Genre Grandeur – Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – MovieRob (Encore Review)

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Adventure Films, here’s a review of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) by me.

Thanks again to Damien of Riley on Film for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by Summer of Serendipitous Anachronisms She has chosen quite a unique genre and we will be reviewing our favorite Derivative Work Movies.

Here’s Summer to explain her choice:

Basically it is anything based or inspired by pre-existing source

for example:

Amelie takes its relationships from the Luncheon of the Boating Party

The Magnificent Seven is borrowed from the Seven Samurai

Sunday in the Park with George is based on painting by George Seurat

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is loosely based on Hamlet

My Own Private Idaho borrows from Henry the IV

Cosi is about a director directing the musical Cosi Fan Tutti

Pride Prejudice and Zombies borrows from Pride and Prejudice

Clueless borrows from the novel Emma

Monty Python and the Holy Grail borrows from the Arthurian Legend

Basically a film that borrows from pre-existing source but reinvents the source material into something else

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of June by sending them to derivativesummer@movierob.net  Try to think out of the box! Great choice Summer!

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:

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“Oh, my friends! I’m so pleased you’re not dead! ” – Sallah

Number of Times Seen – Way too many to count (cable, video, DVD, 3 Apr 2000, 23 Apr 2014 and 22 May 2016)

Link to original review – Here

Brief Synopsis – An archeology Professor is sent by the government to find the Lost Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis and their allies get their hands on it

My Take on it – When Damien chose this genre for this month, I immediately began to try and decide which movie(s) I would have to include among my favorites of the adventure genre.

The list was actually pretty long and in the end, I chose two; The Goonies (1985) (reviewed yesterday) and the Indiana Jones trilogy (yes, you heard me right… trilogy).

I decided that I would only focus on one of the movies and after a lot of back and forth in my head, I decided that the best way to go would be with the amazing introduction of the iconic character of Indiana Jones to us all in Raiders.

I was too young to see this one in the theater when it came out, but as soon as I had a chance to see it on video a few years later, it instantly became one of my all-time favorite movies.

One of the main reasons that this movie was so well received and loved by so many is the fact that Director Steven Spielberg and Creator George Lucas utilized so many movie making techniques to keep us constantly on the edge of our seats for this fast paced story.

So much happens that we have no time to catch our breath after each death defying scene before we are given a new one to take in.

Harrison Ford was the perfect choice for this iconic role and it would be quite different if someone else would have landed that role.

Apparently, Tom Selleck, Sam Niell and Jeff Bridges were all in the running to get the whip and Fedora, but as much as I like all of them, none would have been able to do what Ford did here.

The story is continuously in motion as we are given action scene following action scene which gives the audience the perfect reason to cheer and still be on the edge of their seats the whole time.

The music by John Williams is also iconic and I’m still shocked it didn’t manage to win Best Score at the Oscars that year.

Watching this again, I yearn for more collaborations between Lucas and Spielberg because we can see how well they did working together.

Bottom Line – One of the best adventure movies ever because it utilizes so many movie making techniques to keep us involved in the fast moving story. Ford was perfectly cast as Jones and made the character so iconic that even 35 years later the two names are still synonymous. Nonstop thrills and action keeps things constantly in motion while at the same time gives us heroes to continuously cheer for. Excellent music that has become so iconic by the legendary John Williams. The best of the trilogy (yes, trilogy). I wish that Lucas and Spielberg would collaborate more like this. Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia –  Indiana Jones never loses his hat in the film, as an homage to the classic serials of the 1940s. In those serials, the heroes’ hats stayed on heads through virtually any assault. This was done for continuity reasons, but also because it was considered poor taste for a gentleman to be without his hat in certain situations – even on the silver screen. It eventually becomes a running joke through the series. Indy does, however, lose his hat once each in both Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (no change from original review)

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