One of the great adventure films.

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 2007)

Most of the great adventure films were made a long time prior to 1981 - i.e. - North By Northwest, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, and African Queen. This film began the whole modern era of adventure films. This was the great pairing of the minds of Spielberg and Lucas, and it worked. There is greatness in so much of this film. The plot just keeps going and going. There is no time for boredom. There are great characters. There is the gestapo character. There is the crazy French archaeologist. There is the Egyptian friend and archaeologist. And, then there is Indiana Jones. I sense a great deal of mockery and parody within the film as well. There is the scene where Indiana Jones shoots the knife master, instead of fighting him. Allegedly, Ford had a bad stomach ache that day. By cutting out the fight scene, they unwittingly had one of the funniest scenes ever captured on camera. There was the silliness and bureaucracy of governments, who were afraid of the power of the ark, but also intrigued. It was the mixture of adventure, parody, and humor that really makes this one of the greatest adventure films. Indiana Jones definitely was the first modern adventure movie. I don't think that any adventure movie since cannot consider Indy to be anything other than the genesis of all adventure films within the last three decades.