"Indiana (Mr. Jones), Chased by Nazi's, Crushed by old dead bones...."

Rating: 10/10 (29 August 2014)

With all the Broadway versions of spectacles coming out now, I was just wondering how a musical version of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" would go over, music by John Williams (possibly based upon all his involvements with Spielberg) and lyrics, of course, by me... With that said, there is a tongue-in-cheek quality about "Raiders" and its follow-ups which has caught my intention and probably many others familiar with the great movie serials of the 1930's and 40's. "Raiders", of course, was influenced by that (and possibly some of Universal's old Maria Montez/Sabu movies), and in the summer of 1981, this is the movie that every teenager in America had to see and older audiences went to see with great nostalgia in their hearts because of the memories it brought back for them.
Harrison Ford IS Indiana Jones, and nobody else could have done this part quite so well. He takes the role seriously, even though there is a glint of smugness in his eyes that he knows the role he's playing will give him screen immortality. Of course, there are four sides of Indiana-the college professor longing for life outside the classroom, the adventurer who is willing to go anywhere as long as he doesn't run into snakes, the romancer who always seems to end up with the wrong woman, and as we learned in "The Last Crusade", the son of Sean Connery who always longed for something greater with his father and finally got it.
This first edition rightly got a ton of Oscar Nominations, including Best Picture, and made a ton of money. Being one of the few Best Picture nominees to actually be a blockbuster, "Raiders" takes its viewers on a ride from which they will want to return again and again. The Lost Ark is, of course, the Ark of the Covenant, and therefore, the film has a ton of religious references. Nasty Nazi's (lead by urbane Paul Freeman) are after it, believing it will give Hitler (and thus the Nazi party) divine power. But Indiana, learning the hard way about Nazi evils, is determined to stop them at any cost, even if it means being trapped in tombs with cobras, asps, rattlers and all sorts of poisonous vipers. Oh, did I mention that there were snakes there, too?
His lady friend here is Karen Allen, a tough cookie whose first scene has her punching him out. She's a raspy voiced broad who has seen a thing or two in life and lived to tell about it. She's the type who lives up to "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger", and thus, she's a good match for Ford's Indiana. What happened after the plot line was concluded here and the fourth entry (25 years later) was left up to the viewer's imagination. No other woman in between those two films could compare with her.
In addition to Freeman as the Nazi is the very creepy looking Ronald Lacey who is obviously based upon 30's and 40's characters played by Peter Lorre, and his presence is unforgettable. Such memorable character actors as John Rhys Davies and Denholm Elliott add to the fun of the film, with a young Alfred Molina in a smaller role. Even though he doesn't appear in the film, Spielberg's presence is felt throughout, and when you mention this and some of his other films, you think of him before you think of any of the actors. The special effects are outstanding and the score is so magnificent that it sounds even great in symphonies, such as the one I saw years ago at the Hollywood Bowl conducted by Mr. John Williams himself.