Raiders of the Lost Ark

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Movie Details

• Genre: Action/Adventure
• Release Date: 1981-06-01 Nationwide
• Running Time: 105 min.
• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, Alfred Molina, Wolf Kahler, Anthony Higgins
• Producer: Frank Marshall
• Writer: Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas, Philip Kaufman
• Distributor: Paramount Pictures
• Official Site: Raiders of the Lost Ark Official Site

What tradition exists in this $20 million, high-speed tribute to banality is there to be ripped off. Why I should care about Professor Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), archaeology stud with a bullwhip, is beyond me. Why I should believe that "Nepal" is not Zap, North Dakota, is equally unclear. Why anything about this movie should be considered above the level of pure physical sensation is another mystery. Things happen so quickly in Raiders (as with The Empire Strikes Back) that there's no time to breathe or contemplate what's going on, or even to understand basic character motivation. The sets are deliciously exotic, but director Steven Spielberg is so in love with his skill at fast, complicated action scenes that he runs right through them without a backward glance. That skill can't be underestimated--I still love the dance scene in 1941, useless as it is--but it shouldn't be the whole point of this feel-a-rama. Bam! Indy punches a Nazi's face. Whoosh! He conquers the desert singlehanded. Glub! He snags a periscope and rides a submarine a thousand miles. I don't mind that these feats are preposterous; it's just that they're so crammed together. Spielberg has relieved the gymnastics with a few cute jokes, but they're practically apologies. He won't slow down, and if he did he'd notice that good old-fashioned cultural imperialism rules the story--a foreigner is only good if he's exotic and you can kill him. (Phil Anderson)