Globe-trotting archaeologist Indiana Jones races the Nazis for possession of a legendary religious... (Learn more)
Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman (View All)
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Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman
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. A joint project of Hollywood prodigies George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, with a script co-written by Lawrence Kasdan and Philip Kaufman, among others, Raiders of the Lost Ark is not so much a movie as a 115-minute thrill ride. Costing 22 million dollars (nearly three times the original estimate), Raiders of the Lost Ark reaped 200 million dollars during its first run. It was followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1985) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), as well as a short-lived TV-series "prequel." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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US Release Date
6/12/81
MPAA Rating
Rated PG
Running Time
115 mins.
Locations
- France
- Kauai, Hawaii, USA
- Peru
- Tunisia
Language
- English
Awards
- Winner of the 100 Greatest American Movies award at the 1998 American Film Institute [Festival/Awar Awards.
- Winner of the U.S. National Film Registry award at the 1999 Library of Congress [Festival/Award] Awards.
- Winner of the Best Visual Effects award at the 1981 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Cinematography award at the 1981 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the Best Art Direction award at the 1981 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the Best Editing award at the 1981 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Picture award at the 1981 National Board of Review [Festival/Awa Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Score award at the 1981 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Director award at the 1981 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the Best Sound award at the 1981 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Picture award at the 1981 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Director award at the 1981 Directors Guild of America [Festival/A Awards.
- Winner of the Best Production Design/Art Direction award at the 1981 British Academy of Film and Television Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Director award at the 1981 Hollywood Foreign Press Association [F Awards.
- Winner of the Best Picture award at the 1982 People's Choice Awards [Festival/Award Awards.
- Winner of the Special Achievement award at the 1981 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
Distributor
- Paramount Home Entertainment
- Paramount Pictures
