what do you get when you slap together a movie based on a story by the legendary george lucas , directed by virtuoso director steven spielberg , and starring one of the biggest box - office stars in the world , harrison ford ?
you get one hot - fudge - rockin ' good time , that 's what you get ! ! !
plot : professor / archeologist indiana jones sets out to find the long - lost mystical ark of the covenant before the nazis get their grubby fingers hands on it .
adventures , snakes , romance and mucho action ensues .
critique : astounding movie packed with non - stop action , stunts galore , an interesting story line , great one - liners , a solid cast , a catchy musical score , and all the fun and adventure that you could squeeze into a two - hour thrill ride .
if you do n't enjoy this film , then you just do n't like action movies , period !
if you 're young , you 'll enjoy its humor , its cool action sequences and its gross - out factor at times .
if you 're a little older , you 'll appreciate the interesting plot line , the romance , and yes
, the mountains of adventure .
watching this movie made me feel like a kid again , dreaming and fantasizing about fighting the bad guys , travelling to different countries , making the impossible , possible !
harrison ford is perfect
as the every - man with the brains of a scientist and the brawn of an outdoors adventurer , and spielberg manages to achieve the ideal balance of action , fun , adventure and humor .
now if you really want to have a good time , check into this movie on the same night as its two sequels , rent a jug of iced coke , truckloads of nachos and salsa , an adventure hat and whip , and
prepare to gag yourself into a world of action - movie heaven !
little known facts about this film and its stars : this picture was nominated for eight 1981 oscar nominations , including best picture .
it lost that award to chariots of fire , but did manage to win for best art direction , best special effects , best film editing and best sound .
actor tom selleck was originally cast as indiana jones , but was committed to his hit tv show , " magnum p .
i .
" .
in filming the well of souls sequence , the producers scoured every pet shop in london and the south of england for every snake they could lay their hands on .
hence there are snakes that are identifiable from many different geographical areas .
however , once all the snakes were on set , it became clear that there were not nearly enough of them , so spielberg had several hoses cut into lengths , and these were used as well . looking closely , you can tell which are the real snakes and which are not .
an early draft of the script had indy travelling to shanghai to recover a piece of the staff of ra .
during his escape from the museum where it was housed , he sheltered from machine gun fire behind a giant rolling gong .
also in the same script , indy and marion flee the chaos caused by the opening of the ark in a wild mine - cart chase sequence .
both of these scenes were cut from the script , but ended up in 1984 's indiana jones and the temple of doom .
this film begins with a shot of a peak in the jungle which is reminiscent of the paramount pictures logo .
the same type of opening is present in its sequels .
jock 's airplane at the beginning of the film has the registration number " ob - cpo " .
this is a reference to obi - wan and c-3po from george lucas ' star wars ( 9 . 5/10 ) .
also , the hieroglyphics in the well of souls include engravings of r2-d2 and c-3po .
they can be seen on a post to the right of indy and sallah as they remove the ark .
the script originally included a long fight between a swordsman and indiana with his whip .
as legend has it , actor harrison ford was suffering diarrhea at the time , and asked if the scene could be shortened .
spielberg said the only way he could shorten it was if indy pulled out his gun and just shot the guy .
the entire crew laughed and that 's how it was filmed .
when indy first falls in the well of souls and is face to face with the cobra , you can see the snake 's reflection on the glass dividing it and harrison ford , also some fingerprints and stuff like that .
when indy is dragging along the ground , hanging onto the nazi soldier 's truck with the ark inside , you can see the pad that he 's being dragged on .
you get one hot - fudge - rockin ' good time , that 's what you get ! ! ! if you do n't enjoy this film , then you just do n't like action movies , period ! astounding movie packed with non - stop action , stunts galore , an interesting story line , great one - liners , a solid cast , a catchy musical score , and all the fun and adventure that you could squeeze into a two - hour thrill ride the romance the interesting plot line the mountains of adventure cool action sequences and its gross - out factor at times is perfect prepare to gag yourself into a world of action - movie heaven manages to achieve the ideal balance of action , fun , adventure and humor you 'll enjoy its humor