Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Released June 12, 1981

Story by George Lucas & Philip Kaufman

Screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan

Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB

"In 1936, archeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before Adolf Hitler's Nazis can obtain its awesome powers."

One of the first things that I find really interesting about this movie is the title. I didn't realize this until I went on IMDB to get some info, but this movie is only called Raiders of the Lost Ark. If you Google it or look on IMDB that is all it says (even though the movie posters say Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark). I find this really interesting because the other four movies have Indiana Jones in the title. I wonder why the first movie in this franchise wanted to be known only by the Raiders of the Lost Ark? You would think as the first movie of a franchise that they would want the character's name? Unless, when they made the first movie they didn't realize it was going to turn into a franchise and they thought it would be a stand alone movie. 

Obviously, this franchise is an iconic and legendary one. And most of what I am going to be talking about has to do with the iconic scenes and the staples of this franchise. 

Let's start with Indiana Jones as a character. The thing that I love about him is that he is an ordinary person with the name recognition, abilities, and knowledge of an expert "superhero." You would think that he has superpowers or extreme training to be able to do what he does, but he doesn't. He isn't Iron Man hiding in a high-tech suit, he isn't Superman who has super human abilities that he was born with, and he isn't James Bond who is a secret agent with training in hurting people. The closest comparison I can make is he is like Kim Possible (from Disney channel). I know that probably sounds like a weird comparison, but think about it. She gets gadgets to help her, he has his whip and gun, she is trying to stop the bad guys from taking things, he is trying to save precious relics and pieces of history, she is just a high school cheerleader, and he is a college professor. Ordinary people, with extraordinary strength to get out of situation that a normal person wouldn't have the ability or drive to get out of. Their strengths come from trying to the right thing and keep the "bad guys" away from things they shouldn't have.

The other part of Indiana Jones that makes him iconic is the fact that there is only one Indiana Jones. In other franchises, you see many people play the same character because it is more about the idea of the character than there only being one of them in the world. What I mean is, there have been 8 different Batmans between movie and TV. There have been nine James Bonds, but there has only been one Indiana Jones. That is because certain characters should be a one time thing in terms of there legacy. Batman and James Bond has withstand years and years because in their worlds there is always a "Batman" and a "James Bond." They are not restricted to one time period or one actor, they are universal. 

One of the most iconic scenes in this movie is at the start when Indiana grabs the treasure in the cave and of course the boulder chases after him.

The reason this scene is the most iconic is because countless movies, TV shows, you name it, replicate this movement all the time. Some people might not even know that it is from the Indiana Jones movie, but it is used all the time. People trading out the treasure with a heavy sack or another item, whatever it is, it is replicating this iconic scene.

Since we are talking about the boulder scene, this might be a good time to mention how much of a cultural success this franchise is. Well, to put it in the simplest terms, this franchise has it's own ride in Disney! If that doesn't show you how big of a movie franchise this is, then I don't know what does. Especially, since this movie is not a typical "Disney" movie. If you have made it in Disney then you have made it everywhere: well at least in my opinion.

While on the topic of Disney, real quick, I found it funny that when the movie Tangled came out, everyone loved that she used a pan as her weapon of choice. BUT, Marion did it first! When she is running in the market away from the bad guys she grabs a pan and while we don't see it, we hear a hard hit and then the bad guy lands on the ground. Now I am a huge Disney fan, but Tangled doesn't get the win for this one. Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark gets the originality points for this one.

Speaking of the market place. It is not Raiders of the Lost Ark without that hilarious gun vs. sword scene. 

This moment cracks me up every time because Harrison Ford does it so matter of factly that it feels like you told him what to do. You know, when you are watching a movie and you start talking to the characters, "Don't go in there," "Run the other way," "He is right behind you," etc. It is like he heard you when you screamed "Just use your gun!" The part of this that makes it even funnier is that this part was not originally scripted. Harrison was originally suppose to have an elaborate sword fight in this scene. But during filming, most of the crew including Harrison got bad food poisoning, so he didn't have the strength to do the scene. So Harrison suggested to the director that he could just "shoot the sucker" and then this scene was made. 

Snakes, snakes, snakes. Hey mad props for everyone who worked on this film because I would never be able to handle being around that many snakes. I was getting itchy and uncomfortable just from watching all the snakes slither around. Eww. Turns out, during filming, a python latched itself onto the First Assistant Director and he had to have someone grab the tail and snap the snake off in order to get the snake to stop bitting him. No thank you. Don't sign me up for that movie.

The final thing that needs to be noted in this movie is the soundtrack. I think sometimes the soundtracks of movies are overlooked more than they should be. The soundtracks set the scenes and the emotions. In this movie's case, the soundtrack is part of the franchise. It is Indiana's theme music, his anthem, whatever you want to call it. I bet you that most grown adults could hear the lead track of this franchise and will be able to name Indiana Jones right away with only the music. When you have a soundtrack that is able to describe a whole movie or franchise then you have hit gold. A similar soundtrack that does this is the final song in The Breakfast Club. You hear that and everyone knows what movie it is from. 

Indiana: "Meet me at Omar's. Be ready for me. I'm going after that truck."

Sallah: "How?"

Indiana: "I don't know, I'm making this up as I go!"