Raiders of the Lost Ark Review (Revisited)

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, I figured it was time for another revisit of an older post from this blog and the post this time was my review on Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Spielberg's action classic (which was already a revist of the original one I did!). So, I will do the usual expansion of sections here and there and add in some news quotes of dialogue and whatever else.

So, after nearly 40 years, how does Raiders fare? Well, let's crack that whip and take another look...

And the usual warning is coming up...

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

In 1936 in South America, 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 but soon does after one of his guides turns on him and he whips a gun out of their hand and he steps into the light. And in the scene, Indy then turns to his other guide (Alfred Molina) and tells him as they stop at a temple entrance and Indy starts to fill up a big with sand "This is it, this is where Forrestal cashed in" and the guide asks him "A friend of yours?" and Indy says to him "A competitor. He was good, he was very very good".

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 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. 

Then there is the scene where Indy after he thinks Marion is dead, drowns his sorrows at a bar but is taken by some Nazi officers to meet with Belloq. So, Indy angrily looks at Belloq and says "Belloq! I ought to kill you right now!" and Belloq says to him "Not a very private place for a murder" and Indy says "Well, these arabs don't care if we kill each other, its none of their business" but Belloq politely says to him "Please sit down, before you fall down!". 

So as they talk, Belloq says to him how Indy is a worthy adversary and where can he find a similar one to himself and Indy says "Try the local sewer!". However as they talk more, Belloq asks Indy "Jones, do you know what the ark is?! 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!" and he draws his gun but then so do all the other patrons of the bar only for Indy to be rescued by a group of children. 

Another good scene from Harrison is where the ark is loaded onto a truck by the Nazis and Indy watches them from a nearby dune. So, Indy tells Sallah "Get back to Cairo and get us some transportation to England. Boat, plane, anything! Meet me at Omar's, I'm going after that truck" and Sallah asks him "How?" and Indy tells him "I dunno how, I'm making this up as I go!". 

Then we have the scene where Indy and Marion are onboard Katanga's ship and Indy takes off his shirt to reveal his scars from his adventures so far. And Marion looks at Indy and says to him "You're not the man I knew 10 years ago" and Indy painfully tells her "Its not the years, honey. Its the mileage!" as she starts to tend to his wounds and they end up kissing but Indy soon falls asleep from exhaustion. 

And then there is the scene where Indy having sneaked onboard the Nazi's submarine follows them onto an island where Belloq will perform a ritual and open the ark. So, Indy, disguised as a Nazi officer, soon presents himself to the Nazis and Belloq (who have Marion captured at this point) armed with a rocket launcher. So, Indy shouts "Hello!" and Belloq and the Nazis turn around and Belloq shouts up to him "JONES?! JONES??!!!" and Indy says "I'm gonna blow up the Ark, Rene!". And the Nazi general, Dietrich asks Indy "Dr Jones? Surely you don't think you can escape this island?" and Indy tells him "That all depends on how reasonable we're all willing to be, all I want is the girl" and Dietrich asks "And if we refuse?" and Indy says "Then you're fuhrer has no prize!".

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.  

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 Indy ruefully rubs his chin and tells Marion "I never meant to hurt you" and Marion shouts at him "I was a child! I was in love! It was wrong and you KNEW IT!" and Indy tells her "You knew what you were doing!" and Marion shouts "NOW I DO! THIS IS MY PLACE! GET OUT!". 

However, Indy says to her "Look I did what I did. I don't expect you to be happy about it, but maybe we can help each other out now". So, Indy asks her if she has a medallion piece that her father used to have "You know the one I mean?" and Marion tells him "Yeah, I know it but I don't know where it is" and Indy insists "Well maybe you can find it!" and he holds out a wad of cash "3000 bucks!" and Marion tells him "Well that will get me back but not with style". Indy then says to her more calmly "I can you get you another two when we get to the states. Its important, Marion. Trust me!". Marion takes the cash from Indy and she grins and says "Come back tomorrow" and Indy asks "Why?" and Marion insists "Because I SAID so, that's why!" so Indy gives in and heads for the door and Marion smiles and says "See you tomorrow, Indiana Jones!".    

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!". Indy shouts back "Boy, you're something!" and Marion shouts in return "Well, I'll tell you what?! Until I get my 3000 dollars back, you're gonna get more than you bargained for!" and she holds up her medallion that Indy was looking for and she shouts at him "I'M YOUR GODDAMN PARTNER!!".

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 in their cabin, Marion enters wearing a new outfit and Indy asks her "Where did you get that?" and Marion says "From him" and Indy insits "WHO him?" and Marion says "Katanga. I don't think I'm first woman to have travelled with these pirates!". And as 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?".         

And in the same scene, Marion tends to Indy's wounds from his fights so far in the film and as he takes his shirt off painfully, she looks at him and says "You're not the man I knew 10 years ago" and he says to her "Its not the years, honey, its the mileage!". So, as Marion tries to rubs his wounds with some sort of anti-septic and cotton, Indy painfully tells her "Just go away, leave me alone! It hurts!" and Marion angrily asks "Well, goddamn it, Indy! Where doesn't it hurt?" and Indy points at his elbow and says "Here!" and she kisses it, and he points to his forehead and Marion takes off his hat and kisses on it. So, Indy points at his eye and he says quietly "This is not too bad" and she kisses him near his eye and then he points to his lips and says coyly "Here?" and she kisses on the lips but he soon falls asleep much to Marion's annoyance who says "Jones?! Jones?! We never seem to get a break, do we?". 

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!". So, Indy is forced to hand over the idol he obtained from the temple and he says to him "Too bad the Hovitos, don't know you the way I do, Belloq" and Belloq says "Yes, too bad. You could warn them, only if they could speak Hovitos!" and he holds up the idol and speaks in their native tongue, which allows Indy to escape. 

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!". However, as the Nazi officer, Toht, enters the scene grappling with Marion, he throws her into the Well of the Souls below with Indy, who catches her much to Belloq's fury. So, Belloq shouts at Dietrich "The girl was mine!" and Dietrich dismissively says "The girl's means nothing, only on our mission for the Fuhrer did she meet us!" and Belloq looks down at her and says "It was not to be, cherie!" and after Marion shouts "YOU BASTARDS! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!" Belloq says to Indy "Indiana Jones...adieu!".  

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, so Belloq saus to him "OK, Jones! You win! Blow it up!" but the Nazis troops shout in protest and Belloq suddenly grabs one of their machine guns and tells them in German to back off.  So, Belloq tries to talk Indy out of doing it by saying " Yes, blow it up! Blow it back to God. All your life has been spent in pursuit of archaeological relics. Inside the Ark are treasures beyond your wildest aspirations. You want to see it open as well as I. Indiana, we are simply passing through history. This..." and he points at the ark "...this IS history!" and he takes a moment for Indy to think over what he's saying and calmly tells Indy "Do as you will" before walking off and Indy relents and is captured.

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 "Indy there's something that troubles me" and Idny asks "What is it?" and Sallah says to him "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's staff is too long and they say together "They're digging in the wrong place!" and Sallah sings triumphantly "I am the monarch of the sea...I am the ruler..." however 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 cautiously to Indy "Bad dates!".  

Then 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!".   

Then there is the scene where Sallah tells Indy that the Nazis have loaded the Ark onto a truck enroute to Cairo. So, in the scene, Sallah is whistled into a nearby tent where Indy is hiding with Marion and Sallah delightedly says "Oh my smoke, my friends! I am so pleased you're not dead! Indy we have no time, if you still want the ark, it is being loaded onto a truck for Cairo!" and Indy angrily asks "Truck?! What truck?!". 

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 lore behind the Ark. So, Marcus says to them "However, an Egyptian pharaoh..." and Indy interrupts and says "Shisak" and Marcus continues "...yes, invaded the city of Jerusalem round about 980 B.C., and he may have take the Ark back to the city of Tanis and hidden it in a secret chamber called The Well of Souls" and one of the intelligence agents warily says "Secret chamber?". Marcus then continues "However, about a year after the pharaoh had returned to Egypt, the city of Tanis was consumed by the desert in a sand storm which lasted a whole year. Wiped clean by the wrath of God!". 

Then as the agents ask what does the Ark look like, Indy opens a book showing a picture of it and one of the agents says "I'm beginning to understand Hitler's interest in this" and Marcus says to them "Oh, yes. 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 in the film such as the one where Indy is left trapped in the Well of the Souls with the Nazis up above and Dietrich taunts Indy. So, Dietrich says to Indy "Our prize is awaited in Berlin. Yes... we are finished here with everything. But we do not wish to leave you down in that awful place... all alone". And then afterward Toht appears with Marion and throws her down into the well but Indy manages to catch her. However, Belloq furiously shouts at Dietrich "The girl was mine!!" and Dietrich tells him "The girl means nothing to us! Only on our mission for the Fuhrer did she meet us! I wonder sometimes, monsieur, if you have that in mind!".

And lastly there is the scene onboard Katanga's boat where Katanga says he killed Indy but he wants them to leave him Marion with him to cover the loss of his cargo at the hands of the Nazis.  However, Dietrich says "Savage!  We will take what we want, and then decide whether or not to blow your ship from the water!" and he roughly grabs Marion and takes her away.  

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!". Marion then tells him "The bar's closed!" and Toht smiles, still shivering from the cold "We are not thirsty! We here for the same thing that Doctor Jones wanted. Surely he must have told you there would other interested parties?" and Marion lights a cigarette tells him "Must have slipped his mind". Toht then says "The man is nefarious, I hope for you sake he has not acquired it" and Marion asks "Why? Are you willing to offer more?" and Toht says "Oh, most certainly! Do you still have it?" and Marion blows smoke in his face and says "No, but I know where it is!".  

Marion then asks Toht "Hey, how about a drink for you and your men?!" and Toht starts to stoke a fire nearby with a poker "You're fire is dying here. Why don't you tell me where the piece is right now?" and Marion angrily tells him "Listen, Herr Mac. I don't know what kind of people you are used to dealing with but nodoby tells me what to do in my place!". Toht then laughs and tells her "Fraulein Ravenwood! Let me show you what I'm used to!"  and he orders his men to grab Marion as he takes the piping hot poker over to Marion who pleads "Wait! 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!" as he holds the red hot poker right up to her eyes only for it to be whipped out his hands by Indy and a big gunfight ensues.

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?!".

DIRECTOR

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.         

MUSIC 

As for the music, there is of course a wonderful score by the great John Williams, which perfectly captures the mood of the film, and gives Indy the perfect signature theme, which is totally memorable, not to mention catchy and hummable!  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 from Amazon or even listen to it on Youtube for free if you like. Overall, this is one of my favourite film scores without a doubt.

FLAWS (Warning: this section contains spoilers!) 

As for Raiders flaws..... well yeah even though its a great film, it still does have some...

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 hell!  But 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!

I have to say I found the scene between Indy and Marion that implied their previous romantic relationship was a bit dodgy as Marion shouts at him that it was wrong and she was just a child at the time. Hmmm! I mean what are we talking about here?! Was she under 18?! Under 16??! I mean, its a scene that kind of makes you think twice about Indy as a hero and rather was he actually a bit of a pedo?! I'm guessing of course that just maybe Marion was in her late teens but who knows and it makes you wonder how old Indy would have been at the time, maybe 10 years older than here but that's not explained at all. So, yeah after all these years, this is the first time I've come to question this scene and it does appear to make Indy sound a bit dodgy although it is just a superficial reference in the end, it does make you wonder!

Further to this point, I just read that in a What Culture article that apparently Indy was said to have been 25 and Marion was 17 at the time of their romance, so I guess that 8 years in itself isn't a big age gap but its still under age though! So, yeah based on that I might just let it pass but its still a bit questionable all the same!

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 it for 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 my final rating for Raiders is...

10 out of 10  

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back again with another post quite soon.

Till then its bye for now!