Review of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) by Moviemastered — 22 Mar 2016

Action movies were a different breed in the pre-1981 years than they are today, and one of the reasons for their transformation had to do with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Before this movie, James Bond ruled the roost and the Bond formula was the accepted path that any self-respecting action movie would follow. The first Indiana Jones outing changed that. The film was constructed as a series of cliffhangers with narrow, death-defying escapes. Not since the era of serials have audiences so often asked the question, "How's he going to get out of this one?" It's unfair to claim that the 007 outings were unexciting, but, compared to Raiders of the Lost Ark, they come across as sedate. Raiders transformed the action movie landscape. In the years that followed, nearly every action movie would try to generate the same sense of suspense and tension. Even the Bond movies would catch on.

As played by Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones represents a different kind of action hero. By hearkening back to the protagonist from those black-and-white serials, Lucas and Spielberg created the model for the future. Jones is as close to an "everyman" as you're likely to find in an action movie. He's tough, but not that tough; he has women problems; he wears natty, "lived-in" clothing; he doesn't drink martinis, regardless of whether they're shaken or stirred; he frequently gets bumped, beaten, and bruised; and he doesn't have biceps like a Mr. Universe. One has to wonder if someone like John McClane (Die Hard's fly in the ointment) could have existed if Ford hadn't trailblazed this road. Certainly, there wouldn't have been any Jack T. Colton (Michael Douglas' character in the best of the Raiders re-treads, Romancing the Stone) or Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser in The Mummy).

The film, which transpires in the late 1930s, opens with a wonderfully tense, pulp-inspired sequence inside a ruined temple as archeologist adventurer Indiana Jones seeks to avoid a number of pitfalls and traps on his way to recovering a priceless artifact. Tarantulas, gaping pits, lethal spikes, arrows, and a huge rolling boulder are a few of the dangers he overcomes, only to lose possession of the statuette to his arch-rival, Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman), once he emerges. Indy escapes relatively unscathed, but returns home with his tail between his legs, disappointed at being unable to retrieve the prize. His consolation, however, is that the U.S. government would like him to track down the Ark of the Covenant, and they are willing to pay handsomely for him to do so.

Indy's journey in search of the Ark reunites him with an old flame, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), who holds a key piece of the puzzle necessary to pinpoint the artifact's location. Then it's on to Cairo, where he teams up with an old friend, Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), who gives him information on the Nazi dig site, supervised by none other than Belloq. It becomes a race between Indy and Belloq for the prize - a race that Indy wins before Belloq steals away the spoils, leaving Marion and him trapped in near-darkness surrounded by thousands of hissing snakes. But Indy isn't finished, and, after escaping from Belloq's trap, a chase ensues involving planes, trucks, ships, and a submarine. In the end, the Nazis get the Ark, but learn that sometimes it's better to lose than to win.

Certainly, Raiders of the Lost Ark is a breathless, white-knuckle experience of a movie. It is also perfectly paced. There's enough time in between the frequent action scenes to provide the minimum of exposition and character development for us to understand what's going on and to appreciate the relationships between the individuals who populate the screen. There's none of the frantic quick-cutting that has since become a staple of action movies (thank you, editor Michael Kahn!), and the production does not seem frenzied and out-of-control. This isn't a case of cardboard figures running around in circles and blowing things up. We care about Indy and Marion in ways that we rarely care about protagonists in this genre. When Marion "dies," it stings.

Which brings us to one of Raiders' great strengths: the performances. No Oscar nominations were awarded, but it's hard to imagine any group of actors doing a better job. By the time Raiders of the Lost Ark was made, Harrison Ford had filed off the rough edges that were apparent in his first outing as Han Solo.

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.