Film of the Week #58 - Raiders of the Lost Ark

Karl Hungus

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082971/

Kickass film, and with the excitement over the new one, this was bound to win it this week. Definitely one of the most iconic movies ever made. And yes, this is the first Spielberg film to win FotW, even if I did vote for Empire of the Sun before.

Discuss!

The Denouncer

Only watched it again last Wednesday (with me new amp, speakers etc). I turned off the phones, dimmed the lights..and WOW its amazing! And I realised why..theres the superb John Williams score of course, the action, the adventure, the acting, the stunts, the sound, the cinematography, Spielbergs sublime direction..all propels the action forward. But you know WHY its so good? Its because Indiana Jones is a really hard, mean bastard. He loves 'em and leaves 'em, he throws sand in your eyes, he kicks your groin..you come at him with a swords he'll shoot you, he'll batter you face against the dashboard, he's nefarious in his pursuit of the bad guys, he doesn't give a CRAP about you if you get in his way, you're a dead man.
Now, I hope to see something of that hard mean son-of-a-bitch in the new one, but I doubt it.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is wonderful, a classic. They genuinely do not make them like this anymore. Its one of my top 3 movies ever made.

My name is Todd

Delighted this film made it - one of my all time favourites too. So nostalgic, and every single scene seems iconic now. The special effects are astounding - when the Nazi's open the ark - wow. I remember being absolutley astonished by this when I was a kid.
Ford owned the character from the very beginning.
I love every single thing about this film - even the 'clap of thunder' sound that a punch in the face makes.
The opening of the ark is probably my favourite scene.

Petey2006

From the moment he disarms Sepito's mate and walks into the light, you know you're witnessing greatness. I cant put into words how much I love the Indiana Jones series. All of em. All I'll say is I'm torn between which I love more, Raiders or Crusade. My head says Raiders, my heart says Crusade.

The Denouncer

Petey2006 wrote: »

From the moment he disarms Sepito's mate and walks into the light, you know you're witnessing greatness. I cant put into words how much I love the Indiana Jones series. All of em. All I'll say is I'm torn between which I love more, Raiders or Crusade. My head says Raiders, my heart says Crusade.

Raiders is WAY better than the shoddy Crusade

Petey2006

The Denouncer wrote: »

Raiders is WAY better than the shoddy Crusade

In your opinion.

kaimera

Petey2006 wrote: »

In your opinion.

Fact actually.

Crusade is too hollywood-ised. Not a bad film by any means but the worst of the three.

Fantastic film and a well deserving winner.

Its one of my top 3 movies ever made.

After watching it a while back [I had reviews of the three on the reviews forum],yea, defo top 3

missingtime

temple of doom for me was the worst...that kid and that woman drove me mental.

Crusades was very good - I didn't find it that hollywood-ised. I liked the Sean Connory/Harrison Ford partnership.

Snake Plisken

YES!!!!!!!
My Nomination finally wins FOTW
I saw this in a cinema in the UK when I was 10 and it was a great experience as the crowd clapped cheered and laughed in all the right places. I was blown away when I saw it, it has epic action sequences that have never been bettered, some great punchlines, the right amount of humour, a decent believable love interest, and a great climax. The casting was perfect Harrison Ford was excellent as Indy Karen Allen (great to see she's back for the next one!) as Marion Raven, Denholm Elliot & John Rhys-Davies as his sidekicks and the great baddies Paul Freeman as Belloq & Ronald Lacey as Major Arnold Toht.
The great set pieces include the fantastic Bolder chase in the beginning to the Ravenwood bar fight to the fight with the big bald Nazi with the plane going around to the great convoy fight excellent moments all
Not to forget the brilliant score by John Williams.

All in all film perfection and deservedly Film Of The Week!!!!!!

P.S.just on the sequels Temple of Doom was a major major let down, too cute with the Kid Short Round in it and Spielbergs soon-to-be squeeze Kate Capshaw was just annoying. The Last Crusade was a return to form but nothing can beat Raiders! I have high hopes for the Crystal Skull lets hope its not another Temple of Doom!

johnny_ultimate

Don't know what can be added: perhaps the action film perfected. A case study in how film can provide the most effective form of escapism. Witty when it needs to be, exciting throughout. One of the best blockbusters ever made, probably yet to be bettered.

Although I do love all three films. Even Temple of Doom, which was my favourite as a kid. Nostalgia has managed to overwrite any annoying love interests in that particular film.

Wacker

The Last Crusdae is actually my favourite of the three, but Raiders is truly awesome. I actually watched it just last night. My favourite bit: the bald Nazi Gestapo bloke (no idea of his name) walks into the tent to interrogate Marion, and produces the contraption with three steel bars joined by lengths of chain, and Marion looks terrified. He then hangs his coat up on it! Hilarious. The action is cool, and the ensemble of characters. Worthy winner.

krudler

the best film ever made, just perfection from start to finish,i've seen it at least 300 times and i'd happily throw it on right now and watch it again

mike65

Fantastic then and now. Most adventure films "age" as the thrills wear thin due to repeated viewings or changes in expectation (where are the explosions? we're 5 mins in etc) but this one keeps on giving. Karen Allen always was a fiesty femme and its a pity she wasn't part of the sequels, Paul Freeman the perfect 'civilised' baddie while Denholm Elliot as Indys mentor provided a bit of old world calm to balance the colonials exuberance. Spielberg, the 2nd unit and (oscar winning) editor Michael Kahn deliver the thrills at just the right level - tense, involving but not stomach tightening.

Fun for all the family

Mike.

The Denouncer

Last Crusade has dated very badly with its tall Grange Hill Hitler, awful Zeppelin FX et al. The whole sequence where Indy punches a gestapo officer out of the Zeppelin onto a pile of suitcases (?) in Berlin descends into parody with 'hilarious' people waving their tickets in the air..for a start theres no way the Zeppelin would be allowed go any further, theres no way Indy or dad could easily get into an airplane attached to the Airship (they didn't fly them commercially in 1938 anyway who'd get in one of those after what happened to the Hinderburg in '37), be stalked by 3 experienced German fighters and evade them, shoot their own the tail wing off, (crash) land in the middle of nowhere 'luckily' next to a car with engine running, a German fighter pilot decides to crash his plane into a tunnel chasing them, Indys dad kills a plane by running into a load of birds.. I mean come on! Its rubbish!

mike65

Planes have been brought down by bird strike many times.

Mike.

The Denouncer

mike65 wrote: »

Planes have been brought down by bird strike many times.

Mike.

I know that's why the Germans lost the war, all those pesky birdies.. and Indiana and dad of course.

BopNiblets

The Lego game won't have Lego Nazis tho...

Basq

Yeah.. having watched all 3 again over the weekend, I think 'The Last Crusade' is my favourite of the 3. Though this is a VERY VERY close second.

I think Connery and Ford's chemistry in 'The Last Crusade' is great though.

But yeah, 'Raiders' has slightly dated but still is extremely enjoyable.

Retr0gamer

BopNiblets wrote: »

The Lego game won't have Lego Nazis tho...

Blasphemy, another example of the PC brigade gone mad. In a few years time people will think that World War 2 was made up to make old films more exciting.

doubledown

I have been in such an Indy mood since watching the trailer for Crystal Skull last week (even though I promised myself I wouldn't).

I found a great article about a bunch of kids who made a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders. I had heard of it before but had never seen any of it. They started the film in 1982 and finished it in 1988. So we're talking way before YouTube here. The link below has a feature from BBC's Talking Movies programme about the filmmakers and there is a working link at the bottom of the page for the whole film.

http://gawker.com/358428/the-only-watchable-homemade-movie-remake

I watched the whole thing and it is truly inspirational. Sure the quality isn't great, it's all kids playing the parts and it was made on a shoestring budget but it is so very well done. A true testament to what a bunch of film buffs will do to feed their obsession. The whole movie is there, bar one impossible to film action sequence (see if you can spot the one that is missing) and every nuance, head turn and aside is pretty much there.


It is well worth a look guys n' gals. And make sure you watch the BBC Talking Movies piece first (it's the second embedded YouTube video).

BopNiblets

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Blasphemy, another example of the PC brigade gone mad. In a few years time people will think that World War 2 was made up to make old films more exciting.

If you have Lego Vader you can have Lego Hitler.

partholon

mike65 wrote: »

Planes have been brought down by bird strike many times.

Mike.

particularly 5mm birds (sorry, for some reason i thought of 13 days when i read that post )

raiders is one of the truely nostalgic films for me. like star wars, which i was too young to see in the cinema, ghostbuster and back to the future it REALLY brings me back to my youth. sitting in the adelphi waiting for the curtains to part.

its just the perfect action adventure film.