Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Originally Released 1981

  Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is no ordinary archeologist. When we first see him, he is somewhere in the Peruvian jungle in 1936, running a booby-trapped gauntlet (complete with an over-sized rolling boulder) to fetch a solid gold idol. He loses this artifact to his chief rival, a French archeologist named Belloq (Paul Freeman), who then prepares to kill our hero. In the first of many serial-like escapes, Indy eludes Belloq by hopping into a convenient plane. So, then: Is Indiana Jones afraid of anything? Yes, snakes. The next time we see Jones, he's a soft-spoken, bespectacled professor. He is then summoned from his ivy-covered environs by Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) to find the long-lost Ark of the Covenant. The Nazis, it seems, are already searching for the Ark, which the mystical-minded Hitler hopes to use to make his stormtroopers invincible. But to find the Ark, Indy must first secure a medallion kept under the protection of Indy's old friend Abner Ravenwood, whose daughter Marion (Karen Allen) evidently has a "history" with Jones. Whatever their personal differences, Indy and Marion become partners in one action-packed adventure after another, ranging from wandering the snake pits of the Well of Souls to surviving the pyrotechnic unearthing of the sacred Ark.

Review By: John Barker
- See it or die!

The brainchild of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg was always going to be exciting but this exceeds all expectations. The clever mixture of Spielberg’s Bond interests and Lucas’ mythological excesses makes for a great action/adventure film.

The film establishes the almost legendary character of Dr. Indiana Jones, (Harrison Ford), the eminent archaeologist who while not teaching history at Princeton is chasing after precious artefacts. This adventure sees him trying to find the Ark of the Covenant, the ark in which the Ten Commandments were kept. In order to do this he enlists the help of Marion, (Karen Allen), who has a vital medallion which helps Indy find the resting place of the Covenant. To make matters worst the Nazi’s are also looking for the Ark in a quest to harness its power and conquer the world.....more

Review by Peter Veugelaers 
- Words escape me ... ecstasy

This film is the shining example of an era of action adventure movies.

Steven Spielberg’s direction of a hero and his conquests, adventuring along side his peers and contesting his foes, is the 1980’s archetype that imitators have tried to emulate (aka The Mummy).

It is the genre that filmmakers have tended to shun in recent times in favour of action spice (Stallone and Schwarzeegger films), television remakes (The Fugitive, Mission Impossible, Dragnet, The Flintstones), and Hong Kong martial arts flicks (the John Woo stylistic action packed thriller and Jackie Chan extravaganzas).....more