It was May 1977 and friends Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were vacationing on the beach in Hawaii together, each one seeking refuge from rigors of Hollywood filmmaking. Lucas was avoiding the opening weekend of a little space adventure called Star Wars. Spielberg was in post-production on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and mulling future projects, possibly a James Bond film. Lucas, seeing the opening of a lifetime, told Spielberg he had an idea of something like a Bond film only better, an action-adventure in the old tradition of the Saturday- matinee serials they both had grown up with as kids. It would take place in the '30s and feature a globetrotting archaeologist-adventurer, Indiana Smith, as he battled the forces of evil in search of the lost Ark of the Covenant. Lucas actually had an entire series in mind and called them his Raiders films.
Spielberg loved the concept, agreed to direct the film and both he and Lucas began developing the project over the next few years. As things progressed, Spielberg would go on to direct the ill-fated 1979 WWII comedy 1941 and Lucas began focusing his attention on the sequel to his now hugely popular Star Wars film, 1980's The Empire Strikes Back.
Finally, four long years after that initial conversation on a Hawaiian beach and featuring a fedora-wearing, whip-cracking character now called Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark arrived in theaters on June 12, 1981.
I was 10 years old at the time and the theatrical one-sheet poster said it all: "From the creators of Jaws and Star Wars." I loved Star Wars, was still reeling from emotional revelations of The Empire Strikes Back the previous summer. I had just secretly caught Jaws on cable and was wonderfully scared to death. And as if I needed further incentive, it starred Harrison Ford, Han Solo, my boy. Needless to say when my Dad picked me up on opening weekend and asked what I wanted to do, "See Raiders of the Lost Ark "were the only words that fell from my lips.
From the the retrieval of the idol inside the Peruvian temple to the fateful opening of the Ark one hundred minutes later, Raiders is a relentless thrill ride stuffed to the gills with one outlandish, heart-pounding sequence after another: the shoot-out in Marion's tavern; the chase through the streets of Cairo; the unearthing of the Ark inside the snake-infested Well of Souls; the fist fight with the German mechanic next to the Flying Wing; Indy taking on the German army aboard the cargo truck. Simply put, Raiders of the Lost Ark is the greatest action-adventure film of all time.
It's hard to imagine anyone but Harrison Ford playing Indy (Tom Selleck was Lucas and Spielberg's first choice but he couldn't get away from Magnum P.I. Somehow I just can't see Tom's mustache staring out under the brim of that fedora). Ford elevates the character beyond a one-dimensional action hero, infusing it with the perfect balance of charm, wit, ruggedness and vulnerability, making Indy's credo of "making this up as I go" utterly engaging and completely relatable.
Karen Allen shines as Indy's feisty former flame and "partner" Marion Ravenwood, John Rys-Davies provides just the right amount of levity as Jones' sidekick Sallah and Paul Freeman and Ronald Lacey are devilishly fun as Indy's villainous foils Rene Belloq and Major Arnold Toht.
And then there's John Williams' rousing, iconic score, probably his best behind Star Wars and E.T. Williams' music is a living, breathing character, perfectly in sync with every bit of action and just as intrical to the story as any of the principals. Take the score away and I'm probably not writing this piece thirty years later.
Raiders became the highest-grossing film of 1981 and would go on to earn $380,140,454 worldwide throughout its nearly two-year theatrical run. It spawned three highly successful sequels, a Disney attraction, action figures, video games, comics and countless imitations.
Yes, it's hard to believe it's been thirty years since George Lucas and Steven Spielberg caught lightning in a bottle and introduced one of cinema's most iconic characters in one of the most entertaining and often-revisited films of all time, the gold standard of action adventures. The things Saturday-matinee dreams are made of.
