Raiders of the Lost Ark

An adventure film set in 1936. Indiana Jones is an archaeologist and teaches at a university. He also takes objects out of dangerous places. The first fifteen minutes are a separate story. A cave, traps, an idol, a boulder and an escape; the narrative shows in one go what the character does, what he is good at and what he is not. Then the actual job. The army wants him to find the Ark of the Covenant, because the Germans are looking for it. From there the film goes to Nepal, to Egypt and to an island. A bar, a dig, a pit of snakes, a lorry chase and a submarine. Marion is an old acquaintance and the most resilient character in it; she wins a drinking contest in her first scene. What the narrative is interested in is not treasure but speed: the film almost never stops and each section connects to the next danger. The encounter with the swordsman was written as a long fight. The lead actor was ill during shooting and the scene was shortened; the solution became the film's best remembered joke. The desert sections were shot in Tunisia. The idea came out of a conversation between the director and the producer on holiday; both wanted a film out of the adventure serials they watched as children. It won four Academy Awards and a separate award for sound effects editing. Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey and John Rhys-Davies are in the cast. The music is by John Williams. Steven Spielberg directed; the story is by George Lucas. Who it is for: anyone who wants to see the measure of adventure cinema. Who it is not for: small children; several scenes are still hard and the ending is straight horror.