That’s a gag that got cut out of Spielberg’s previous film, 1941, in which it was performed by Christopher Lee. Though it was deleted from the final film, Spielberg swore he would put it in every subsequent movie he made until it got a laugh. Fortunately, his next movie was RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
The exposition scene at the college with the army intelligence, is still one of the best examples of exposition in a movie. No wasted words, everything you need to know is explained, not to mention the awesome music/theme that plays that sets the tone. So well done.
The one half they had was from the guy's hand. Only one side was burned in, so that's how they got it and why they didn't have the second. Without Indy, everything kind of happens as it did here except, probably, for the ark ending up in a US warehouse. As for the new movie, I really enjoyed it. I love all 5 movies, but if I'm gonna give my personal order of best to least best, it's: Last Crusade Raiders Dial of Destiny Crystal Skull Temple of Doom I hope to see you react to all of them! I'd even be interested in a rewatch of Last Crusade after you've seen the first 2. (Also, Temple of Doom actually takes place a few years before the first movie. Not strictly needed to know but I think it's good to know.)
Fun fact: In the "final boss" fight, Harrison Ford had severe dysentery at the time, so the long and involved fight sequence with the swordsman they had planned got changed to one of the most iconic scenes in cinema.
The Nazi submarine featured in Raiders was borrowed from Das Boot, which was being filmed at the same time. If you've never seen it, Das Boot is absolutely one of the best war films ever made - a must watch
god that film is brilliant, the ending absolutely tore me to bits. Highly recommend Stalingrad 1993, its in the same vein, again brilliant German war movie. I do have to ask, ive only seen the cut on Netflix, the movie version, is it a lesser version of the miniseries version? Would u recommend watching again for the miniseries?
There is an original film, mini series and director's cut. Mini series adds some character interaction and is nearly 300 minutes in total (I think it was 3 episodes). Director's cut is 219 minutes long. I think it's worth to see the series to fully appreciate this piece of cinematography.
Guy's been up for two days, worked all through the night, fought snakes and Nazis all day, been punched a hundred times, shot, and thrown under a truck. And he got his jaw broken with a mirror. I think we should give him a break for falling asleep this one time. :) Actually, I like the fact that Marion did. All she said was "We can't catch a break."
Broken jaw? Don't know where you came up with that one. If that was true, it would be quite painful & I couldn't see how anyone would be in the mood for kissing with a freshly broken jaw.
I think people who say it's a "plot hole" that Indy doesn't affect the plot are missing the point. The movie isn't about the effect Indy has on the Ark, it's about the effect the Ark has on Indy.
Also, he absolutely had an effect on the plot. I've gone into this on other reactors' videos, so I don't feel like repeating it all, but to sum it up, Indiana not being there would've resulted in the Americans not knowing where the Ark was taken, and the Führer continually sending soldiers and researchers to the Ark until they figured out how to use it.
It's not even what Plot Hole means; it isn't a gap in the story. Idiots on the Internet throw around the term Plot Hole for anything they don't understand or don't like about a story. Not to mention that Marian would have been killed by the Nazis; that's a pretty damn significant thing Indy affected.
@@AaronLitz OP did say "plot hole" in quotations though, and most of the time I don't see that being used at all (and I don't use it myself when trolling). Most of the time people say something like "Indiana Jones had no effect on the plot". And sure, that's significant for her on a personal level. He also killed and hurt a bunch of people so he was significant for them too, again on a personal level. But looking at the big picture, the biggest thing he affected is where the Ark ended up.
Also, without Indy, the Nazis still have the Ark. One way or another, Hitler still gets his hands on it. Because of Indy and Mirion, it gets into the hands of the U.S. and away from the evil seeking its power.
John Williams is still active scoring at age 91. He even scored the recently released INDIANA JONES 5 (DIAL OF DESTINY). In fact, he made Oscars history earlier this year by being both the oldest ever Oscar nominee (he was nominated for Steven Spielberg's THE FABELMANS (2022) just shy of his 91st birthday) and the only person ever to be nominated in 7 different decades (he has been nominated every decade from the 1960s to the 2020s inclusive).
I didn't know that! 😮 I feel like they should just rename "Best Original Score" to the "John Williams Award," because while there are some absolutely incredible composers, he's the GOAT!
The original headpiece had all the information to get the correct length of the staff. The bald guy only got half, the front end of the headpiece, burned into the palm of his hand so that's why the Na26is were digging in the wrong place. They didn't have all the information from the headpiece to get the correct height. The guy who could read the writing, where the monkey was poisoned, stopped Indy and Sallah when they were talking about the length of the staff and then turned the headpiece around to read the rest of the writing and there it said to take back one kadam to honor the Hebrew God whose ark this is.
Thank you... I was hoping someone said this. I got stressed out every time she thought the Nazis had the full Talisman and Indy only had half. I wasn't sure how to explain what was really going on. So again, thank you! 😀
Yes, you saved me from having to type that out. I knew someone would explain it. I have a hard time understanding how anyone didn't get this as I understood it when was 11... (without a film school degree I might add). 😉
Alfred Molina tells a funny story about how the spider scene was shot. He’s having spiders put on him by a spider wrangler. After he finished, Steven Spielberg came over and asked the wrangler, “Why aren’t they moving?” The wrangler explained that all the spiders were male and would need a female with them to compete over. Spielberg said, “Put a female in there,” and the wrangler did so. As Molina put it later, “All hell broke loose!” Spielberg turned to the cameraman and shouted, “Shoot! Shoot!” He told Molina, “Alfred, look scared!” To which Molina responded, “I’m scared! I’m scared!”
The spiders were also Brachypelma hamorii-from the dry forests of Mexico, and very out of place in a Sourh American jungle. (If they wanted to be accurate they should have used Goliath birdeaters, which are actually from South American jungles and are also the largest spiders in the world).
@@bkjeong4302My Dad told me once when he was stationed in Brazil back in the 60s, he was on training maneuvers and had to sleep in a hammock....20-30 feet off the ground so critters wouldn't come out for a snack. He has this fly net over him and in the middle of the night, he wakes up feeling something over his head trying to get through the net. He opens his eyes and sees THE BIGGEST SPIDER he's ever seen with quarter inch fangs! He reacted in the normal fashion: he pulled his gun and fired three rounds as he rolled out of his bed.... forgetting he's over 20ft in the air, and lands on his back knocking the wind out of. The rest of his team woke up to investigate and their guide, a local Indios, is laughing as he's holding up the bird catcher. It's body was as big around as a steering wheel. And since then Dad hated spiders with a passion.
Great story! Thanks for sharing! They used this species because their stripedy legs show up very well on film and contrast with the colours they are wearing. Goliath Bird-Eaters are not nearly so colourful, and wouldn’t ‘pop’ onscreen.
This was Alfred Molina pre pretty much anything. He'd only had a few small roles, and was getting ready to quit acting and go home to England, when he got the call. This was his first credited role.
One thing that gives Raiders its unique feel - you can almost seat your watch to it. It is an homage to the old Saturday morning serials (Rocky Jones Space Adventurer, Undersea Kingdom, etc) that Spielberg and Lucas grew up on. Each was a single reel long, shown before a Saturday matinee, and the reel was ten minutes long. If you watch this movie with a stopwatch, there’s a major scene or set piece for each 10-minute section of movie.
The thing with 'Indy doesn't change anything' is that it kind of speaks to one of the main themes of Raiders and the series overall. Because the one thing he does really change is that Marion would have died in Nepal if not for him. And ultimately the core of the film and series is realizing that that quest for knowledge or power isn't worth sacrificing love and friendship for. In Raiders, Indy's tested three times: he fails when he doesn't rescue Marion from the camp because it would mean losing his chance for the Ark, and again when his threat to destroy it to save her is exposed as a bluff, but then he *passes* the final test when he gives up his chance to know what's inside the Ark in order to save Marion's life, literally closing his eyes to knowledge because he realizes she's more important. So the only thing that Indy really changes is, ultimately, the only thing that really matters. And that's the film's central message.
It seems to me that the Nazis only found Marian in Nepal because they were following Indy. So, if Indy never went on his quest, Marian would have never been in danger... of course, she would have still been stuck in Nepal.
@@reedcockrell8126 Wrong. Army intelligence had intercepted the message directing Toht (they didn't know exactly who it was) to "acquire headpiece, Staff of Rha". So they knew who had it - Abner Ravenwood, Marion's father and they knew what they were looking for. The idea that the Gestapo couldn't have tracked Marion down in Nepal from that is very unlikely. They were coming, they just used Indy to speed up the process.
I knew a martial arts teacher who had two completely different types of class. He taught people to compete in competitive tournaments, and he also taught self defense classes. In the competition classes he taught you to follow the rules, but in self defense classes he taught you to fight dirty. If you are fighting to defend yourself, you want every advantage. Trying to fight clean will only increase your chances of losing the fight. You fight dirty because you are fighting for your life.
Tom Selleck was supposed to play Indy, but he couldn't get out of his commitment to Magnum P.I. He later made a movie called High Road to China which Roger Ebert called a "pale echo of Raiders."
No kidding! I think I remember seeing somewhere that Chip and Dale were dressed like Indiana Jones and Magnum P.I., but I never made the connection that it's because Tom Selleck was supposed to play Indy. Thank you for sharing!
I’ve seen this movie arguably a 100 times, and just now realized that the other guide who was with Alfred Molina from the beginning was also the Nazi spy with the eye patch and monkey.
The scene at the end, when the Ark is opened . . . I've been watching this movie my entire life, I don't even remember the first time I saw it, I've seen it probably hundreds of times, and I still get chills. Between the setup and the unearthly sounds and the figures in the mist and the face-melting and the clouds parting and Williams's score-- Epic.
The opening is a perfect good news-bad news action sequence. Thanks for the reaction, Jacqui. Nice Die Hard reference BTW; "monkey in the wrench". Not Area 51, it's Warehouse 13. 😆 If Indy had not been in the story, Marion would probably be dead. That's about it.
At 28:31 Indy says "I don't know. I'm making this up as I go". I heard that was an ad lib by Harrison Ford because he forgot the line, but they liked it so much they left it in.
I've been rewatching them all for The Dial of Destiny and I can tell you that both this film and The Last Crusade are some of my all time favorite films, especially The Last Crusade. You're going to have a lot of fun with these! 🤗
One of my favorite movies. I got a movie reaction suggestion for you it's another one of my favorite movies, The Final Countdown (1980) The U.S.S. Nimitz goes back to December 6th, 1941. It's filmed on the Nimitz.
I have watched many reaction videos for this movie and you are the first person to understand it. "Not for the eyes of mortals" Smart woman!! Way to go!
For me, folks who say Indy's presence doesn't matter in this adventure are missing a basic point. The ark is a MacGuffin, he and Marian matter in the story because it's their journey and adventure together. They are changed by the experiences and come out as wiser, possibly better people. That's a successful hero's journey even if the two heroes weren't needed to stop the bad guys. The two heroes took a humble leap of faith and left the bad guys to their fate.
I enjoyed the entire franchise. The Last Crusade is my favorite with Raiders the second. There is something about Harrison Ford and Sean Connery costarring together that is a work of art. They meld well together in the story and the acting is wonderful.
I think iconic movies like this are under appreciated later on because they have been emulated so many times over the years and people have seen something like it. But when this first came out? Wow!!!
32:00. "Its not the years, but the mileage" is what my grandfather told me growing up my entire life starting in the mid 1970s. I love that it was said in this movie, but that is an old Italian adage from the 1500s.
I was twelve when this film arrived -and have seen every Indy film in cinemas, and on disc. In the early-mid 90's, George Lucas set-up "the adventures of young Indiana Jones" on TV. About 30 episodes. Intended to be educational, and fun adventure. Indy was born in 1899 and the series continued until ;ike 1921. Episodes started and alternated between actors -a 10 year old traveling the world with his parents -a teen who goes to Europe to fight in the First World War, with the Belgian Army, under a fake name, and who then starts his adventures after WW1 -one story had a cameo part with Harrison Ford, set in the 1950's selecting on his time in Chicago in 1920 -and some of the original episodes had a 90 year old Indy, with an Eyepatch who would tell "the lessons" of his adventure (these were later be edited out for VHS, DVD release). Welcome to the adventures of Indiana Jones, and his friends, family, and enemies!
The Nazis only had the limited information that they had BECAUSE of the scar on Toad's hand. Indy had BOTH sides of the headpiece. Penny's assertion was that the Nazi's would have eventually found the ark, just by sheer dumb luck, but then everyone on the island with the Ark would have died, and the Ark would be stuck on that island.
Indiana Jones made no difference to the plot because he actually failed: he was sent on a mission to prevent the Nazis from getting the Ark, yet they got it. Indeed, he found it for them. It was God, not Indy, that gave it to the Americans, who buried it deep within their bureaucratic archives, not to be seen again for another thousand years.
Actually, they would have had both sides of the headpiece because Indy wouldn't have been there to keep them from taking it from Marion in the first place.
I think that the argument is that they would have eventually have found Marion on their own, killed her, taken the headpiece, and had all of the information needed. It’s possible, but not certain. If Indy had not gone after Marion, would they have found her own as quickly, if at all? Debateable.
The famous scene in which Indy shoots a marauding and flamboyant swordsman was not in the original script. Harrison Ford was supposed to use his whip to get the sword out of his attacker's hands, but the food poisoning he and the rest of the crew had gotten made him too sick to perform the stunt. After several unsuccessful tries, Ford suggested "shooting the sucker." Steven Spielberg immediately took him up on the idea, and the scene was successfully filmed.
From what I've heard, in the scene with Indy being dragged behind the truck, tere was a shallow ditch made for Harrison Ford to be dragged. The truck was driving slow, to prevent injury, and the film sped up in post.
The german officer melting at the end later became miracelously the german General at the end of Band of Brothers. Toht, the black-dressed Na#i was in Catweazle as Tearful Ted. In the Canyon where Indy threatens to blow up the Arc, R2D2 was kidnapped by the Jawas.
38:45 That's actually true of all the IJ movies. For example: You mentioned watching 'Last Crusade'? If the Nazi's found the Grail, they couldn't have taken it out of the cave anyway. Indy isn't the hero of these movies, he's the protagonist. In a lot of ways, the narrator. It said so point blank at 35:23 Indiana Jones is passing through history. He's fighting the bad guys, and he's saving the damsels, but history takes care of itself.
Not true. Indy figured out which cup was the true Grail. He was the only one who could pass the three traps to get to the Grail chamber. He figured out where the full tablet was hidden in the catacombs. He was the one who deduced that the Grail was located in Alexandretta. The Nazis had a whole lot of nothing without Indy. Indy was even more instrumental in _Temple of Doom._ All those children would've remained enslaved without him. The Thugees planned to spread their cult across the globe, and they might have succeeded if Indy hadn't stopped them in India.
One thing you might find cool is Steven Soderbergh's edit of Raiders of the Lost Ark. He desaturates it to black and white, and replaces the soundtrack, including dialogue, with atmosphere synth. It's an exercise in drawing attention to Spielberg's masterful use of blocking and framing in Raiders, and it's really effective in showcasing what a uniquely brilliantly directed film it is.
This movie is one of the Best "ODTAA" movies ever- "one darn thing after another". Some big problem happens, gets resolved, the audience gets time for ONE deep breath, and Something Else happens...
The most amazing part of this movie for me is that it is only 1h 55m long. How they crammed so much into a movie less than 2 hours long is a true masterpiece of film making.
At my current age of 55 years, and several injuries, surgery, deaths of others,....when Indy says to Marion, as she aids his wounds, "It's not the years, it's the milage" I totally use that line, when I am asked how I am doing, now.
In The Last Crusade, the Arc is mentioned and is in a picture and Indiana's father asks Indiana if he is sure it is the arc. Indiana replies, "Pretty Sure." He is sure because he went through this movie. haha.
Since you’ve already seen The Last Crusade my head canon is that Abner Ravenwood is the archeologist who finds and sells the Cross of Coronado that Indy steals.
I want to shout out to Marion (and Karen Allen). Hands down the best female character in the whole series. For my money she (both as written and as performed) is one of the best female characters out there. Btw, what were the names on a couple of the buildings at USC SCA? And you hadn't seen Raiders? Tsk Tsk 😂
In case it wasn't clear, the German got branded with only one side of the medallion. That's why their staff was too long and they were digging in the wrong place. If Indy hadn't been there, maybe they'd have gotten the medallion from Marion and known the right length for the staff. Or maybe they'd have stumbled onto the Well of Souls just by persistence. In case you've never read any of them, Indy owes much of his existence to H. Rider Haggard, a 19th and early 20th century writer who created Indy's precursor, a Great White Hunter named Allan Quatermain and his adventures beginning with King Solomon's Mines in 1885. His books are kind of amazing and not nearly as racist as we might expect given the material and their setting. Haggard also gave us Ayesha, AKA She Who Must Be Obeyed, as well as many other compelling characters.
Many stories likely have the same "flaw" of the main character being unnecessary. You could say the same about other characters in movies, such as the villain, or love interest. It is the interaction of those characters which makes the story, and a story worth telling. Thanks for the awesome reaction.
It doesn't bother me in the least, and I don't think it can be considered a flaw. I totally understand the debate, and I think it's something that can be great if it's all in good fun. This movie is a blast no matter what, and nothing changes that 😄 Thank you for watching, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Well in the case of Raiders Indy wasn't unnecessary. He told the US agents that the Ark's flaw is that it kills the people who use it as a weapon. You have to explain why the US government didn't use the Ark against all of the Nazis in WW2. The answer is that the American general's heads would explode!
As I understand it, the whole Indy being unnecessary thing is because it was the Ark that killed the Nazi's when they opened it. That would have happened whether Indy was around or not. So they were going to die either way simply because they opened the Ark. The other argument would be that since they were looking in the wrong place, they would never have found the Ark and they only did get in the film because Indy found it and got spotted. Maybe it would never have been found if Indy hadn't been there and maybe the Nazi's would have continued to tear the site apart until they did find it. We'll never know for sure. I wouldn't call it a flaw because at the start of the film no-one knew that the Ark would do that, it's all hindsight.
13:17 fun fact, this movie takes place in 1936 and came out in 1981, if "Dial of Destiny" had used the same time difference it would take place in 1978 (the year after Star Wars originally came out)
The prop depiction of the Ark is an excellent interpretation of the very detailed description (actually a set of instructions of what the Israelites were commanded to build) found in Exodus 25:10-22.
The French archeologist, Balloc, is played by Paul Freeman and if you've seen 'Hot Fuzz' he plays the vicar/preacher in that. The nazi SS guy was played by Ronald Lacey, who has an extensive list of roles, but I've always known him as the "baby eating" bishop of Bath & Wells from BlackAdder 2. The German fighting thug was the wrestler turned actor Pat Roach, who also turns up in Temple of Doom and has another fight with Indy. (I could go on... as I'm English & the majority of the film was shot in England, I notice extra's, bit players and other faces all the time). I was lucky to first see this film in 1982 at the cinema. I was only 8 and it was a fantastic, thrilling ride. Although my personal favourite is ToD, I still can't deny the greatness of this film.
The scene where they Indy encounters the guy with the sword was suppose to be an elaborate sword v whip fight, but it was a really hot day, they had already done several takes and everyone was tired. So i=Indy pulls his gun and shoots. Everyone played along. The sword guy fell down, and even the extras cheered. It worked so much better they kept it.
I'm glad you mention the Big Bang Theory episode about Indy's involvement in the film. Technically, Indy is kind of detrimental to the plot, though he does get the girl at the end. Also, had the Nazis found the Ark without Indy's involvement, it probably would have gone to Berlin and incinerated the actual leaders of the High Command including Adolf himself upon being opened. If anything was left of the Nazis afterwards, though, they would have probably would have realized to shut their eyes when the Ark is opened and wound up using the Ark to decimate the Allies. So, in that way, Indy did contribute to the plot. Plus, he rode off into the sunset with Marion. Win there.
And except for a couple of boss(native to South America not Africa), some garter snakes(I think they're also not native to Africa but just North America), and the asp(the one with the glass in between) they weren't even snakes. The majority are legless lizards.
This Ark of the Covenant is the "trinket in the desert" to which the Red Skull referred in "Captain America: The First Avenger." 🧐 Also, you note that the U.S. government did the same thing with the Ark as the Egyptians. They considered it entirely too dangerous to mess with, and hid it where nobody could ever find it.
Fun fact: although it was actually based on the colors of the German Imperial Navy flag, the Nazi flag had the same colors as (as mentioned in Plato apparently) the type of brickwork done in Atlantis, which the Nazis believed was the prehistoric origin of the Aryan ethnotype. Related fun fact: it was not actually Hitler but Himmler (Hitler’s right-hand man, commander of the SS and head of the Gestapo) who was chasing around the world after mystical artifacts. He was a major funder of the Ahnenerbe (“Ancestral Heritage”) Organization which provided the archaeological teams digging in various sites, trying to uncover the lost history/mythos of the Aryans. They were the ones Indy faced at Tanis.
I feel that when they made this movie it was like they caught lightning in a bottle and the feel of this movie has never been able to be duplicated in any of the sequels. Everything in this movie was just perfect for an adventure entertainment movie: the use of lighting and shadows (as you have noticed), the pacing, the dialogue, all the iconic elements, the basis for the story etc. There are other movies I feel the same way about that I thought should have been left as a stand-alone in my opinion such as The Matrix and Highlander to name a few.
I love the piece "Marions Theme" as well as "Raiders March". This is one of my favourite movies, and why I love games set in the 30's. "Dial of Destiny" was OK but probably about the same level as TOD
Glad you finally caught the film that is the gold standard for the genre, and started the iconic franchise. I hope you review all of the other films (including a rewatch for your thoughts on Last Crusade). I was 10 when this film came out. Talk about influential.... :)
Thank you! I'm so glad I can finally say I've seen it 😄 I had only planned on doing Temple of Doom, since I've seen Last Crusade, but if you guys want a re-watch commentary, I'm always down for some Sean Connery!) And I can well imagine what an effect this movie would have on a 10 year old! 😄
I wrote this the other way around on a Star Wars Reaction earlier..... The Gulley where Indy threatens to destroy the ark with the RPG is the same gulley where R2D2, Luke and C3P0 meet Obi-Wan
26:38 Stuntman/Actor Pat Roach got to play TWO minor characters who lost their lives fighting Indy in this film. The first was the giant Nepali in the "fire fight" at Marion's tavern. The second was as the gargantuan German who challenged Indy to a fistfight and should have watched out for the propeller. George Lucas cast Roach in a larger role a few years later in the movie "Willow", as General Kael.
I think you were right. You're the first reactor I've seen who commented, "I wonder if he has the right side." Without both sides, the Nazis were digging in the wrong place. The side burned into his hand got them a clue where to dig, but not having the other side was crucial.
Remember Jacqui "Their medallion only has markings on one side...They are digging in the wrong place" This is because they got their copy of the medallion from the Gestapo agents hand, which was good, but not complete.
Jacqui, if you're a film school grad, you might know about Peter Lorre, a popular character actor of the 1930s and '40s who specialized in playing creeps, psychos, weasels and general evil dudes. I've always thought the creepy Nazi dude who gets his hand burnt and his face melted at the end of the movie was doing his best Peter Lorre impression.
As you surmised, every kid wanted a whip after 'Raiders' came out, and I was no exception. My sister and I got cheapo toy whips at the local fair, and we even bought the official Indiana Jones fedoras. A big oak tree in our yard had a sturdy dead limb sticking out, so you can guess what I did. That cheapo whip broke halfway through the swing and dropped me hard on my ass. That was one of two times I tried to mimic something I'd seen in a movie. I'll tell you about the other one if and when you do a reaction to 'A Christmas Story.'
Fun Fact: In Lego Indiana Jones: The Videogame, the scene with Belloq and Indy argue over the idol is longer and funnier. Indy attempts to bribe Belloq with a diamond, a rubber ducky, and Threepio's Head, to which Belloq does a pretty fair impression of ol' Goldenrod.
Im surprised Raiders wasn't shown at film school! The first 15 minutes is a treasure trove of storytelling technique. You learn so much about the character before they even say a thing. 'There Will Be Blood' has a similar style opening, as well.
I read a screenplay review of this movie where the screenwriter claimed what made Raiders of the Lost Ark great was that everything Indy tried to do failed but still advanced the plot until the end. By the way, the writer of that review wrote (along with this writing partnet) many movies including Pirates of the Carribean.
I've always interpretated that last shot as an homage to the last shot of the movie "Citizen Kane", where they are cataloguing the accumulated possessions of Charles Foster Kane after his death.
27:55 In the 1960's my dad witnessed someone walking into the propeller of an airplane once. It was a flight attendant on a propeller powered airplane. The pilots had forgotten some paperwork and before anyone could stop her she jumped out of the plane and walked straight into the propeller. She was very young, 20 or 21 and extremely pretty. The scene here is much much less bloody than what my dad witnessed.
Random casting note - the guy who played the captain of the freighter went on to play Kingsley Shacklebolt in the Harry Potter films. Damn' fine actor who's been in loads of stuff over the years. 😃 I reckon I'm going to be in the minority, but I enjoyed the hell out of "Dial of Destiny" and don't care what anyone else thinks. There was one chase too many for me - one of them seemed like it was there because someone decided they needed another thing to happen - but that's more of a modern action movie thing than anything egregious that this movie committed. If "Last Crusade" didn't have Sean Connery in it I would put "Dial of Destiny" a notch above it - everyone looks at "Last Crusade" with rose tinted glasses so that they overlook some of the jaw-droppingly slapdash, lazy shit that we see in that movie. No idea what happened - maybe Lucas and Spielberg were tired of Indy by then? "Dial of Destiny" has one of the best conceived villains of the series, second only to Belloq in this but none of the other movies really wrote a good villain, relying on damn' good actors to breathe life into them - Mads Mikkelson is really good without trying to steal the movie. So that's what I think. 🙂
When Did this come out this came out in 1981 a lot of kids love this kind of movie I remember seeing the posters in the theaters I didn’t realize at the time I was born in 1972. You do the math but I saw it when I was 14 on video, and I found love with it since then.
I'm old enough that I was in college when Snakes on a Plane came out and one of the YTMND memes was the scene with Indiana Jones in the plane with a snake. It said "The original Snake on a Plane." :D
The scene where Indy shoots the guy with the sword was supposed to be an actual fight. They practiced for a long time on it and when the day came to shoot Ford had been sick for days and came up with the idea to just shoot him himself. The swordsman was reportedly upset over it. The warehouse at the end was the inspiration for the TV show Wraehouse 13.
When Indy and Sallah are first lifting off the cover off the Ark, over Indy's right/screen left shoulder you can see C-3PO and R2D2 carved in with the Hieroglyphics
