Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - When trouble arises our intrepid, gallant hero whips it out, I mean an actual whip, or pulls it out, I mean an actual revolver, and is one swinging guy... that just did not sound right.
A professor of archaeology and world adventurer, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) faces down danger constantly trying to secure the relics of our past for study and preservation in universities and museums, racing against those who would acquire such antiques for bounties, or for more sinister reasons. Taking place in the years before World War II, the Nazis are scouring the Earth in search of religious artifacts thought to have supernatural powers. One such artifact is the Ark of the Covenant as told in stories of the old testament and the torah. Indiana Jones is also on the trail of the Ark facing off against Nazis, would be assassins, and various other villains in a story straight out of the pulps.
The difference with this franchise spawning entry into pulp inspired adventure stories versus any movies which came before, is it is as vivid and exciting as anything a mind could dream up reading old issues of Doc Savage Magazine. A leather jacket and fedora clad, whip wielding adventurer with a gun strapped to his side lashes, shoots, rides, and fights his way out of predicaments only to find himself facing yet another predicament. His is an older world, one steeped in propeller airplanes, feisty dames, desert raiders, Nazis and occult lore. Telephones were things you used to tell an operator the number you wanted, probably a 3 or 5 digit number. A two-way radio would have weighed more than a microwave oven. And if you needed to contact someone for help, you were pretty much on your own.
Two successful movie directors teamed together to bring to life a story like it could have only been imagined before. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas brought the adventure of the 1930s pulps roaring full steam ahead into the 1980s. For better or worse Raiders of the Lost Ark spearheaded the 80s into the decade of the blockbuster.
I give it 5 Daggers. Even though I think Indy is a little meaner in this one, this is the movie which set the standard for others to follow, including itself.
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