Raiders of the Lost Ark

**Raiders of the Lost Ark** is a 1981 film starring Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies and Denholm Elliott, directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Lawrence Kasdan and produced by Frank Marshall.

The film was a financial success as it generated a profit of $158 million.

## Plot

In 1936, American archaeologist Indiana Jones braves an ancient booby-trapped temple in Peru to retrieve a golden idol. He is confronted by rival archaeologist René Belloq and the indigenous Hovito people. Surrounded and outnumbered, Jones surrenders the idol to Belloq and escapes.

Two Army Intelligence agents later interview Jones at his workplace of Marshall College in Bedford, Connecticut and inform him that the Nazis are searching for his old mentor, Abner Ravenwood. The Nazis know that Ravenwood is the leading expert on the ancient city of Tanis in Egypt, and that he possesses the headpiece of an ancient Egyptian artifact known as "the Staff of Ra". Jones deduces that the Nazis are searching for the Ark of the Covenant, believing it will grant their armies invincibility. The agents authorize Jones to recover the Ark. He travels to Nepal to discover that Ravenwood has died and the headpiece is in the possession of Ravenwood's daughter Marion. Jones visits Marion at her tavern before a group of thugs arrive with their Nazi commander Arnold Toht, seeking the headpiece. A gunfight erupts, the bar is set ablaze and the headpiece lands in the flames. Toht severely burns his hand trying to retrieve it. Jones and Marion escape with the headpiece, and Marion decides to accompany Jones in his search.

The pair travels to Cairo, Egypt, where they meet up with Jones' friend and skilled digger Sallah. He informs them that Belloq and the Nazis are digging for "the Well of Souls", believed to lead to the Ark's location, with a replica of the headpiece created from the scar on Toht's hand. They realize the Nazi headpiece is incomplete and that the Nazis are digging in the wrong place. Jones and Sallah infiltrate the Nazi dig site and use their staff to locate the Ark in the snake-infested Well of Souls. Belloq and Nazi officer Colonel Dietrich arrive and seize the Ark from Jones, before imprisoning him and Marion in the crypt. The two escape to a local airstrip and destroy the flying wing that was to transport the Ark to Berlin, Germany. They retake the Ark and make arrangements to transport it to London aboard tramp steamer Bantu Wind.

A Nazi U-boat intercepts the ship. Belloq and Dietrich seize the Ark and Marion but cannot locate Jones, who stows away aboard the U-boat and travels with them to an island in the Aegean Sea. Once there, Belloq plans to test the power of the Ark before presenting it to Hitler. Jones reveals himself and threatens to destroy the Ark with an anti-tank rocket, but Belloq calls his bluff and Jones surrenders. The Nazis take Jones and Marion to an area where the Ark will be opened and tie them to a post to observe. Belloq, dressed as an Israelite kohen gadol, performs a ceremonial opening of the Ark and finds it full of sand. Spirits emerge from the Ark – Jones and Marion close their eyes. The spirits are suddenly revealed to be angels of death that slaughter the gathered Nazi soldiers. Belloq, Toht and Dietrich all scream in terror as the Ark turns its fury on them: Dietrich's head shrivels up, Toht's face is melted off his skull and Belloq's head explodes. Flames then engulf the remains of the doomed assembly, save for Jones and Marion, before the Ark seals itself shut. Jones and Marion find their ropes burned off and embrace.

Back in Washington, D.C., the Army Intelligence agents inform Jones and Marcus Brody that the Ark is someplace safe and will be studied and monitored by "top men". It is then shown being stored in a giant government warehouse among countless other crates.