Indiana Jones Week: Raiders of the Lost Ark

Well greetings one and all to Day 1 of Indiana Jones Week.   Let's kick this week into high gear start it off right with the first encounter of our archeologist right.  We will see the cut of his jib as he must race across the world in order to defeat the Nazi party to one of the most revered and holy of relics.  The Ark of the Covenant.  This is Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Look fanboy, I don't care who shot first. It was 37 years ago!

Indiana Jones:  I hate spoilers Jock! I HATE 'EM!







The year is 1936 and Professor Jones is on location to an ancient temple to acquire a golden idol in Peru.  With his two less than trustworthy guides, Indy (Harrison Ford of American Graffiti, Star Wars, Force 10 to Navarone, Apocalypse Now, Blade Runner, Witness, Frantic, Regarding Henry and Patriot Games) manages to transverse through an insane amount of traps, snares, spikes and even a shaped boulder with the prize only to have it taken from him by a rival competition name of Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman of Baa Baa Black Sheep, Whose Child Am I?, The Dogs of War, Falcon Crest and Without a Clue) surrounding him with the indigenous and superstitious tribe of Hovito.   Giving him an inch, Indy narrowly escapes with his life and flies back to the states to teach at Marshall College.

Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world...sorry that's Bogie's line.

The head of the museum, Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliot of Robin and Marian, To the Devil a Daughter, Voyage of the Damned, Trading Places, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Bourne Identity TV Movie) tells him Army Intelligence needs to speak to him.  They reveal that Hitler is obsessed with the occult and is searching  for Indy's former teacher Abner Ravenwood,  the expert on the Egyptian city of Tanis and he has the headpiece of Ra.  Jones immediately knows that the Nazis are looking for the Ark of the Covenant, the golden refuge that holds the Ten Commandments.  Indy gets travel expenses in order to find Abner's daughter and Indy's former lover Marian (Karen Allen of Animal House, Cruising, Shoot the Moon, Starman and Scrooged) in Nepal of all places, to persuade her to sell the headpiece to him, opening old wounds and in general making the visit pleasant.

A run-in with some Nazis tells Indy he needs to hustle or the game is already lost and darkness would rain on humanity.  In Cairo both Marian and Indy are working to find the Ark quickly but time is running short

Just a few tidbits about the film now.  The scene where Indy dispatches the German soldiers, that whole truck chase took eight weeks to film due to all the stunts involved.  Harrison Ford apparently bruised some ribs in the dragging scene but the film was shot at 20 frames a second rather than the traditional 24 frames.  Under cranking the camera gives the illusion vehicles travelling faster than they are to cut down on risks to the stuntmen and actors.  Indy never seems to lose his fedora as a nod to the heroes of the classic serials in the 1940's and this becomes a running gag throughout the sequels.  the punch Foley sound effect was created by smacking a pile of leather jackets with a ball bat.  I thought they went more traditional and hit the ball bat against a punching bag

Ah! The scruffy devil burns our city!! Run!

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