Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is no ordinary archeologist. When we first see him, he is somewhere in the Peruvian jungle in 1936, running a booby-trapped gauntlet (complete with an over-sized rolling boulder) to fetch a solid-gold idol. He loses this artifact to his chief rival, a French archeologist named Belloq (Paul Freeman), who then prepares to kill our hero. In the first of many serial-like escapes, Indy eludes Belloq by hopping into a convenient plane. So, then: is Indiana Jones afraid of anything? Yes, snakes. The next time we see Jones, he's a soft-spoken, bespectacled professor. He is then summoned from his ivy-covered environs by Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) to find the long-lost Ark of the Covenant. The Nazis, it seems, are already searching for the Ark, which the mystical-minded Hitler hopes to use to make his stormtroopers invincible. But to find the Ark, Indy must first secure a medallion kept under the protection of Indy's old friend Abner Ravenwood, whose daughter, Marion (Karen Allen), evidently has a "history" with Jones. Whatever their personal differences, Indy and Marion become partners in one action-packed adventure after another, ranging from wandering the snake pits of the Well of Souls to surviving the pyrotechnic unearthing of the sacred Ark. A joint project of Hollywood prodigies George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, with a script co-written by Lawrence Kasdan and Philip Kaufman, among others, Raiders of the Lost Ark is not so much a movie as a 115-minute thrill ride. Costing 22 million dollars (nearly three times the original estimate), Raiders of the Lost Ark reaped 200 million dollars during its first run. It was followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1985) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), as well as a short-lived TV-series "prequel." Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Genre: Action/Adventure
- Category Costume Adventure
- Theme: Treasure Hunts, Priceless Artifacts and Prized Objects, Heroic Mission
- Studio: Paramount
- Run Time: 01 hr 55 min
- Language: Spanish, English, French
- Subtitle Language: English, Spanish, French
- Picture Format: widescreen
- Lead Actor: Denholm Elliott, Harrison Ford, Paul Freeman, Wolf Kahler, Karen Allen
- Supporting Actor: Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Terry Richards, Patrick Durkin, Matthew Scurfield, Ishaq Bux, George Harris, Frank Marshall, Jack Dearlove, Kiran Shah, Steve Hanson, Malcolm Weaver, William Hootkins, Tutte Lemkow, John Rees, Eddie Tagoe, Don Fellows, Tony Vogel, Ted Grossman, Pat Roach, Bill Reimbold, Anthony Chinn, Fred Sorenson, Vic Tablian, Alfred Molina, Anthony Higgins
- Director: Steven Spielberg
awards
- Awards: Academy Awards (5)
- Winner: Academy Awards, Best Visual Effects, 1981, Joe Johnston, Richard Edlund, Kit West, Bruce Nicholson
- Winner: Academy Awards, Best Editing, 1981, Michael Kahn
- Winner: Academy Awards, Best Art Direction, 1981, Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley, Michael Ford
- Winner: Academy Awards, Best Sound, 1981, Steve Maslow, Roy Charman, Bill Varney, Gregg Landaker
- Winner: Academy Awards, Special Achievement, 1981, Richard L. Anderson, Ben Burtt
- Nominations: Academy Awards (4), Golden Globe Awards (1)
- Nominee: Academy Awards, Best Score, 1981, John Williams
- Nominee: Academy Awards, Best Director, 1981, Steven Spielberg
- Nominee: Golden Globe Awards, Best Director, 1981, Steven Spielberg
- Nominee: Academy Awards, Best Picture, 1981, Frank Marshall
- Nominee: Academy Awards, Best Cinematography, 1981, Douglas Slocombe
