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Raiders
of the Lost Ark (1981)
In director Steven Spielberg's first film in the popular Indiana
Jones franchise - a rousing blockbuster adventure-serial film
filled with comic-book style, cliffhangers and many great action
stunts:
- the film's title sequence introduced 1936
archaeology professor and treasure hunter Indiana "Indy" Jones
(Harrison Ford) (wearing his signature short, brown leather flight
jacket, with a bullwhip and a snappy brimmed felt fedora); teasingly,
he was first seen faceless and only in silhouette while guiding
an expedition; his face was memorably revealed after Spanish Peruvian
Barranca (Vic Tablian) reached for his gun and cocked it when a
treasure map was found; Jones responded reflexively with lightning
speed by accurately and gracefully uncoiling his bullwhip and wrapping
it around Barranca's hand; his reaction sent the gun into the river
where it discharged harmlessly, while Barranca fled into the jungle;
then, Jones was fully revealed - he stepped from darkness (in silhouette)
into the light
- in the stimulating opening sequence inside a booby-trapped
jungle cave located in a mid-1930s South
American (Peru) rainforest, Indy snatched a fierce-looking but beautiful
golden Fertility Idol artifact from an altar,
and then had to make a mad dash after setting off a chain reaction
of destruction (including poisonous darts and arrows); Indy came
upon traitorous Peruvian helper Satipo (Alfred Molina) (with the
two moments of "Give me the whip" and "Throw me the idol") who was bloodily spiked
in the head; Indy retorted under his breath to his unlucky partner: "Adios,
estupido"
- in the subsequent sequence, an immense, thundering
rolling spherical boulder tumbled in Indy's direction, perfectly
sized to fit the passageway; Indy dashed just ahead of the destructive,
crushing boulder; he lept to safety outside the cave, just as the
giant rock slammed into the entrance of the cave and sealed it perfectly
- Indy was then pursued by a tribe of Hovito cannibals
in a tropical setting as he made a getaway from his nemesis, an
archaeologist working for the Nazis named Dr. Rene Belloq (Paul
Freeman) (who had retrieved the idol); Indy ran toward an awaiting
escape plane; there, he first exhibited his fear of snakes to the
pilot: "I hate snakes, Jock. I hate 'em"
- in the set-up for the film's main plot, multi-talented
Archaeology Professor Jones - an "expert on the occult" and "obtainer
of rare antiquities," was involved in a discussion
at Marshall College with two Army Intelligence officers:
Colonel Musgrove (Don Fellows) and Major Eaton (William Hootkins)
in his college classroom; the significance of a group
of Nazis digging and excavating on the desert outskirts of Cairo,
Egypt in the ancient lost city of Tanis (the Well of Souls) was explained;
it was the possible resting place of the gold-encrusted Ark of the
Covenant - a biblical chest reportedly containing fragments of the
10 Commandments: "The Nazis have discovered Tanis!...The city of Tanis is one of the possible
resting places of the Lost Ark...Yeah, the Ark of the Covenant. The
chest the Hebrews used to carry around the Ten Commandments...Yes,
the actual Ten Commandments. The original stone tablets that Moses
brought down out of Mount Horeb and smashed, if you believe in that
sort of thing. Any of you guys ever go to Sunday School?...Oh, look.
The Hebrews took the broken pieces and put 'em in the Ark. And when
they settled in Canaan, they put the Ark in a place called The Temple
of Solomon...Where it stayed for many years. Until, all of a sudden,
whoosh, it's gone...Well, nobody knows where or when"
- it was an ominous development that the Nazis were searching for the Ark,
to grant their armies invincibility; one of Indy's books illustrated
the ominous power of the Ark ("lightning, fire, the power of
God or something")
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Indy Explaining the Possible Existence of the Lost
Ark of the Covenant in Tanis, Egypt
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The Power of the Ark
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Dr. Marcus Brody
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- later that evening as Indy prepared for his journey
to locate the lost 3,000 year old object, museum curator Dr.
Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) warned about the Ark: "That's
not something to be taken lightly. No one knows its secrets. It's
like nothing you've ever gone after before." Indy replied: "Oh,
Marcus. What are you tryin' to do, scare me? I mean, 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 goin'
after a find of incredible historical significance. You're talkin'
about the bogeyman. Besides, you know what a cautious fellow I
am" (just in case, he threw a firearm into his suitcase)
- in a race with the Nazis, Indy flew to Nepal, hoping
to be reunited with his old Egyptologist mentor Professor Abner Ravenwood,
who had acquired the head-piece (a gold medallion) to the staff of
Ra - a crucial element that would help to pinpoint the exact location
of the Ark
- in Nepal, Indy became reacquainted with his
ex-girlfriend Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) from 10 years earlier
- she was Ravenwood's tough, hard-drinking, spunky and
feisty gambling daughter who managed a Nepalese saloon; Indy
appeared there as a shadowy silhouette on the wall in his familiar
Indiana Jones' adventurer's outfit; she reportedly
possessed (from her dead father) the valuable Egyptian headpiece
artifact; it was revealed to be on a necklace around her neck
- after the bar closed, she expressed her hard feelings
and anger over their former love affair by unleashing a solid right
to Indy's jaw: ("I learned to hate you in the last ten years... I was a child. I was
in love. It was wrong and you knew it!")
In a Nepalese Saloon Run by Marion Ravenwood
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Marion Ravenwood
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Indy's Silhouette
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Marion Slugged Indy
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Marion's Threatened Torture by Toht
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Indy to the Rescue
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Toht's Seared Hand
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- later that night, a cohort of four Nazi agents led by sadistic-looking Nazi Gestapo
Major Toht (Ronald Lacey) burst in, engaged in a shoot-out, and
burnt down Marion's establishment; while dealing with the evil Nazis
who were about to torture Marion (with a red hot poker) to have her
reveal the medallion's location, Indy emerged with his whip and a
gun and fought off the Nazis during the wild scuffle; as Toht reached
for the medallion (heated above the fireplace) and grabbed
for the object, it seared the palm of his hand
- Marion and Indy succeeded in retaining
the medallion and she became his partner after the first of many
life-threatening experiences together: ("You're
gonna get more than you bargained for. I'm your goddamn partner!")
- the two traveled to Egypt and found themselves in
a Cairo marketplace; Indy was in the middle
of a bazaar searching for his kidnapped former lover Marion
Ravenwood; in the film's greatest crowd-pleasing scene (Gun vs. Sword),
Indy was challenged to do battle with an ominous-looking, massive,
menacing, skilled Arab swordsman (stuntman Terry Richards) dressed
in black with a red waistband; the overconfident Arab laughed and
impressively twirled his swishing broadsword for the crowd; without
hesitation or the slightest bit of fair play, and without bothering
to reach for his whip, Indy calmly and casually grabbed for his gun
and with one shot felled his opponent
- after a chase to rescue Marion, who was carried away
in the sealed basket by two Arabs, Indy was forlorn
when he believed that she was killed in a truck explosion
- it was a race against time to make
the correct calculations about the Ark's location, since the Nazis,
led by Belloq, had already found the map room at Tanis three days
earlier; however, without the headpiece, it would be very easy
to begin digging in the wrong place
- Indy descended into the map room in
order to use a beam of light (exactly at 9 am) to cast a ray of bright
sunlight through the medallion (on the top of the Staff of Ra) to
mark the exact location of the Ark; the focused light was transcendently
displayed (with an intense, searing glow) onto a miniature stone
model or replica of the ancient city of Tanis to show the proper
location of the Well of the Souls - a different spot from where the
Nazis were digging closeby
- in an exciting sequence during Indy's digging at
the new site, he discovered a heavy entry door to an underground
chamber of the ancient tomb, the Well of Souls, as lightning crackled;
holding a torch, Indy looked down at the floor of the chamber 30
feet down that appeared to be moving; he tossed down his torch to
illuminate asps and cobras crawling around - and piteously sighed: "Snakes.
Why'd it hafta be snakes?"; Indy carefully lowered himself
into the chamber, but fell to the floor where he landed directly
face-to-face with a flaring cobra in an excruciatingly horrific moment
The Discovery of the Underground Chamber with
the Ark (in The Well of Souls)
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Lightning Crackled
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Looking Down into Chamber
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Asps on Floor of Chamber
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Indy: "Snakes. Why'd
it hafta be snakes?
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Lowered Into Chamber
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Face to Face with Hooded Cobra
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- Indy was able to remove the Ark's protective
stone cover and lift the Ark clear of its stone chest without
touching it (by using wooden poles); it was awesomely beautiful
- a gold-overlaid rectangular box, with two sculptured gold angels
(seraphim) mounted to face each other on top; the Ark was placed
in a wooden crate, and then hauled up to the surface with ropes
- but Indy was greeted by Belloq and the Nazis; Marion (who was
alive after all) was pushed into the chamber to join Indy as the
pharaoh's tomb was sealed
- Indy and Marion escaped
from the chamber by breaking through the wall, but they found themselves
in catacombs full of cascading, moldering mummies, sarcophagi and
skulls (with more snakes), before locating a way out of the chamber
- once they were in daylight, they were within sight
of an airplane that was scheduled to leave Egypt (bound
for Berlin, Germany and Adolf Hitler), to carry the Ark to its
destination; Indy engaged in a brutal fist-fight
at the Nazi airstrip death against two mechanics, including a burly
bald German mechanic (Pat Roach) who was pummeling Indy, but at the
same time, he was cleverly being backed into a revolving airplane
propeller - where he was sliced up (off-screen); his blood splattered
onto the side of the Nazi plane; Indy prevented the stolen Ark from
leaving Egypt by destroying the Flying Wing airplane; after the plane
exploded, Belloq ordered the Ark loaded aboard a truck to Cairo (where
it would be flown to Berlin)
- atop a magnificent white Arabian stallion, Indy
excitingly pursued after the canvas-topped Nazi truck caravan
carrying the Ark; when asked about how Indy would execute his plan, Indy quipped: "I
don't know. I'm making this up as I go"; he lept onto the truck,
took over its control, but was then thrown through the windshield
and hung onto the truck's front ornament; he lowered himself down,
hung onto the bottom of the truck and inched his way back to the
rear where he was dragged by his bullwhip, before he successfully
made his way back onto the truck and into the cab, and then drove
the truck to a hiding place; the Ark was placed in a tramp steamer
- Indy was with the exhausted
Marion as passengers on Mr. Katanga's (George Harris) steamboat -
with the Ark of the Covenant in the cargo hold; Marion nursed a badly
wounded Indiana, who complained of pain when she tried to apply ointment;
she reminded him: "You're not the man I knew ten years ago" to which he replied, famously
about his prowess: "It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage";
when he kept complaining about pain everywhere, she retorted: "Well,
G-ddamnit, Indy, where doesn't it hurt?" Indy pointed to the
only place it didn't hurt on his body - his left elbow; she kissed
it for him and then he prompted her to continue kissing him - on
his forehead (after she removed his hat), his right eye and finally,
a long passionate kiss on his lips. But then he passed out as Marion
pondered: "Jones, Jones. We never seem to get a break, do we?"
- the Nazis overtook the steamer via submarine
and repossessed the Ark; in the climactic finale - set on a mysterious
island in the middle of the Aegean Sea, somewhere southeast of Greece,
the contents of the Ark of the Covenant were to be revealed in an
elaborate ceremony; as the Ark was marched into a rocky cavern on
the island; Indy (in a stolen Nazi uniform) ducked out of sight when
no one was looking, climbed the cavern wall, and halted the procession
from the cliff ridge with a bazooka on his shoulder, but he was ultimately
forced to surrender
- the captured Indy and Marion were tied back-to-back
to a pole-stake, and watched from a few hundred feet away (Indy
warned: "Don't look at it. Shut your eyes, Marion, and don't
look at it, no matter what happens"); God's wrath and the horrors
of hell were summoned in the form of deadly visions when the Ark
was opened; as Indiana's nemesis Belloq opened its cover, he was
instantly besieged by ghostly images and screamed in horror; fire
consumed him and his body exploded; piercing firebolts and shafts
of fire zapped the rest of the Nazis through the heart; all of the
interlopers were punished by a lethal dose of death for breaking
the sacred taboo; Colonel Herman Dietrich (Wolf Kahler) melted into
dripping ooze by the extreme heat, and evil Gestapo Major Toht also
burned and melted as he viewed the opening; Marion and Indy were
the only two survivors
The Deadly Opening of the Ark
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The Ark's Deadly Vision
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Piercing Firebolts
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Renee Belloq
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Death of Colonel Herman Dietrich (Wolf Kahler)
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Death of Major Arnold Toht
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Belloq's Consumption by Fire
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- in the twist conclusion, after Indiana
Jones had risked his life, recovered the Ark, and it was delivered
to Washington, DC, the adventurer was congratulated by two Army
Intelligence Officers: "You've done your country a great service...";
however, Indy (along with Brody) was concerned that the Ark was
not going to be safe, would not be stored properly, and that its
power was misunderstood; he was left with the vague promise that
some of the government's unidentified
"top men" were researching it: "We have top men working
on it right now"
- after emerging from the government building, Indy
told Marion his frustrations about how his work had been co-opted
by the bureaucratic, fool-hardy government: "Fools, bureaucratic
fools...They don't know what they've got there"; Marion responded
with the film's final line: "Well, I know what I've got here.
Come on. I'll buy you a drink. You know, a drink?"
- the Ark of the Covenant was crated in a wooden box and its lid was solidly
nailed shut - its stenciled label contained a long inventory number
for identification:
TOP SECRET
ARMY INTEL 9906753
DO NOT OPEN!
- in a very slow reveal of the deeply ironic final
ending shot (a lengthy matte shot that paid homage to a similar closing Citizen
Kane (1941) "toss that junk" scene), a
warehouseman pushed the crated Ark down a long aisle formed by huge
stacks of hundreds of similar crates in an enormous government warehouse
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The Entrance of "Indy" Jones
Removing the Golden Idol
A Chain Reaction of Destruction
Death of Traitorous Peruvian Helper Satipo
Flight from Hovito Cannibals
"I hate snakes"
Flight to Nepal
Flight (with Marion) to Cairo, Egypt
Indy's Gun vs. Arab's Sword
Medallion Atop the Staff - To Locate Digging Spot for
Ark in City of Tanis
The Ark's Removal From Chamber
Escape From the Tomb - Into the Catacombs with
Mummies and Sarcophagi
Fighting At the Nazi Airstrip
Nazi Mechanic Bloodied by Propeller
Nazi Plane Blown Up
Indy on White Stallion: "I'm making this
up as I go"
Pursuit of Truck Carrying Ark
Hanging Onto Front of Truck and then Dragged
"You're not the man I knew 10 years ago"
Kisses with Marion on a Steamer
Indy Threatening with Bazooka as the Ark was Marched
to Ceremonial Spot on Aegean Island
The Opening of the Ark - Marion and Indy Tied Nearby
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