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Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 7:26 pm    Post subject: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Reply with quote

__________

Is this movie truly science fiction?

No, of course not.

Is it intelligent, with fascinating concepts?

Oh, hell yes! Shocked

And let's be honest, guys. 90% of the classic "science fiction" movies that preceded this one for three decades are embarrassingly devoid of any true "science". So, this movie presents so much intelligence that it makes up for the lack of pure science.

That's why we've loved it for 35 years!

And it's based on the old serials we watched as kids, the ones that inspired us to love science fiction movies in the 1950s . . . the ones that pretended to be based on science before knew any better.

So, tell us about the how this movie restored your love for the sci-fi movies that enthralled us as children. Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 7:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One great aspect of this movie was that it was based on very real history.

-The Nazis were active in Tibet before the war as depicted.

-The Nazis were actively looking for historic religious artifacts ;The Holy Grail, The Spear of Destiny and the Ark of the Covenant. (They DID find the Spear of Destiny and it is in a museum in Austria today!)

-French archeologists (Pierre Monet et el.) were excavating in Tanis, Egypt at the time of the story. In fact, an intact Pharoah's tomb was discovered as well! ( Pssunnaes II and Sheshonk I)

All in all it was a beautiful weaving of fact, fiction and action combined with great characters and good storytelling!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

The ultimate Saturday matinee movie! Ya gotta love it!
________________________________



_____________ Raiders of the Lost Ark - trailer


__________

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Maurice
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 10:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hate the retitling of the film to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, because he's one of said "raiders".
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

It just means the movie is, in spirit, "The Adventures of Indiana Jones in a story called Raiders of the Lost Ark".

Besides, just what is a "raider" in this case?

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Besides, after the success of the film and the movie becoming a franchise the name "INDIANA JONES" became a selling point.
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MetroPolly
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 6:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like this movie quite a bit. Not only did it come out the year I was born, it isn't too crazy or loud (til near the end).

I wasn't so crazy about the sequels, though. No clue why.

BTW, the Nazis found a spear of destiny, not necessarily THE spear. It's kinda like saying a person has the skull of John the Baptist, it used to be a cottage industry.

Of course, you have to remember these were the same people that believed in the world Ice theory, and they were descended from the survivors of Atlantis. Take it with a grain (make that a barrel) of salt.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 7:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Nice post, Polly!

I agree with your comments, and I enjoyed the interesting facts. Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 29, 2018 11:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I posted a fan-made trailer for The Last Starfighter (1984) on the thread for that movie, and the trailer had this amusing message at the beginning.






I wondered just how true the claim at the bottom was, so I made a list of 1980s science fiction films that I thought were good, just to see if that decade really did produce a significant number of “the best” sci-fi movies.

This movie is on the list I made. I know what I like about the film (and a few things I don’t like), but I’d like to hear the pros and cons from the rest of you folks.

So, what do you think, guys? Cool

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 10:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has 210 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text. Very Happy
________________________________

~ 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 liked the idea, and the scene was successfully filmed.

Note from me: I wonder if Harrison had food poisoning the day this scene was shot. Laughing






~ Freeze-framing during the Well of Souls scene, you can notice a golden pillar with a tiny engraving of R2-D2 and C-3PO from the Star Wars saga. They are also on the wall behind Indy when they first approach the Ark.

Note from me: So, when we were told that Star Wars took place "a long time ago . . . " is was really just three thousand years. And in Egypt. Wink

~ When Brody first goes to Indy's house to discuss the mission, Jones is dressed the way he is because he is entertaining a young woman in his bedroom. The script originally planned to show her before moving to the next scene, to give Indy a more worldly persona (like James Bond). However, her appearance was cut, as Steven Spielberg thought that being a playboy did not fit Indy's character.

Note from me: This was wise, because throughout the movie, Indy's character is consistent with the heroes from the old serials: never kiss the girl. The kids in the audience would just go, "Oooow! Gross!" Shocked

~ During filming in Tunisia, nearly everyone in the cast and crew got sick, except Director Steven Spielberg. It is thought that he avoided illness by eating only the food he'd brought with him: a lot of cans of Spaghetti-O's.

Note from me: Eating a steady diet of Spaghetti-O's makes ME sick just thinking about it! Sad

~ Indy's line to Marion when they are on the ship ("It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage") was ad-libbed by Harrison Ford.

Note from me: And it's one of the best lines in the movie! Cool

~ The monkey raising his paw and saying (in his own language) "Heil Hitler" was thought up by George Lucas, and is one of Steven Spielberg's two favorite scenes (in the video box set, he says his other favorite is the "where doesn't it hurt" love scene on the ship).

Note from me: I recently bought the box set. I think I'll watch the movies with the commentaries on sometime in the near future.

~ Steven Spielberg and Melissa Mathison wrote a script during shooting breaks on the location of this film. Mathison was there to visit her husband, Harrison Ford, and Spielberg dictated to her a story idea he had. That script was eventually called E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

Note from me: So THAT'S how you write an Oscar winning movie! While making one movie, dictate your ideas to someone like this young lady. Or him, for that matter. Very Happy






The out-of-control airplane actually ran over Harrison Ford's knee, tearing his ligaments. Rather than submit to Tunisian health care, Ford had his knee wrapped in ice and carried on. ~

Note from me:"My God, Harrison! How is your knee?"

"It's not the years, Steven. It's the damn airplane . . . "

~ Renowned British wrestler Pat Roach gets killed twice in this film, once as a giant Sherpa left in the burning Nepalese bar, and once as the German mechanic chewed up by the plane's propeller.

Note from me: And by God, he's killed again as the big villain that Indy fights down in the mine in Temple of Doom!






~ To create the sound of the heavy lid of the Ark being slid open, Sound Designer Ben Burtt simply recorded him moving the lid of his toilet cistern at home.

Note from me: Damn, I KNEW that sound was familiar! Very Happy

~ Alfred Molina's first credited screen role. His first scene on his first day of filming involved being covered with tarantulas.

Note from me: And later in his career he played a very creepy creature with either legs! What a coincidence!



___________


~ Costume Designer Deborah Nadoolman based Indy's outfit, flying jacket and fedora on Charlton Heston's in Secret of the Incas (1954). In that film, Heston played a treasure-hunting adventurer who, after studying an ancient model "map room", uses a beam of sunlight reflected off of a crystal to pinpoint the location of the treasure. In that film, Heston also flies a hijacked airplane and goes down a river in an inflatable yellow raft, reminiscent of events in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).

Note from me: I watched that movie years ago, hoping it would be more like Raiders. It wasn't. Not even close. And I don't remember a single one of the scenes described above. Rolling Eyes




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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Mon Nov 07, 2022 11:57 am; edited 2 times in total
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 12:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
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 the idea, and the scene was successfully filmed.

There was a special shown on TV on Raiders years ago. One of the things they showed was footage of the whip and sword fight. From what they showed, I can see why Harrison Ford wanted it cut short.

Bud Brewster wrote:
To create the sound of the heavy lid of the Ark being slid open, Sound Designer Ben Burtt simply recorded him moving the lid of his toilet cistern at home.

Orson Wells used the same technique for the sound of the opening of the Martin capsule on his "War Of The Worlds" radio broadcast.

Bud Brewster wrote:
Costume Designer Deborah Nadoolman based Indy's outfit, flying jacket and fedora on Charlton Heston's in Secret of the Incas (1954).

Charlton Heston used a WWII style Bomber Jacket, Indy's isn't one of those. At George Lucas's instructions, Indy's jacket was a copy of George Lucas's own leather jacket.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 8:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
Bud Brewster wrote:
Costume Designer Deborah Nadoolman based Indy's outfit, flying jacket and fedora on Charlton Heston's in Secret of the Incas (1954).

Charlton Heston used a WWII style Bomber Jacket, Indy's isn't one of those. At George Lucas's instructions, Indy's jacket was a copy of George Lucas's own leather jacket.

The hat seems to have a wider brim, too. I guess the IMDB trivia item just means Heston's basic look was similar: brown fedora and leather jacket.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Eadie
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 7:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Commemorative poster:


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trekriffic
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 9:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This movie was a riotous romp practically right from the start. Loved Karen Allen in this, a tough gal to be sure. The music really ramped up the tension and was magnificent. The jokes were perfect and some were ad-libbed! Wow! And How Indy managed to survive hanging onto a U-boat periscope is beyond belief, but that’s the point isn’t it - suspension of belief and immersion into the adventure as you stare wide eyed from your dark theatre seat and munch popcorn.
Raiders will last forever for it’s gift of pure enjoyment.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 10:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

trekriffic wrote:
And How Indy managed to survive hanging onto a U-boat periscope is beyond belief,

Maybe it was in the novelization, although I think they showed him doing it. But Indy strapped himself to the periscope/snorkel. Submerged German submarines, not in combat traveled with their periscopes raised, because the snorkel was connected to the periscope, and they needed plenty of fresh air for their engines.

Rereading, it strikes me that Indy's leather jacket is a pre-WWII civilian aviator's jacket. Or at least patterned after one. Makes sense right? After all the movie is pre-WWII. I fell into the trap of thinking that all leather flying jackets were bomber jackets. Although the Flying Tigers were in the 1930s, and they wore bomber jackets.

So now I confused myself.

David.
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