Raiders Of The Lost Ark 10 Things That Still Hold Up Today

Raiders Of The Lost Ark: 10 Things That Still Hold Up Today

From Harrison Ford’s charismatic performance to John Williams’ awesome music, what makes Raiders of the Lost Ark a classic even today?

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Like many movies of its era, there are some aspects of Steven Spielberg’s action-adventure classic Raiders of the Lost Ark that haven’t aged particularly gracefully. For starters, it’s revealed that the hero first began his relationship with the love interest when she was still underage, which would absolutely not fly with today’s audiences.

But Indiana Jones remains one of the cinema’s most beloved icons and there are many things in Raiders that still hold up today. From Harrison Ford’s charismatic performance to John Williams’ awesome music, these are the most timeless elements of the 1981 classic.

10 Harrison Ford’s Iconic Performance

Nobody else could’ve played Indiana Jones as effectively as Harrison Ford. Ford nailed the character’s rough edges, plucky attitude, and sarcastic comic sensibility, and made an instant icon out of the world’s coolest archeologist.

Just as he’d done four years earlier when he played Han Solo in Star Wars, Ford brilliantly recaptured the spirit of the old pulp serials that George Lucas hoped to emulate.

9 The Breathtaking Practical Stunt Work

A lot of modern action movies – including the most recent Indiana Jones movie – tend to opt for CGI, but before that was an option, action filmmakers had to stage their set pieces for real with incredibly skilled stunt teams. Raiders of the Lost Ark is full of breathtaking practical stunt work.

Harrison Ford’s stunt double actually had to be dragged through the jungle on the back of a truck. Practical filmmaking techniques always make for more visceral, hard-hitting action than featherlight CG spectacles.

8 John Williams’ Unmistakable Score

When John Williams composes the music for a movie, it tends to be pretty memorable. But his work on Raiders of the Lost Ark – particularly the main theme, “Raiders March” – is especially iconic.

Williams clearly had a lot of fun evoking the whimsical, theatrical, over-the-top music of the old serials that Spielberg and Lucas were influenced by. From the Now, Voyager-inspired romantic theme to the dark orchestrations that play over the bad guys’ illicit activities, Raiders is filled with unforgettable music.

7 The Action-Driven Storytelling

George Lucas came up with a finely tuned story outline for Raiders of the Lost Ark, which screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan then fleshed out into one of the greatest scripts ever written.

In all the best action movies, the narrative is driven by action and not the other way around. Raiders exemplifies this perfectly with action sequences that further the plot and lead into more action sequences that are incredible to watch, but still make sense.

6 The Sense Of Mystery Surrounding The Ark

The Ark of the Covenant is one of the most iconic MacGuffins in movie history, ranking alongside the Maltese Falcon, the Infinity Stones, and the glowing briefcase from Pulp Fiction. Throughout the movie, characters like Belloq build up a fascinating mystique around the Ark.

It’s referred to as a radio for speaking to God and the most significant artifact on Earth. When it’s finally opened, the terrifying results don’t disappoint after all the intriguing build-up.

5 Karen Allen’s Dry Humor

A lot about Marion Ravenwood’s role in Raiders hasn’t aged well, from Indy dating her as a teenager to the fact that she’s a damsel in distress in most of her scenes (except, notably, the plane set piece when she knocks out the pilot and saves Indy from the strapping mechanic beating him to a pulp).

Having said that, the dry humor of Karen Allen’s performance is timeless. This also ended up being one of the only things that worked in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

4 The Anti-Fascist Message

Raiders can almost be interpreted as a revenge fantasy. Indy punches his way through legions of Nazis and a bunch of them are gruesomely killed by divine intervention when the Ark is opened, positioning Raiders as a staunchly anti-fascist movie.

In the Bible, the Ark is passed down to the Jewish people by God, so the Nazis’ theft of it can be seen as a metaphor for the anti-Semitic atrocities of World War II, which Spielberg later explored in more depth in Schindler’s List.

3 The Shock Factor Of The Melting Face Effect

A couple of moments in Raiders push the boundaries of its PG-13 rating – particularly the climactic sequence in which a couple of the bad guys’ faces melt off their skulls due to the awesome power of the Ark. The face-melting effect is still terrifying after all these years.

The filmmakers surprisingly didn’t utilize any CGI effects and instead used practical techniques. ILM created the haunting effect by liquifying gelatin on top of a mold of Ronald Lacey’s screaming face.

2 Steven Spielberg’s Sharp Direction

It’s a shame that Steven Spielberg never made more straightforward action movies, because his masterfully crafted action sequences in Raiders instantly solidified him as one of the greatest action directors of all time.

Scenes like the boulder roll and the truck set piece are brought to life with a kinetic energy. All the fights and chases have the kind of visual clarity missing from most modern blockbusters.

1 The Escapism

What ultimately made Raiders of the Lost Ark – and George Lucas’ other franchise, Star Wars, for that matter – such a success is its sense of pure escapism. The Indiana Jones movies (and the Star Wars movies) offer audiences a much-needed break from the real world.

Four decades later, audiences can still stick on Raiders, be immersed in its pulpy action-packed world, and disappear from reality for a couple of hours.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-things-that-still-hold-up-today/

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