Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) * * * *

Directed by:  Steven Spielberg

Starring:  Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies, Ronald Lacey, Denholm Elliott

Over the course of four Indiana Jones adventures, the tone stayed the same:   Pulse-pounding, heart-stopping fun.    Raiders of the Lost Ark is the first and still the best of the Indiana Jones movies.     It established Harrison Ford as a true movie star.  Tom Selleck was offered the role of Indiana Jones before Ford, but thank goodness he could not get away from Magnum P.I. long enough to shoot this film.   Ford is ideal for the role.   Selleck is a gifted comic actor, but would he really have been hard-nosed enough for this film?   We will never know and thank heaven for small favors.

Ford is such a strong screen presence that all of the events which engulf him do not overwhelm him.    A lot happens to Dr. Jones in Raiders, including numerous fistfights, gun battles, travels to South America, Egypt, and Nepal, various encounters with snakes (which he makes clear he hates), car chases, foot chases, a giant boulder to outrun, and oh yes, lots and lots of Nazis.     Once one battle is over, another one begins before he (and we) have a chance to catch our breath.   It is all fun.  Really, really fun.

Raiders takes place in 1936.    Dr. Jones is an archaeologist and college professor who doesn't spend a lot of time grading exams.    He is too busy traveling the world in search of artifacts.    How exactly does a seemingly mild-mannered archaeologist who wears glasses know how to fly a plane, crack a whip, and fight well enough to give Joe Louis a run for his money?    You don't ask.   You simply accept and move on.   This is not the type of movie in which you ask questions.   It takes you along for the ride.

His latest mission is to find the fabled Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis do.   "Hitler is obsessed with the occult.   He's a nut on the subject," Jones is told.    He was a nut on a lot of other subjects too.    The ark is said to contain the actual Ten Commandments tablets.   No matter.  It must be kept out of Nazi hands.  Since the villains are Nazis, we are fully behind Jones in his quest, which takes him from the U.S. to Nepal and to Egypt.   What's in Nepal besides mountains and blizzards?    Jones' former flame Marion (Allen), who runs a bar in the middle of nowhere and possesses a medallion which will help him (and the Nazis) in their search for the ark's actual location.   Allen is not a helpless female companion for Jones, but she can hold her own with the men in numerous situations.   Of course, she is captured and Jones has to save her, but she doesn't go quietly.

The Nazis are never far behind, with the sadistic Major Toht (Lacey) in tow, who is so menacing even his coat hanger seems threatening.    He can barely conceal with sadism behind his manners.    The Nazis are aided by their own archaeologist for hire, Belloq (Freeman), a Frenchman and Jones' longtime rival who comes away with the idol Jones is searching for as the film opens in South America.   This is where that giant boulder comes in.   And lots of spiders.

Ford is grounded and all business.     It is serious to him, which allows for the audience to invest in his quest.    Spielberg and producer George Lucas were inspired by Saturday matinee adventures of the 1930's, where heroes survived death-defying leaps and escaped from hopeless situations only to come back next week to do it all again.    Jones is pretty much in the same boat, but with richer production values than those B-movies.  

Spielberg captures the spirit of such films and drops it into Raiders.   We know Jones will survive all of this, but there are times when our faith is put to the test.  Many times.  Jones manages to get through all of the obstacles thrown his way with pluck, determination, skill, intelligence, and plenty of good fortune.   Just as he planned, I'm sure.    He becomes the first person to defeat the Nazis, even if it is only onscreen fiction and only if it's for our own satisfaction.   And what ultimately happens to the ark once Jones and company risk life and limb to acquire it?     Let's just say it never finds its way to a museum.