Indiana Jones-Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

"...the kind of movie that first got you excited about movies when you were a kid. (Translation for today's children: It's better than anything on TV.)  Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune
"...Spielberg turns the pure adventure of Saturday afternoon serials into a solidly entertaining spectacle.  Howard Karren, Premiere
"Finds the right balance between reverence and wit.  Keith Phipps, The Onion A.V. Club
"Spielberg can never top this. Period.  Luke Y. Thompson, Dallas Observer
"...Ford gave one of his most memorable performances as Indiana Jones, a dashing Saturday matinee idol for the modern age.  Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
"...[Ford] succeeds in fully embodying a comic-book style hero without ever descending into camp.  TV Guide
"One of the most deliriously funny, ingenious and stylish American adventure movies ever made.  Vincent Canby, The New York Times

Editor's Note Action-packed and adventure-filled, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK is director Steven Spielberg's loving homage to the Saturday matinee cliffhanger serials of his childhood. When the Allies discover the Nazis are planning to use the Lost Ark of the Covenant as a weapon, the U.S. government enlists archaeologist-adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) to locate the biblical treasure chest where the remains of the broken tablets of the Ten Commandments were placed. En route, Jones and his feisty ex-girlfriend, Marion (Karen Allen), must escape the clutches of evil Nazis, duplicitous "natives," and a nest of venomous snakes--not to mention the wrath of God. The groundbreaking special effects and furious, never-ending pace make for a stylish whirlwind of a movie, topped off with a fabulous sense of humor. This bare-knuckled, barnstorming, pot-boiling, eye-popping bucket of Technicolor popcorn became Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing film, and deservedly so--RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK is quite simple one of the most enjoyable movies ever made.

	Alfred Molina
	Denholm Elliott
	Harrison Ford
	John Rhys-Davies
	Karen Allen
	Paul Freeman
	Ronald Lacey
	Wolf Kahler
	Douglas Slocombe - Cinematographer
	Frank Marshall - Producer
	George Lucas - Based On Story By
	George Lucas - Executive Producer
	George Lucas - Editor
	John Williams - Original Music By
	Lawrence Kasdan - Screenplay
	Leslie Dilley - Art Director
	Michael Kahn - Editor
	Norman Reynolds - Production Designer
	Philip Kaufman - Based On Story By
	Steven Spielberg - Director

"Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?"----Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) to Sallah (John Rhys--Davies)

"I don't know. I'm making this up as I go."----Jones to Sallah

Variety
"...[A] fantasy-adventure....An exhilarating escapist entertainment....A vibrant and period-perfect world of wonders..." 06/10/1981

New York Times
"...Off and running at a breakneck pace....One of the most deliriously funny, ingenious and stylish American adventure movies ever made..." 06/12/1981 p.C10

Chicago Sun-Times
"...One of the classic entertainments....Its foundations are personal, and passionate....The movie is just plain fun....It's done with a kind of heedless joy..." 04/30/2000 p.5

Premiere
"RAIDERS revived for a new generation the pure cinematic joy of action." 12/01/2003 p.13

ReelViews 10 of 10
Although there are plenty of special effects in the movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark was made in an era when stunt work was more critical than anything added in post production. Ford did many of his own stunts, and ended up with the cuts and bruises to show for them (not to mention a torn ACL)...For composer John Williams, who has long been favored by both Spielberg and Lucas, the chance to work on Raiders of the Lost Ark offered him an opportunity to collaborate with them both, and to add another memorable theme song to his list of credits. In the five-year period from 1977 to 1982, Williams created five of movie-dom's most popular title tracks: Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T....The deserved popularity of Raiders of the Lost Ark resulted in a huge box office bonanza for Paramount Pictures. This is the kind of movie that, even today, audiences immediately fall in love with. It has all the right ingredients: a smart script, a likable hero, a dash of romance, more than a touch of comedy, and a lot of fast-paced action. In 2003, it's a formula, but Spielberg and Lucas were the ones who established the recipe by using ingredients both old and new...Raiders of the Lost Ark is a movie to be savored by viewers of all ages and all persuasions. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" is an out-of-body experience, a movie of glorious imagination and breakneck speed that grabs you in the first shot, hurtles you through a series of incredible adventures, and deposits you back in reality two hours later -- breathless, dizzy, wrung-out, and with a silly grin on your face. This movie celebrates the stories we spent our adolescence searching for in the pulp adventure magazines, in the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, in comics -- even in the movies...It's actually more than a movie; it's a catalog of adventure. For locations, it ticks off the jungles of South America, the hinterlands of Tibet, the deserts of Egypt, a hidden submarine base, an isolated island, a forgotten tomb -- no, make that two forgotten tombs -- and an American archaeology classroom...For villains, it has sadistic Nazis, slimy gravediggers, drunken Sherpas, and scheming Frenchmen..."Raiders of the Lost Ark" is a swashbuckling adventure epic in the tradition of "Star Wars," "Superman -- The Movie," the James Bond pictures, and all the other multimillion-dollar special-effects extravaganzas. It wants only to entertain. It succeeds. Watch it with someone you know fairly well. There will be times during the film when it will be necessary to grab somebody. - Roger Ebert