Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is an American archeologist who is also a college professor. He often goes out on archeological expeditions looking for historical and religious artifacts. He gives all his finds to Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) the curator of a museum. In 1936, his latest quest ended up a failure when rival archeologist Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman) confiscated a golden idol treasured by the local tribe called the Hovitos. Belloq sold the idol and Indy got chased by headhunters.
Back in the U.S., Indy is visited by two government intelligence agents (Don Fellows and William Hootkins). According to Intel, Germany’s Fuhrer und Reichskanzler, Adolph Hitler is fascinated with the occult and has sent teams of archeologists all over the world looking for religious and occult artifacts. One item in particular that the Fuhrer is anxious to locate is a religious item called The Ark of the Covenant. The ark is an ornate gold box that houses the actual stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments laid down by God. It is said that an army which carries the ark before it is invincible. The only known expert in the possible whereabouts of the ark is a man named Abner Ravenwood. Ravenwood passed away but his daughter, Marion (Karen Allen) is very much alive and living in Nepal.
Indy is looking for a medallion that Abner owned. The medallion is supposed to aid in finding the resting place of the ark. Indy ends up with Marion, the now owner of the medallion, as his partner on his quest. They travel to Cairo where the Germans are already digging, looking for the ark. Indy finds out that the Nazis have hired Belloq to supervise the dig. Indy and Marion meet up with an old friend, Sallah (John Rhys-Davies). Indy and Sallah take the medallion to an Imam (Tutte Lemkow) who can interpret the markings on the medallion. Indy discovers that the Nazis are looking for the ark in the wrong place. With Marion and Sallah helping, Indy sets out on a course of danger and adventure, hoping to find the ark before the Nazis do.
“Raiders of the Lost Ark” was released in 1981 and was directed by Steven Spielberg. It is an action-adventure film with fantasy elements. It is the first of five films in the Indiana Jones series. In 1999 the film was added to the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
This was the first and the best film of the Indiana Jones franchise. The reason is because it hit everyone out of nowhere. The opening scene has nothing to do with the film except setting up the wild ride that is to come. Action and suspense are prominent in the movie. Anytime you put together George Lucas and Steven Spielberg you can’t help but have a hit. Everything about the film is superb.
It took about 7,000 snakes to pull off the Well of Souls scene. The biblical instructions for construction of the Ark are found in Exodus 25:10. The high priest costume that Belloq wears is described in Exodus 28. The ark is carried by two poles that are attached to the ark. The ark is considered too holy to actually touch. Indy’s bullwhip is made out of kangaroo hide. It was sold at auction in 1999 for $43,000. His jacket and hat are on display at the Smithsonian. Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman based Indy’s outfit on what Charlton Heston's wore in “Secret of the Incas” 1954. The scene where Indy is dragged under a truck was a tribute to stuntman Yakima Canutt. Canutt performed a similar stunt in the movie “Stagecoach” 1939. The stunt was performed by Terry Leonard. It is the same stunt he attempted to perform previously in the film “Legend of the Lone Ranger” 1981.
The ghostly demon effects during the opening of the ark were achieved by filming mannequins in slow motion underwater and using a special lens. The melting people effect was done using layers of gelatin over alginate (dentist mold polymer) figures under heat lamps and speeding up the film. No CGI was used for this effect.