Review-Stuff

Raiders of the Lost Ark is in my opinion the greatest action movie ever made. Of all the Indiana Jones movies that were made Raiders of the Lost Ark was without doubt the number one. The Raiders of the Lost Ark movie was made in 1981 starring Harrison Ford and directed by Steven Spielberg. The story was written by George Lucas about a swashbuckling archeologist who was one of the most original screen action characters that has even to this day ever been seen on film. 

The Raiders of the Lost Ark story follows Indiana Jones as he globe trots all over the world looking for long lost archeological artifacts and finding himself in life threatening adventures along the way. Raiders of the Lost Ark is set in the 1930’s and starts off in the jungles of South America while Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones leads a group of not so loyal treasure hunters hoping to get to the treasure before him and leave him to his fate with the savage locals. One of the first scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark is the famous huge rolling ball scene where Indiana Jones runs for his life through a series of ancient booby traps designed to foil the attempts of treasure hunters. Right from the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark this movie has you on the edge of your seat and screaming for more action and that’s exactly what you get in this brilliant action movie.

Not only is Raiders of the Lost Ark literally dripping with action from start to finish, the story itself is original and compelling. If you can suspend your disbelief for about 2 hours while you watch this movie it is about as entertaining as a movie can get. Raiders of the Lost Ark gave even more, well deserved credit to up and coming director Steven Spielberg but also helped cement the star power of Harrison Ford after his spell as Indiana Jones in this movie. Riding high on the success of Star Wars both Harrison Ford and George Lucas successfully teamed up again for this action blockbuster.

After Indiana Jones returns to America from his adventure in South America he finds himself on another adventure to find the lost Ark of the Covenant, hence the name of the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones then heads to Asia where he teams up with an old flame named Marion Ravenwood played by actress Karen Allen. Although not on great terms both Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood head to Egypt where they meet up with Indiana’s good friend Salah played by actor John Rhys Davies. The three of them move around trying to avoid the Nazis while looking for the resting place of the lost ark.

Raiders of the Lost Ark takes turn after adventurous turn as Indiana Jones and his friends find the lost ark before the Nazis but just after they find it the Nazis take it from them. Although, ever persistent Indiana Jones reacquires the lost ark and heads off on a boat with the Ark of the Covenant. While Indiana and Marion Ravenwood are on the boat at sea the Nazis intercept the ship and take back the ark again.

Eventually we get to the grand finale and climax of Raiders of the Lost Ark where the Nazis decide to open the Ark of the Covenant on a remote island. The climax of the film does not disappoint in the usual Steven Spielberg fashion. Raiders of the Lost Ark finishes on a high note. If you have not seen Raiders of the Lost Ark I envy you as you are in for a real treat, I certainly wish I could experience this absolutely wonderful film for the first time again.

Some interesting facts and movie trivia about Raiders of the Lost Ark you may not know.

Harrison Ford was not the first choice to play Indiana Jones, in fact the role of Indiana Jones was given to Tom Selleck but due to his commitments on the television show Magnum PI he had to turn down the role. What a bummer for Tom Selleck. Indiana Jones played by Harrison Ford went on to be the focus of 3 movies in total and word around at the time of writing this Raiders of the Lost Ark review is that Indy 4 with Harrison Ford, George Lucas and Steven Speilberg at the helm is due to begin filming in 2007. If there is an Indy 4 movie filmed in 2007 it will be 18 years since the last Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was released in 1989. Indiana Jones 4 would be a money making machine if there ever was one but Harrison Ford is in his 60’s now, he was in his late 30’s when he played Indiana Jones for the first time in 1981, although I still think it would be a real winner.

Some more Raiders movie trivia, in the first part of Raiders of the Lost Ark there is a scene where Indiana Jones jumps into a plane that takes off from the river while he is being chased by local savages. The plane took off with Harrison Ford and the pilot in the aero plane and flew what looked like, into the sunset, but as the plane flew out of view of the cameras it crashed soon after but nobody was badly hurt.

The South American scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark were actually filmed in Hawaii.

There is another scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones is in Cairo and is about to fight a local swordsman, the scene was supposed to be an elaborate sword fighting scene but Harrison Ford had a bad case of food poisoning on that day so instead of delaying the filming of the movie they decided to shorten the scene where Indiana Jones simply pulls out a gun and shoots the Egyptian swordsman dead. It actually turned out to be a really cool scene and quite funny in a dry Indiana Jones kind of way.

Raiders of the Lost Ark was the first collaboration between Harrison Ford, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg but was certainly not the last. All three of these men are now some of the biggest heavyweights in Hollywood and have numerous big blockbusters under their names.

Raiders of the Lost Ark review-stuff.com rating 10 out of 10.