When Raiders of the Lost 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
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
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
Instead of going into a location blind, the crew built miniature sets of the filming locations so that when they were finally on set, they could film things as efficiently as possible. After all, in show business, time is mo
That being said, when they first tried to film the scene, none of the spiders moved when they were put on Molina’s back. This was because all of the spiders were male. After they added a female to the mix, however, the spiders got very animated and the shot was achie
Connery seemed to be having a lot of fun with his role and he has amazing chemistry with Ford. Their action sequences together were thrilling and the father and son aspects of the story were very effect
From Weird Al Yankovic’s UHF to The Simpsons to even Disaster Movie, imitating Indy’s action-packed introduction is practically a cottage industry. Chicken Little took this to the extreme by literally showing the scene before the boulder rolled
Raiders of the Lost Ark and the rest of Indy’s adventures were inspired by the pulp serial that Spielberg and Lucas enjoyed as kids, which explains the movies’ many anachronistic elements such as unintentional rac
It isn’t uncommon for older movies to use miniature models and sets to pull off complex action sequences. Lucas did this numerous times in the original Star Wars trilogy since CGI was still being fully developed, but the same thing was done for Raiders of the Lost Ark . Several miniature sets were built. Not really to film scenes, but to expedite film
Though both movies have action sequences that rank among the best of all-time, The Last Crusade edges out the original. From the opening train fight to the boat chase through Venice to the wild tank battle, these action scenes come one after another and are all extremely impress
Spielberg’s biopic of notorious con artist Frank Abagnale, Jr. opens with real footage from his appearance on the game show To Tell the Truth . Leonardo DiCaprio is inserted into the footage, but everyone else featured is from the actual show from 1977. Opening a movie in 4:3 aspect ratio with footage from a ‘70s game show was an unexpected and inspired move by Spielb
The Cold War thriller Bridge of Spies opens with Rudolf Abel, technically the film’s antagonist, looking at himself in the mirror in his cramped New York apartment. As the camera pans out, we realize he’s trying to capture all of his own features in a self-portrait he’s painting. In a matter of seconds, Spielberg establishes that this is a mild-mannered man with a solitary existe
Raiders of the Lost Ark collectibles Ark is the best example of Indy as a cinematic hero. From the very first scene, as he goes through the temple filled with boobytraps to his iconic “fight” with the swordsman, he is a hero that explodes off the scr
Both films do an exceptional job of delivering thrilling action sequences . With ambitious set-pieces and largely practical effects, these movies are still exciting to revisit today and marvel at what the filmmakers were able to pull
First of all, Lucas needed a $20 million budget, wanted most of the control of the film, licensing, and sequel rights. Studios also didn’t want Spielberg to direct because of his flop 1941 starring John Belu
While the cast and crew were out in Tunisia, shooting the Cairo-set scenes for Raiders of the Lost Ark , they all got really sick from food poisoning. John Rhys-Davies, who played Sallah in the movie , apparently got so sick that he soiled himself during a scene that required him to bend over. The only person involved in the production who didn’t get food poisoning was Steven Spielberg, because he had brought his own food from home – which reportedly consisted of dozens and dozens of cans of Spaghetti-O’s – and didn’t eat any of the local food that everyone else was hav