Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

In 1936, archaeologist 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.

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers:

Lawrence Kasdan (screenplay by), George Lucas (story by)

Stars:

Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman

Top Rated Movies #47 | Won 4 Oscars. Another 31 wins & 24 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Harrison Ford	...	Indy
Karen Allen	...	Marion
Paul Freeman	...	Belloq
Ronald Lacey	...	Toht
John Rhys-Davies	...	Sallah
Denholm Elliott	...	Brody
Alfred Molina	...	Satipo
Wolf Kahler	...	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

Storyline

The year is 1936. An archeology professor named Indiana Jones is venturing in the jungles of South America searching for a golden statue. Unfortunately, he sets off a deadly trap but miraculously 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 Rene Belloq and a band of Nazis in order to reach it.

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Plot Keywords:

nazi | ark of the covenant | archeologist | indiana jones | egypt | 

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Taglines:

The Return of the Great Adventure.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English German Hebrew Spanish Arabic Nepali

Release Date:

12 June 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

Filming Locations:

Yuma, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,305,823, 14 June 1981, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$248,159,971

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$389,925,971

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Lucasfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby Stereo (35 mm prints) Dolby Digital (IMAX version) IMAX 6-Track (IMAX version) Dolby Atmos (IMAX version) Datasat (IMAX version) SDDS (IMAX version)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Steven Spielberg cast Karen Allen after seeing her in Animal House (1978).

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Goofs

When Indy first enters the Wells of Souls, the position of the rope Sallah is holding is at the lower part of hole but as he descends into the Well, it is positioned from the top.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Satipo: [picking up poison dart] The Hovitos are near.
[tastes the end of the dart, spits it out quickly]
Satipo: The poison is still fresh, three days. They're following us.
Barranca: If they knew we were here, they would have killed us already.

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Crazy Credits

The mountain in the Paramount logo dissolves into the mountain in the Peruvian jungle.

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Alternate Versions

When the film was broadcast in HD for the first time on German TV in 2009, the film featured a new 5.1 sound mix. However, instead of using the old dubbing as the basis for the new mix, the film was completely redubbed. Except for Indiana Jones and Marcus Brody, all roles were spoken by different voice actors than in the original dubbing.

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Connections

Referenced in Aladdin (1992)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Classic bit of schoolboy action

In the run up to WW2 Professor Jones is approached by US Intelligence to recover the lost Ark of the Covenant in order to stop it falling into the hands of the Nazi's. With bar owner Marion in tow, Indiana takes on Nazi's across the globe to recover the ark.

The story is pure Saturday morning hokum, but it‘s all shined up with a great deal of professionalism and you don't notice. The main strength is the tremendous sense of fun in the film - not only is it funny but the huge action scenes are all edge of the seat stuff that are hugely enjoyable to watch. Be it the opening set piece, the truck chase, the fight around a burning airplane, the chase for a basket or the gory finish - it's all great fun to watch.

The performances are pretty cardboard and stereotype - evil Nazi's et al. but it barely matters. Ford is great - this is the type of undemanding hero type that he thrives on. The rest of the cast are good - Freeman and Kahler stand out with their characters. If it has any weaknesses then the lack of characterisation and plotting are the main suspects but I really think the flaws are greatly outweighed by strengths.

Overall a good action film for older families. With an old fashioned feel, a great sense of fun, plenty of laughs and fantastic action scenes this deserves all the good reviews it gets.