Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

An action movie and Harrison Ford, can that combination ever fail? Well Force 10 from Navarone does come to mind. This, however, is Raiders, and this is one of the most entertaining movies ever made.

Ford stars as the indelible Indiana Jones. He is the awkward, almost geeky, college professor. However, once he straps on his whip and puts on his fedora, he becomes the greatest adventure character to ever grace the silver screen.

The movie opens with an action-packed teaser where we first meet Indiana and discover his passion for antiquities and his fear of snakes. The main plot soon gets going as Indiana is hired by the U.S. government to search for the lost ark of the Covenant. He goes to the Himalayas and picks up an old girlfriend. Together they go to Egypt, where they continue to do battle with Nazis, and each other, in the search for the Ark.

Raiders is filled with many memorable set pieces.  The opening sequence with the boulder is classic.  The scene inside the tomb with the thousands of snakes may have you lifting your feet off the floor as you watch it.  One of my favorites has always been when Jones chases the trucks on horseback and ends up getting dragged by a truck.

Although the action scenes make the film, the big success of this movie is Harrison Ford. His charm goes a long way. Ford makes the lines better than they actually are; "Now you're getting nasty." "Snakes, why'd it have to be snakes?" "I don't know, I'm making this up as I go."

Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the greatest films of all time. My sons have discovered the Indiana Jones movies and they love them all, but Raiders is easily the best in the series!

One of the most completely enjoyable movies ever made. From the beginning, this movie had BLOCKBUSTER written all over it. The potent combination of Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford mixed in with a wonderfully swift, action-packed joyride makes this movie timeless.

The story is a pleasing tribute to the old serial films of the thirties and forties told with all the technological advances of Hollywood in the early eighties. Today virtually everyone is familiar with the story of Indiana Jones's quest for the mythological Lost Ark. The scene where the evil Nazi's face melts at the end is now legendary as are many other moments in this iconic motion picture.

If you are one of the very few who have not seen it, what are you waiting for? For those of us who have had the pleasure, rewatching this movie is like visiting a favorite old friend.

This movie makes me feel old, because whenever the latest blockbuster comes out that doesn't live up to its hype, I think things like, "When I was a kid, we had REAL blockbusters. We had Indiana Jones."

I must have seen this movie half a dozen times at the theater and god knows how many times on video. My high school Anthropology class even convinced our teacher to show the movie in school, since the main character was an archeologist. It's more than a movie. It's a phenomenon.

From the incredible opening in the South American temple to the final pull back in the US government storage facilities, every scene is a classic. It has the perfect blend of action, humor, and suspense. And Harrison Ford defined the action hero for the new decade.