Raiders
of the Lost Ark (1981)
Starring
Harrison Ford
Director
Steven Spielberg
Awards
Academy Awards
Best Art Direction and Set
Decoration
Best Film Editing
Best Screenplay - Lawrence Kasdan
Best Sound Effects Editing
Best Visual Effects
Academy Award Nominations
Best Director - Steven Spielberg
Best Picture
Plot Synopsis
Steven Spielberg's loving homage to the Saturday matinee
cliffhanger serials of his childhood. The US government enlists archaeologist-adventurer
Indiana Jones to locate the biblical "Lost Ark of the Covenant" where the
remains of the broken tablets of the Ten Commandments were placed. En route Jones and his
feisty ex-girlfriend must escape the clutches of evil Nazis, duplicitous
"natives," and a nest of venomous snakes, not to mention the wrath of God.
Film Notes
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas's 1981 resurrection of the
Saturday-matinee adventure genre was deservedly popular, and kicked off a successful
trilogy. Set in 1936, this first feature introduces Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, an
archaeologist and adventurer whose quests for rare antiquities frequently find him running
from one menace or another. Raiders finds Dr. Jones in the middle of a Nazi plot to
use the mysterious powers of the Ark of the Covenant to win the war. Karen Allen plays the
love interest with an old-fashioned "man's woman" appeal (she can drink anybody
under the table and is free with her fists). The constant, cliffhanger appeal of the movie
is great fun, one is always wondering how Indy will get out of one scrape after another,
and Ford's career got a big boost with his self-effacing but masculine portrayal of the
hero." (Tom Keogh, Amazon.com)
Tom Selleck was originally intended for the lead, but was
committed to his Magnum, PI role on TV and could not get out of his contract.
Filmed in Tunisia, France, Peru, Hawaii, and EMI Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, England.
Finished 12 days ahead of schedule for an estimated budget of $22 million. Color by Rank,
Metrocolor prints, filmed in Panavision. Followed by two sequels, Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade.
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