Raiders of the Lost Ark

Rating: 10/10 (17 March 2005)

This is the first of the great trilogy by a great director, Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Steven Spielberg (Jaws, E.T. the Extra- Terrestrial, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan). Harrison Ford (originally meant to be Tom Selleck) stars as Indiana Jones, a hero with a felt hat and a whip. The film begins with a great scene where Indy tries to get an ancient gold statue. Then obviously the main story comes, some U.S. government have heard that the German Nazis (oh, this is 1936, during World War II) are searching for religious artefacts in Cairo, more prominently the Lost Ark (the Ark of the Covenant, the chest that carried the Ten Commandments). It is Indy's job to stop them from getting this Ark, otherwise they could unleash an unnatural force that can probably wipe out anything and everything. Indy is accompanied by his past girlfriend Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) who has something to get him started with his search. He doesn't know it yet, but the man mainly responsible for helping out and leading this dig, along with French Major Arnold Toht (Ronald Lacey), is his old enemy (the one who nicked his gold statue), Dr. Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman). What follows is obviously lots of gun play, a lot of German Nazis, some explosions and a little bit of fantasy. Also starring John Rhys-Davies as Sallah, BAFTA nominated Denholm Elliott as Dr. Marcus Brody, Alfred Molina as Satipo and Wolf Kahler as Colonel Dietrich. This is a fantastic start to the great trilogy, the third film is still my favourite, but you must see the one that started it all. It won the Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing and Best Sound, and it was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Music for John Williams, a Special Achievement Award and Best Picture, and it won the BAFTA for Best Production Design/Art Direction, and it was nominated the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Film. Steven Spielberg was number 56 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons, Harrison Ford was number 5 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, Indiana Jones was number 2 on 100 Years, 100 Heroes & Villains, the film was number 10 on 100 Years, 100 Thrills, it was number 20 on The 100 Greatest Family Films, and it was number 60 on 100 Years, 100 Movies. Outstanding!