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| Images courtesy of Paramount Pictures |
What can be said about the cinematic game changing update of
the serial films model unveiled by George Lucas, Philip Kaufman, Lawrence
Kasdan, Steven Spielberg and its central star Harrison Ford that hasn't already been said? Generally regarded as one of the greatest
films ever made, going on to win five Academy Awards and still being a huge
pull upon theatrical revivals and repertory screenings including two within the
last year on 35mm and 16mm film sponsored by the Motor City Cinema Society, Raiders
of the Lost Ark is pretty much a plainly perfect film entrenched in the
past but charging full steam ahead into the then-present screen energies of
1981. One of pop mainstream cinema’s
greatest iconic heroes in possibly one of the finest action-adventure film
franchises in living memory, the film all but catapulted its leading man
Harrison Ford into superstardom and further cemented George Lucas and Steven
Spielberg as an indefatigable filmmaking powerhouse team.
The story, set in 1936, is simple enough: American archaeologist
Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is informed by Army Intelligence agents that the
Nazis are actively seeking out the mysterious Ark of the Covenant which housed
the original Ten Commandments. Believing
it will render Hitler’s army invincible, Indy is recruited to track down the
Ark first, enlisting his ex-girlfriend Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) as his
partner-in-tow all the while Nazi forces close in around them. Escaping to Cairo where the Ark resides, they
meet up with Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) as they scramble against time to locate
the Ark before the Nazis commandeered by Indy’s arch-enemy in French
archaeologist Belloq (Paul Freeman).
From here it becomes not only a race against time, but for the fate of
humankind itself.
Inspired by George Lucas’ childhood memories of old
Hollywood serials ala Buck Rogers or Zorro’s Fighting Legion, Raiders
of the Lost Ark is ostensibly a B-movie entertainment whose scale of
technical craftsmanship, storytelling and visual effects as well as astounding
stunt work elevates it into high art. An
escapist work of excitement, thrills and occasional, increasingly supernatural
scares loaded with astonishing set pieces, the film began as the brainchild of
George Lucas and his pal Philip Kaufman who helped devise the Ark versus Nazis
concept but ultimately turned over directorial duties to Steven Spielberg. Spielberg himself expressed interest in doing
a James Bond film and though he never did one officially, his subset of Indiana
Jones films all but played off of notions of that larger-than-life
character.
Though the film proved to be a grueling shoot, filmed in
France, Tunisha, Hawaii and sets built in Elstree Studios, England across seventy-three
days of principal photography in scope 2.35:1 widescreen by renowned three-time
Oscar nominated The Lion in Winter cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, the
vistas of the Egyptian desert landscapes and city corridors interspersed with
the freezing mountainous cold of Nepal to numerous airflight montages with a
marker indicating our whereabouts are all completely dazzling. Because of the tight shooting schedule
involved, there was room for improvisation on the set including a hilarious
joke where Indy shoots a swordsman dead in a chase sequence. One of the characteristics of Indy as a
character in addition to his vulnerability are his human weaknesses. While most screen heroes up to that time were
depicted as superhuman cyborgs impervious to wounding, Harrison Ford’s
portrayal of Indiana Jones is realistic and believable as an average everyman
who is a bit clumsy or endearing to the human quality of making mistakes
including fighting off adversaries twice his size.
With its electrifying original score by John Williams, razor
sharp editing by Michael Kahn and gifted ensembled performances including
Ronald Lacey as a stereotypical gestapo officer, Paul Freeman as the nefarious
go-getting French archaeologist hired by the Nazis to track down the Ark and Karen
Allen as a spitfire fighter Marion Ravenwood arguably equal to Indiana Jones in
terms of getting involved in the action.
Whereas the sequel films would change his female sidekick to a damsel-in-distress
in The Temple of Doom or a femme fatale in The Last Crusade,
Marion remains Indy’s greatest ally or as she so infamously declares early on following
a fiery barroom battle that she’s his ‘goddamn partner’. Also worthy of note are John Rhys-Davies as
Indy’s Cairo friend Sallah and an underutilized Denholm Elliott as his boss and
mentor Marcus.
Costing around $20 million, the film initially was met with
little interest from audiences anticipating a new Superman II sequel
before going on to become the highest grossing film of the year, amassing $354
million worldwide and playing in some venues for more than a year. Going on to win five Academy Awards including
Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing and Best
Visual Effects. The film further
garnered nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography and
Best Original Score, coming just behind On Golden Pond and Reds that
same year. Sometime around the 1980s,
the VHS videocassette recorder was still in its infancy but Raiders of the
Lost Ark broke records by selling over 1 million tape copies. Ten years later, the McDonald’s corporation
began selling VHS tapes also and proceeded to stock copies of all three Indiana
Jones films at a discounted price.
The film also spawned a huge franchise of multimedia including toys, books,
action figures, games and a live theatrical show depicting the exploding plane
fight with onstage pyrotechnics.
Still a staggeringly popular film whose theatrical and home
video popularity remains steadfast against poor returns with the fourth and fifth
iterations of the character, Raiders of the Lost Ark is safe to call a
gamechanger in the pantheon of mainstream action-adventure cinema. It also spawned a cavalcade of copycats
including Cannon Films’ much maligned Allan Quatermain films based on a
character that predated Indiana Jones but as motion pictures failed to come
close to the spectacle of Steve Spielberg’s timeless epic. Years later some grade school kids sought to
remake the entire film shot-for-shot themselves over the course of ten years, a
dangerous and at times frightening endeavor including kids lighting their
parents’ basement on fire to recreate key scenes, speaking volumes to the staying
power of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
A timelessly great exercise in genre cinema as homage and reinvigoration
of a long-thought bygone era of serial action cinema, Raiders of the Lost
Ark stands the test of time as one of the top ten greatest adventure
fantasy films ever made.
--Andrew Kotwicki
