Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny premieres this week, on June 30, marking the fifth and final movie starring Harrison Ford as the iconic titular character. While Star Wars is my first love, like many Star Wars fans I also have a real love for the Indiana Jones franchise. Since there’s no new Star Wars series airing currently, and since Dial of Destiny releases in just a few days, I thought I’d do a brief series about why I love the Indiana Jones movies too. First up is Raiders of the Lost Ark, released in 1981 and widely considered to be among the greatest movies ever made.
In May 1977, George Lucas went on vacation with his wife, Marcia, hoping to be away so as not to have to deal with the fallout from his recently-released movie that he was convinced would flop, a little flick named Star Wars. Much to the surprise of everyone involved on the project, not least of all Lucas himself, Star Wars became a massive global hit.
In the aftermath of that, Lucas and his wife were on vacation, and they had invited Steven Spielberg and his wife to join them. As a director Spielberg had recently enjoyed a breakout hit in 1975 with Jaws, which had become the highest-grossing movie in history (to be supplanted by Star Wars). While on a beach in Hawaii, the directors of what would soon be the two highest-grossing films in box office history discussed what was next. Spielberg shared hopes of doing a James Bond movie, but Lucas pitched a different idea to him instead: a story about an adventurer that would eventually become known as Indiana Jones.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
BEST GAG:
When Indiana Jones is confronted by a formidable swordsman in the Cairo marketplace, he simply pulls out his gun and shoots him.
Raiders of the Lost Ark was released in 1981, directed by Spielberg with a story by Lucas, and it became the highest-grossing film of the year while being nominated for nine Academy Awards (winning five), including Best Picture. It has spawned an entire franchise, but still to this day, most will look at Raiders as being the best Indiana Jones movie.
It’s not hard to see why, and it all stems from the character of Indiana Jones. In Star Wars, it’s mainly the galaxy that we love, and the characters that live in it. But in Indiana Jones, it’s the character himself that we love, and as a result the stories are enjoyable. Better than most other films, Indiana Jones has a sense of realism and grounding to its bustling action and adventure movie. For example, Indy’s a college professor by day, an archeologist by trade, but also an action/adventure hero. It’s a perfect combination, and there’s no one else to portray it as perfectly as Harrison Ford.
Like the old serials that Lucas loved, the movie starts off when we’re right in the middle of an adventure and the audience then has to catch up (pay careful attention and you’ll see how this is typical in most of Lucas’s movies). In what has to be among the best introduction scenes in history we meet Indy while he’s trying to retrieve an idol from a temple, only to be chased by a massive boulder and plenty of natives. Yet he doesn’t come away with the prize, setting the stage for the rest of the movie (and franchise). See, Indiana Jones never comes away with the artifacts that drive the movies. He doesn’t keep the ark, or the sankara stones, or the holy grail, or the crystal skull. The fact that he doesn’t come away with the fertility idol clues us in on this, yet we never feel like he’s a bad archaeologist or a failure.
BEST MOMENT:
The truck sequence, as Indiana Jones goes after the Ark, is a perfect picture of what makes this movie – and this franchise – work so well.
Which is why the popular criticism that goes around that Indy has no impact on this movie’s plot just makes no sense. First of all, he does! But secondly, the fact that he doesn’t ever keep the treasure in the end is a clear statement about how the treasure isn’t really the main point. Indiana Jones is the main point, and through his adventures he comes to learn and grow. That’s never more obvious than in this movie, as he goes from a skeptical unbeliever to a ‘believer’, in the sense that when the ark is opened he closes his eyes. The Indy we meet at the beginning of the movie almost certainly wouldn’t have done that, as he would have believed it all to be a bunch of superstitious nonsense. But he grows, and that’s the point. This story is all about Indiana Jones, and as we go on a thrilling adventure with him we come to see our hero grow as we do.
And make no mistake, it’s certainly a thrilling adventure! There are several great action sequences, most notably the truck sequence. I don’t think it would be overstating it to say that pretty much everything that makes Raiders such a great movie all comes together in this scene, firing on all cylinders. There’s the dashing heroism and bravado of Harrison Ford, the triumphal score from John Williams, the adventure quest for the ark, and so much more. Even better that it’s sparked by one of my all-time favorite Indy lines: as Sallah asks Indy how he’s going to pursue the ark, Jones responds, “I don’t know, I’m making this up as I go.” That’s Indiana Jones for you, and it’s why we love him.
But this movie also introduces us to several other lovable characters, from Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) to Sallah (John Rhys-Davis) to Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott), and others. The romantic tension between Indy and Marion provides a perfect complement to the fast-paced adventure, and Marion is every bit Indy’s equal and able to hold her own.
And of course an article like this wouldn’t be complete without mentioning again the brilliance of John Williams, whose score for Raiders is among his best, and whose theme for Indiana Jones among his most iconic. As Star Wars fans well know, part of what makes Williams so great is that not only can he write truly terrific themes, but he knows how to compose all of it in a way that perfectly fits the action that’s unfolding on-screen. It feels like it was made just for it, which is exactly the way it should. It’s impossible to imagine either Star Wars or Indiana Jones without John Williams.
Raiders of the Lost Ark was greatly influenced by the serialized stories that came before it, but has left a similarly large shadow over blockbuster movies that have followed. It’s among the most influential movies ever made, and it’s a perfect Indiana Jones film. It has everything that makes the franchise so iconic.
BEST QUOTE:
“I don’t know, I’m making this up as I go” – Indiana Jones
“It’s not the years, honey. It’s the mileage.” – Indiana Jones
Fun Facts: Star Wars connections in Raiders of the Lost Ark:
- Harrison Ford obviously portrayed not just Indiana Jones in the five movies, but also portrayed Han Solo in five Star Wars films as well.
- Two of the most influential figures behind the entire Star Wars franchise also stand as two of the most influential behind the Indiana Jones franchise: creative and executive George Lucas, and composer John Williams.
- Current Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has worked on every Indiana Jones film, and for Raiders of the Lost Ark was an associate producer working closely with Steven Spielberg.
- Industrial Light & Magic worked on the visual effects for the film, winning the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Many of the same people who worked on the original Star Wars trilogy for ILM (winning the same award for all three movies) worked on Raiders as well.
- Legendary sound effects editor Ben Burtt, whose work on Star Wars is rich and deep, worked on this film as well. The team won the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing for Raiders, while Burtt and Richard Anderson were honored with special recognition for their work on the film as well.
- Ralph McQuarrie’s legacy on Star Wars is massive, having drawn tons of concept art that still influences the franchise to this day. His work on Raiders was far more limited, but he did create some designs for this movie as well.
- There are a few different Star Wars easter eggs in the film, but the most fun one comes as Indy is in the well of souls discovering. the ark. There are a number of Egyptian hieroglyphs, and look closely and you’ll notice that one of them depicts C-3PO and R2-D2.
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