Right OK its time yet again for me revise one of my early posts on this blog and the one I will expand upon this time is Raiders of the Lost Ark.
So let's get whip cracking! (sorry bad pun I know!).
And yup as usual SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
Sooooo the film is set in 1936 and begins in South America, where Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), an American archaeologist, makes his way into a Peruvian temple, which is filled with booby traps, to find a golden idle, which he successfully obtains. However on his way out, he is surrounded by a tribe of Hovitos, who are lead by a French archaeologist, Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman), one of Indy's main rivals, who takes the idol from him, but Indy manages a narrow escape. Indy makes it back to America, where he returns to a local college where he teaches archaeology and he is approached by two army intelligence agents, who tell him about Hitler's quest for the occult and has sent his Nazi soldiers across the world in trying to find artefacts. The agents also tell Indy that the Nazis are looking for his old mentor, Abner Ravenwood, who apparently has in his possession the head piece to the staff of Ra, an old relic. From this information Indy deduces the Nazis are trying to locate the resting place of the ark of the covenant, the biblical chest buit by the Israelites, which is supposed to contain fragments of the ten commandments, and if the Nazis get their hands on the ark, it will make them invincible.
Indy agrees to go and locate the Ark and try to obtain it before the Nazis do, with his first lead being Abner's daughter, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), who was a former lover of Indy's and now lives in Nepal and owns a bar. After a drinking contest, Indy waits for Marion and she bitterly tells him to get out, angry for how their relationship ended, and Indy asks if she has the head piece he needs, but she tells him her father is dead, and to come back tomorrow. Indy leaves, and after he does, Marion reveals she is wearing the head piece on a chain under her shirt, shortly after this, one of the Nazi officers, Toht (Ronald Lacey), enters the bar with some men who raid her place, and Toht is about to interrogate her (with a hot poker no less!) when Indy comes back and rescues her. After the fight is over, Marion vows to go with Indy until she gets her money back that he gave her for the medallion head piece.
Indy and Marion then travel to Cairo where they meet up with a friend of Indy's, Sallah (John Rhys Davies), a talented digger, who's services have also been utilised by the Nazis who are excavating the site called the Well of Souls, where the Ark is said to have been kept. The Nazi dig is of course lead up by Belloq, and Colonel Dietrich (Wolf Kahler) who have managed to obtain a copy of the staff head piece from the scar on Toht's hand. Meanwhile Indy and Marion are attacked in the local market by Nazi operatives, and the kidnap Marion, with Indy chasing after her, he is lead to a truck where he sees a basket which Marion unsuccesfully hid in is loaded onto, he shoots the truck driver, which turns on its side and explodes, leaving Indy believing Marion is dead. After this Indy goes to a friend of Sallah's who tells them what the markings of the head piece mean, and they also deduce that the Nazis are digging in the wrong place. Indy and Sallah then take advantage of this and find the actual location of the Ark by using the staff with the head piece, and soon excavate the dig site, and uncover the entrances to the well of souls. Indy goes down inside but it is filled with snakes, some of which he burns with gasoline, Sallah soon follows down and the two of them find the Ark in one of the chambers, they place it in a crate and hoist it up outside.
By the morning however, Belloq, who by now has been holding Marion (it was revealed that they had switched the basket she was in prior to the truck being blown up) sees the dig site, and sends the Nazis up where they seize Sallah's men, and seal Indy into the well of souls, not before Toht throws Marion down into the well of souls also. Indy manages to break through the walls with one of the giant statues to allow them to escape outside, where they see the Ark is about to be loaded onto a plane. Indy fights with one of the plane mechanics, while Marion gets trapped inside the plane after knocking out the pilot, at the end of the fight the mechanic gets diced in the plane's propellers, and Indy rescues Marion from the plane, just before gasoline that leaks from it, catchs fire and blows up the plane. After this, Sallah tells Indy that the Nazis are loading the Ark onto a truck for Cairo, and Indy intercepts the truck and manages to dispatch the Nazi soldiers who are inside it. Indy and Marion with Sallah's help manage to leave Cairo on a cargo ship, but the next day the Nazis intercept the ship and board it, capturing Marion, although Indy escapes, and smuggles himself onboard the Nazi u-boat, where he dons the disguise of a soldier. The U-boat travels to an island in the Aegaen sea, where Belloq and the Nazis plan to hold a ritual ceremony to open the Ark and test its power before presenting to Hitler. Indy tries to stop them by threatening to use a rocket launcher, which he aims at the Ark, but Belloq disuades him from doing so, and let's himself be captured. And this leads into the films supernatural and dramatic climax.....
THOUGHTS
Well I think its safe to say that Raiders of the lost ark remains to this day still stands as one of the best and most entertaining action adventure films in modern cinema. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas with Raiders of course were doing their nod to the old 1930s cliffhanger serials seen in the cinema back then, and there plenty of cliffhanger moments in Raiders. And what makes Raiders also that appealing is of course its action set-pieces which are superb as well as very well staged, particularly Indy's chase of the Nazi's truck with the Ark onboard, and how he dispatches them, and ends up being flung out the windscreen of the truck, only to crawl underneath it and use his whip to trail behind it and get back on again. Then there is of course the gunfight in Marion's bar near the begninng of the film, and the opening sequence with Indy braving the temple to find the golden idol, where he has to dodge booby traps that feature big spikes coming out the walls, darts, and that giant boulder!
Perhaps one thing that is noticeable about Raiders is the level of violence in it is quite strong, especially for a PG certificate, as the baddies get spiked, sliced, shot, burned alive, and wiped out nastily by the Ark, complete with melting and exploding faces. For its time it was pretty strong stuff, but the Temple of Doom would take things even further in that arena and became the film that introduced the PG-13 rating from the American film censors.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES
So cast wise, the performances here are all great, with Harrison Ford giving a great performance as Indiana Jones, the adventurous archaeologist, and its hard to imagine any other actor play the part as well as he did, with a dry wit, intelligence, and fair bit of grit as well. As Indy, Harrison has his fair share of great scenes and he has a great introduction at the start of the film where we don't see his face but his figure as he walks through the South American jungle. And as one of Indy's treacherous guides pulls a gun on him, Indy hears the gun click and turns around quickly and whips the gun out the guide's hand and Indy steps into view and we see him for the first time and its still one of the great character intros in cinema. Then there is the scene where Marion nurses his wounds and she says he's not the man she knew 10 years ago and he replies "Its not the years, honey, its the mileage!". Also there is the scene where Indy tells Sallah to get a plane or boat for them, and he's going after the Ark, and Sallah asks "How?", and Indy says "I dunno, I'm making this up as I go!".
Another good scene comes when near the start of the film when Indy runs for his life as he's chased by the tribe of Hovitos and he screams at his bi-plane pilot, Jock (Fred Sorenson) who is fishing "JOCK!!! START THE ENGINE!!! JOCK!!!". And then after Indy manages to get onboard the plane and fly away he looks in his seat and sees a snake and he yells at Jock "There's a big snake in the plane, Jock!" and Jock says "Oh, that's just my pet snake, Reggie!" and Indy yells "I hate snakes, Jock! I hate em!!" and Jock says "Oh, come on show a little backbone, will ya?!". Then there is the scene where Indy after he thinks Marion is dead drowns his sorrows at a bar and Belloq joins him and as Belloq says of the ark "Its a transmitter! A radio for talking to God!" and Indy says to him "You wanna talk to God?? Let's go see him together, I've got nothing better to do!".
Then there is the scene where Indy is about to set off for Nepal and Marcus pays him a visit who warns him about the ark saying "Its like nothing you've gone after before!". And Indy laughs "Oh, Marcus. What are you trying to do, scare me? You sound like my mother. We've known each other for a long time. I don't believe in magic, a lot of superstitious hocus pocus. I'm going after a find of incredible historical significance, you're talking about the boogie man. Besides, you know what a cautious fellow I am!" and he picks up his gun and tosses it into his suitcase. And then there is Indy's last scene where he leaves angrily from his meeting with the intelligence agents who tell them the ark is being studied by "Top men!". And Indy angrily says to Marion "Fools! Beauracratic fools! They don't know what they've got there!" but Marion tries to reassure him by saying "But I know what I've got here! You wanna get a drink?" and he ends up linking arm and arm with Marion as they leave together.
And last of all there is of course the famous scene where Indy in Cairo during the market chase scene is confronted by a Arab swordsman who clearly wants to fight him but Indy simply takes out his gun and shoots him. And of course during the production (in Tunisia) Ford suffered from dysentery and wasn't up to filming the proposed fight scene with the swordsman and he instead suggested "why don't I just shoot the son of a bitch!" which is of course what they did!
Karen Allen is also excellent as Marion, Indy's love interest who starts off the film as being very feisty, and halfway through becomes more of a damsel in distress, but she nonetheless is a welcome change to the usual screeching females you can get in these types of roles. Allen also has some fun moments in her role such as the scene where she first meets up with Indy and she smiles as she turns around and looks at him saying "Indiana Jones! I always knew some day you'd come walking back through my door. I never doubted that. Something made it inevitable!". And then after asking Indy a question and he answers, she springs a surprise punch in the face to him and she angrily says "I learned to hate you in the last ten years!". And later after Indy rescues Marion from the Nazis and her places has been burned down by a fire starting during the fight, Marion yells at him in the freezing winter night "Well, Jones, at least you haven't forgotten how to show a lady a good time!".
Another good scene from Allen comes when Marion is chased by an Arabian and she grabs a frying pan from a nearby stall in the market but he produces a knive and she rans away and he follows and we hear a loud clunk and then see the arabian's unconscious body fall out. But then Marion is captured by the Nazis while she tried to conceal herself in a laundry basket and as the Nazi agents carry her away she yells "You can't do this to me! I'm an American!". Another good scene from Allen is when Marion is held captive by the Nazis in a tent in the desert but Belloq gives her a dress and they share a bottle of Vodka and Marion outdrinks him. And Marion then grabs a knive during their laughter and she tries back out the tent "I like you, Rene, very much. Perhaps we'll meet again under better circumstances!" but she backs right into Toht who disarms her and forces her back.
And there is the scene where Marion is thrown down into the well of souls by Toht and she clings onto one of the giant statues but loses her grip and is caught by Indy and Marion shrieks when a giant Python snake snaps at her and she leaps on Indy's back in panic. And as Belloq looks down below he says to her "It was not to be, cherie" and Marion looks and yells back "YOU BASTARDS!! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!!!". And lastly there is the funny scene where Indy and Marion are onboard Katanga's boat and Indy examines his bruised chin in a large mirror on one side and Marion stands on the other side and she rubs the mirror and flips it right round but it connects sharply with Indy's chin and he let's out a loud scream of pain! And afterward Marion looks at him and says "What did you say?".
Paul Freeman as Belloq is great as well, playing Indy's rival, with a sly charm, and clearly is not overly furnished in the morals department, as he doesn't mind working with the Nazis to get his hands on the Ark. Freeman get's his share of highlights as well and as a few examples there is his first scene where Belloq stands over Indy with a whole Hovito tribe surrounding them and he says to Indy "Dr. Jones. Again we see there is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away!". And later there is the scene where a drunken Indy sits with Belloq after believing Marion is dead and Belloq says to him "How odd that it should end this way for us after so many stimulating encounters. I almost regret it. Where shall I find a new adversary so close to my own level?" and Indy replies "Try the local sewer!". And in the scene Belloq says to Indy "Jones, do you realise what the ark is?! Its a transmitter! A radio for talking to God!". And as Indy goes to pull out his gun all the arabs draw their guns but Indy is rescued by a group of children as they lead him out leading Belloq to say "Next time it will take more than children to save you!".
Then we have the scene where Belloq and the Nazis arrive at the well of souls and prepare to trap Indy down in it by sealing the entrance up top. And Belloq calls down and says to him "What a fitting end to your life's pursuits. You're about to become a permanent addition to this archaeological find. Who knows? In a thousand years, even you may be worth something!". And lastly there is the scene on the island where the Nazis carry the ark toward a place to carry out a riutal but Indy interrupts it by aiming a rocket launcher from a mountain top above them. And Belloq talks Indy out of doing it by saying "Yes blow it up! Blow it back to God! Indiana we are simply passing through history. But this (points to the ark)...this IS history! Do as you will". But (SPOILER!) Indy is then captured by the Nazis which leads into the film's climax where we see the full force of the ark's powers unleashed on the Nazis and Belloq who's face explodes as a result!
John Ryhs-Davies is similarly great as Indy's good friend and digger, Sallah, and he get's some good scenes as well such as his first one where Indy has just arrived in Cairo with Marion. And Sallah voices his concerns over the ark by saying to Indy "The Ark. If it is there, at Tanis, then it is something that man was not meant to disturb. Death has always surrounded it. It is not of this earth". Another good scene for John is when Indy and Sallah come to the conclusion that Belloq is "digging in the wrong place!" and as Indy is about to toss a date into his mouth, at the last second Sallah catches it as he sees the little monkey lie dead from having eaten a poisoned one (belonging to one of the Nazi's spies) and Sallah says "Bad dates!". And last of all there is the moment where Sallah and Indy finally open up the entrance to the well of souls and they look down below. And Sallah says "Indy, why does the floor move?" and Indy asks him for Sallah's torch and throws it down into the tomb where we sees loads of snakes slithering about. And Indy looks back up in fear saying "Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes!" and Sallah says "Asps. Very dangerous! You go first!".
Denholm Elliot is also excellent as Marcus, Indy's friend and museum owner who plays a smaller part here but his role would be expanded on in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Elliot has some good scenes as well such as the scene where Marcus and Indy meet with the intelligence agents and Marcus tells the agents "The Bible speaks of the Ark leveling mountains and laying waste in entire regions. An Army that carries the Ark before it... is invincible". And then there is the scene where Marcus visits Indy and tells him that the agents have given him the go ahead to find the ark. And Indy says he will follow up his first lead which is Marion's father, Abner and he asks Marcus "Do you think she'll still be with him?" and Marcus says "Possibly. Marion's the least of your worries right now, believe me, Indy!". And as Indy asks what he means, Marcus continues " 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!".
Quickly I will mention Alfred Molina who makes an early onscreen appearance as Satipo, one of Indy's guides in South America at the start of the film who betrays him but ends up paying for it. And Molina has some good moments in his brief role such as the moment where Indy and Satipo arrive inside a temple and see a golden idol in the room ahead of them and Satipo says "Let us hurry! There is nothing to fear here!" and as he makes to go ahead Indy stops him and says "That's what scares me!". And in the next scene after Indy takes the idol the temple begins to collapse and they come a chasm which Satipo swings over with Indy's whip. And from the other side Indy has the idole and Satipo says to him "Give the idol!" and Indy says "Give me the whip!" and Satipo sees a big stone door coming down ahead of him "No time to argue! Give me the idol, I give you the whip!". So Indy throws the idol to Satipo who catches it and Indy says "Give me the whip!" but Satipo drops it and smiles saying "Adios senior!" only to be killed by traps and spiked to death.
Wolf Kahler is also pretty good as the ruthless Nazi, Colonel Dietrich who leads the operation for the Nazi army's recovery of the Ark. And Kalher has some good moments as well although I will only mention two, first off the one after Indy chases the Nazis and manages to eventually successfully steal the truck carrying the Ark. And after Dietrich and Belloq lose them in the marketplace, one of the locals comes over and offers Dietrich a watermelon and he takes it and smashes it! And lastly there is the scene onboard Katanga's boat where Katanga says he killed Indy but he wants them to leave him the girl. And Dietrich says "Savage! We will take what we want, and then decide whether or not to blow your ship from the water!".
And lastly I will mention Ronald Lacey who is excellent as the Nazi agent, Toht, and he plays the role in a very creepy manner who is quite memorable and he fits the part of a chilling Nazi. Lacey also has some good moments such as his first scene where he enters Marion's bar in Nepal and he greets by saying "Good evening, Fraulein!". And as Marion is curt with him, Toht has his men grab Marion as he talks a hot poker and takes it over to Marion who pleads "I can be reasonable!" and Toht coldly says "That time has past!". And Marion panics and pleads again "Please! I'll tell you everything!" and Toht goes close up to her and says "Yes! I know you will!" and he puts the poker right up to her face only to have it whipped out of his hand by Indy who suddenly appears and a gunfight ensues. And in the scene Marion's medallion, which Indy and Toht are after is caught in a fire and Toht tries to grab only to scold his hand causing him to scream in agony and he runs outside and desparately sticks his burnt hand in the snow!
And last of all there is the scene where in Cairo at night while Marion is held captive in a tent and she tries escape, Toht appears out of nowhere and disarms her. And he coldly says to her "We meet again, Fraulein! You Americans are all the same. Always overdressing for the wrong occassions!". And Marion cowers back in fear as Toht takes off his leather coat and he produces what appears to be a nunchuk, which he turns into a coathanger and one of the Nazi soldiers hangs his coat for him on it. And Toht then takes a chair and sits across from Marion and Belloq and he says creepily with a big smile "Now... what shall we talk about?!". Oh and of course we can't forget (SPOILER!) Toht's legendary face melting scene when the ark unleashes it full powers over the Nazis and Belloq! Yeah what a way to go!
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
As for the film's director, Steven Spielberg well he rarely puts a foot wrong here and he is no stranger to know how to direct a suspenseful and exciting action film and Raiders is no exception and he more than confidently handles the film's superb and creative action setpieces. Spielberg also get's the very best out of his cast here as well and as a director this was always one of his main strengths. Spielberg starts the film with the memorable image of a mountain in the South America serving as a real life backdrop to the Paramount pictures logo. But Spielberg also was no stranger to putting his cast into fearful positions such as having to deal with snakes or tarantulas, such as with the actor Alfred Molina whom he put a number of tarantulas on his back during one of the film's opening scenes! Spielberg for the well of souls scenes also had over 7000 snakes imported in for the scenes and he had to have a sheet of glass placed between Ford and a large Cobra snake in the scene Indy crash lands into the tomb. But regardless of that this still is one of Spielberg's very best directorial efforts and one of his most fun.
As for the music, we have John Williams superb score, which perfectly captures the mood of the film, and gives Indy the perfect signature theme, which is totally memorable, not to mention catchy and hummabel! And like alot of Williams's scores, and the scores has many great tracks throughout that highlight the film's heroics, drama, suspense and most of all fun. And to this day it still stands as one of Williams's very best scores, which is readily available for download on Youtube is well worth it!
FLAWS
As for Raiders flaws..... well yeah OK even though its a great film it does have a few and for starters you'd have to say in the scene at night where Indy and Sallah dig for the Well of Souls, its seems a bit bizarre that the Nazis wouldn't post guards around the dig site to check out for night activity. As you would think the Nazis would be extremely security conscious, they would try and look out for a sneaking bunch of diggers trying to uncover the very artefact they are looking for! Perhaps I'm wrong, and its reasonable to assume at night time, the guards will be just posted around the soldiers and officers tents.
I also find it just a bit improbable in the scene where Indy is thrown out of the Nazi truck by one of the soldiers, after being shot in the arm, that he would be able to cling onto the front of the truck and then make his way underneath and use his whip to cling onto the back of it and drag himself along the ground while the truck is in motion, WITHOUT scraping his legs and knees to shit! Yeah somehow Indy miraculously manages to do just that without any problem and most likely his legs are fine in the film. In real life when they filmed that shot though Harrison did it for real but he wore protected pads around his legs during filming. But it seems a bit daft that Indy would come through that without any massive scars on his legs!
Its also a bit strange how Indy knows not to look at the supernatural powers of the Ark in the scene where Belloq opens the Ark, yet Belloq seems unaware of this himself, being a rival archaeologist, you'd imagine he would have this knowledge, and should have been more wise to have dealt with opening the Ark. It also begs the question: how did Indy know not to look at the contents of the Ark in the first place??!! That's something that is never explained. And if they had opened the Ark for Hitler in Berlin, it would have also probably saved WWII from having happened! Marcus's statement about the "army who carries the ark before it, is invincible" also proves redundant in the end, as the Ark is a source of power that no one can control, so in the end it just seems a bit pointless excavating it, especially if they can't control its power! So in short they should have left the Ark where it was!
And lastly I find the idea at the end of the film that the Ark would be just put in a wooden crate and stored away in a big warehouse filled presumably with other strange and invaluable aterfacts is a bit daft. As the army intelligence agents want to just keep the Ark under wraps it seems they would rather not take any risks with it, but at the same time rather than study it, they decide to just stick it in a big warehouse with probably another bunch of strange finds. And funnily enough they do revist that very warehouse in the most recent Indy film, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull where we see a sneak peek of the crate carrying the Ark! (a nice moment in an otherwise dull sequel!).
Anyway that's me done with the flaws.
SUM UP
So to sum up Raiders of the Lost Ark is still a thrilling and highly enteratining action movie, which has plenty of great action, suspenseful moments and above all a great sense of fun and its also film that will never date with age. The film also benefits from its excellent cast, great set design and location shooting (not to mention Douglas Slocombe's excellent cinemaphotography) and last but not least, its memorable and superb music score by John Williams. And for me its still one of the best action films of all time and as such is one that warrants repeated viewing time and time again.
So that's it for Raiders of the Lost Ark redux edition and I will be back with another post again in December (how time flies!).
Until the next un its bye for now!
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