4. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)

We've all heard of those cheesy cliffhanger movies of the 1940s, where a Hero (with a capital H) is just about to get crushed, shot, or maimed in some creative fashion by a Villain, when an announcer calls out, "Will he survive?! Find out next week!" Of course the hero will make it! Otherwise there would be no movie. But it's still thrilling to watch the hero escape impossible situations, get the girl, and save the day.

Now multiply this by one thousand, and you get Raiders of the Lost Ark. Inspired by cliffhangers and treasure-hunters, Steven Spielberg's film is aimed purely at the 8-year-old matinee movie audience. It's so blatant about its heroes and villains (who are Nazis or people with sleazy French accents), you never have to think once in this film. It is the absolute archetype of quality escapist cinema.

The first scene of the film is already a classic (and has been parodied countless times): 1930s archeologist/adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) enters a booby-trapped temple in the South American jungle, contending with spiders, poisoned darts, crumbling walls, and a huge boulder that comes rolling out of nowhere. Beats a desk job, don't it? We then find out that Indiana's next task is to find the legendary Ark of the Covenant and get it into American hands before the Nazis get it first. Along the way, Indiana encounters an old flame (Karen Allen) and encounters many near-death experiences, including guns, swords, poisoned prunes, dynamite, face meltings, and death-by-snake. We will not lie to you: while all of the violence is cartoonish, this is nonetheless a horrifically violent film. But hey, you wanted action, and it more than provides.

The thing that sets Raiders of the Lost Ark apart from so many other films (in fact, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture) is its narrative quality: the storytelling is amazingly strong, keeping the action moving forward while still allowing us to identify with Indy. It also has a wry sense of humor. In one scene, a man in black robes stands before our intrepid hero, swirling a sword over his head and around his body in nun-chuck fashion, just about to attack. Indy watches the display, takes out a gun, and casually shoots the guy. Gun beats sword.

Raiders was followed by two sequels: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Don't bother with the first sequel; it has action, but it just lacks the spark of the first one. But if you like Raiders, then you should definitely check out Last Crusade. It recaptures the originals lighthearted tone while still putting some amazing action sequences in the foreground.

Notes:

  • Nominated for 9 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director (Steven Spielberg)

  • Won 5 Academy Awards: Best Art/Set Direction, Visual Effects, Editing, Sound, Sound-Effect Editing

  • Tom Selleck was supposed to originally portray Indy, but he was locked into Magnum P.I.

  • Placed #60 on the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest Movies" List