Conceived on an Hawaii beach in the summer of 1977 by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as they built a sandcastle, whilst Lucas was getting away from the apparent failure of STAR WARS (even though within days it had become a cultural phenomenon), RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK homages as STAR WARS did the escapist thrills of the 1930s cliff=hanger serials that the likes of Buster Crabbe and others gave cinema audiences around the same time.
Based partly on the story of the Spear of Destiny, in terms of the occult power of artefacts, and set in 1936, the film tells of archaeologist and professor Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), who is assigned by Army Intelligence to recover the fabled ‘Ark of the Covenant’ from the clutches of the Nazis, led by French rival Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman), who want to claim it on Hitler’s behalf to yield ultimate power over the world and their ultimate grasp on the global population.
The trail takes him to Nepal and old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) the daughter of his mentor at Chicago University, where she holds a headpiece that could be used to locate the location of the Ark at a map room on a dig just outside of Cairo. However, other agents are after it too – and Indy and Marion have to try and escape and hopefully get the goods secured for the future of the world…
Modelled on the James Bond style of adventure (Spielberg was in fact tapped up to direct a Bond film around the time of JAWS), this film and its’ four sequels (the fourth is due but with James Mangold as opposed to Spielberg at the helm) gave Ford a career-defining role that enabled him to escape from the clutches of Han Solo after THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.
Scripted with humour and spirit by Lawrence Kasdan, the fine blend of action, laughs and suspense hit the ground running in an intense opening temple sequence in Peru and only lets up on occasion for exposition with stunning production design, great physical stunts and excellent make-up and visual effects courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic, not to mention a now-classic rousing score by composer legend John Williams.