Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark

I have owned the Indiana Jones collection on BluRay for quite some time now, and regrettably it has remained in my backlog for far too long….until now. The globe-trotting treasure hunter has always been a favorite genre of mine. It is why I also dug the National Treasure and Uncharted franchises over the years. Other than the lackluster Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which I saw upon its 2008 release, I have only vague memories of the Indiana Jones films from seeing bits and pieces off cable as a kid. The only scenes that rung a bell when re-watching the series debut entry from 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark (trailer) were the moments with the lines “bad dates” and “don’t open your eyes!” I subscribe to the Retronauts podcast, and their newest episode was dedicated to Radiers and that was the impetus I needed to inspire me to finally boot up this George Lucas/Steven Spielberg collaboration.

I feared that watching these original trilogy films with an adult set of eyes for the first time would expose them as outdated flops that do not stand the test of time. Luckily, this has two things working in its favor - Raiders is a period piece from 1936 and the HD transfer on BluRay is especially well done. I was a little worried at the beginning of Raiders however. Indiana Jones’ (Harrison Ford) initial treasure jaunt inside a South American temple sees Indy playfully evading booby-traps in comedic fashion to the point I thought I was watching a satire. After the opening scene when Indy sets out on his true worldwide adventure is when Raiders eases up on the lighthearted-ness gradually throughout the movie and around halfway through I had my hoki-ness qualms put to rest and became fully invested to see Indy thwart the Nazi’s attempts at beating him to the treasure.

It should go without saying that Ford is the perfect Indiana Jones. The man can yield a whip like no other! I was bamboozled upon watching the extra features to discover Tom Selleck was originally casted as Jones before CBS reeling him in for Magnum PI cleared the way for Ford to head up this brand. Karen Allen is dead-on as tomboy love interest, Marion and has a killer drinking duel introductory scene that blows away Indy’s opening booby-trap-filled debacle. Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) is a mysterious, but valuable ally of Indy that was fun to see where he would turn up next throughout. Toht (Ronald Lacey) and Brody (Denholm Elliott) round off the cast as the stereotypical, yet effective foreign villains constantly on Indy’s tail throughout his quest for the fabled ‘Ark of the Covenant.’

It is difficult to imagine my words here doing the iconic scenes of Raiders any justice. As kooky as the opening scene is, the giant-rolling boulder chasing Indy out of the temple is one of the most memorable scenes in cinema history. Indy showing why you do not bring a knife to a gunfight had an unforgettable resolution and I instantly cracked up at it. The aforementioned “Don’t open your eyes” scene petrified me as a kid when I first stumbled upon it on cable, and while the melting special effects are kind of cheesy now, they are hokey in a cool way because the filmmakers went completely over-the-top with the melting of the skin! The climactic airplane duel with the burly Nazi that goads Indy to bring on the fight had me rooting for him all the way. Finally, I am guessing Raiders is the film responsible for the “top men” line I have seen used several times in various news stories over the years, and could not help but sport a grin upon hearing that line.

The BluRay collection has a fifth disc that is dedicated solely to extra features for all four Indiana Jones films. Of those extras, a hearty amount is focused on Raiders. I am not kidding when I state there are three comprehensive ‘making of’ features all running just shy of an hour apiece. All three are highly informative and well put together pieces worth watching, but if you have time for just one I would recommend On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark. It has a vast amount of vintage on-set interviews with many of the cast and crew of their experience with the production, and expertly pace it throughout with inserted deleted scenes, between takes b-roll and outtakes. It made for a smooth viewing experience by mixing up all the standard extra features into one comprehensive feature, and to have it all be taken directly during production from this old of a film was quite rare from that time.

A fair amount of the interview excerpts from On Set with Raiders are reused for the 1981 Making of feature so you can probably skip that one, but if you have the time I would suggest giving the updated 2011 Making of feature a watch to see how gracefully the cast has aged and how they fondly recount their memories 30 years later. Finally, as a bonus extra I highly recommend checking out this documentary on how these children spent seven years doing a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders and how it took them over 20 years to release it into the wild. Just trust me on this one ;D

I was trepid going into Raiders of the Lost Ark based on the hijinx of the first half hour. I am glad the filmmakers dialed it back afterwards because Raiders laid the groundwork for the modern-day treasure hunting genre that I crave so dearly. Raiders held up far better than I imagined, and with its exquisite HD transfer will likely hold up for years to come. I am excited to see how the films progress next when I re-watch the sequels. Make sure to check back here in the coming months for my takes on them.

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

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12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed
Deck the Halls
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Dirty Work
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Guardians of the Galaxy
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Marine 3-5
Mortal Kombat
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Days of Future Past