom instead.