Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) on Netflix
Army Intelligence hires the archaeologist Indiana Jones to beat the Nazis to the Ark of the Covenant. The trail leads him to Nepal and to Marion Ravenwood, who keeps a medallion.
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- IMDb8.4/101,121,103 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes94%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1936, the archaeologist Indiana Jones escapes a booby-trapped temple in Peru with a golden idol, and his rival René Belloq takes it from him. Two Army Intelligence officers brief him on a burst of Nazi digging at Tanis, Egypt, and he works out that they are hunting the Ark of the Covenant, a chest said to hold the Ten Commandments. He is recruited to reach it first. In a Nepal bar he finds Marion Ravenwood, daughter of his late mentor Abner, and after a fight with the Gestapo agent Arnold Toht the two escape with her medallion. In Cairo, their friend Sallah tells them that Belloq is aiding the Germans.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The giant boulder in the opening temple was built from fiberglass, plaster and wood, originally designed 65 ft wide but reduced to 22 ft, weighing 300 lb. Harrison Ford performed the stunt ten times for different camera angles.
- Tom Selleck was contractually tied to Magnum, P.I., so CBS greenlit that show and he had to drop out of Raiders of the Lost Ark weeks before filming. The 1980 actors strike later paused Magnum, P.I. for three months, which would have freed him to play Jones.
- The Well of Souls scene was delayed by a lack of snakes; a request to handlers across London and Europe produced between 6,000 and 10,000 snakes in a few days. Anti-venom had to be imported from India after local supplies expired.
- The Tunisian shoot saw temperatures over 130 F and over 150 crew members sick with amoebic dysentery from local food. Spielberg stayed healthy by eating food and water brought from England, while Lucas suffered severe sunburn and facial swelling.
- The sound of the rolling boulder was a Honda Civic driving down a gravel hill, the snake slithering was hands through cheese casserole and wet sponges on grip tape, and the Ark lid opening was a toilet cistern.
- The Ark's spirits were small robed puppets suspended in a clouded water tank in front of a blue screen, shaken for natural movement. A Lucasfilm receptionist in a long white robe was suspended in front of a blue screen for the ghost close-up, filmed moving away and reversed for an inhuman movement.
- The scene of Jones fighting a swordsman was shortened because Harrison Ford was suffering from dysentery and could not perform for long periods. Stuntman Terry Richards had spent weeks practicing sword skills for an extended fight.
- Belloq's death was seen as so extreme that the Motion Picture Association of America first gave the film an R rating, limiting it to those over 17 without an adult. Flames were added over the scene to hide the effect.
