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Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

 -  Action | Adventure  -  12 June 1981 (USA)
8.7
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Ratings: 8.7/10 from 399,640 users   Metascore: 90/100
Reviews: 668 user | 192 critic | 11 from Metacritic.com

Archeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the US government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis.

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(screenplay), (story), 1 more credit »
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Title: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

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Top 250 #27 | Won 4 Oscars. Another 25 wins & 22 nominations. See more awards »
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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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Ronald Lacey ...
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Wolf Kahler ...
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Barranca / Monkey Man
Don Fellows ...
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Bill Reimbold ...
Bureaucrat
Fred Sorenson ...
Patrick Durkin ...
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Storyline

The year is 1936. A professor who studies archeology named Indiana Jones is venturing in the jungles in South America searching for a golden statue. Unfortunately, he sets off a deadly trap doing so, miraculously, he escapes. Then, Jones hears from a museum curator named Marcus Brody about a biblical artifact called The Ark of the Covenant, which can hold the key to humanly existence. Jones has to venture to vast places such as Nepal and Egypt to find this artifact. However, he will have to fight his enemy Renee Belloq and a band of Nazis in order to reach it. Written by John Wiggins

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

The Return of the Great Adventure. See more »

Genres:

Action | Adventure

Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Country:

Language:

| | | | |

Release Date:

12 June 1981 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Indiana Jones  »

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,673,731 (USA) (7 September 2012)

Gross:

$3,115,115 (USA) (28 September 2012)
 »

Company Credits

Production Co:

,  »
Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(70 mm prints)| (35 mm prints)

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Alfred Molina's screen debut. His first scene on his first day of filming involved being covered with tarantulas. See more »

Goofs

When Indy is at home packing his suitcase, he is wearing a robe with a dark red collar and cuffs with some sort of stitched pattern. In the shot from above his shoulder where he pulls the gun out of the cloth, the collar and cuffs of the robe are quite different. They are a brighter red and they seem to be smooth with no stitched pattern. In the following shot where he throws the gun, he is back in the original robe. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Satipo: [picking up poison dart] The Hovitos are near. The poison is still fresh, three days. They're following us.
Barranca: If they knew we were here, they would've killed us already.
See more »

Crazy Credits

The mountain in the Paramount logo dissolves into the mountain in the Peruvian jungle. See more »

Connections

Referenced in Aladdin (1992)
Aladdin picks up the lamp similarly to how Indy picks up the golden idol at the beginning, and then Abu snatches a jewel which triggers the lava wave that Aladdin and Abu escape from. See more »

Soundtracks

"A British Tar"
(1878) (uncredited)
From "H.M.S. Pinafore"
Music by Arthur Sullivan
Lyrics by William S. Gilbert
Sung a cappella by John Rhys-Davies
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
A blockbuster how it was meant to be
6 December 2004 | by (Berlin) – See all my reviews

Nowadays we keep forgetting how beautiful blockbusters can be. Too much CGI makes everything possible and therefore very often also arbitrary. In Raiders you actually seem to feel the physical pain some of the actors/stuntmen had to go through to provide 2 hours of pure entertainment.

Of course the story isn't waterproof, the Nazi weren't that present in Egypt in 1936 and how did Indy survive that ride on the submarine again? But lots of good and variable action scenes are accompanied by a story that develops fast and excitingly and is always close to being implausible but luckily never is.

Spielberg, Lucas and most of all Harrison Ford created a hero that is nowadays iconic. With their attempt to make an homage to adventure comics of the 1930's they created their own legend.

It's funny, exiting, thrilling and romantic. What more can you ask for?


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Recent Posts
Hasnt stood the test of time enived-1
Question about the sand in the Ark? kyra-and-kimba-lee
Why did NO ONE notice this? A_Dude_Named_Dude
His Outfit? Velvet_Lion
Belloq eats a fly kingdc316
Distortion in Alfred Molina's Face on Blu-Ray? spoffy2
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