The 3 Guys Podcast
Recorded on 1/27/2022
Snakes…why’d it have to be snakes? Take an adventure with Indiana Jones as we review the Steven Spielberg and George Lucas collaboration of Raiders of the Lost Ark (released 1981) starring Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies and Denholm Elliott. WARNING: There will be SPOILERS!
The 3 Guys Rating
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Notes From The Show
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Quick Synopsis
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Released: June 12, 1981
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Screenplay By: Lawrence Kasdan
Story By: George Lucas & Philip Kaufman
Music By: John Williams
Stars: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott
Plot: In 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before Adolf Hitler’s Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.
How did this movie do
Budget: $20 Million
Box office: $390 Million -
Awards
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- Received 5 awards:
- Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects
- Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects
- The film received a further 4 nominations:
- Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Original Score
- Received 5 awards:
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Casting
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- Actors considered for the role of Indiana Jones included Sam Elliot, Jeff Bridges, Paul Le Mat, Christopher Guest, Bruce Boxleitner, Barry Bostwick, Sam Elliott, Mark Harmon, Nick Mancuso, Peter Coyote, John Calvin, Michael Biehn, Sam Shepard, David Hasselhoff and Tom Selleck. Harrison Ford was cast less than three weeks before principal photography began.
- Steven Spielberg originally wanted Danny DeVito to play Sallah, and DeVito was set for the role, but he had to drop out, due to conflicts with Taxi (1978). DeVito later appeared as a second banana to Michael Douglas in the Raiders tribute and derivative, Romancing the Stone (1984).
- Actors considered for the role of Indiana Jones included Sam Elliot, Jeff Bridges, Paul Le Mat, Christopher Guest, Bruce Boxleitner, Barry Bostwick, Sam Elliott, Mark Harmon, Nick Mancuso, Peter Coyote, John Calvin, Michael Biehn, Sam Shepard, David Hasselhoff and Tom Selleck. Harrison Ford was cast less than three weeks before principal photography began.
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Bible
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Many elements within the Raiders of the Lost Ark story are pulled directly from passages in the Bible.
- Some of the Ark lore revealed in the movie is incorrect:
- It does not contain the first broken tablets of the Commandments but the second set. It also contained a bowl of manna and Aaron’s flowering staff. (Deuteronomy 10:1-5; Hebrews 9:4-5
- “At that time the Lordsaid to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.”
- It is carried into battle and around the walls of Jericho, which fall when trumpets are blown, but there is nothing in the Bible about it leveling mountains or shooting death rays.
- It does not contain the first broken tablets of the Commandments but the second set. It also contained a bowl of manna and Aaron’s flowering staff. (Deuteronomy 10:1-5; Hebrews 9:4-5
- The 3 precautions in the Bible:Don’t touch it (2 Samuel 6:6-7)
- When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.
- Don’t look into it (1 Samuel 6:19)
- But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy[a] of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them.
- It also brings plagues upon enemies who capture it. (1 Samuel 6)
- The Lord’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors.[a] 7 When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on Dagon our god.
- The reason for these prohibitions is that the Ark symbolizes the presence of God, serving as his throne or footstool. (Jeremiah 3:16-17; Psalm 132:7-8)
- Let us go to his dwelling place, let us worship at his footstool, saying, ‘Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.
- Let us go to his dwelling place, let us worship at his footstool, saying, ‘Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.
- The Ark in the movie appears to be an accurate replica (Exodus 25:10-22):
- Have them make an ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed. 16 Then put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law, which I will give you.
Make an atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you. There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites. - In biblical descriptions, the Ark is a gold-plated wooden box that must be carried with poles because it is too holy to be touched. This is referenced in deleted movie scenes.
- Have them make an ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed. 16 Then put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law, which I will give you.
- Indiana Jones referred to Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Horeb. This mountain was also known as Mount Sinai among other names. Many times a mountain’s name depended on whichever directional side a tribe or region viewed it from.
- According to Graham Hancock’s book, “The Sign and the Seal”, the lost Ark of the Covenant resides in the city of Axum (Ethiopia), at the Saint Mary of Zion church.
- The words that Belloq slowly recites before opening the ark are (badly pronounced) Aramaic, and are part of a paragraph recited in many Synagogues today when the Ark that holds the Sefer Torahs (the Old Testament handwritten on Parchment) is opened as part of the Sabbath service.
- Belloq’s outfit at ceremony is inspired by Exodus 28:
- Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, so they may serve me as priests. Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron to give him dignity and honor. Tell all the skilled workers to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest. These are the garments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash. They are to make these sacred garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so they may serve me as priests. Have them use gold, and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and fine linen.
- Some of the Ark lore revealed in the movie is incorrect:
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Trivia
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- Despite having the dream team of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg behind the film, it was initially turned down by every studio in Hollywood. Only after much persuasion did Paramount agree to do it.
- Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman based Indy’s outfit, flying jacket and fedora, on Charlton Heston’s in Secret of the Incas (1954). In that film, Heston played a treasure-hunting adventurer who, after studying an ancient model “map room”, uses a beam of sunlight reflected off of a crystal to pinpoint the location of the treasure. In that film, Heston also flies a hijacked airplane and goes down a river in an inflatable yellow raft, reminiscent of events in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).
- The idea for Indiana Jones name came from the character Idaho Jones in Raiders of Ghost City (1944) and The Scarlet Horseman (1946).
- George Lucas initially created Indy with the name of Indiana Smith. Steven Spielberg didn’t like using the name Smith, and convinced Lucas to make the surname Jones instead.
- Indiana Jones’s hat came from the famous Herbert Johnson hat shop in Saville Row, London. The hat was the shop’s “Poet” model. On the Bonus Features DVD, costume designer Deborah Nadoolman said that in order to properly age the hat, she grabbed and twisted the hat, then she and Harrison Ford both sat on it, and it eventually looked like “a very lived-in, and well-loved” hat.
- When Indy’s hat was made, the brim was shaped to cover his eyes for protection, and to help hide faces when stunt doubles were being used.
- Indy’s hat and jacket were designed by Deborah Nadoolman Landis , who also designed Michel Jackson’s iconic red and black jacket from his “Thriller” video.
- Indiana Jones has two Herbert Johnson Poet hats in this film. He has a grey dress hat (seen in the shot of him boarding the plane to Nepal, and in the ending scene on the steps of the Capital building) and the iconic brown “work” hat.
- Indiana Jones’s kangaroo-hide bullwhip was sold in December, 1999 at Christie’s auction house in London for $43,000. His jacket and hat are on display at the Smithsonian.
- In the third movie, Henry Senior teases Indiana about his nickname. He reminds him that they, “named the dog Indiana”. In real life George Lucas, in the early 70s, had a dog named Indiana that the character of Indiana Jones was named after. As a matter of fact, one day Lucas saw his wife pulling into their driveway, driving their station wagon; and watching her park; through the windshield; he saw his wife in the right hand driver’s seat, and his dog Indiana, sitting up in the left hand seat. He thought to himself, “they look like a pilot and co-pilot”. And that became the inspiration for Han Solo and Chewbacca in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977). So Indiana the dog was the inspiration for two characters Harrison Ford played.
- Steven Spielberg and George Lucas argued over who Indiana’s companion should be. One idea was that she was to be a Nazi spy. After discarding that idea, they couldn’t decide if they wanted the character to be Indiana’s former mentor, or an old lover. It was Lawrence Kasdan’s idea to combine the two ideas, by making her the daughter of Indiana’s teacher. The idea of Indiana traveling with a Nazi spy was re-used for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
- Steven Spielberg and George Lucas disagreed on the character of Indiana Jones. Although Lucas saw him as a 007-like playboy, Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan felt the character’s academic and adventurer elements made him complex enough. Spielberg had a darker vision of Jones, interpreting him as an alcoholic, similar to Humphrey Bogart’s character Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). This characterization fell away during the later drafts, though elements survive (especially Jones’s response Marion’s “death”).
- Only Indiana Jones to be nominated for Best Picture Oscar. Also, this was 1981’s biggest grossing film.
- When Brody first goes to Indy’s house to discuss the mission, Jones is dressed the way he is because he is entertaining a young woman in his bedroom. The script originally planned to show her before moving to the next scene, to give Indy a more worldly persona (like James Bond). However, her appearance was cut, as Steven Spielberg thought that being a playboy did not fit Indy’s character.
- The script describes Marion as being 25 years old. George Lucas originally wanted her to be younger, but Steven Spielberg objected to her age at the script conference. Lucas said, “Once she’s sixteen or seventeen it’s not as interesting anymore. But … she was 15 and he [Indiana] was 25 and they actually had an affair the last time they met.” Lawrence Kasdan left her age out of the dialog, with Marion telling Indiana only that, “I’ve learned to hate you in the last ten years … I was a child!”
- The sacred idol of the Hovitos, of which Dr. Jones takes possession at the beginning of the film, is apparently a fertility goddess. It is a molten image of a woman squatting down and giving birth.
- The call letters on the plane flown by Jock at the beginning of the movie are a subtle callback to characters from Star Wars: OB-CPO for Obi-wan Kenobi and C-3PO.
- During Indiana’s escape from the natives in the beginning of the film, he has his pilot start the plane in the water. When the engine starts, it is the same sound used when the Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive engine fails from the Star Wars saga.
- Freeze-framing during the Well of Souls scene, you can notice a golden pillar with a tiny engraving of R2-D2 and C-3PO from the Star Wars saga. They are also on the wall behind Indy when they first approach the Ark.
- Indy’s line to Marion when they are on the ship (“It’s not the years, honey, it’s the mileage”) was ad-libbed by Harrison Ford.
- As Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) was just about to open, Lucas went to Hawaii where he was joined by Steven Spielberg. Spielberg confessed he always wanted to direct a James Bond film, to which Lucas replied he had a much better idea, an adventure movie called “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. The conversation happened while the two were making a sand castle. After their trip, they got together and developed the script with Lawrence Kasdan.
- During filming in Tunisia, nearly everyone in the cast and crew got sick except director Steven Spielberg. It is thought that he avoided illness by eating only the food he’d brought with him: a lot of cans of Spaghetti-O’s.
- The out-of-control airplane actually ran over Harrison Ford’s knee, tearing a ligament in his left leg. Lucky for him, the heat had turned the rubber tire’s soft, so it did not crush the bone. Rather than submit to Tunisian health care, Ford had his knee wrapped in ice and carried on.
- Harrison Ford actually outran the boulder in the opening sequence. Because the scene was shot twice from five different angles, he had to outrun it ten times. Ford’s stumble in the scene was deemed to look authentic and was left in.
- Steven Spielberg and Melissa Mathison wrote a script for ET during shooting breaks on the location of this film.
- The last line to be added to the script was Dietrich’s “I am uncomfortable with this Jewish ritual” because after reading through the script, the Screenwriters realized that there was no mention of Jews or the Nazis’ hatred of them.
- To create the sound of the heavy lid of the Ark being slid open, sound designer Ben Burtt simply recorded him moving the lid of his toilet cistern at home.
- John Williams had actually written two themes for the film. He played them both for Steven Spielberg on the piano and Spielberg loved them so much, he suggested that Williams use both of them. He did and the result was the famous “Raiders March”, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (who did not perform in any more Indiana Jones films). The March has become one of the most popular movie themes of all time.
- In filming the Well of Souls sequence, the producers scoured every pet shop in London and the south of England for every snake they could lay their hands on. Once all the snakes were on set, it became clear that there were not nearly enough of them, so Steven Spielberg had several hoses cut into lengths, and these were used as well. Looking closely, you can tell which are the real snakes and which are not. Some of the weeds in the scene were lifted from the Dagobah set of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980). A sheet of glass separates Harrison Ford and the arched (and highly dangerous) cobra when he falls in. The snake actually did spray venom onto the glass.
- While filming the snakes scenes inside the Well of Souls, a python bit first assistant director David Tomblin’s hand and wouldn’t let go. Tomblin calmly asked someone to grab the python (still attached to Tomblin’s hand) by the tail and whip it, so that the snap would send a wave up the snake’s body and force it to let go. A stage hand did just that, the python released its bite from Tomblin’s hand, and Tomblin got medical attention. The python itself was not injured.
- The Well of Souls scene required 7,000 snakes. The only venomous snakes were the cobras.
- Many of the snakes in the Well of Souls are not snakes, but legless lizards (look for the earholes, which snakes lack).
- In the submarine pen, the German who comes upon Indiana says, in German, “Good day. Tired? Why do you sleep? Where’s your shirt? Wash yourself, so that you don’t look like a pig at your court martial.” He is about to say “Stand upright”, but he is cut off when Indiana kicks him repeatedly.
- An early draft of the script had Indiana Jones traveling to Shanghai to recover a piece of the Staff of Ra. During his escape from the museum where it was housed, he was to be sheltered from machine gun fire behind a giant rolling gong. Also in the same script, Indy and Marion flee the chaos caused by the opening of the Ark in a wild mine-cart chase sequence. These scenes were cut from the script but ended up in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).
- The scene where Jones fires at the truck was a botched stunt. The truck was supposed to flip over by means of a telegraph pole being fired by explosives through the floor. The explosive wasn’t powerful enough and it simply forced the truck to tip over at an angle as can be seen in the finished movie. Time did not permit any further attempts at getting it right.
- Tom Selleck was Steven Spielberg’s second choice for the role of Indiana Jones. Harrison Ford was his first, but George Lucas objected, since Ford had been in his previous hits American Graffiti (1973), Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) and Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), so he wanted to use someone different. Selleck was not able to take the role, because he was committed to Magnum, P.I. (1980).
- In order to make it match the follow-up movies in the DVD collections, 2008 DVD cover artwork changes the film’s title to read “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” instead of just “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.
- The sinister Gestapo agent Toht’s appearance (notably the receding hairline and glasses with the circular frames) was deliberately based on Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS in Nazi Germany and one of the regime’s most infamous criminals for his central role in the Holocaust.
- According to the script, Abner Ravenwood was killed in an avalanche.
- The mouse that was writhing to the sound coming from the crated ark is there because this mouse was seen behaving this way and then filmed. As it later turned out, unknown to the crew, the mouse was sick with a brain tumor.
- In the map room, one of the buildings has red graffiti written on it that says, “Nicht stören”, which is German for “Do not disturb”.
- Cut Scene: A plot element involving the Ark of the Covenant was cut from the film, and is only hinted at during the finale, when the Ark is opened. Basically, there were two rules about the Ark not mentioned in the final cut of the film: 1. If you touch the Ark, you die. 2. If you look at the Ark when it is opened, you die. This is first explained in additional dialogue for the scene when Indy and Sallah visit the Imam. Before translating the writings on the headpiece that give the height of the Staff of Ra, Imam warns Indy not to touch the Ark, or look at it when it is opened. The next scene involving this Ark subplot, is when Sallah and Indy remove the Ark from the Well of Souls. When Sallah first sees it he reaches out to touch it. Indy stops him before he does, and reminds him of the Imam’s warning. Then they insert long poles through each side of the Ark to lift it out of its crypt. Notice that nobody ever touches the Ark throughout the rest of the film, until the finale.
- Cut Scene: Indy surviving the submarine journey by lashing himself to the periscope with his whip. In the final film, the plot hole goes largely unnoticed. This cut scene did appear in the Marvel Comics adaptation.
- The mine chase scene that wound up being in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) was supposed to be in this film, but time constraints eliminated this possibility.
- Steven Spielberg admitted to have heavily influenced by the Republic Pictures serials of the thirties and forties, to make this film, which is a tribute to the golden era of serials.
- The sound of the boulder in the opening is a car rolling down a gravel driveway in neutral.
- Most people think Romancing the Stone (1984) is a ripoff of Raiders of the Lost Ark; being another cliffhanger type swashbuckler along the lines of classic road movie adventures from the 30s and 40s like Gunga Din. Romancing the Stone (1984) is very much the same flavor as Raiders; with similar characters, Jack is very much like Indiana Jones; and Romancing the Stone (1984) came out three years after Raiders. But Romancing the Stone (1984) was written many years before both movies came out, in 1976, by Mailbu waitress Diane Thomas. And it had been circling around Hollywood for years before Robert Zemeckis committed to doing it. So in a way, Raiders is a ripoff of Romancing the Stone, not vice versa.
- Raiders of the Lost Ark has been re-released several times. It was first re-released in July 1982, when it earned an additional $21.4 million. The studio re-released it March 1983, when the film earned an additional $11.4 million. A remastered IMAX version, supervised by Spielberg, was released in 267 North American theaters. The success of the release led to the run being extended to 300 additional theaters. The film earned a further $3.1 million. These releases have raised the film’s worldwide theatrical gross to an estimated $389.9 million.
- Shortly after the film’s release, Stanley Rader and Robert Kuhn filed a lawsuit against the filmmakers for $210 million. They alleged the film was based on a screenplay and unpublished novel, Ark, by Kuhn. The outcome of this lawsuit is unknown.
- Trainer dangled a grape to get the monkey to do then Nazi salute.
- When the Ark is opened and the angels start flying around the observing Nazis, the look on Belloq’s face resembles that of the Golden Idol of the Hovitos.
- Two of the lead characters in two of Steven Spielberg’s series have the same name. The lead in Jaws (1975) is named Martin Brody, and one of the leads in the Indiana Jones films is named Marcus Brody.
- It was originally offered to 20th Century Fox on the back of the worldwide success of Star Wars. According to a number of books on the behind the scenes on the original Star Wars Trilogy there was a dispute between Lucas and the bosses at 20th Century Fox which led to them turning down Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Fox would still do the remaining 2 films on Star Wars for distribution but would turn down Raiders Of The Lost Ark which was why it ended up at Paramount.
- Frank Welker: The prolific voice actor provides the monkey’s sounds, uncredited.
- The famous scene in which Indy shoots a marauding and flamboyant swordsman was not in the original script. Harrison Ford was supposed to use his whip to get the sword out of his attacker’s hands, but the food poisoning he and the rest of the crew had gotten made him too sick to perform the stunt. After several unsuccessful tries, Ford suggested “shooting the sucker”. Steven Spielberg immediately took him up on the idea, and the scene was successfully filmed.
- During the scene where Indiana threatens the Nazis with a Panzerfaust, you can clearly see a fly creeping into the mouth of Paul Freeman. Contrary to popular belief, he did not swallow it.
- Renowned British wrestler Pat Roach plays the huge bald mustachioed Nazi mechanic who fist-fights Indy until he gets chopped up by the plane propeller in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Roach also plays several other roles in Raiders; and in fact appears in every film entry of the Indiana Jones tetralogy. He is Steven Spielberg’s preferred go to person when Spielberg needs an oaf, or an ogre, or some oversized person causing trouble.
- The spirit effects at the climax were achieved by shooting mannequins underwater in slow motion through a fuzzy lens to achieve an ethereal quality.
- The submarine pen on the island where the Ark is taken and finally opened is not a set, but in fact an actual German U-Boat pen left over from World War II in La Rochelle, France.
- As scripted, the scene where Indiana and Marcus meet with the Army Intelligence officials in Washington, D.C., was to be followed immediately by the Ark being stored in the warehouse. The filmmakers realized there was no resolution for Indiana’s relationship with Marion, and the new scene was written. It was filmed on the steps of San Francisco’s City Hall.
- In a 2001 “Making of” special, it was revealed that the effects used in the three antagonists’ rather gruesome deaths (Dietrich, Toht, and Belloq) were a vacuum machine, a time-lapsed heat gun and a shotgun, respectively. When the movie was submitted for an MPAA rating, it was given a rating of “R” because of the exploding head. In order to lower the rating, flames were superimposed over this image. The result was the appearance of a head exploding behind a dense curtain of flames. The rating was lowered to “PG” (at the time, the PG-13 rating did not exist).
- According to the novelization, the writing on the headpiece of the Staff of Ra included a specific warning not to look into the Ark. This is why Indiana and Marion survive the conflagration at the end, simply by closing their eyes. It may be an allusion to 1 Samuel 6:19, where God “smote” the men of Beth Shemesh for looking into the Ark.
- Indiana Jones never kills the lead villain in any of the films. It is always the treasure itself / greed for said treasure or its powers that accounts for their deaths.
- The crate in which the Ark is placed at the end of the movie has the number 9906753.
- Body Count: sixty-four (including the monkey). Eleven by Indiana Jones.
- Despite having the dream team of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg behind the film, it was initially turned down by every studio in Hollywood. Only after much persuasion did Paramount agree to do it.
Released: June 12, 1981
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Screenplay By: Lawrence Kasdan
Story By: George Lucas & Philip Kaufman
Music By: John Williams
Stars: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott
Plot: In 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before Adolf Hitler’s Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.
How did this movie do
Budget: $20 Million
Box office: $390 Million
- Received 5 awards:
- Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects
- Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects
- The film received a further 4 nominations:
- Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Original Score
- Actors considered for the role of Indiana Jones included Sam Elliot, Jeff Bridges, Paul Le Mat, Christopher Guest, Bruce Boxleitner, Barry Bostwick, Sam Elliott, Mark Harmon, Nick Mancuso, Peter Coyote, John Calvin, Michael Biehn, Sam Shepard, David Hasselhoff and Tom Selleck. Harrison Ford was cast less than three weeks before principal photography began.
- Steven Spielberg originally wanted Danny DeVito to play Sallah, and DeVito was set for the role, but he had to drop out, due to conflicts with Taxi (1978). DeVito later appeared as a second banana to Michael Douglas in the Raiders tribute and derivative, Romancing the Stone (1984).
Many elements within the Raiders of the Lost Ark story are pulled directly from passages in the Bible.
- Some of the Ark lore revealed in the movie is incorrect:
- It does not contain the first broken tablets of the Commandments but the second set. It also contained a bowl of manna and Aaron’s flowering staff. (Deuteronomy 10:1-5; Hebrews 9:4-5
- “At that time the Lordsaid to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.”
- It is carried into battle and around the walls of Jericho, which fall when trumpets are blown, but there is nothing in the Bible about it leveling mountains or shooting death rays.
- It does not contain the first broken tablets of the Commandments but the second set. It also contained a bowl of manna and Aaron’s flowering staff. (Deuteronomy 10:1-5; Hebrews 9:4-5
- The 3 precautions in the Bible:Don’t touch it (2 Samuel 6:6-7)
- When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.
- Don’t look into it (1 Samuel 6:19)
- But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy[a] of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them.
- It also brings plagues upon enemies who capture it. (1 Samuel 6)
- The Lord’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors.[a] 7 When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on Dagon our god.
- The reason for these prohibitions is that the Ark symbolizes the presence of God, serving as his throne or footstool. (Jeremiah 3:16-17; Psalm 132:7-8)
- Let us go to his dwelling place, let us worship at his footstool, saying, ‘Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.
- Let us go to his dwelling place, let us worship at his footstool, saying, ‘Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.
- The Ark in the movie appears to be an accurate replica (Exodus 25:10-22):
- Have them make an ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed. 16 Then put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law, which I will give you.
Make an atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you. There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites. - In biblical descriptions, the Ark is a gold-plated wooden box that must be carried with poles because it is too holy to be touched. This is referenced in deleted movie scenes.
- Have them make an ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed. 16 Then put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law, which I will give you.
- Indiana Jones referred to Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Horeb. This mountain was also known as Mount Sinai among other names. Many times a mountain’s name depended on whichever directional side a tribe or region viewed it from.
- According to Graham Hancock’s book, “The Sign and the Seal”, the lost Ark of the Covenant resides in the city of Axum (Ethiopia), at the Saint Mary of Zion church.
- The words that Belloq slowly recites before opening the ark are (badly pronounced) Aramaic, and are part of a paragraph recited in many Synagogues today when the Ark that holds the Sefer Torahs (the Old Testament handwritten on Parchment) is opened as part of the Sabbath service.
- Belloq’s outfit at ceremony is inspired by Exodus 28:
- Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, so they may serve me as priests. Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron to give him dignity and honor. Tell all the skilled workers to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest. These are the garments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash. They are to make these sacred garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so they may serve me as priests. Have them use gold, and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and fine linen.
- Despite having the dream team of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg behind the film, it was initially turned down by every studio in Hollywood. Only after much persuasion did Paramount agree to do it.
- Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman based Indy’s outfit, flying jacket and fedora, on Charlton Heston’s in Secret of the Incas (1954). In that film, Heston played a treasure-hunting adventurer who, after studying an ancient model “map room”, uses a beam of sunlight reflected off of a crystal to pinpoint the location of the treasure. In that film, Heston also flies a hijacked airplane and goes down a river in an inflatable yellow raft, reminiscent of events in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).
- The idea for Indiana Jones name came from the character Idaho Jones in Raiders of Ghost City (1944) and The Scarlet Horseman (1946).
- George Lucas initially created Indy with the name of Indiana Smith. Steven Spielberg didn’t like using the name Smith, and convinced Lucas to make the surname Jones instead.
- Indiana Jones’s hat came from the famous Herbert Johnson hat shop in Saville Row, London. The hat was the shop’s “Poet” model. On the Bonus Features DVD, costume designer Deborah Nadoolman said that in order to properly age the hat, she grabbed and twisted the hat, then she and Harrison Ford both sat on it, and it eventually looked like “a very lived-in, and well-loved” hat.
- When Indy’s hat was made, the brim was shaped to cover his eyes for protection, and to help hide faces when stunt doubles were being used.
- Indy’s hat and jacket were designed by Deborah Nadoolman Landis , who also designed Michel Jackson’s iconic red and black jacket from his “Thriller” video.
- Indiana Jones has two Herbert Johnson Poet hats in this film. He has a grey dress hat (seen in the shot of him boarding the plane to Nepal, and in the ending scene on the steps of the Capital building) and the iconic brown “work” hat.
- Indiana Jones’s kangaroo-hide bullwhip was sold in December, 1999 at Christie’s auction house in London for $43,000. His jacket and hat are on display at the Smithsonian.
- In the third movie, Henry Senior teases Indiana about his nickname. He reminds him that they, “named the dog Indiana”. In real life George Lucas, in the early 70s, had a dog named Indiana that the character of Indiana Jones was named after. As a matter of fact, one day Lucas saw his wife pulling into their driveway, driving their station wagon; and watching her park; through the windshield; he saw his wife in the right hand driver’s seat, and his dog Indiana, sitting up in the left hand seat. He thought to himself, “they look like a pilot and co-pilot”. And that became the inspiration for Han Solo and Chewbacca in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977). So Indiana the dog was the inspiration for two characters Harrison Ford played.
- Steven Spielberg and George Lucas argued over who Indiana’s companion should be. One idea was that she was to be a Nazi spy. After discarding that idea, they couldn’t decide if they wanted the character to be Indiana’s former mentor, or an old lover. It was Lawrence Kasdan’s idea to combine the two ideas, by making her the daughter of Indiana’s teacher. The idea of Indiana traveling with a Nazi spy was re-used for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
- Steven Spielberg and George Lucas disagreed on the character of Indiana Jones. Although Lucas saw him as a 007-like playboy, Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan felt the character’s academic and adventurer elements made him complex enough. Spielberg had a darker vision of Jones, interpreting him as an alcoholic, similar to Humphrey Bogart’s character Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). This characterization fell away during the later drafts, though elements survive (especially Jones’s response Marion’s “death”).
- Only Indiana Jones to be nominated for Best Picture Oscar. Also, this was 1981’s biggest grossing film.
- When Brody first goes to Indy’s house to discuss the mission, Jones is dressed the way he is because he is entertaining a young woman in his bedroom. The script originally planned to show her before moving to the next scene, to give Indy a more worldly persona (like James Bond). However, her appearance was cut, as Steven Spielberg thought that being a playboy did not fit Indy’s character.
- The script describes Marion as being 25 years old. George Lucas originally wanted her to be younger, but Steven Spielberg objected to her age at the script conference. Lucas said, “Once she’s sixteen or seventeen it’s not as interesting anymore. But … she was 15 and he [Indiana] was 25 and they actually had an affair the last time they met.” Lawrence Kasdan left her age out of the dialog, with Marion telling Indiana only that, “I’ve learned to hate you in the last ten years … I was a child!”
- The sacred idol of the Hovitos, of which Dr. Jones takes possession at the beginning of the film, is apparently a fertility goddess. It is a molten image of a woman squatting down and giving birth.
- The call letters on the plane flown by Jock at the beginning of the movie are a subtle callback to characters from Star Wars: OB-CPO for Obi-wan Kenobi and C-3PO.
- During Indiana’s escape from the natives in the beginning of the film, he has his pilot start the plane in the water. When the engine starts, it is the same sound used when the Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive engine fails from the Star Wars saga.
- Freeze-framing during the Well of Souls scene, you can notice a golden pillar with a tiny engraving of R2-D2 and C-3PO from the Star Wars saga. They are also on the wall behind Indy when they first approach the Ark.
- Indy’s line to Marion when they are on the ship (“It’s not the years, honey, it’s the mileage”) was ad-libbed by Harrison Ford.
- As Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) was just about to open, Lucas went to Hawaii where he was joined by Steven Spielberg. Spielberg confessed he always wanted to direct a James Bond film, to which Lucas replied he had a much better idea, an adventure movie called “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. The conversation happened while the two were making a sand castle. After their trip, they got together and developed the script with Lawrence Kasdan.
- During filming in Tunisia, nearly everyone in the cast and crew got sick except director Steven Spielberg. It is thought that he avoided illness by eating only the food he’d brought with him: a lot of cans of Spaghetti-O’s.
- The out-of-control airplane actually ran over Harrison Ford’s knee, tearing a ligament in his left leg. Lucky for him, the heat had turned the rubber tire’s soft, so it did not crush the bone. Rather than submit to Tunisian health care, Ford had his knee wrapped in ice and carried on.
- Harrison Ford actually outran the boulder in the opening sequence. Because the scene was shot twice from five different angles, he had to outrun it ten times. Ford’s stumble in the scene was deemed to look authentic and was left in.
- Steven Spielberg and Melissa Mathison wrote a script for ET during shooting breaks on the location of this film.
- The last line to be added to the script was Dietrich’s “I am uncomfortable with this Jewish ritual” because after reading through the script, the Screenwriters realized that there was no mention of Jews or the Nazis’ hatred of them.
- To create the sound of the heavy lid of the Ark being slid open, sound designer Ben Burtt simply recorded him moving the lid of his toilet cistern at home.
- John Williams had actually written two themes for the film. He played them both for Steven Spielberg on the piano and Spielberg loved them so much, he suggested that Williams use both of them. He did and the result was the famous “Raiders March”, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (who did not perform in any more Indiana Jones films). The March has become one of the most popular movie themes of all time.
- In filming the Well of Souls sequence, the producers scoured every pet shop in London and the south of England for every snake they could lay their hands on. Once all the snakes were on set, it became clear that there were not nearly enough of them, so Steven Spielberg had several hoses cut into lengths, and these were used as well. Looking closely, you can tell which are the real snakes and which are not. Some of the weeds in the scene were lifted from the Dagobah set of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980). A sheet of glass separates Harrison Ford and the arched (and highly dangerous) cobra when he falls in. The snake actually did spray venom onto the glass.
- While filming the snakes scenes inside the Well of Souls, a python bit first assistant director David Tomblin’s hand and wouldn’t let go. Tomblin calmly asked someone to grab the python (still attached to Tomblin’s hand) by the tail and whip it, so that the snap would send a wave up the snake’s body and force it to let go. A stage hand did just that, the python released its bite from Tomblin’s hand, and Tomblin got medical attention. The python itself was not injured.
- The Well of Souls scene required 7,000 snakes. The only venomous snakes were the cobras.
- Many of the snakes in the Well of Souls are not snakes, but legless lizards (look for the earholes, which snakes lack).
- In the submarine pen, the German who comes upon Indiana says, in German, “Good day. Tired? Why do you sleep? Where’s your shirt? Wash yourself, so that you don’t look like a pig at your court martial.” He is about to say “Stand upright”, but he is cut off when Indiana kicks him repeatedly.
- An early draft of the script had Indiana Jones traveling to Shanghai to recover a piece of the Staff of Ra. During his escape from the museum where it was housed, he was to be sheltered from machine gun fire behind a giant rolling gong. Also in the same script, Indy and Marion flee the chaos caused by the opening of the Ark in a wild mine-cart chase sequence. These scenes were cut from the script but ended up in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).
- The scene where Jones fires at the truck was a botched stunt. The truck was supposed to flip over by means of a telegraph pole being fired by explosives through the floor. The explosive wasn’t powerful enough and it simply forced the truck to tip over at an angle as can be seen in the finished movie. Time did not permit any further attempts at getting it right.
- Tom Selleck was Steven Spielberg’s second choice for the role of Indiana Jones. Harrison Ford was his first, but George Lucas objected, since Ford had been in his previous hits American Graffiti (1973), Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) and Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), so he wanted to use someone different. Selleck was not able to take the role, because he was committed to Magnum, P.I. (1980).
- In order to make it match the follow-up movies in the DVD collections, 2008 DVD cover artwork changes the film’s title to read “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” instead of just “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.
- The sinister Gestapo agent Toht’s appearance (notably the receding hairline and glasses with the circular frames) was deliberately based on Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS in Nazi Germany and one of the regime’s most infamous criminals for his central role in the Holocaust.
- According to the script, Abner Ravenwood was killed in an avalanche.
- The mouse that was writhing to the sound coming from the crated ark is there because this mouse was seen behaving this way and then filmed. As it later turned out, unknown to the crew, the mouse was sick with a brain tumor.
- In the map room, one of the buildings has red graffiti written on it that says, “Nicht stören”, which is German for “Do not disturb”.
- Cut Scene: A plot element involving the Ark of the Covenant was cut from the film, and is only hinted at during the finale, when the Ark is opened. Basically, there were two rules about the Ark not mentioned in the final cut of the film: 1. If you touch the Ark, you die. 2. If you look at the Ark when it is opened, you die. This is first explained in additional dialogue for the scene when Indy and Sallah visit the Imam. Before translating the writings on the headpiece that give the height of the Staff of Ra, Imam warns Indy not to touch the Ark, or look at it when it is opened. The next scene involving this Ark subplot, is when Sallah and Indy remove the Ark from the Well of Souls. When Sallah first sees it he reaches out to touch it. Indy stops him before he does, and reminds him of the Imam’s warning. Then they insert long poles through each side of the Ark to lift it out of its crypt. Notice that nobody ever touches the Ark throughout the rest of the film, until the finale.
- Cut Scene: Indy surviving the submarine journey by lashing himself to the periscope with his whip. In the final film, the plot hole goes largely unnoticed. This cut scene did appear in the Marvel Comics adaptation.
- The mine chase scene that wound up being in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) was supposed to be in this film, but time constraints eliminated this possibility.
- Steven Spielberg admitted to have heavily influenced by the Republic Pictures serials of the thirties and forties, to make this film, which is a tribute to the golden era of serials.
- The sound of the boulder in the opening is a car rolling down a gravel driveway in neutral.
- Most people think Romancing the Stone (1984) is a ripoff of Raiders of the Lost Ark; being another cliffhanger type swashbuckler along the lines of classic road movie adventures from the 30s and 40s like Gunga Din. Romancing the Stone (1984) is very much the same flavor as Raiders; with similar characters, Jack is very much like Indiana Jones; and Romancing the Stone (1984) came out three years after Raiders. But Romancing the Stone (1984) was written many years before both movies came out, in 1976, by Mailbu waitress Diane Thomas. And it had been circling around Hollywood for years before Robert Zemeckis committed to doing it. So in a way, Raiders is a ripoff of Romancing the Stone, not vice versa.
- Raiders of the Lost Ark has been re-released several times. It was first re-released in July 1982, when it earned an additional $21.4 million. The studio re-released it March 1983, when the film earned an additional $11.4 million. A remastered IMAX version, supervised by Spielberg, was released in 267 North American theaters. The success of the release led to the run being extended to 300 additional theaters. The film earned a further $3.1 million. These releases have raised the film’s worldwide theatrical gross to an estimated $389.9 million.
- Shortly after the film’s release, Stanley Rader and Robert Kuhn filed a lawsuit against the filmmakers for $210 million. They alleged the film was based on a screenplay and unpublished novel, Ark, by Kuhn. The outcome of this lawsuit is unknown.
- Trainer dangled a grape to get the monkey to do then Nazi salute.
- When the Ark is opened and the angels start flying around the observing Nazis, the look on Belloq’s face resembles that of the Golden Idol of the Hovitos.
- Two of the lead characters in two of Steven Spielberg’s series have the same name. The lead in Jaws (1975) is named Martin Brody, and one of the leads in the Indiana Jones films is named Marcus Brody.
- It was originally offered to 20th Century Fox on the back of the worldwide success of Star Wars. According to a number of books on the behind the scenes on the original Star Wars Trilogy there was a dispute between Lucas and the bosses at 20th Century Fox which led to them turning down Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Fox would still do the remaining 2 films on Star Wars for distribution but would turn down Raiders Of The Lost Ark which was why it ended up at Paramount.
- Frank Welker: The prolific voice actor provides the monkey’s sounds, uncredited.
- The famous scene in which Indy shoots a marauding and flamboyant swordsman was not in the original script. Harrison Ford was supposed to use his whip to get the sword out of his attacker’s hands, but the food poisoning he and the rest of the crew had gotten made him too sick to perform the stunt. After several unsuccessful tries, Ford suggested “shooting the sucker”. Steven Spielberg immediately took him up on the idea, and the scene was successfully filmed.
- During the scene where Indiana threatens the Nazis with a Panzerfaust, you can clearly see a fly creeping into the mouth of Paul Freeman. Contrary to popular belief, he did not swallow it.
- Renowned British wrestler Pat Roach plays the huge bald mustachioed Nazi mechanic who fist-fights Indy until he gets chopped up by the plane propeller in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Roach also plays several other roles in Raiders; and in fact appears in every film entry of the Indiana Jones tetralogy. He is Steven Spielberg’s preferred go to person when Spielberg needs an oaf, or an ogre, or some oversized person causing trouble.
- The spirit effects at the climax were achieved by shooting mannequins underwater in slow motion through a fuzzy lens to achieve an ethereal quality.
- The submarine pen on the island where the Ark is taken and finally opened is not a set, but in fact an actual German U-Boat pen left over from World War II in La Rochelle, France.
- As scripted, the scene where Indiana and Marcus meet with the Army Intelligence officials in Washington, D.C., was to be followed immediately by the Ark being stored in the warehouse. The filmmakers realized there was no resolution for Indiana’s relationship with Marion, and the new scene was written. It was filmed on the steps of San Francisco’s City Hall.
- In a 2001 “Making of” special, it was revealed that the effects used in the three antagonists’ rather gruesome deaths (Dietrich, Toht, and Belloq) were a vacuum machine, a time-lapsed heat gun and a shotgun, respectively. When the movie was submitted for an MPAA rating, it was given a rating of “R” because of the exploding head. In order to lower the rating, flames were superimposed over this image. The result was the appearance of a head exploding behind a dense curtain of flames. The rating was lowered to “PG” (at the time, the PG-13 rating did not exist).
- According to the novelization, the writing on the headpiece of the Staff of Ra included a specific warning not to look into the Ark. This is why Indiana and Marion survive the conflagration at the end, simply by closing their eyes. It may be an allusion to 1 Samuel 6:19, where God “smote” the men of Beth Shemesh for looking into the Ark.
- Indiana Jones never kills the lead villain in any of the films. It is always the treasure itself / greed for said treasure or its powers that accounts for their deaths.
- The crate in which the Ark is placed at the end of the movie has the number 9906753.
- Body Count: sixty-four (including the monkey). Eleven by Indiana Jones.
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Countries: United StatesLanguages: English, German, Hebrew, Spanish, Arabic, NepaliBudget: $18,000,000 (estimated)
Quotes
Marion: You're not the man I knew ten years ago.
Indiana: It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
Indiana: Meet me at Omar's. Be ready for me. I'm going after that truck.
Sallah: How?
Indiana: I don't know. I'm making this up as I go.
Indiana: Do we need the monkey?
Marion: I'm surprised at you. Talking that way about our baby. He's got your looks, too.
Indiana: And your brains.
Marion: Yes she does! She's very smart.
[Upon opening the Well of the Souls and peering down]
Sallah: Indy, why does the floor move?
Indiana: Give me your torch.
[Indy takes the torch and drops it in, revealing hundreds of snakes all over floor of the Well of Souls]
Indiana: Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?
Sallah: Asps... very dangerous. You go first.
[Discussing the fate of the Ark]
Maj. Eaton: We have top men working on it right now.
Indiana: Who?
Maj. Eaton: Top... men.
[Marion is being kidnapped]
Marion: You can't do this to me, I'm an AMERICAN.
Indiana: THERE'S A BIG SNAKE IN THE PLANE, JOCK!
Jock: Oh, that's just my pet snake Reggie!
Indiana: I HATE SNAKES, JOCK! I HATE 'EM!
Jock: Come on! Show a little backbone, will ya!
Belloq: How odd that it should end this way for us after so many stimulating encounters. I almost regret it. Where shall I find a new adversary so close to my own level?
Indiana: Try the local sewer.
Brody: Marion's the least of your worries right now, believe me, Indy.
Indiana: What do you mean?
Brody: Well, I mean that for nearly three thousand years man has been searching for the lost ark. It's not something to be taken lightly. No one knows its secrets. It's like nothing you've ever gone after before.
Indiana: [laughing] Oh, Marcus. What are you trying to do, scare me? You sound like my mother. We've known each other for a long time. I don't believe in magic, a lot of superstitious hocus pocus. I'm going after a find of incredible historical significance, you're talking about the boogie man. Besides, you know what a cautious fellow I am.
[throws his gun into his suitcase]
[Indiana needs his bullwhip to swing across a chasm]
Indiana: Give me the whip.
Satipo: Throw me the idol.
[they both see a stone door closing]
Satipo: No time to argue! Throw me idol, I'll throw you the whip!
Indiana: [throws the idol] Give me the whip!
Satipo: [drops the whip] Adiós, señor.
Maj. Eaton: [sees a picture of the Ark with rays of power coming out of it] Good God!
Brody: Yes, that's what the Hebrews thought.
Sallah: Indy, there is something that troubles me.
Indiana: What is it?
Sallah: The Ark. If it is there, at Tanis, then it is something that man was not meant to disturb. Death has always surrounded it. It is not of this earth.
[as the Nazis are opening the Ark]
Indiana: Marion, don't look at it. Shut your eyes, Marion. Don't look at it, no matter what happens!
Indiana: [Indiana is being strangled against the bar. He calmly looks up at Marion] Whiskey
[Marion hands him the whiskey bottle and he smashes it over his assailant's head]
Indiana: The Ark of the Covenant, the chest that the Hebrews used to carry around the Ten Commandments.
Major Eaton: What, you mean THE Ten Commandments?
Indiana: Yes, the actual Ten Commandments, the original stone tablets that Moses brought down from Mt. Horeb and smashed, if you believe in that sort of thing...
[the officers stare at him blankly]
Indiana: Didn't any of you guys ever go to Sunday school?
Indiana: Hello, Marion.
Marion: Indiana Jones. I always knew some day you'd come walking back through my door. I never doubted that. Something made it inevitable. So, what are you doing here in Nepal?
Indiana: I need one of the pieces your father collected.
[Marion surprises him with a right cross to the jaw]
Marion: I've learned to hate you in the last ten years!
Indiana: I never meant to hurt you.
Marion: I was a child. I was in love. It was wrong and you knew it!
Indiana: You knew what you were doing.
Marion: Now I do. This is my place. Get out!
[Indiana falls asleep while kissing her]
Marion: We never seem to get a break, do we?
Indiana: Here, take this,
[hands Marion a torch]
Indiana: Wave it at anything that slithers.
Marion: The whole place is slitherin'!
[turns and mistakes Indy's whip on his side for a snake]
Marion: Indy!
[tries to burn it with the torch]
Indiana: [screams]
Marion: Well, Jones, at least you haven't forgotten how to show a lady a good time.
Indiana: Boy, you're something!
Marion: Yeah? I'll tell you what: until I get back my five thousand dollars, you're gonna get more than you bargained for. I'm your goddamn partner!
Indiana: [Indy meets Belloq in a crowded bar] Belloq.
Belloq: Good afternoon, Dr. Jones.
Indiana: I oughta kill you right now.
Belloq: Not a very private place for a murder.
Indiana: Well, these guys don't care if we kill each other. They're not going to interfere in our business.
Belloq: It was not I who brought the girl into this business. Please, sit down before you fall down. We can at least behave like civilized people.
[Indy sits down while the monkey crawls off his shoulder]
Belloq: I see your taste in friends remains consistent. How odd that it should end this way for us, after so many stimulating encounters. I almost regret it. Where shall I find a new adversary so close to my own level?
Indiana: Try the local sewer.
Belloq: You and I are very much alike. Archaeology is our religion, yet we have both fallen from the purer faith. Out methods have not differed as much as you pretend. I am a shadowy reflection of you. It would take only a nudge to make you like me, to push you out of the light.
Indiana: Now you're getting nasty.
Belloq: You know it's true. How nice. Look at this.
[holds out a pocket watch]
Belloq: It's worthless. Ten dollars from a vendor in the street. But I take it, I bury it in the sand for a thousand years, it becomes priceless... like the Ark. Men will kill for it. Men like you and me.
Indiana: What about your boss, der Fuhrer? I thought he was waiting to take possession.
Belloq: All in good time. When I am finished with it. Jones, do you realize what the Ark is? It's a transmitter. It's a radio for speaking to God. And it's within my reach.
Indiana: You want to talk to God? Let's go see him together. I've got nothing better to do.
[prepares to fight Belloq, but Belloq's men train guns on him, and a crowd of children hurries in to escort him away]
Belloq: Next time, Dr. Jones, it'll take more than children to save you.
[talking about Marion's late father]
Marion: He said you were a bum.
Indiana: Aw, he's being generous.
Marion: The most gifted bum he ever trained. You know, he loved you like a son... took a hell of a lot for you to alienate him.
Indiana: Not much... just you.
Sallah: Oh, my friends! I'm so pleased you're not dead!
Belloq: You and I are very much alike. Archeology is our religion, yet we have both fallen from the pure faith. Our methods have not differed as much as you pretend. I am but a shadowy reflection of you. It would take only a nudge to make you like me. To push you out of the light.
Indiana: Now you're getting nasty.
Belloq: All your life has been spent in pursuit of archaeological relics. Inside the Ark are treasures beyond your wildest aspirations. You want to see it opened as well as I. Indiana, we are simply passing through history. This, this *is* history.
Sallah: Indy, you have no time. If you still want the ark, it is being loaded onto a truck for Cairo.
Indiana: Truck? What truck?
[Marion removes heavy robe to reveal satin negligèe]
Indiana: Where'd you get that?
Marion: From him.
Indiana: Who 'him'?
Marion: Katanga. I got a feeling I'm not the first woman to travel with these pirates.
[Indy triggers a hidden booby trap, which fires a poisoned dart into a stick]
Indiana: [hands Satipo the stick] Stay here.
Satipo: [shrugs] If you insist, señor.
Belloq: Dr. Jones. Again we see there is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away. And you thought I'd given up.
[Indy reaches for his gun, but pauses and hands over his gun when the warriors draw back their weapons]
Belloq: You chose the wrong friends. This time it will cost you.
Indiana: Too bad the Hovitos don't know you the way I do, Belloq.
[hands over the prized idol to Belloq]
Belloq: Yes, too bad. You could warn them... if only you spoke Hovitos.
[looking at an old picture of the Ark]
Colonel Musgrove: Now, what's that supposed to be coming out of there?
Indiana: Lightning. Fire. The power of God or something.
Major Eaton: I'm beginning to understand Hitler's interest in this.
Toht: Your fire is dying... here, why don't you tell me where the piece is right now?
Marion: Listen, Herr Mac, I don't know what kind of people you're used to dealing with, but nobody tells me what to do in my place.
Toht: Fräulein Ravenwood, let me show you what I am used to...
Katanga: Jones is dead. I killed him. He was of no use to us. This girl, however, has certain value where we're headed. She'll bring a very fine price. Herr Colonel - that cargo you've taken - if it's your goal, go in peace with it, but leave us the girl. It will reduce our loss on this trip.
Dietrich: Savage! You are not in a position to ask for anything. We will take what we wish, and then decide whether or not to blow your ship from the water.
Brody: However, an Egyptian pharaoh...
Indiana: Shishak.
Brody: ...yes, invaded the city of Jerusalem round about 980 B.C., and he may have take the Ark back to the city of Tanis and hidden it in a secret chamber called The Well of Souls.
Major Eaton: [skeptically] Secret chamber?
Brody: However, about a year after the pharaoh had returned to Egypt, the city of Tanis was consumed by the desert in a sand storm which lasted a whole year. Wiped clean by the wrath of God.
Major Eaton: [turns slowly toward Col. Musgrove] Uh... huh.
Colonel Musgrove: Obviously, we've come to the right men. Now you seem to know, uh, all about this Tanis, then.
Indiana: No, no, not really. Ravenwood is the real expert. Abner did the first serious work on Tanis. Collected some of its relics. It was his obsession, really. But he never found the city.
Major Eaton: Frankly, we're somewhat suspicious of Mr. Ravenwood, an American being mentioned so prominently in a secret Nazi cable.
Brody: Oh, rubbish. Ravenwood's no Nazi.
Colonel Musgrove: Well, what do the Nazis want him for then?
Indiana: Well, obviously, the Nazis are looking for the headpiece to Staff of Ra and they think Abner's got it.
Major Eaton: What exactly is a headpiece to the Staff of Ra?
Indiana: Well, the staff is just a stick. I don't know, about this big. Nobody really knows for sure how high. And it's...
[turns blackboard to blank side]
Indiana: it's, uh... it's capped with an elaborate headpiece in the shape of the sun with a crystal in the center. And what you did was, you take the staff to a special room in Tanis, a map room with a miniature of the city all laid out on the floor. And if you put the staff in a certain place at a certain time of day, the sun shone through here and made beam that came down on the floor here... and gave you the exact location of the Well of the Souls.
Colonel Musgrove: Where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, right?.
Indiana: That's exactly what the Nazis are looking for.
Major Eaton: Now what does this Ark look like?
Indiana: Uh... there's a picture of it right here.
[opens a book on the table]
Indiana: That's it.
[they all look at an illustration of the Hebrews devastating their enemy with the Ark]
Major Eaton: Good God!
Brody: Yes, that's just what the Hebrews thought.
Colonel Musgrove: [pointing to a beam of light] Uh, now what's that supposed to be coming out of there?
Indiana: Lightning. Fire. Power of God or something.
Major Eaton: I'm beginning to understand Hitler's interest in this.
Brody: Oh, yes. The Bible speaks of the Ark leveling mountains and laying waste to entire regions. An army which carries the Ark before it... is invincible.
Belloq: Look at this. It's worthless - ten dollars from a vendor in the street. But I take it, I bury it in the sand for a thousand years, it becomes priceless. Like the Ark.
Marion: What do you want?
Toht: Ah, the same thing your friend Dr. Jones wanted. Surely he mentioned there would be other interested parties?
Marion: Must have slipped his mind.
Toht: The man is nefarious. I hope for your sake that he has not yet acquired it.
Marion: Why, are you willing to offer more?
Toht: Oh, almost certainly. Do you still have it?
Marion: [blows smoke in his face] No.
Toht: Now... what shall we talk about?
Indiana: [to Satipo's dead body] Adios, Satipo...
1st Mechanic: [to Indy, in German] Hey, thin man! Come here! Come here! Come here! Come on, fight! Boy, come down! Down now!
Major Eaton: Doctor Jones, we've heard a lot about you.
Indiana: Have you?
Major Eaton: Professor of Archeology, expert on the occult, and how does one say it... obtainer of rare antiquities.
Indiana: That's one way of saying it. Why don't you sit down, you'll be more comfortable.
Colonel Musgrove: Yes, you're a man of many talents.
Major Eaton: Now, you studied under Professor Ravenwood at the University of Chicago.
Indiana: Yes, I did.
Major Eaton: You have no idea of his present whereabouts?
Indiana: Only rumors, really. Somewhere in Asia, I think. I haven't really spoken to him in ten years. We were friends once, but we had a bit of a falling out, I'm afraid.
Colonel Musgrove: Now, Doctor Jones, you must understand that this is all completely confidential.
Indiana: I understand.
Colonel Musgrove: Yesterday afternoon, our European section intercepted a German communique that was sent from Cairo to Berlin.
Major Eaton: You see, for the last two years, the Nazis have had teams of archaeologists running around the world looking for all sorts of religious artifacts. Hitler's a nut on the subject. He's crazy. He's obsessed with the occult. And right now, apparently, there is some kind of German archaeological dig going on in the desert outside Cairo.
Colonel Musgrove: Now, we have some information here, but we can't make anything out of it and maybe you can. "Tanis development proceeding. Acquire headpiece, Staff of Ra, Abner Ravenwood, US."
Indiana: The Nazis have discovered Tanis!
Major Eaton: Now just what does that mean to you... 'Tanis'?
Indiana: Tanis is one of the possible resting places of the Lost Ark.
Colonel Musgrove: The Lost Ark?
Indiana: Yeah, the Ark of the Covenant. The chest the Hebrews used to carry the Ten Commandments around in.
Major Eaton: Alright now, what do you mean the Ten Commandments, you're talking about THE Ten Commandments?
Indiana: Yes, the actual Ten Commandments. The original stone tablets that Moses brought down out of Mount Horeb and smashed, if you believe in that sort of thing. Didn't you guys ever go to Sunday School? Look, the Hebrews took the broken pieces and put them into the Ark. When they settled in Canaan, they put the Ark in a place called The Temple of Solomon, where it stayed for many years, till all of a sudden... whoosh, it was gone.
Major Eaton: Where?
Indiana: Nobody knows where or when.
[Toht prepares to torture Marion with a hot poker]
Marion: Wait, wait! I can be reasonable!
Toht: That time has passed.
Marion: You don't need that. I'll tell you everything!
Toht: Yes, I know you will.
[the old man reveals writing on the back of the medallion, which states that part of the staff must be removed]
Indiana: Balloq's medallion only had writing on one side? You sure about that?
Sallah: Positive!
Indiana: Balloq's staff is too long.
[last lines]
Marion: Hey, what happened? You don't look very happy.
Indiana: Fools. Bureaucratic fools!
Marion: What'd they say?
Indiana: They don't know what they've got there.
Marion: Well, I know what I've got here. Come on. I'll buy you a drink. You know, a drink?
Indiana: [Indy's first lines] This is it... This is where Forrestal cashed in.
Satipo: A friend of yours?
Indiana: A competitor... he was good. He was very good.
Indiana: I knew the Germans had hired you, Sallah. You're the best digger in Egypt.
Sallah: My services are entirely inconsequential to them. They hired or shanghaied every digger in Cairo. The excavation is enormous. They hire only strong backs and they pay pennies for them. It's as if the pharaohs have returned.
Sallah: [catches date and points to dead monkey] Bad dates.
[Marion and Belloq are both very drunk]
Marion: [laughs] What is this stuff, Rene?
Belloq: [laughing as well] I grew up on this. It's my family label.
[Marion falls to the ground laughing, then calmly pulls out the knife she was concealing and points it at Belloq, who bursts out laughing in response]
Marion: [laughs] We-he-he-ell, I have to be going now, Rene.
Belloq: [flicking his hand and laughing] Ta-ta.
Marion: [walking off] I like you, Rene, very much. Perhaps we'll meet again under better circumstances.
Toht: We meet again, Fraulein. You Americans, you're all the same. Always overdressing for the wrong occasions.
[Army Intelligence officer describing Indiana Jones]
Major Eaton: Professor of archeology, expert on the occult, and how does one say it? Obtainer of rare antiquities.
Indiana: This site also demonstrates one of the great dangers of archaeology; not to life and limb, although that does sometimes take place. I'm talking about folklore.
Belloq: [looking down at Indy in the Well of Souls] Hello! Hello! Why, Dr. Jones, whatever are you doing in such a nasty place?
Indiana: Why don't you come on down here, and I'll show ya?
Belloq: Thank you, my friend, but I think we are all very comfortable up here. Yes, indeed. We are all very quite comfortable up here. So once again, Jones, what was briefly yours is now mine. What a fitting end to your life's pursuits. You're about to become a permanent addition to this archaeological find. Who knows? In a thousand years, even you may be worth something.
Indiana: [laughs]
[muttering]
Indiana: Son of a bitch!
Belloq: I'm afraid we must be going now, Dr. Jones.
Dietrich: Our prize is awaited in Berlin. Yes... we are finished here with everything. But we do not wish to leave you down in that awful place... all alone.
Belloq: It's a transmitter, a radio for speaking to God.
Belloq: The girl was mine!
Dietrich: She's of no use to us. Only your mission for the Führer matters.
Messenger Pirate: [searching for Jones after the Germans board the U-boat] I can't find Mr. Jones, Captain. I've looked everywhere.
Katanga: He has to be here somewhere. Look again.
Messenger Pirate: [notices Indy climbing aboard the U-Boat] I found him.
Katanga: Where?
Messenger Pirate: [pointing to the U-Boat] There!
Imam: This were the old way, this says "six Kadan height - "
Indiana: About seventy-two inches.
Imam: Wait!
[turns medallion over]
Imam: "And take back one Kadan, to honor the Hebrew God whose ark this is."
[Katanga meets Indy, who is dirty and injured from the truck chase]
Katanga: Mr. Jones! I've heard a lot about you, sir. Your appearance is exactly the way I imagined.
[Belloq and the Nazis are walking and talking some more]
Belloq: Who knows. Perhaps the Ark is still waiting in some antechamber for us to discover. Perhaps there's some vital bit of evidence which eludes us. Perhaps...
Gobler: [interrupting him] Perhaps the girl can help us.
Dietrich: My feeling exactly. She was in possession of the original piece for years. She may know much if... properly motivated.
Belloq: I tell you the girl knows nothing.
Dietrich: I am surprised to find you squeamish. That is not your reputation. Anyway, it needn't concern you. I have the perfect man for this kind of work.
[Toht approaches]
Toht: Heil Hitler.
Dietrich: Doctor Jones, surely you don't think you can escape from this island?
Indiana: That depends on how reasonable we're all willing to be. All I want is the girl.
Dietrich: [looks at Belloq. Belloq shakes his head] And if we refuse?
Indiana: Then your Führer has no prize.
Indiana: [Marion tends to Indiana's wounds as she lifts his legs onto his bed] Please I don't need a nurse I just want to sleep.
Marion: Don't be such a baby
Indiana: Marion leave me alone, go away.
Marion: What's this here?
[touches one of his injuries]
Indiana: Yes it hurts.
[she puts some rubbing alcohol on his wound]
Indiana: Ow!
Marion: Well goddamnit Indy where doesn't it hurt?
Indiana: [points at his elbow] Here!
[she kisses it]
Indiana: [points at his head] Here!
[she removes his hat and kisses him on the head]
Indiana: [touches his eye] This isn't too bad
[she kisses it]
Indiana: [touches his lips] Here
[she gives him a long passionate kiss on the lips]
Indiana: I'm gonna blow up the Ark, Rene.
Belloq: Your persistence surprises even me. You're going to give mercenaries a bad name.
Dietrich: Dr. Jones. Surely you don't think you can escape from this island?
Indiana: That depends on how reasonable we're all willing to be! All I want is the girl!
Dietrich: If we refuse?
Indiana: Then your Führer has no prize!
Belloq: [Ordering the soldiers] Okay, stand back. All of you, stand back. Get back.
[to Jones]
Belloq: Okay, Jones. You win. Blow it up.
[some soldiers move in the way of the Ark, but Belloq holds a machine gun to them and they move back]
Belloq: Yes, blow it up! Blow it back to God. All your life has been spent in pursuit of archaeological relics. Inside the Ark are treasures beyond your wildest aspirations. You want to see it open as well as I. Indiana, we are simply passing through history. This...
[gestures to the Ark]
Belloq: This *is* history. Do as you will.
[Indy lowers the grenade launcher and four soldiers appear above him]
Toht: Shoot them. Shoot them both.
[Belloq and the Nazis are walking and arguing]
Belloq: I told you not to be premature in your communique to Berlin. Archeology is not an exact science. It does not deal in time schedules!
Dietrich: The Fuhrer is not a patient man. He demands constant reports. You led me to believe...
Belloq: [interrupting him] Nothing! I made no promises! I merely said it looked very favorable. Besides, with the information in our possession, my calculations were correct.
[first lines]
Satipo: [picking up poison dart] The Hovitos are near.
[tastes the end of the dart, spits it out quickly]
Satipo: The poison is still fresh, three days. They're following us.
Barranca: If they knew we were here, they would have killed us already.
[Looking over the destruction of the airfield]
Dietrich: Get the Ark away from this place immediately! Have it put on the truck! We will fly it out of Cairo! And Gobler, I want plenty of protection!
Gobler: Jawohl, Herr Ob...
[Gobler is interrupted midsentence by an explosion]
Belloq: [to himself] Jones!
Dietrich: You're as stubborn as that girl.
Toht: You like her too much, I think.
Belloq: Your methods of archeology are too primitive for me. You would use a bulldozer to find a... china cup.
Belloq: [saw men working on getting the ark. He runs up to them and points to Colonel Dietrich] Colonel! Wake your men!