Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Excellent film, although The Last Crusade is by far my favourite of the series. Raiders took a slight hit for me when I realized that Indy's actions have little to no influence on the main plot (the Nazis would have found the Ark, opened it, and died either way), but still. It's such an exciting movie!

 

My attempt at an explanation for this is that Tanis, while once an Egyptian city, was actually outside (though close to) the border of British-controlled Egypt - Libya being the obvious choice, since that was controlled by a Nazi-friendly government (Italy).

I'm basing it off of Belloq's claim that "the desert is three weeks in every direction" (he doesn't say if that's on foot or by camel or what, but Tanis seems to be a ways from Cairo or anywhere along the Nile based on that quote). And the fact that the Nazis in Cairo don't operate nearly as brazenly as they do near the dig - they wear plain clothes and rely on local hired thugs to do their dirty work, acting more like spies than soldiers.

 

I agree.

 

Never gets old.

 

How did Indy have no influence? He's the one that made the calculations in the map room to find the Ark in the first place! Otherwise,the Nazis would still be looking!

The running gag is that the Ark keeps changing hands,so that was all intentional. I never get people making this claim that Indy was so ineffective.

 

The only reason Indy is the one who figures it out is because he has the headpiece (or whatever it was called). Without Indy's involvement, the Nazis would have obtained the headpiece eventually from Marion, and gone to the right spot the first time. The rest would still play out the same, albeit without some cool action sequences.

 

Thats what makes Indy such a great hero, he gets hurt, he doesn't always win as he loses out to the bad guys, things aren't easy for him.

 

But that's a pretty big reason. Without the headpiece the Nazis would've been searching the desert for ages before finding the Ark.

 

Right, but ironically it's Indy who inadvertently leads them to the right site. As I said, the basic elements of the story would have unfolded the same either way.

 

But it couldn't have,since without Indy they quite probably wouldn't have found the Well of Souls before the ending of WWII!

 

Now we're just going over the same points over and over again....

 

The loation of the Well of Souls is always something that bugged me a bit as a plot point, it doesn't detract at all from the enjoyment of the film, but they have the map room, they know the scale of the city so the Germans could have used their resource to dig up the whole site and they would have found it anyway in time.

 

The desert chase has to one of the best choreographed action scenes of all time. Its quite long, nearly ten minutes worth. The score is amazing. The stunts too. The part where the German punches Indys injured arm goes through me every time, makes me wince. Seeing Harrison at the front of the truck by the wheel adds a sense of realism and danger to it too, its him doing that stunt.

 

I wince as well.

 

"You go first." Gotta love Sallah.

 

Indianapolis Jones, and 2 bags of chips dressed all over and zesty mordant

 

It has one of my favorite scenes in all of cinema which is the opening of the ark scene. It's just so surprising the first time you see it. The movie was pretty grounded in "reality", but throughout the film there are little hints to the true nature of the Ark, that it's not just a fancy box used by the Israelites. Like when they are examining the Medallion or when the swastika is burned off the crate carrying the Ark. Then there's build up when the ceremony starts with John Williams amazing music then you realize stuffs about to go down.

 

Oh, I absolutely adore this film. All-Time Top 10 for me. I actually saw it in the theater back when it came out. For a 13-year-old boy, it’s hard to imagine a better time at the movies in the middle of summer. It’s a damn near-perfect movie. Everything about it works. Harrison Ford is absolutely perfect in the role. Karen Allen is BY FAR the best love interest of the series (how can you not love a girl who greets an ex by punching him in the jaw?). The action, the pacing, the humor, the adventure- it all just comes together so brilliantly. You can make an argument that it’s not as “artistically significant” as, say, CITIZEN KANE or THE GODFATHER, but for sheer enjoyment, nothing tops RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

 

That’s part of what I love about this movie. Name me another movie so devilishly clever so that none of the hero’s actions, no matter how significant, have any effect on the final outcome. It’s a great ironic joke and it works beautifully.

 

That's one way to look at it.

 

But Indy's actions do affect the outcome. Without him, the events of the movie wouldn't happen.

 

But he doesn’t save the day. He doesn’t even come close. If Indy had just decided to stay home, the wrath of God still would’ve wiped out all the Nazis in the Ark’s vicinity.

 

He's in a race against the Nazis for the ark. The ark doesn't stay with the Nazis. I'd say he accomplished his objective.

It still would have stayed in the Nazi's possession.

 

And it would’ve killed every Nazi who tried to open it or use it.

 

Yeah, the Nazis still would've taken it to that place where they opened it, and it would've killed everyone. But instead of Indy then taking it after, it would've just sat there, abandoned.