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This article is about the film. For the video game, see Raiders of the Lost Ark (video game).
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Original theatrical release poster by Richard Amsel
Directed bySteven Spielberg
Screenplay byLawrence Kasdan
Story byGeorge Lucas
Philip Kaufman
Produced byFrank Marshall
George Lucas
Howard Kazanjian
StarringHarrison Ford
Karen Allen
Paul Freeman
Ronald Lacey
John Rhys-Davies
Denholm Elliott
CinematographyDouglas Slocombe
Edited byMichael Kahn
Music byJohn Williams
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • June 12, 1981 (1981-06-12)
Running time
115 minutes
CountryTemplate:Film US
LanguageEnglish
Budget$18 million
Box office$384,140,454[1]

Raiders of the Lost Ark (also known as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark) is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first (chronologically the second) film in the Indiana Jones franchise. It pits Indiana Jones (Ford) against a group of Nazis who search for the Ark of the Covenant because Adolf Hitler believes it will make their army invincible. The film co-starred Karen Allen as Indiana's former lover, Marion Ravenwood; Paul Freeman as Indiana's nemesis, French archaeologist René Belloq; John Rhys-Davies as Indiana's sidekick, Sallah; and Denholm Elliott as Indiana's colleague, Marcus Brody.

The film originated with Lucas' desire to create a modern version of the serials of the 1930s and 1940s. Production was based at Elstree Studios, England; but filming also took place in La Rochelle, Tunisia, Hawaii, and California from June to September 1980.

Released on June 12, 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark became the top-grossing film of 1981;[2] it remains one of the highest-grossing films ever made.[2] It was nominated for eight Academy Awards in 1982, including Best Picture, and won four (Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, Best Visual Effects) as well as winning a fifth Special Achievement Academy Award in Sound Effects Editing. The film's critical and popular success led to three additional films, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), a television series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992–1996), and 15 video games as of 2009. In 1999, the film was included in the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry as having been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Plot

In 1936 archaeologist Indiana Jones braves an ancient Peruvian temple filled with booby traps to retrieve a golden idol. Upon fleeing the temple Indiana is confronted by rival archaeologist René Belloq and the indigenous Hovitos. Surrounded and outnumbered, Indiana is forced to surrender the idol to Belloq and escapes aboard a waiting Waco seaplane.

Shortly after returning to the college in the United States where he teaches archeology, Indiana is interviewed by two Army intelligence agents. They inform him that the Nazis, in their quest for occult power, are searching for his old mentor, Abner Ravenwood, who is in possession of the headpiece of an artifact called the Staff of Ra and is the leading expert on the ancient Egyptian city of Tanis. Indiana deduces that the Nazis are searching for Tanis because it is believed to be the location of the Ark of the Covenant, the biblical chest built by the Israelites to contain the fragments of the Ten Commandments; if the Nazis acquire it, their armies will be invincible. The Staff of Ra, meanwhile, is the key to finding the Well of Souls, a secret chamber in which the Ark is buried. The agents subsequently authorize Indiana to recover the Ark with the promise of displaying it in a museum. Indiana travels to Nepal, only to find that Ravenwood has died and that the headpiece is in the possession of his daughter, Marion, Indiana's embittered former lover. Indiana offers to buy the headpiece for three thousand dollars, plus two thousand more when they return to the United States. Marion's tavern is suddenly raided by a group of thugs commanded by Nazi agent Major Toht. The tavern is burned down in the ensuing fight, during which Toht burns his hand on the searing hot headpiece as he tries to grab it. Indiana and Marion escape with the headpiece, with Marion declaring she will accompany Indiana in his search for the Ark so he can repay his debt.

They travel to Cairo where they learn from Indiana's friend Sallah, a skilled excavator, that Belloq and the Nazis are currently digging for the Well of Souls with a replica of the headpiece modeled after the scar on Toht's hand. In a bazaar, Nazi operatives attempt to kidnap Marion and as Indiana chases after them it appears that she dies in an explosion. While deciphering the markings on the headpiece, Indiana and Sallah realize that the Nazis have miscalculated the location of the Well of Souls. Using this to their advantage, they infiltrate the Nazi dig and use the Staff of Ra to determine the location correctly and uncover the Well of Souls, which is filled with snakes. Indiana, while disguised, finds Marion tied to a pole and gagged with a knotted handkerchief. He reveals who he is and ungags her. He starts untying her, but realizes the Nazis will search for them if Marion escapes, so despite her objections he ties her up again and regags her. Later Marion is freed by Belloq. After Indiana fends off the snakes (by soaking them with gasoline and setting them on fire) and acquires the Ark, Belloq and the Nazis arrive to take it for themselves. They toss Marion down into the well with Indiana and seal them both in, but Indiana and Marion manage to escape. After a grueling fist fight with a giant Nazi mechanic, blowing up a flying wing on the airstrip, and chasing down a convoy of trucks, Indiana takes back the Ark before it can be shipped to Berlin, despite being shot in the arm in the process.

Indiana and Marion leave Cairo to escort the Ark to England on board a tramp steamer. The next morning, their boat is boarded by the Nazis, who once again steal the Ark and kidnap Marion. Indiana stows away on their U-boat and follows them to an isolated island in the Aegean Sea where Belloq plans to test the power of the Ark before presenting it to Hitler. Indiana reveals himself and threatens to destroy the Ark with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, but Belloq calls his bluff, knowing Indy cannot bear to eradicate an important historical artifact.

Indiana surrenders and is tied to a post with Marion as Belloq performs a ceremonial opening of the Ark, which appears to contain nothing but sand. Suddenly, spirits, which resemble the Old Testament description of seraphim, emerge from the Ark. Aware of the supernatural danger of looking at the opened Ark, Indiana warns Marion to close her eyes. The apparitions suddenly morph into demonic creatures, and lightning bolts begin flying out of the ark, gruesomely killing Belloq and the Nazis. The fires rise into the sky, then fall back down to Earth and the Ark closes with a crack of thunder.

Back in Washington, D.C., the Army intelligence agents tell a suspicious Indiana and Brody that the Ark "is someplace safe" to be studied by "top men". In reality, the Ark is sealed in a wooden crate labeled "top secret" and stored in a giant government warehouse filled with countless similar crates.

Cast

See also: List of characters in the Indiana Jones series
  • Harrison Ford stars as Indiana Jones, an archeology professor who often embarks on perilous adventures to obtain rare artifacts. Jones claims that he has no belief in the supernatural, only to have his skepticism challenged when he discovers the Ark. Spielberg suggested casting Ford as Jones, but Lucas objected, stating that he did not want Ford to become his "Bobby De Niro" or "that guy I put in all my movies", a reference to Martin Scorsese, who often worked with Robert De Niro.[3] Desiring a lesser known actor, Lucas persuaded Spielberg to help him search for a new talent. Among the actors who auditioned were Tim Matheson, Peter Coyote, John Shea, and Tom Selleck. Selleck was originally offered the role, but he was unavailable for the part because of his commitment to the television series Magnum, P.I.[3] In June 1980, three weeks away from filming,[4] Spielberg persuaded Lucas to cast Ford after producers Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy were impressed by his performance as Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back.[5]
  • Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood, a spirited, tough former lover of Indiana's. She is the daughter of Abner Ravenwood, Indiana Jones' mentor, and owns a bar in Nepal. Allen was cast after auditioning with Matheson and John Shea. Spielberg was interested in her, as he had seen her performance in National Lampoon's Animal House. Sean Young had previously auditioned for the part,[3] while Debra Winger turned it down.[6]
  • Paul Freeman as Dr. René Belloq, Jones' arch nemesis, Belloq is also an archaeologist after the Ark, but he is working for the Nazis. He intends to harness the power of the Ark himself before Hitler could, but he is killed by the supernatural powers of the Ark when his head explodes.
  • Ronald Lacey as Major Arnold Toht, an interrogator for the Gestapo, who tries to torture Marion Ravenwood for the headpiece of the Staff of Ra. He dies by the supernatural powers of the Ark when his face melts. Lacey was cast as he reminded Spielberg of Peter Lorre.[3] Klaus Kinski was offered the role, but he hated the script,[7] calling it "moronically shitty".[8]
  • John Rhys-Davies as Sallah, "the best digger in Cairo" and has been hired by the Nazis to help them excavate Tanis. Although he fears disturbing the Ark, he is an old friend of Indiana Jones, and agrees to help him obtain it. Spielberg initially approached Danny DeVito to play Sallah, but he could not play the part due to scheduling conflicts. Spielberg cast Rhys-Davies after seeing his performance in Shogun.[3]
  • Denholm Elliott as Dr. Marcus Brody, a museum curator, who buys the artifacts Indiana obtains for display in his museum. The U.S. government agents approach him with regard to recovering the Ark, and he sets up a meeting between them and Indiana Jones. Spielberg hired Elliott as he was a big fan of the actor.[3]
  • Wolf Kahler as Colonel Dietrich, a ruthless Nazi officer leading the operation to secure the Ark. He is killed by the supernatural powers of the Ark.
  • Alfred Molina, in his film debut, as Satipo, one of Jones' guides through the South American jungle. He betrays Jones and steals the golden idol, but is killed by traps before he can leave the temple.
  • Vic Tablian as Barranca and the Monkey Man

Producer Frank Marshall played a pilot in the airplane fight sequence. The stunt team was ill, so he took the role instead. The result was three days in a hot cockpit, which he joked was over "140 degrees".[3] Pat Roach plays the Nazi mechanic with whom Jones brawls in this sequence, as well as a massive sherpa who battles Jones in Marion's bar. He had the rare opportunity to be killed twice in one film.[9] Special-effects supervisor Dennis Muren made a cameo as a Nazi spy on the seaplane Jones takes to Nepal.[10]

Production

Development

In 1973, George Lucas wrote The Adventures of Indiana Smith.[11] Like Star Wars, which he also wrote, it was an opportunity to create a modern version of the film serials of the 1930s and 1940s.[3] Lucas discussed the concept with Philip Kaufman, who worked with him for several weeks and came up with the Ark of the Covenant as the plot device.[12] Kaufman was told about the Ark by his dentist when he was a child.[13] The project stalled when Clint Eastwood hired Kaufman to direct The Outlaw Josey Wales.[12] Lucas eventually shelved the idea, deciding to concentrate on his outer space adventure which would become Star Wars. In late May 1977, Lucas was in Maui, trying to escape the enormous success of Star Wars. Friend and colleague Steven Spielberg was also there, on vacation from work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. While building a sand castle at Mauna Kea,[14] Spielberg expressed an interest in directing a James Bond film. Lucas convinced his friend Spielberg that he had conceived a character "better than James Bond" and explained the concept of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Spielberg loved it, calling it "a James Bond film without the hardware,"[15] although Spielberg told Lucas that the surname Smith was not right for the character, Lucas replied, "OK. What about Jones?". Indiana was the name of Lucas' Alaskan Malamute.[3]

The following year, Lucas focused on developing Raiders and the Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back, during which Lawrence Kasdan and Frank Marshall joined the project as screenwriter and producer respectively. Between January 23–January 27, 1978 for nine hours a day, Lucas, Kasdan, and Spielberg discussed the story and visual ideas. Spielberg came up with Jones being chased by a boulder,[3] which was inspired by "The Seven Cities of Cibola," an Uncle Scrooge comic by Carl Barks. Lucas later acknowledged that the idea for the idol mechanism in the opening scene, and deadly traps later in the film were inspired by several Uncle Scrooge comics.[16] Lucas came up with a submarine, a monkey giving the Hitler salute, and Marion punching Jones in Nepal.[15] Kasdan used a 100-page transcript of their conversations for his first script draft,[17] which he worked on for six months.[3] Ultimately some of their ideas were too grand and had to be cut: a mine chase,[18] an escape in Shanghai using a rolling gong as a shield,[19] and a jump from an airplane in a raft, all of which made it into the prequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.[3]

Spielberg and Lucas disagreed on the character: although Lucas saw him as a Bondian playboy, Spielberg and Kasdan felt the professor and adventurer elements of the character made him complex enough. Spielberg had a darker vision of Jones, interpreting him as an alcoholic similar to Humphrey Bogart's character Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. This characterization fell away during the later drafts.[15] Spielberg also initially conceived of Toht as having a robotic arm, which Lucas rejected as falling into science-fiction. Comic book artist Jim Steranko was also commissioned to produce original illustrations for pre-production, which heavily influenced Spielberg's decisions in both the look of the film and the character of Indiana Jones himself.[20]

Initially, the film was rejected by every major studio in Hollywood, as most executives thought that the story was too over the top and would be exceedingly expensive to produce. Eventually Paramount agreed to finance the film, with Lucas negotiating a five picture deal. By April 1980, Kasdan's fifth draft was produced, and production was getting ready to shoot at Elstree Studios, with Lucas trying to keep costs down.[5] With four illustrators, Raiders of the Lost Ark was Spielberg's most storyboarded film of his career to date, further helping the film economically. He and Lucas agreed on a tight schedule to keep costs down, and to stylistically follow the "quick and dirty" feel of the old Saturday matinée serials. Special effects were done using puppets, miniature models, animation, and camera trickery.[3] "We didn't do 30 or 40 takes; usually only four. It was like silent film--shoot only what you need, no waste," Spielberg said. "Had I had more time and money, it would have turned out a pretentious movie." Lucas also directed some of the second unit.[21]

Filming

Filming began on June 23, 1980 at La Rochelle, France, for scenes involving the Nazi submarine,[5] which was rented from the production of Das Boot. The U-boat pen was a genuine one that had survived from World War II.[3] The crew moved to Elstree Studios[5] for scenes involving the Well of Souls, the interiors of the temple in the opening sequence and Marion Ravenwood's bar.[22] The Well of Souls required 7,000 snakes, though the only venomous snakes on set were the cobras. However, one crew member was bitten by a python on set.[3] To shoot the scene where Indiana comes face-to-face with the cobra, a glass sheet was put between Ford and the reptile, which is partially visible in the film when the light hits it at a certain angle.[3] Unlike the character he portrayed, Ford does not actually have a fear of snakes; Spielberg was not afraid either, but seeing all the snakes on the set writhing around made him "want to puke".[3] The opening sequence featured live tarantulas: Alfred Molina had to have many put on him, but they did not move until a female tarantula was introduced. A fibreglass boulder 22 feet (7 m) in diameter was made for the scene where Indiana escapes the temple; Spielberg was so impressed by production designer Norman Reynolds' realization of his idea, that he gave it a more prominent role in the film and told Reynolds to increase the length of the boulder run by 50 feet (15 m).[23]

All of the scenes set in Egypt were filmed in Tunisia, and the canyon where Indiana threatens to blow up the Ark was shot in Sidi Bouhlel, just outside of Tozeur.[24] The location was previously used in the Tatooine scenes from 1977's Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, since many people in the location crew were the same for both films.[3] Notably, that canyon was exactly the same location where R2-D2 was attacked by Jawas.[3] The Tanis scenes were filmed in nearby Sedala and it was a harsh experience due to the heat and disease. Several members of the cast and crew fell ill; Rhys-Davies in particular defecated in his costume during one shot.[3] Spielberg averted diseases by only eating canned foods from England, but did not like the area and quickly pushed forward a scheduled six-week shoot to four-and-a-half weeks. Much was improvised there: the scene where Marion puts on her dress and attempts to leave Belloq's tent was improvised, as was the entire plane fight. During shooting of that scene, Ford tore his cruciate ligament in his left leg as a wheel went over his knee, but he did not accept local medical help and simply put ice over it.[3] The fight scenes in the town were filmed in Kairouan; by then Ford was suffering from dysentery and did not want to shoot a fight scene between Indiana and a swordsman. He said to Spielberg "Let's just shoot the fucker." Spielberg agreed, scrapped the rest of the fight scene, and filmed the gag of Indiana quickly gunning down the swordsman.[25] The truck chase was shot entirely by the second-unit who mostly followed Spielberg's storyboards, though they decided to add Indiana being dragged by the truck. Spielberg shot all the close-ups with Ford afterwards.[3]

The interior staircase set in Washington, D.C. was filmed inside of San Francisco's City Hall. The University of the Pacific, located in Stockton, California, stands in for the exterior of the college where Jones works, while his classroom and the hall where he meets the American intelligence men was filmed at the Royal Masonic School for Girls in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England. His home exteriors were filmed in the city of San Rafael, California.[22] The opening exteriors were filmed in Kauai, Hawaii, with Spielberg wrapping in September, finishing under schedule in 73 days, in contrast to his previous film, 1941.[5][15] The Washington, D.C. coda, although it appeared in early drafts of the script, was not included in early edits and was added later when it was realized that there was no resolution to Jones's relationship with Marion.[26] Shots of the Douglas DC-3 Jones flies on to Nepal were taken from Lost Horizon, while a street scene was cut from a shot in The Hindenburg.[21] The filming of Indy boarding a Boeing China Clipper flying-boat was complicated by the lack of a surviving aircraft. Eventually a post-war British Short Solent flying-boat formerly owned by Howard Hughes was located in California and substituted in its place.[27]

Visual effects and sound design

The special visual effects for Raiders were provided by Industrial Light & Magic and include: a matte shot to establish the Pan Am flying boat in the water[28] and miniature work to show the plane taking off and flying, superimposed over a map; animation effects for the beam in the Tanis map room; and a miniature car and passengers[29] superimposed over a matte painting for a shot of a Nazi car being forced off a cliff. The bulk of effects shots were featured in the climactic sequence wherein the Ark of the Covenant (which was designed by Brian Muir and Keith Short) is opened and the wrath of God is unleashed. This sequence featured animation, a woman to portray a beautiful spirit's face, rod puppet spirits moved through water to convey a sense of floating,[30] a matte painting of the island, and cloud tank effects to portray clouds. The melting of Toht's head was done by exposing a gelatine and plaster model of Ronald Lacey's head to a heat lamp with an under cranked camera, while Dietrich's crushed head was a hollow model from which air was withdrawn. The spirits were shot underwater for a ghostly look. When the film was originally submitted to the Motion Picture Association of America, it received an R rating because of the scene in which Belloq's head explodes. The filmmakers were later able to negotiate for a PG rating when they added a veil of fire over the exploding head scene.[10] The firestorm that cleanses the canyon at the finish was a miniature canyon filmed upside down.[30]

Ben Burtt, the sound effects supervisor, made extensive use of traditional foley work in yet another of the production's throwbacks to days of the Republic serials. He selected a 30-30 Winchester rifle for the sound of Jones' pistol. Sound effects artists struck leather jackets and baseball gloves with a baseball bat to create a variety of punching noises and body blows. For the snakes in the Well of Souls sequence, fingers running through cheese casserole and sponges sliding over cement were used for the slithering noises. The sliding lid on a toilet cistern provided the sound for the opening of the Ark. Burtt also used, as he did in many of his films, the ubiquitous Wilhelm scream when a Nazi falls from a truck. In addition to his use of such time-honored foley work, Burtt also demonstrated the modern expertise honed during his award-winning work on Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. He employed a synthesizer for the sounds of the Ark, and mixed dolphins' and sea lions' screams for those of the spirits within.[31]

Soundtrack

"The Raiders March" (1981)
Raiders of the Lost Ark
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Main article: Raiders of the Lost Ark (soundtrack)

John Williams composed the score for Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was the only score in the series performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, the same orchestra that performed the scores for the Star Wars saga. The score most notably features the well-known "Raiders March." This piece came to symbolize Indiana Jones and was later used in Williams' scores for the other three films. Williams originally wrote two different candidates for Indy's theme, but Spielberg enjoyed them so much that he insisted that both be used together in what became the "Raiders March".[32] The alternately eerie and apocalyptic theme for the Ark of the Covenant is also heard frequently in the score, with a more romantic melody representing Marion and, more broadly, her relationship with Jones. The score as a whole received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score, but lost to the score to Chariots of Fire composed by Vangelis.

Release

Reception

The $18 million budget film grossed $384 million worldwide throughout its theatrical releases. In North America, it remains one of the top twenty highest-grossing films ever made when adjusted for inflation.[33] The film was subsequently nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, in 1982 and won four (Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley, and Michael D. Ford)). It also received an additional Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing. It won numerous other awards, including a Grammy and Best Picture at the People's Choice Awards. Spielberg was also nominated for a Golden Globe.[34]

The film received highly positive reviews from most critics. In his review for The New York Times, Vincent Canby praised the film, calling it, "one of the most deliriously funny, ingenious and stylish American adventure movies ever made."[35] Roger Ebert in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "Two things, however, make Raiders of the Lost Ark more than just a technological triumph: its sense of humor and the droll style of its characters [...] We find ourselves laughing in surprise, in relief, in incredulity at the movie's ability to pile one incident upon another in an inexhaustible series of inventions."[36] He later added it to his list of "Great Movies".[37] Rolling Stone said the film was "the ultimate Saturday action matinee–a film so funny and exciting it can be enjoyed any day of the week."[38] Bruce Williamson of Playboy claimed: "There's more excitement in the first ten minutes of Raiders than any movie I have seen all year. By the time the explosive misadventures end, any movie-goer worth his salt ought to be exhausted."[39] Stephen Klain of Variety also praised the film. Yet, making an observation that would revisit the franchise with its next film, he felt that the film was surprisingly violent and bloody for a PG-rated film.[40]

There were some dissenting voices; Sight & Sound described it as an "...expensively gift-wrapped Saturday afternoon pot-boiler,"[41] and New Hollywood champion Pauline Kael, who once contended that she only got "really rough" on large films that were destined to be hits but were nonetheless "atrocious,"[42] found the film to be a "machine-tooled adventure" from a pair of creators who "think just like the marketing division."[43] (Lucas later named a villain, played by Raiders Nazi strongman Pat Roach, in his 1988 fantasy film Willow after Kael.)[42] Today, the film is considered to be a classic of the action and adventure genres by many contemporary critics, and carries a 94% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[44]

Impact

Following the success of Raiders, a prequel, The Temple of Doom, and two sequels, The Last Crusade and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, were produced. A television series, entitled The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, was also spun off from this film, and details the early years of the character. Numerous other books, comics, and video games have also been produced.

In 1998, the American Film Institute placed the film at #60 on its top 100 films of the first century of cinema. In 2007, AFI updated the list and placed it at #66. They also named it as the 10th most thrilling movie, and named Indiana Jones as the second most thrilling hero. In 1999, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. Indiana Jones has become an icon, being listed as Entertainment Weekly's third favorite action hero, while noting "some of the greatest action scenes ever filmed are strung together like pearls" in this film.[45]

An amateur, near shot-for-shot remake was made by Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala, and Jayson Lamb, then children in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. It took the boys seven years to finish, from 1982-1989. After production of the film, called Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, it was shelved and forgotten until 2003, where it was discovered by Eli Roth[46][47] and acclaimed by Spielberg himself, who congratulated the boys on their hard work and said he looked forward to seeing their names on the big screen.[48] Scott Rudin and Paramount Pictures purchased the trio's life rights with the goal of producing a film based on their adventures making their remake.[49][50]

Assessing the film's legacy in 1997, Bernard Weinraub, film critic for The New York Times, which had initially reviewed the film as "deliriously funny, ingenious, and stylish",[42] maintained that "the decline in the traditional family G-rated film, for 'general' audiences, probably began" with the appearance of Raiders of the Lost Ark. "Whether by accident or design," found Weinraub, "the filmmakers made a comic nonstop action film intended mostly for adults but also for children."[42] Eight years later, in 2005, viewers of Channel 4 in the UK rated the film as the twentieth best family film of all time, with Spielberg taking best over-all director honors.[51]

Merchandise

The only video game based exclusively on the film is Raiders of the Lost Ark, released in 1982 by Atari for their Atari 2600 console.[52] The first third of the video game Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures, released in 1994 by JVC for Nintendo's Super Nintendo Entertainment System, is based entirely on the film. Several sequences from the film are reproduced (the boulder run and the showdown with the Cairo Swordsman among them); however, several inconsistencies with the film are present in the game, such as Nazi soldiers and bats being present in the Well of Souls sequence, for example.[53] The game was developed by LucasArts and Factor 5. In the 1999 game Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, a bonus level brings Jones back to the Peruvian temple of the opening scene of Raiders.[54] In 2008, to coincide with the release of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Lego released the Lego Indiana Jones line - which included building sets based on Raiders of the Lost Ark -[55] and LucasArts published a video game based on the toyline, Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, which was developed by Traveller's Tales.[56]

In 1981, Kenner released a 12-inch (30-cm) doll of Indiana Jones, and the following year they released nine action figures of the characters in the film, three playsets, as well as toys of the Nazi truck and Jones's horse. They also released a board game. In 1984, miniature metal versions of the characters were released for a role playing game, and in 1995 Micro Machines released die-cast toys of the vehicles in the film.[57] Hasbro released action figures based on the film, ranging from 3 to 12 inches (8 to 30 cm), to coincide with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on May 1, 2008.[58] A novelization by Ryder Windham was released in April 2008 by Scholastic to tie in with the release of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. A previous novelization by Scottish author Campbell Armstrong (under the pseudonym Campbell Black was released concurrent with the film in 1981.) A book about the making of the film was also released, written by Derek Taylor.

Home video

The film was released on VHS, Betamax and VideoDisc in pan and scan only, and on laserdisc in both pan and scan and widescreen. For its 1999 VHS re-issue, the film was remastered in THX and made available in widescreen. The outer package was retitled Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark to correlate with the film's prequel and sequel. The subsequent DVD release in 2003 features this title as well. The title in the film itself remains unchanged, even in the restored DVD print. In the DVD, two subtle digital revisions were added. First, a connecting rod from the giant boulder to an offscreen guidance track in the opening scene was removed from behind the running Harrison Ford; second, a reflection in the glass partition separating Ford from the cobra in the Well of Souls was removed.[59] The film (along with Temple of Doom and Last Crusade) was re-released on DVD with additional extra features not included on the previous set on May 13, 2008.

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

Won[60]
Nominated[60]

Golden Globe

American Film Institute

References

Notes

  1. ^ "Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
  2. ^ a b "1981 Domestic Grosses". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy. Paramount Pictures. 2003. {{cite AV media}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  4. ^ "Facts and trivia of the Lost Ark". Official website. 2003-10-14. Archived from the original on 2007-05-18. Retrieved 2007-03-11.
  5. ^ a b c d e Hearn, pp. 127-134
  6. ^ Gregory Kirschling, Jeff Labrecque (2008-03-12). "Indiana Jones: 15 Fun Facts". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
  7. ^ Glenn Whipp (2008-05-22). "Keeping up with Jones". Halifax Chronicle-Herald. Retrieved 2008-05-22. [dead link]
  8. ^ Kinski, Klaus (1996). Kinski Uncut. London: Bloomsbury. p. 294. ISBN 0747529787. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ The Stunts of Indiana Jones. Paramount Pictures. 2003. {{cite AV media}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  10. ^ a b The Light and Magic of Indiana Jones. Paramount Pictures. 2003. {{cite AV media}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  11. ^ Marcus Hearn (2005). The Cinema of George Lucas. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc, Publishers. p. 80. ISBN 0-8109-4968-7.
  12. ^ a b Hearn, pp.112–115
  13. ^ "Know Your MacGuffins". Empire Online. 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  14. ^ Jim Windolf (2007-12-02). "Q&A: Steven Spielberg". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  15. ^ a b c d McBride, Joseph (1997). "Rehab". Steven Spielberg. New York City: Faber and Faber. pp. 309–322. ISBN 0-571-19177-0.
  16. ^ E. Summer, Walt Disney's Uncle $crooge McDuck: His Life and Times by Carl Barks, Celestial Arts ed., 1981; T. Andrae, Carl Barks and the Art of the Disney Comic Book, Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2006.
  17. ^ Hearn, p.122–123
  18. ^ Script 3rd Draft, scene 45-47
  19. ^ Script 3rd Draft, scene 148-155
  20. ^ "Raiders Of The Lost Ark: An Oral History". Empire Online. 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
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