One of the most iconic scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark is when Indiana Jones steals the Golden Idol and triggers booby-traps in the temple. One of these traps was a giant boulder, which Indiana Jones barely escapes. While you would think they would have used a stunt-double here, it was actually Ford himself who had to outrun the prop, which weighed over 300 pou
Steven Spielberg opened Raiders with the perfect shot to introduce the tone of the film. And then, he created a cinematic icon (with the help of Harrison Ford) as Indiana Jones strides into frame with a bullwhip hanging off his belt, wearing his signature fedora. He’d be etched in audiences’ minds for deca
The two characters can be seen on a pillar when Indiana Jones and Sallah remove a stone from the top of the Ark. The two characters can again be seen on a wall as hieroglyphs, only this time Leia appears too and is handing them the plans to the Death S
The totally black frame could be read to represent the bleak reality of living in Nazi-occupied Poland, while the match could be seen to represent the beacon of hope that emerges in the form of Oskar Schindler, when he comes to his senses, renounces the Nazi Party, and uses his resources to save 1,200 Jews from concentration camps. The majority of this three-hour epic is shot in black-and-white , but it opens in color. It only turns to black-and-white when that candle burns
“Snakes…why did it have to be snakes?” Indiana Jones’ fear of snakes is one of his defining characteristics, and it’s put to excellent use in the narrative of Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indy enters the Well of Souls and finds that it’s filled with hundreds of hissing cobras and pythons. However, as it turns out, neither Harrison Ford not Steven Spielberg are afraid of snakes, so it’s unclear where exactly this character quirk came from. It was a good thing for Ford and Spielberg, because it meant that they could focus on their work during the snake-infested sce
When Raiders of the lost ark gold guide Ark was first sent to the censors to be rated, it was hit with an R rating, because the MPAA felt that the melting face at the end was too graphic. The producers really wanted a PG-13 rating to allow it to become the box office hit that it would eventually become , so a layer of fire was added on top of the shot of the melting face to make it less horrifying and it was given a PG-13 rating. Steven Spielberg didn’t want to cut the melting face scene altogether, because he felt that it was the most impressive special effect he’d ever seen up to that po
Jaws opens with a point-of-view tracking shot through the ocean. It could be the point-of-view of the shark, but it looks a lot like the point-of-view of a snorkeler. When we watch this scene as an audience member, we’re taken back to memories of swimming in the ocean. With John Williams’ ominous score playing over it, building suspense, we’re terrif
When George Lucas made Star Wars , he had no idea how much of an international hit he had on his hands. It quickly became apparent that Star Wars was going to make him a lot of money so by the time they were making Raiders of the Lost Ark, it was at some point decided to give R2-D2 and C-3PO a cameo in the f
One of the most memorable moments from Raiders of the Lost Ark is when Indiana Jones is in Cairo and comes across a swordsman looking to fight him. Instead of engaging the enemy, he simply pulls out his gun and effortlessly shoots him. However, that’s not the way the scene was originally supposed to go d
Cartoonishly evil Nazis are practically a tradition of heightened World War II fiction, with Raiders of the Lost Ark featuring its famously occult-obsessed members of the Third Reich. As delightfully villainous as Major Toht and company may be, their characterizations still ignored the inhuman ideals that real-world Nazis belie
The field of archeology has come under scrutiny today thanks to hindsight, with many nations calling out former colonial powers for stealing their ancient culture’s artifacts in the name of insensitive academic pursuit that disregards countries’ histor
But like the serial adventures that inspired Spielberg and George Lucas to create Indy, some parts of Raiders of the Lost Ark didn’t age well. None of these detract from the movie’s cultural impact and its entertainment value, but they cast some harsh light on what is normally seen as an adventurous and light-hearted throwback. Here are 10 things from Raiders of the Lost Ark that didn’t age w
While turning Marcus Brody into a bumbling comedic relief character was unfortunate, the interplay between Indy and his father is often hilarious. It’s great seeing Indy revert to this child desperate for his father’s approval and to see Connery playing the proper scholar who is appalled by all the violence around
When she’s not fighting, Marion is often stuck with people who want to take advantage of her. Pirate captain Katanga even saves her life by claiming she’s a sex slave to be sold. To be fair, Marion is the series’ best female lead but given her role in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the bar’s set pretty