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Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Starring Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, and Alfred Molina.  Cinematography by Douglas Slocombe.  Edited by Michael Kahn. Produced by Frank Marshall.  Written by George Lucas, Philip Kaufman, and Lawrence Kasdan.  Directed by Steven Spielberg.

It’s 1936 and famed archeologist Indiana Jones (played by Harrison Ford) is on the hunt for a tribal idol hidden deep in the South American jungle.  After outwitting numerous booby traps set up to protect the treasure, he barely makes it out of the cave only to have the idol stolen from him by Belloq (played by Paul Freeman), an old nemesis. Defeated but alive, Indiana returns to Southern California where he teaches archeology at a university. 

He is contacted by two US intelligence officers who inform him that the Nazis are tearing Egypt apart apparently searching for The Lost Ark of the Covenant, the receptacle of the ruins of Moses’ Ten Commandments.  Jones is commissioned to intercept the Ark before it is found and exploited by the Nazis.

George Lucas had already begun developing the idea of Indiana Jones by the time he started work on the Star Wars trilogy.  Like Star Wars, he was interested in creating a modern fairy tale while honoring the adventure serials he had loved as a youth. He had already loosely laid out three stories for his hero to be involved in by the time Steven Spielberg was added to the picture. After the blazing success of Star Wars, Lucas and Spielberg took a well deserved vacation to Hawaii together.

While playing on the beach they discussed ideas that they could use for a possible collaboration.  Spielberg, who was already acclaimed for his films Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, mentioned that he had always wanted to do a James Bond style film.  When Lucas heard this he presented Spielberg with his ideas for Indiana Jones.  The two decided to develop the project but needed someone to put together a draft of it. Spielberg had recently read a screenplay titled Continental Divide that was written by an advertising copywriter named Lawrence Kasdan.  He had been very impressed with the script and with Lucas’ approval Kasdan was offered the job as writer for their film, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Lucas had created the story and character, Kasdan put it into a script, and when production began Spielberg was pretty much given complete freedom to do with it as he saw fit.  Lucas spent a couple weeks on set, and did some second unit camera work, but his interference was minimal.  After shooting wrapped Spielberg did his own cut of the footage and then sent it off to Lucas to tweak.

Lucas, who’s strength has always been in the editing room, tightened up the story by removing about seven minutes. Raiders of the Lost Ark was now suitable for mass consumption, and was it ever consumed.  The film was a huge financial, as well as critical, success. It became the highest grossing Paramount Pictures film ever and earned itself eight Academy Award nominations, including best picture. The film was so successful in fact that its revenue literally funded the next twelve Paramount pictures by itself. Raiders of the Lost Ark is a fantastic film and virtually defines the action/adventure genre.

Budget: $20,000,000
Total US Gross: $242,374,454
Genre: Adventure
Runtime: 115 Minutes
US Release Date: 6/12/81
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Awards:
Academy Awards:
Won for best art direction/set decoration, visual effects, editing, and sound.
Nominated for best cinematography, original score, director, and picture. 

Golden Globes:
Nominated for best director.

Directors Guild of America:
Nominated for the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures. 

Writers Guild of America:
Nominated for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen.
Winner of the American Film Institute's top one hundred movies of all time:  number sixty.

Tagline: The Creators of Jaws And Star Wars Now Bring You The Ultimate Hero In The Ultimate Adventure.

Quote: “Well, I mean that for nearly three thousand years man has been searching for the lost ark.  It's not something to be taken lightly. No one knows its secrets.  It's like nothing you've ever gone after before.”

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