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Raiders of the Lost Ark

 
Raiders of the Lost Ark

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Raiders of the Lost Ark



 
 
Raiders of the Lost Ark (also known as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark) is a action
Action film

Action movies are a film genre where action sequences, such as explosions, Choreographed fight in cinema, shootouts, stunts, car chases or explosions either take precedence over or, in finer examples of the genre, are used as a form of exposition and character development....
-adventure film
Adventure film

Adventure Film is a film genre....
 directed by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. Forbes magazine places Spielberg's net worth at $3.1 billion....
, produced by George Lucas
George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an Academy Award-nominated United States film director, film producer, screenwriter and chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. He is best known for being the creator of the Epic film Sci-Fi franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones....
 and starring Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford is an United Statesn actor. Ford is best known for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy, and as the Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones franchise#Films film series....
. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise
Indiana Jones franchise

The Indiana Jones franchise, based on the adventures of the eponymous fictional character archaeologist, began in 1981 with the film Raiders of the Lost Ark....
, and pits Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones

Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. is a fictional character adventurer, soldier, professor of archaeology, and the main protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise....
 (played by Ford) against the Nazis
Nazism

Nazism, officially National Socialism , refers to the ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Workers? Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945....
, who search for the Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant is described in the Bible as a sacred container, where in rested the Tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments as well as Aaron's rod and manna....
, in an attempt to make their army invincible. The film co-starred Karen Allen
Karen Allen

'Karen Jane Allen' is an American actress, best known for her role as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark . Allen has also had roles in the films National Lampoon's Animal House , The Wanderers , Split Image , Starman , Scrooged , The Sandlot , Poster Boy , and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the C...
 as Indiana's former lover Marion Ravenwood
Marion Ravenwood

Marion Ravenwood, also known as Marion Williams, is a fictional character that first appeared in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark....
; Paul Freeman
Paul Freeman

Paul Freeman is a United Kingdom film and television actor.Freeman was born in Hertfordshire, England. He began his career in advertising and teaching, and like many British actors he landed small roles in the theatre, appearing in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet....
 as Indiana's nemesis, French archaeologist René Belloq; John Rhys-Davies
John Rhys-Davies

John Rhys-Davies is an England-born Welsh people actor and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the charismatic Arab excavator Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise and the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, in which he also voiced the ent, Treebeard....
 as Indiana's sidekick, Sallah
Sallah

Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir, better known as Sallah , is a fictional character played by John Rhys-Davies in two of the four Indiana Jones movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade....
; and Denholm Elliott
Denholm Elliott

Denholm Mitchell Elliott, Order of the British Empire was a distinguished England actor of theatre and screen, with over 120 major film and TV credits....
 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.






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Encyclopedia


Raiders of the Lost Ark (also known as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark) is a action
Action film

Action movies are a film genre where action sequences, such as explosions, Choreographed fight in cinema, shootouts, stunts, car chases or explosions either take precedence over or, in finer examples of the genre, are used as a form of exposition and character development....
-adventure film
Adventure film

Adventure Film is a film genre....
 directed by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. Forbes magazine places Spielberg's net worth at $3.1 billion....
, produced by George Lucas
George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an Academy Award-nominated United States film director, film producer, screenwriter and chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. He is best known for being the creator of the Epic film Sci-Fi franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones....
 and starring Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford is an United Statesn actor. Ford is best known for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy, and as the Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones franchise#Films film series....
. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise
Indiana Jones franchise

The Indiana Jones franchise, based on the adventures of the eponymous fictional character archaeologist, began in 1981 with the film Raiders of the Lost Ark....
, and pits Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones

Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. is a fictional character adventurer, soldier, professor of archaeology, and the main protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise....
 (played by Ford) against the Nazis
Nazism

Nazism, officially National Socialism , refers to the ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Workers? Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945....
, who search for the Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant is described in the Bible as a sacred container, where in rested the Tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments as well as Aaron's rod and manna....
, in an attempt to make their army invincible. The film co-starred Karen Allen
Karen Allen

'Karen Jane Allen' is an American actress, best known for her role as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark . Allen has also had roles in the films National Lampoon's Animal House , The Wanderers , Split Image , Starman , Scrooged , The Sandlot , Poster Boy , and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the C...
 as Indiana's former lover Marion Ravenwood
Marion Ravenwood

Marion Ravenwood, also known as Marion Williams, is a fictional character that first appeared in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark....
; Paul Freeman
Paul Freeman

Paul Freeman is a United Kingdom film and television actor.Freeman was born in Hertfordshire, England. He began his career in advertising and teaching, and like many British actors he landed small roles in the theatre, appearing in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet....
 as Indiana's nemesis, French archaeologist René Belloq; John Rhys-Davies
John Rhys-Davies

John Rhys-Davies is an England-born Welsh people actor and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the charismatic Arab excavator Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise and the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, in which he also voiced the ent, Treebeard....
 as Indiana's sidekick, Sallah
Sallah

Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir, better known as Sallah , is a fictional character played by John Rhys-Davies in two of the four Indiana Jones movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade....
; and Denholm Elliott
Denholm Elliott

Denholm Mitchell Elliott, Order of the British Empire was a distinguished England actor of theatre and screen, with over 120 major film and TV credits....
 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
Elstree Studios

Historically, the name "Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England....
, England, and filming also took place in La Rochelle
La Rochelle

La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France....
, Tunisia
Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast....
, Hawaii
Hawaii

File:Pahoehoe and Aa flows at Hawaii.jpgThe State of Hawaii is a U.S. state in the United States, located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia....
, and California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 from June to September 1980.

Released on June 12, 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark became the top grossing
Gross income

Gross income is commonly defined as the amount of a company's or a person's income before all deductions or any taxpayer?s income, except that which is specifically excluded by the Internal Revenue Code, before taking deductions or taxes into account....
 film of 1981; it remains one of the highest-grossing movies
List of highest-grossing films

The following is a non-definitive list of the all-time highest-grossing films....
 ever made. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards
Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers....
, including Best Picture, in 1982
54th Academy Awards

The 54th Academy Awards were presented March 29, 1982 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Johnny Carson....
 and won five (Art Direction, Film Editing, Sound, Visual Effects, and Sound Effects Editing). The film's critical and popular success led to three additional films, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 period piece adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise, and prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark ....
 (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas....
 (1989), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), as well as a television series: The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, also known as The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, is an Emmy Award-winning United States television series that ran from 1992 to 1996....
 (1992-1996).

Plot

In 1936, in the Peru
Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian jungle
Jungle

Jungle usually refers to a dense forest in a hot climate, such as a tropical rainforest. The word Jungle originates from the Sanskrit word Jangala which means a desert or uncultivated land....
, archaeologist/treasure hunter Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones

Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. is a fictional character adventurer, soldier, professor of archaeology, and the main protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise....
 braves several booby traps to retrieve the Golden Idol
Golden Idol (Artifact)

The Chachapoyan Fertility Idol, also known as Golden Idol, is a fictitious golden idol from the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, a 1981 in film adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg....
 from an ancient temple. After escaping many booby trap
Booby trap

A booby trap is a device set up to be triggered by an unsuspecting victim. As the word trap implies, they often have some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it....
s, including a giant boulder, he finds rival archaeologist René Belloq
List of characters in the Indiana Jones series

This is a list of characters in the Indiana Jones franchise....
 waiting outside with a group of Hovitos, the local indigenous people. Surrounded and outnumbered, Jones is forced to give up the artifact to Belloq. Jones escapes from Belloq and the Hovitos after a jungle pursuit, and flies away on a waiting seaplane
Seaplane

A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff and Water landing on water. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories: floatplanes and flying boats....
.

At the American college where he teaches archaeology, Jones meets with two Army intelligence agents who reveal that the Nazis, in their quest for occult power, are searching for Abner Ravenwood
List of characters in the Indiana Jones series

This is a list of characters in the Indiana Jones franchise....
, Jones’ former mentor. Ravenwood is the foremost expert on the ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
ian city of Tanis
Tanis, Egypt

Tanis , the Greek language name of ancient Djanet , is a city in the north-eastern Nile delta of ancient Egypt. It lies on the Tanitic branch of the Nile ....
, rediscovered by the Nazis and believed to be where the Pharaoh Shishaq
Shishaq

Shishak or Shishaq is the biblical Hebrew language form of the first ancient Egyptian name of a pharaoh mentioned in the Bible....
 brought the Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant is described in the Bible as a sacred container, where in rested the Tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments as well as Aaron's rod and manna....
, a chest the Israelites built to contain the fragments of the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are a list of religious and moral imperatives that, according to Judeo-Christian tradition, were authored by God and given to Moses on the mountain referred to as "Biblical Mount Sinai" or "Mount Horeb" in the form of two stone tablets....
. Jones deduces that the Nazis seek Ravenwood because he possesses the headpiece to the Staff of Ra
Ra

Ra is an ancient Egyptian Solar deity . By the Fifth dynasty of Egypt he became a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the noon, with other deities representing other positions of the sun....
, an artifact essential to pinpoint the Ark’s current location. According to legend, the headpiece would reveal the exact location of the Well of Souls
Well of Souls

The Well of Souls is the name of a natural cave located immediately beneath the Foundation Stone in the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem....
, the chamber containing the Ark, by focusing daylight onto a miniature of the city at a certain time of day. Jones' colleague, Marcus Brody, further explains the legendary power of the Ark to render invincible any army it precedes, explaining the Nazis' interest in it.

Jones flies to Nepal
Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and is the world's youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by India....
, only to find that Ravenwood has died, and the headpiece is in the possession of Ravenwood's daughter, Marion
Marion Ravenwood

Marion Ravenwood, also known as Marion Williams, is a fictional character that first appeared in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark....
, who is Indy's embittered former lover. The tavern owned by Marion is stormed by Nazis, led by sadistic Nazi agent Toht. A firefight immediately breaks out, burning the tavern to the ground, and searing one face of the medallion onto Toht's hand. Jones and Marion narrowly escape with the headpiece. The two travel to Cairo
Cairo

Cairo , which means "the triumphant", is the Cairo and largest city of Egypt.It is the most populous metropolitan area in Egypt and is also one of the most populous in the world....
 to meet Sallah
Sallah

Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir, better known as Sallah , is a fictional character played by John Rhys-Davies in two of the four Indiana Jones movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade....
, a skilled Egyptian digger who knows where the Nazis, now being assisted by Belloq and a replica of the headpiece, are digging for the Ark. In a Cairo bazaar
Bazaar

File:Railway Road by Ajaz Anwar.jpgA bazaar , , is a permanent merchandising area, marketplace, or street of shops where goods and services are exchanged or sold....
, Nazi operatives kidnap Marion and fake her death in front of Jones. That evening, Sallah and Jones decipher the carvings on Ravenwood's double-sided headpiece to determine the proper length for the staff. They realize that the writings on the headpiece require a reduction of length in honour of God, and thus the Nazi's reliance upon the single-sided and thus incomplete rendering preserved on Toht's scarred hand has led to an excessive length for the Nazi staff and, as a result, they are digging in the wrong location.

Infiltrating the dig, Indy sneaks into the map room, which contains a scale model of the city of Tanis. Although Sallah is nearly exposed and captured in the attempt, Indy successfully acquires the location with the staff and medallion. Jones also discovers Marion is alive but does not release her from her captors as they would realize he is there. Jones and Sallah gather a small crew and begin to dig at the correct location. After several hours, they break through the roof of the buried Well of Souls. Jones is lowered to the floor of the temple and finds it infested with multitudes of poisonous Egyptian asps
Cerastes vipera

Cerastes vipera is a venomous snake Viperinae species found in the deserts of North Africa and the Sinai Peninsula. No subspecies are currently recognized....
, of which he is deathly afraid
Ophidiophobia

Ophidiophobia or ophiophobia refers to the fear of snakes. Fear of snakes is sometimes called by a more general term, herpetophobia, fear of reptiles....
. After Sallah and the Ark are hoisted out of the temple, Belloq and the Nazis appear and take possession of the Ark. Marion is tossed into the Well with Jones, and they are sealed in. The duo manage to escape, emerging above ground in time to find a Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe

is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
 flying wing
Flying wing

A flying wing is a fixed-wing aircraft which has no definite fuselage, with most of the crew, payload and equipment being housed inside the main wing structure....
 being prepared to transport the Ark to Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
. After a fight, the plane is destroyed. The Ark is put on a truck to Cairo, where it will be shipped to Berlin. Stealing a horse, Jones pursues the convoy escorting the truck, seizes control of the vehicle and, after an extended pursuit, escapes with the Ark. That evening, Jones and Marion leave Sallah to escort the Ark to England on board the tramp steamer
Tramp steamer

A ship engaged in the tramp trade is one which does not have a fixed schedule or published ports of call. As opposed to Freight liner , tramp ships trade on the spot market with no fixed schedule or itinerary/ports-of-call....
 Bantu Wind.

The next morning, a Nazi U-boat
U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized#Loanwords version of the German language word , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II....
 commanded by Belloq and Nazi officer Dietrich stops the ship. Marion and the Ark are removed, while Jones covertly boards the U-boat. He follows Belloq and the Ark to an isolated island, where they plan to test the power of the Ark before presenting it to Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born Germany politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party....
. Threatening to destroy the Ark with a Panzerschreck
Panzerschreck

Panzerschreck was the popular name for the Raketenpanzerb?chse , an 88 mm calibre reusable Anti-tank warfare rocket launcher developed by the Nazi Germany in World War II....
, Jones demands that the Nazis free Marion. Belloq calls his bluff, claiming that Indy, as an archaeologist, wants to see it opened as badly as Belloq; Jones is forced to surrender. Marion and Indy are tied up while Belloq performs a ceremonial opening of the Ark. Spirits emerge from within; Indy, aware of the supernatural danger of looking at the opened Ark, warns Marion to close her eyes. The Nazis, Belloq, Toht, and Dietrich, who do not look away, are all killed by the Ark's supernatural powers. The Ark closes itself once more, accompanied by a crack of thunder. Back in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
, two Army intelligence men tell a suspicious Jones that "top men" are carefully studying the Ark. In reality, the Ark is sealed in a wooden crate and stored in a giant government warehouse filled with countless similar crates.

Production


Development

In 1973, George Lucas
George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an Academy Award-nominated United States film director, film producer, screenwriter and chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. He is best known for being the creator of the Epic film Sci-Fi franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones....
 wrote The Adventures of Indiana Smith. Like Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is an Cinema of the United States 1977 in film space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It was the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: Star Wars#Original trilogy continue the story, while a Star Wars#Prequel trilogy contributes backstory, primarily for the troubled charac...
,
it was an opportunity to create a modern version of the film serials of the 1930s and 1940s. Lucas discussed the concept with Philip Kaufman
Philip Kaufman

Philip Kaufman is an American film director and screenwriter. Although not noted for directing a large number of films, the films he has worked on have been done with recognizable intelligence and independence....
, who worked with him for several weeks and came up with the Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant is described in the Bible as a sacred container, where in rested the Tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments as well as Aaron's rod and manna....
 as the plot device
Plot device

A plot device is an element introduced into a narrative solely to advance or resolve the Plot of the story. In the hands of a skilled writer, the reader or viewer will not notice that the device is a construction of the author; it will seem to follow naturally from the setting or characters in the story....
. Kaufman was told about the Ark by his dentist when he was a child. The project stalled when Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American actor, film director, film producer and composer. He is known for his tough guy, anti-hero acting roles in Action films and western films, particularly in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s....
 hired Kaufman to direct The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Outlaw Josey Wales

The Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 in film Revisionist Western Western film set at the end of the American Civil War directed by and starring Clint Eastwood , with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Bill McKinney, John Vernon, Paula Trueman, Sam Bottoms, Geraldine Keams, John Russell , Woodrow Parfrey, Joyce Jameson, Sheb Wooley, John Quade,...
. Lucas eventually shelved the idea, deciding to concentrate on his outer space adventure which would become Star Wars
Star Wars

Star Wars is an epic film space opera Media franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but later had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to distinguish it from its sequels and prequels....
. In late May 1977, Lucas was in Maui
Maui

The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at 727.2 square miles and is the List of islands of the United States by area....
, trying to escape the enormous success of the first Star Wars film
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is an Cinema of the United States 1977 in film space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It was the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: Star Wars#Original trilogy continue the story, while a Star Wars#Prequel trilogy contributes backstory, primarily for the troubled charac...
. Friend and colleague Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. Forbes magazine places Spielberg's net worth at $3.1 billion....
 was also there, on vacation from work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Fran?ois Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban and Cary Guffey....
. While building a sand castle at Mauna Kea
Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea is a volcano#volcanic activity in the U.S. state of Hawaii, one of five volcanoes which together form the Hawaii . Mauna kea means "white mountain" in the Hawaiian language, a reference to its summit being regularly covered by snow in winter....
, Spielberg expressed an interest in directing a James Bond
James Bond

James Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections....
 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", although Spielberg told Lucas that the surname Smith was not right for the character, Lucas replied "OK. What about Jones
Jones (surname)

Jones is a popular family name of possibly separate England and Wales origins. Its English usage comes from the term son of John in a similar manner to Johnson....
?". Indiana was the name of Lucas' Alaskan Malamute
Alaskan Malamute

The Alaskan Malamute is a large dog breed of domestic dog originally bred for use as an Alaskan sled dog and is often mistaken for a Siberian Husky....
.

The following year, Lucas focused on developing Raiders and the Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 in film space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner. The screenplay, based on a story by George Lucas, was written by Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett....
, during which Lawrence Kasdan
Lawrence Kasdan

Lawrence Kasdan is an American Film Film producer, film director and screenwriter. Raised in Morgantown, West Virginia, West Virginia, where he graduated from Morgantown High School in 1966, he went on to attend the University of Michigan as an education major....
 and Frank Marshall
Frank Marshall (movie producer)

Frank Wilton Marshall is a five-time Academy Award-nominated United States film Film producer and film director, often working in collaboration with his wife, Kathleen Kennedy ....
 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, which was inspired by , an Uncle Scrooge
Uncle Scrooge

Uncle Scrooge is a comic book with the moneygrubber Scrooge McDuck "the richest duck in the world" as the main character. The series also featured Donald Duck and Huey, Dewey and Louie as supporting characters....
 comic by Carl Barks
Carl Barks

Carl Barks was a famous The Walt Disney Company illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck , Gladstone Gander , the Beagle Boys , Gyro Gearloose , Flintheart Glomgold , John D....
. Lucas later acknowledged that the idea for the idol mechanism in the opening scene, and deadly traps later in the movie were inspired by several Uncle Scrooge comics. Lucas came up with a submarine, a monkey giving the Nazi salute
Hitler salute

The Hitler salute , also known in Germany during World War II as the Deutscher Gru? , or in English as the Nazi salute, is a variant of the Roman salute, adopted by the Nazi Party as its leader Adolf Hitler....
, and Marion punching Jones in Nepal
Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and is the world's youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by India....
. Kasdan used a 100-page transcript of their conversations for his first script draft, which he worked on for six months. Ultimately some of their ideas were too grand and had to be cut: a mine chase, an escape in Shanghai
Shanghai

Shanghai is the List of cities in the People's Republic of China by population in China and one of the List of metropolitan areas by population in the world, with over 20 million people....
 using a rolling gong as a shield, and a jump from an airplane in a raft, all of which made it into the prequel, Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 period piece adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise, and prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark ....
.

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 darker visions of Jones, interpreting him as an alcoholic similar to Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an United_States_of_America actor and cultural icon. In 1997, Entertainment Weekly magazine named him the number one movie legend of all time....
's character Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (film)

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is John Huston's Cinema of the United States feature film adaptation of B. Traven's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, in which two United States down-and-outers in 1920s Mexico hook up with an old-timer to prospect for gold....
. This characterization fell away during the later drafts. Spielberg also initially conceived of Toht as having a robotic arm, which Lucas rejected as falling into science-fiction. Comic book artist Jim Steranko
Jim Steranko

James Steranko is an United States graphic artist, comic book writer-artist-historian,magician, publisher and film production illustrator.His most famous comic-book work was with the 1960s spy fiction "Nick Fury" in Marvel Comics' Strange Tales and in the subsequent eponymous series....
 was also commissioned to produce original illustrations for pre-production, which heavily influenced Spielberg's decisions in both the look
Indiana Jones

Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. is a fictional character adventurer, soldier, professor of archaeology, and the main protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise....
 of the film and the character of Indiana Jones himself.

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
Elstree Studios

Historically, the name "Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England....
, with Lucas trying to keep costs down. With four illustrators, Raiders of the Lost Ark was Spielberg's most storyboard
Storyboard

Storyboards are graphic organizers such as a series of illustrations or s displayed in sequence for the purpose of previsualizing a motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including website interactivity....
ed 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. "We didn't do 30 or 40 takes — production; 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
Second unit

In film, the second unit is a team that shoots footage which is of lesser importance for the final motion picture, as opposed to the first unit, which shoots all scenes involving actors, or at least the stars of the film....
.

Filming

Filming began on June 23, 1980 at La Rochelle
La Rochelle

La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France....
, France, for scenes involving the Nazi submarine, which was rented from the production of Das Boot
Das Boot

Das Boot is a 1981 feature film directed by Wolfgang Petersen, adapted from a novel of the same name by Lothar-G?nther Buchheim. Hans-Joachim Krug, former first officer on Unterseeboot 219, served as a consultant, as did Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, the captain of the real Unterseeboot 96 ....
. The U-boat pen was a genuine one that had survived from World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
. The crew moved to Elstree Studios
Elstree Studios

Historically, the name "Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England....
 for scenes involving the Well of Souls
Well of Souls

The Well of Souls is the name of a natural cave located immediately beneath the Foundation Stone in the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem....
, the interiors of the temple in the opening sequence and Marion Ravenwood
Marion Ravenwood

Marion Ravenwood, also known as Marion Williams, is a fictional character that first appeared in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark....
's bar. The Well of Souls required 7,000 snakes, though the only poisonous snakes on set were the cobras. However, one crew member was bitten by a python on set. To shoot the scene where Indiana comes face-to-face with the cobra, a glass sheet was put between Ford and the animal, which is partially visible in the film when the light hits it at a certain angle
Angle

In geometry and trigonometry, an angle is the figure formed by two Ray sharing a common endpoint, called the vertex of the angle . The magnitude of the angle is the "amount of rotation" that separates the two rays, and can be measured by considering the length of circular arc swept out when one ray is rotated about the vertex to coincide...
. 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". The opening sequence featured live tarantulas: Alfred Molina
Alfred Molina

Alfred Molina is a British Academy of Film and Television Arts-nominated, as well as Tony Award-winning, United Kingdom actor. He first came to public attention in the UK for his joint lead role with Gary Oldman in the 1987 film Prick Up Your Ears....
 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 told Reynolds to increase the length of the boulder run by 50 feet (15 m).

All of the scenes set in Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
 and the canyon where Indiana threatens to blow up the Ark were filmed in Tunisia
Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast....
; many of the locations were previously used in the Tatooine
Tatooine

Tatooine is a setting for many key scenes in the Star Wars saga, and it appears in every Star Wars saga except The Empire Strikes Back. Since it is the home planet of Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, it is also one of the most iconic planets in the Star Wars universe....
 scenes from Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is an Cinema of the United States 1977 in film space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It was the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: Star Wars#Original trilogy continue the story, while a Star Wars#Prequel trilogy contributes backstory, primarily for the troubled charac...
, since many people in the location crew were the same for both films. Notably, that canyon was the exact same location wherein R2-D2
R2-D2

R2-D2 , is a fictional character in the Star Wars fictional universe, an astromech droid. R2-D2 is one of the only four characters to appear in all six Star Wars films, the others being Anakin Skywalker , Obi-Wan Kenobi, and R2-D2's droid companion C-3PO....
 was attacked by Jawas
List of Star Wars races (F-J)

FalleenFalleen is race of generally light-green, though they can change the color and hue of their skin to convey emotional states and affect those of others, human-like reptilian people who come from world of Falleen in Midrim region....
. Filming there 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. Spielberg was never ill, as he only ate tinned foods from England. Spielberg 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 wherein 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
Cruciate ligament

Cruciate ligaments are found in several parts of the body. These include:* anterior cruciate ligament of the knee* posterior cruciate ligament of the knee...
 in his left leg as a wheel went over his knee, but he did not accept medical help and simply put ice over it. The fight scenes in the town were filmed in Kairouan
Kairouan

Kairouan it is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate. It was founded by the Arabs in around 670 and the original name was derived from Arabic kairuw?n, from Persian language K?rav?n, meaning "military/civilian camp" , "caravan", or "resting place" ....
; by then Ford was suffering from dysentery
Dysentery

Dysentery is a disorder of the digestive system that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the feces. If untreated, Dysentery can be fatal....
. He had enough, and did not want to shoot a fight scene between Indiana and a swordsman. He said to Spielberg "Why don't we just shoot the sucker?" Spielberg agreed, scrapped the rest of the fight scene, and filmed the gag of Indiana quickly shooting the swordsman. 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.

The interior staircase set in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
 was filmed inside of San Francisco
San Francisco, California

The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States, with a 2007 estimated population of 799,183....
's City Hall
San Francisco City Hall

The City Hall of San Francisco, California, opened in 1915, in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, San Francisco, is a Beaux-Arts architecture monument to the brief "City Beautiful" movement that epitomized the high-minded American Renaissance of the period 1880?1917....
. The University of the Pacific, located in Stockton, California
Stockton, California

Stockton is a city in California and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California . Stockton's population estimate for January 1, 2008, according to the California Department of Finance, is 290,141....
, 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 Hertfordshire, England. His home exteriors were filmed in the city of San Rafael, California
San Rafael, California

San Rafael , is the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area....
. 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
1941 (film)

1941 is a period comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It starred John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd and premiered in December 1979....
. The Washington, D.C. exterior was not included in early edits and, although it appeared in early drafts of the script, was actually added later when it was realised that there was no resolution to Indy's relationship with Marion. Shots of the Douglas DC-3
Douglas DC-3

The Douglas DC-3 is an United States fixed-wing aircraft, propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s....
 Indy flies on to Nepal were taken from Lost Horizon
Lost Horizon (1973 film)

Lost Horizon is a 1973 in film musical film directed by Charles Jarrott and starring Peter Finch, John Gielgud, Liv Ullmann, Michael York , Sally Kellerman, Bobby Van, George Kennedy , Olivia Hussey, James Shigeta and Charles Boyer....
, while a street scene was cut from a shot in The Hindenburg
The Hindenburg (film)

The Hindenburg is a movie based on the Hindenburg disaster of the Germany airship LZ 129 Hindenburg. The film was produced and directed by Robert Wise, and was written by Nelson Gidding, Richard Levinson and William Link based on the book of the same name by Michael M....
.

Effects

The special effects for Raiders were provided by Industrial Light & Magic. These largely featured in the climactic sequence where the Ark of the Covenant is opened and spirits come out to attack the Nazis. 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.

Ben Burtt
Ben Burtt

Benjamin Burtt, Jr. is a four-time Academy Awards-winning United States sound designer for many famous and noteworthy films, including Star Wars, Indiana Jones franchise, and WALL-E, as well as a film director, screenwriter, and film editor....
, the sound effects supervisor, made extensive use of traditional foley
Foley (filmmaking)

Foley is a term used to describe a process of creating post-production sound effects for enhancing a soundtrack of a film, video, computer- or video-game or other multimedia work....
 work in yet another of the production's throwbacks to days of the Republic
Republic Pictures

Republic Pictures is an in-name only independent film, television, and video distribution company that was originally a movie production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, best known for its specialization in quality B-film pictures, Western and movie Serial s....
 serials
Serial (film)

|}Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials or Film serials, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film that were related to pulp magazine Serial ....
. He selected a 30-30 Winchester rifle for the sound of Jones' pistol. Sound effects artists struck leather jackets and baseball glove
Baseball glove

A baseball glove or mitt is a large leather glove that baseball players on the defending team are allowed to wear to assist them in catching and fielding balls hit by a Batter , or thrown by a teammate....
s with a baseball bat
Baseball bat

A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal Club used in the game of baseball to hit the Baseball after the ball is thrown by the pitcher . It is no more than 2.75 inches in diameter at the thickest part and no more than 42 inches in length....
 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. 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
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is an Cinema of the United States 1977 in film space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It was the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: Star Wars#Original trilogy continue the story, while a Star Wars#Prequel trilogy contributes backstory, primarily for the troubled charac...
 (1977). He employed a synthesizer for the sounds of the Ark, and mixed dolphins' and sea lions' screams for those of the spirits within.

Cast

  • Harrison Ford
    Harrison Ford

    Harrison Ford is an United Statesn actor. Ford is best known for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy, and as the Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones franchise#Films film series....
     stars as Indiana Jones
    Indiana Jones

    Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. is a fictional character adventurer, soldier, professor of archaeology, and the main protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise....
    , an archaeology professor who often embarks on perilous adventures to obtain rare artifacts. Jones initially claims he has no belief in the supernatural, only to have his skepticism challenged when he discovers the Ark. Spielberg suggested casting Harrison Ford
    Harrison Ford

    Harrison Ford is an United Statesn actor. Ford is best known for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy, and as the Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones franchise#Films film series....
     as Jones, but Lucas objected, stating that he did not want Ford to become his "Bobby De Niro
    Robert De Niro

    Robert Mario De Niro, Jr. is a two-time Academy Award-winning United States actor, director and producer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors of all time....
    " or "that guy I put in all my movies", a reference to Martin Scorsese
    Martin Scorsese

    Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese is an Academy Award-winning American filmmaker, screenwriter, film producer, and film historian. Also affectionately known as "Marty", he is the founder of the World Cinema Foundation and a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema and has won awards from the Gol...
    , who often worked with Robert De Niro. Desiring a lesser known actor, Lucas persuaded Spielberg to help him search for a new talent. Among the actors who auditioned were Tim Matheson
    Tim Matheson

    Tim Matheson is an United States actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the smooth talking Eric 'Otter' Stratton in the 1978 comedy Animal House, but has had a variety of other well-known roles both before and since....
    , Peter Coyote
    Peter Coyote

    Peter Coyote is an United States actor, author, film director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theatre, television and audio books. His voice work includes narrating the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics....
    , John Shea
    John Shea

    John Victor Shea III is an United States Emmy award-winning actor and director who has starred on stage, television and in film. He is best known for his role as Lex Luthor in the 1990s TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and also starred in the short lived 1990s TV series WIOU as Hank Zaret....
     and Tom Selleck
    Tom Selleck

    Thomas William "Tom" Selleck is an United States actor, screenwriter and film producer, best known for his starring role on the television show Magnum P.I....
    . Selleck was originally cast in the role, but he was unavailable for the part because of his commitment to the television series Magnum, P.I.
    Magnum, P.I.

    Magnum, P.I. is an United States television show starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a fictional private investigator living in Oahu, Hawaii....
     In June 1980, three weeks away from filming, Spielberg persuaded Lucas to cast Ford after producers Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy
    Kathleen Kennedy (movie producer)

    Kathleen Kennedy is a six-time Academy Award nominated United States movie industry executive. She has worked as Film producer on many films, especially with Steven Spielberg and her husband Frank Marshall ....
     were impressed by his performance as Han Solo
    Han solo

    Han solo, the sole member of genus Han, is a species of agnostid trilobite known only from fossils found in the Ordovician Zitai Formation of southern China....
     in The Empire Strikes Back.


  • Karen Allen
    Karen Allen

    'Karen Jane Allen' is an American actress, best known for her role as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark . Allen has also had roles in the films National Lampoon's Animal House , The Wanderers , Split Image , Starman , Scrooged , The Sandlot , Poster Boy , and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the C...
     as Marion Ravenwood
    Marion Ravenwood

    Marion Ravenwood, also known as Marion Williams, is a fictional character that first appeared in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark....
    , 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
    John Shea

    John Victor Shea III is an United States Emmy award-winning actor and director who has starred on stage, television and in film. He is best known for his role as Lex Luthor in the 1990s TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and also starred in the short lived 1990s TV series WIOU as Hank Zaret....
    . Spielberg was interested in her, as he had seen her performance in National Lampoon's Animal House
    National Lampoon's Animal House

    National Lampoon's Animal House is a 1978 in film comedy film directed by John Landis. The screenplay was adapted by Douglas Kenney, Chris Miller and Harold Ramis from stories written by Miller and published in National Lampoon magazine based on his experiences in the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity at Dartmouth College, as well as Ramis's e...
    . Sean Young
    Sean Young

    Sean Young is an United States of America actor, best known for her performance in films in the 1980s such as Blade Runner and No Way Out , but who has arguably become more famous because of her bizarre antics....
     had previously auditioned for the part, while Debra Winger
    Debra Winger

    Debra Winger is an Academy Award-nominated United States actress....
     turned it down.


  • Paul Freeman
    Paul Freeman

    Paul Freeman is a United Kingdom film and television actor.Freeman was born in Hertfordshire, England. He began his career in advertising and teaching, and like many British actors he landed small roles in the theatre, appearing in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet....
     as Dr. René Belloq
    List of characters in the Indiana Jones series

    This is a list of characters in the Indiana Jones franchise....
    . 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
    Adolf Hitler

    Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born Germany politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party....
     could, but he is killed by the supernatural powers of the Ark after opening it when his head explodes.


  • Ronald Lacey
    Ronald Lacey

    Ronald Lacey was an England actor....
     as Major Toht
    List of characters in the Indiana Jones series

    This is a list of characters in the Indiana Jones franchise....
    . Toht is an interrogator for the Gestapo
    Gestapo

    The was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Under the overall administration of the Schutzstaffel , it was administered by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt and was considered a dual organization of the Sicherheitsdienst and also a suboffice of the Sicherheitspolizei ....
    , who tries to torture Marion Ravenwood for the headpiece of the Staff of Ra. He is killed by the supernatural powers of the Ark when his face melts. Lacey was cast as he reminded Spielberg of Peter Lorre
    Peter Lorre

    Peter Lorre , born L?szl? L?wenstein, was a Hungarian people - Austrian - United States actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner....
    . Klaus Kinski
    Klaus Kinski

    Klaus Kinski was a German actor, famous for his ability to project onscreen intensity, and for his explosive temperament. He acted in over 130 films....
     was offered the role, but he hated the script.


  • John Rhys-Davies
    John Rhys-Davies

    John Rhys-Davies is an England-born Welsh people actor and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the charismatic Arab excavator Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise and the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, in which he also voiced the ent, Treebeard....
     as Sallah
    Sallah

    Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir, better known as Sallah , is a fictional character played by John Rhys-Davies in two of the four Indiana Jones movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade....
    . Sallah is "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. Initially, Spielberg approached Danny DeVito
    Danny DeVito

    Daniel Michael "Danny-Fanny" DeVito, Jr. is an United States actor, film director and film producer, who first gained prominence for his portrayal of "Louie De Palma" on the popular American Broadcasting Company and NBC television television program Taxi ....
     to play Sallah, but could not play the part due to scheduling conflicts. Spielberg cast Rhys-Davies after seeing his performance in Shogun
    Shogun (TV miniseries)

    Shogun is an United States television miniseries based on the namesake Shogun by James Clavell. The miniseries was broadcast over five nights, between September 15 and September 19, 1980 on NBC in the United States....
    .


  • Denholm Elliott
    Denholm Elliott

    Denholm Mitchell Elliott, Order of the British Empire was a distinguished England actor of theatre and screen, with over 120 major film and TV credits....
     as Dr. Marcus Brody
    List of characters in the Indiana Jones series

    This is a list of characters in the Indiana Jones franchise....
    . Marcus is a museum curator, and buys whatever artifacts Indiana obtains for display in his museum. The US government agents approach him in regards 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.


  • Wolf Kahler
    Wolf Kahler

    Wolf Kahler is a German actor.Born in Berlin, since 1975 he has appeared in many US and UK TV and film productions. Due to his height - he is 6 feet 4 inches tall - sharp features, blond hair and blue eyes he is often cast in roles as Nazism or other unsympathetic German characters....
     as Colonel Dietrich
    List of characters in the Indiana Jones series

    This is a list of characters in the Indiana Jones franchise....
    . Dietrich is a ruthless Nazi officer leading the operation to secure the Ark. He is killed by the supernatural powers of the Ark when his head implodes.


  • Alfred Molina
    Alfred Molina

    Alfred Molina is a British Academy of Film and Television Arts-nominated, as well as Tony Award-winning, United Kingdom actor. He first came to public attention in the UK for his joint lead role with Gary Oldman in the 1987 film Prick Up Your Ears....
    , in his film debut, as Satipo
    List of characters in the Indiana Jones series

    This is a list of characters in the Indiana Jones franchise....
    . Satipo is one of Jones' guides through the South American jungle. He betrays Jones and steals the golden idol, but is killed by one of the traps in the temple.


Vic Tablian
Vic Tablian

Vic Tablian is an Egyptian born United Kingdom actor perhaps best known his double role in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark....
 plays Barranca and the Monkey man. Producer Frank Marshall
Frank Marshall (movie producer)

Frank Wilton Marshall is a five-time Academy Award-nominated United States film Film producer and film director, often working in collaboration with his wife, Kathleen Kennedy ....
 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". Pat Roach
Pat Roach

Francis Patrick "Pat" Roach was an England actor and professional wrestling from Birmingham. His most famous role is that of West Country bricklayer Brian "Bomber" Busbridge in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet....
 plays the large mechanic with whom Jones brawls in this sequence, as well as Toht's henchman in Marion's bar. He had the rare opportunity to be killed twice in one movie. Special-effects supervisor Dennis Muren
Dennis Muren

Dennis E. Muren, A.S.C. is an United States film special effects artist, most notable for his work on the films of Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and George Lucas....
 made a cameo
Cameo appearance

A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television....
 on the plane Indiana Jones takes to Nepal
Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and is the world's youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by India....
.

Soundtrack


John Williams composed the score for Raiders of the Lost Ark, which 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". 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 Indy. The score as a whole received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score, but lost to Vangelis
Vangelis

Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou , is a Greek composer of electronic music, Progressive music, Ambient music and neoclassicism music, under the artist name Vangelis ....
's iconic synth-based score for Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire

Chariots of Fire is a United Kingdom film released in 1981 in film. Written by Colin Welland and directed by Hugh Hudson, it is based on the true story of British athletes preparing for and competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics....
.

Release


Reception

The $20 million (USD) budget film grossed $384 million worldwide in its initial theatrical release. It remains one of the top twenty highest-grossing films
List of highest-grossing films

The following is a non-definitive list of the all-time highest-grossing films....
 ever made (when adjusted for inflation
Inflation

In economics, inflation is a rise in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. The term "inflation" once referred to increases in the money supply ; however, economic debates about the relationship between money supply and price levels have led to its primary use today in describing price inflatio...
). The film was subsequently nominated for nine Academy Awards
Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers....
, including Best Picture, in 1982 and won four (Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Norman Reynolds
Norman Reynolds

Norman Reynolds is best known for being an Academy Award winning United Kingdom art director and production designer for the Star Wars original trilogy....
, Leslie Dilley
Leslie Dilley

Leslie Dilley is a Welsh production designer and art director. He has won two Academy Awards and has been nominated for three more in the category Academy Award for Best Art Direction....
, Michael D. Ford
Michael D. Ford

After a training as an illustrator at Goldsmiths College London, Michael Dickins Ford worked as a scenic artist until ?drifting into? the film industry via commercial television....
)). It also received an additional Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing. It won numerous other awards, including a Grammy
Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media

The Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media has been awarded since 1960. Until 2001 the award was presented to the composer of the music alone....
 and Best Picture at the People's Choice Awards. Spielberg was also nominated for a Golden Globe.

The film received positive reviews from most critics. In his review for the New York Times, Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby

Vincent Canby was an United States Film criticism.Canby was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Katharine Anne and Lloyd Canby. He became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there....
 praised the film, calling it, "one of the most deliriously funny, ingenious and stylish American adventure movies ever made." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert

Roger Joseph Ebert born June 18, 1942) is an United States film criticism and screenwriter.He is known for his film review column and for two television programs Sneak Previews and At the Movies , which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel....
 in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times

The Chicago Sun-Times is an United States daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois....
 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." He later added it to his list of "Great Movies". Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
 said the film was "the ultimate Saturday action matinee–a film so funny and exciting it can be enjoyed any day of the week." Bruce Williamson of Playboy
Playboy

Playboy is an American men's magazine, founded in Chicago, Illinois, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, which has grown into Playboy Enterprises, with a presence in nearly every medium....
 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." Stephen Klain of Variety
Variety (magazine)

Variety is a weekly entertainment trade newspaper founded in New York in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Hollywood, was founded by Silverman in 1933....
 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. New Hollywood
New Hollywood

New Hollywood or post-Classical Hollywood cinema, sometimes referred to as the "American New Wave", refers to the brief time between roughly the mid-1960s and the early 1980s when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, drastically changing not only the way Hollywood films were produced and marketed, but al...
 champion Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael

Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career she was published by City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
, who once contended that she only got "really rough" on large films that were destined to be hits but were nonetheless "atrocious," found the film to be a "machine-tooled adventure" from a pair of creators who "think just like the marketing division." (Lucas later named a villain, played by Raiders Nazi strongman Pat Roach, in his 1988 fantasy film Willow
Willow (film)

Willow is a 1988 fantasy film adventure film directed by Ron Howard and produced/co-written by George Lucas. Warwick Davis stars in the film, as well as Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Jean Marsh and Patricia Hayes....
 after Kael.) Today, the film is considered to be a classic of the action and adventure genres by many contemporary critics and carries a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films. The name derives from the historical clich? of throwing tomatoes and other produce at stage performers if a performance was particularly bad....
.

Impact

Following the success of
Raiders, a prequel, Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 period piece adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise, and prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark ....
, and two sequels, The Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas....
and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, were produced. A television series, entitled The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, also known as The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, is an Emmy Award-winning United States television series that ran from 1992 to 1996....
, 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
American Film Institute

The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B....
 placed the film at number 60 on its top 100 films of the first century of cinema. In 2007, AFI updated the list and placed it at number 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
Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the de facto national library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books....
 and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry
National Film Registry

The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress....
. Indiana Jones has become an icon, being listed as
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is a magazine published by Time Inc. in the United States which covers movies, television, music, Broadway stage productions, books, and popular culture....
s third favorite action hero, while noting "some of the greatest action scenes ever filmed are strung together like pearls" in this film.

An amateur, near shot-for-shot remake was made by Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala and Jayson Lamb, then children in Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Ocean Springs is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, Mississippi , about east of Biloxi, Mississippi. It is part of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Pascagoula metropolitan area....
. It took the boys seven years to finish, from 1982-1989. After production of the film, called Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, wrapped in 1989, it was shelved and forgotten until 2003, where it was discovered by Eli Roth
Eli Roth

Eli Raphael Roth is an United States film director, film producer, writer and actor. He is part of the group of filmmakers dubbed the Splat Pack, because of their association and their focus on the horror genre....
 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. Scott Rudin
Scott Rudin

Scott Rudin is an Academy Award-winning United States film film producer and a Tony Award-winning theatre theatrical producer.Rudin lives in New York City with his longtime boyfriend John Barlow, a Broadway theatre publicist and founding partner of Barlow/Hartman Public Relations....
 and Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production company and distribution company, located on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, California....
 have purchased the trio's life rights and will be producing a film based on their adventures making their remake.

Assessing the film's legacy in 1997, Bernard Weinraub, film critic for The New York Times
The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"?named for its staid appearance and style?is regarded as a national newspaper of record....
, which had initially reviewed the film as "deliriously funny, ingenious, and stylish", 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." Eight years later, in 2005, viewers of Channel 4
Channel 4

Channel 4 is a UK Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom television broadcaster which began transmissions on 2 November 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the #Channel Four Television...
 in the UK rated the film as the twentieth best family film
Family film

A family film is a film genre that, like a children's film, is suitable for young children, but with the difference that a family film has been carefully written, directed, cast and acted so that it will appeal cross-generationally to parents, teenagers, older children, and small children....
 of all time, with Spielberg taking best over-all director honors.

Merchandise

The only video game based exclusively on this movie is Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Atari 2600)

Raiders of the Lost Ark is a video game created for the Atari 2600 and based on the Raiders of the Lost Ark. The game was designed by Howard Scott Warshaw....
, released in 1982 by Atari
Atari

Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Infogrames ....
 for their Atari 2600
Atari 2600

The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridge containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated console hardware with all games built in....
 console. The first third of the video game Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures

Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures is a game based on the Indiana Jones trilogy released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994, developed by Factor 5 and published by JVC Musical Industries, Inc....
, released in 1994 by JVC for Nintendo
Nintendo

is a global company located in Kyoto, Japan founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES is a History of video game consoles video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993....
, 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. The game was developed by LucasArts
LucasArts

LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC is an United States video game developer and video game publisher. The company was famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the early 1990s in video gaming....
 and Factor 5
Factor 5

Factor 5 is an Independent business software and video game developer. The company was originally co-founded by five former Rainbow Arts employees in 1987 in Cologne, Germany, which served as the inspiration behind the studio's name, before relocating to San Rafael, California, California in 1994....
. In Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine

Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine is a video game for the Nintendo 64, Microsoft Windows and Game Boy Color based on the film series Indiana Jones....
 a bonus level brings Indy back to 'Peru, South America' from this film. He can explore the cave and he discovers another hidden idol. LucasArts released Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is a 2008 in video gaming computer and video games developed by Traveller's Tales and published by LucasArts....
 on June 3, 2008 in North America and June 6, 2008 in Europe to coincide with the release of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Lego
Lego

Lego, officially trademarked LEGO, is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark....
 also released several building sets
Lego Indiana Jones

Lego Indiana Jones is a Lego theme based on the Indiana Jones film series. Sets have been released based on two of the three earlier films in 2008 and at least one Temple of Doom set in 2009....
 based on the film in early 2008.

In 1981, Kenner
Kenner

Kenner Products was a toy company founded in 1947 by three brothers, Albert, Phillip, and Joseph L. Steiner, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ohio, United States, and was named after the street where the original corporate offices were located....
 released a 12-inch 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 Indy's horse. They also released a board game
Board game

File:Game_of_life_board.jpgA board game is a game in which counters or pieces that are placed on, removed from, or moved across a "board" . As do other form of entertainment, board games can represent nearly any subject....
. In 1984, miniature metal versions of the characters were released for a role playing game, and in 1995 Micro Machines
Micro Machines

Micro Machines: The Original Scale Miniatures were a line of toys originally made by Galoob in the mid 1980s and throughout the 1990s. Micro Machines were literally that - tiny scale component style "playsets" and vehicles that were slightly larger than N scale....
 released die-cast toy
Die-cast toy

The term die-cast toy here refers to any toy or collectible model produced by using the die casting method. The toys are made of metal and plastic, the metal used commonly is zamak , an alloy of zinc and aluminium....
s of the vehicles in the film. Hasbro
Hasbro

Hasbro is an United States toy company. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world, second only to the toy giant Mattel. Hasbro is also the publisher of the world's most popular board game, Monopoly ....
 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. A novelization
Novelization

A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays....
 by Ryder Windham was released in April 2008 by Scholastic
Scholastic

Scholastic may refer to:* Scholastic * Scholastic Corporation, an American book publisher* Scholasticism, a form of theology and philosophy...
 to tie in with the release of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Home video

The film was released on VHS
VHS

The Video Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS, is a recording and playing standard developed by JVC and launched in Europe and Asia in September 1976, and the United States in June 1977....
 in pan and scan
Pan and scan

Pan and scan is one method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown within the proportions of a standard definition 4:3 Aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus on the composition's most important aspects....
 only and on laserdisc
Laserdisc

The Laserdisc is an obsolete home video disc format, and was the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially marketed as Discovision in 1978, the technology was licensed and sold as Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Videodisc, 'Laservision, 'Disco-Vision, 'DiscoVision, and MCA DiscoVision...
 in both pan and scan and widescreen
Widescreen

A widescreen image is a film, computer or television image with a wider and shorter aspect ratio than the standard Academy frame developed during the classical Hollywood cinema era....
. It was also released on Betamax. For its 1999 VHS re-issue, the film was remastered in THX
THX

THX is a trade name of a high-fidelity sound reproduction standard for movie theaters, screening rooms, home theaters, computer speakers, gaming consoles, and car audio systems....
 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
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 period piece adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise, and prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark ....
 and sequel
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas....
. The subsequent DVD
DVD

DVD, also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc,"is a popular optical disc data storage device media format. Its main uses are video and data storage....
 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, the glass partition separating Indy from the cobra in the Well of Souls was digitally removed. 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.

Further reading


External links

  • , Lucasfilm
    Lucasfilm

    Lucasfilm Limited is an United States film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman, and Micheline Chau is the president and Chief operating officer....
    's official Indiana Jones site
  • , Indiana Jones fansite