Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)

Starring - Harrison Ford; Karen Allen; Paul Freeman; Ronald Lacey & John Rhys-Davies Director - Steven Spielberg MPAA - PG In My humble opinion, Raiders of The Lost Ark ties Star Wars as the best movie of all time. If that doesn't give you a hint as to the contents of this review, nothing will. It's 1935, and Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is a professor of archaeology. Only, that's his day job. Jones is a globe hopper who has a unique talent for acquiring rare antiquities. Jones' talents come to the attention of U.S. Army intelligence, who just happen to require a little assistance. It seems that Adolf Hitler and his Nazis have set out to recover the long lost Ark of the Covenant. The Ark, according to the bible, was the container in which the Ten Commandments were housed. According to legend the Ark will bring incredible power to those who possess it. Jones, always up for a challenge, agrees to try to find the Ark before the Nazis do. I'm not going to bother giving a synopsis of the rest of the movie, because 99% of the people reading this review will already have seen the movie. As to the other 1%, trust me when I say that nothing I could write here would ever do this movie justice. Raiders is the classic action adventure, there has never been anything like it before, and nothing since has ever measured up to it -- including its two sequels. Harrison Ford is perfect as the adventurer who completes his goals no matter what it takes. The rest on the supporting cast do a fantastic job, including John Rhys-Davies as Indiana's Egyptian connection Sallah and Paul Freeman as Belloq, the French archaeologist who heads up the Nazi team searching for the Ark. The only weakness in this movie comes from the casting of Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood, Jones' former flame and current partner in his quest for the Ark. Not that there is anything wrong with Allen's acting, I've just never felt that she was right for the part. Oh well, if that is my biggest complaint about a movie I'm doing OK. I could rave on and on about this movie for hours, but in the end I would probably be just preaching to the choir. If you are one of the very few people who have never seen this film, do yourself a favor and watch it. I guarantee you will not regret it. 10/10 - Possibly the best film ever made. Reviewed December 05, 1997 by Joe Chamberlain