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 deadly powers.

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers:

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

Stars:

Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman

Top Rated Movies #54 | 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:

Indiana Jones - the new hero from the creators of JAWS and STAR WARS.

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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

Gross USA:

$248,159,971

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$390,133,212

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

All of the German vehicles in the desert chase sequence are replicas of pre-World War II German vehicles. The Mercedes-Benz 320 staff car is a Jaguar MK9 with a modified MK5 body; two were built for the movie by Classic Cars of Coventry. The cargo truck is a Mercedes-Benz LG3000 replica, built on a GMC CCKW. Gobler's troop car is a replica of a Mercedes-Benz G5 "Geländewagen".

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Goofs

Harrison Ford is driving a truck when a blonde man climbs from the roof and swings himself in through the open door widow kicking Ford to the other side of the cab, beats him up and hurls him through the windscreen. Theres a shot of Ford on the bonnet looking at the villain in the cab who now has brown hair. Ford swings round and is holding on to radiator emblem and another shot of the villain who is now the blonde haired man.

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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

Film ends with a man in a warehouse pushing a crate with the ark buried

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Alternate Versions

ABC edited 24 seconds from this film for its 1986 network television premiere.

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Connections

Referenced in 'Duel': A Conversation with Director Steven Spielberg (2004)

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Soundtracks

I am the Monarch of the Sea
(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

A blockbuster how it was meant to be

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?