Divine Fury: Celebrating 40 Years of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

“Indiana Jones. I always knew some day you'd come walking back through my door.” — Marion Ravenwood

“Raiders of the Lost Ark” is what film historians categorize as the apotheosis of its genre, the “Citizen Kane” of pulp action/adventure, a definitive wallop in pop-culture filmmaking that sums up all that came before…and setting the standard for all that comes after.

It’s also my favorite film. Ever. 

And it boggles the mind that this indelible classic is more than 40-years-old. My excitement reached its peak just last night when I was able to keep up with Dr. Jones's first onscreen adventure, nearly four decades after its original theatrical release, on the big 70mm screen for the first time since I was ten years old. 

And for just over two hours, I was that age all over again.

“Raiders of the Lost Ark” pays homage to old-fashioned American filmmaking, tipping its fedora to both an era and a style that wrote the book on adventure films. Steeped in an exotic atmosphere of lost civilizations, mystical talismans, gritty mercenary adventurers, Nazi arch-villains and ingenious death at every turn, the film is largely patterned on the serials of the 1930s, with a reverent nod to the adventure novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

But what is it about this film that sets it apart from the others that came both before and after?

Early concept artwork for RAIDERS created in 1979 by legendary comic book artist Jim Steranko. His indelible images would go far in not only peaking Paramount’s interest to finance and release the film, but also provide visual sustenance to Indiana’s iconic look.

While it offers a lovingly elaborate homage to the swashbuckling serials of the past, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” transcends them as absolutely as the original “Star Wars” transcends the exploits of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. It does not merely express, but embodies nostalgia and remembers the past as it never was. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is self-contained; newcomers with no prior knowledge of the world of “Danger Island” and “King Solomon's Mines” are as irresistibly swept along in its rushing course as those who grew up with such less iconic pulp fantasies.

Reflecting on creator/executive producer George Lucas’s love of pulp adventure, the film’s core plays itself out like an anthology of the best parts of every Saturday afternoon serial ever made back in the 1930s and 40s — where good overtakes evil with one brilliant action set piece after another. He and director Steven Spielberg harnessed the perfect balance between escapist fun and hard-edged action — “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is among the best-crafted adventure films of its kind.

Lawrence Kasdan’s script is perfection. Spending months with Spielberg and Lucas developing the Jones character and throwing the hapless hero and heroine into every possible cliffhanger they could concoct, the filmmakers developed a cinematic magic on paper that could only be rivaled by how it was transferred to the big screen. The film needed to be made cheap and dirty using old-fashioned filmmaking tricks to bring film lovers a new kind of hero without the budget-busting excesses of Spielberg’s last three films.

What I love most about the character of Indiana Jones is that he is something of a paradox – he’s not perfect and rarely does anything go his way. Jones is a quintessential hero whose defining characteristic is that he fails more than he succeeds. And “Raiders of the Lost Ark” simply pays homage to daredevil tactics to achieve impossible means, while Lucas and Spielberg are smart enough to honor reality by not making Jones into something otherworldly or super-human. The quest — mankind saving itself from unspeakable mythical powers placed in the wrong hands — remains intact.

Understanding Indiana Jones' enduring appeal to audiences young and old poses a fascinating question. He's certainly a classic, romantic hero; a responsibility-free, globetrotting adventurer. He's also the thinking man's action hero — besides his physical abilities and quick wits, he's an academic (a professor of archeology). Of course, Indiana Jones is ultimately a fantasy hero, impossibly good at what he does, indomitable when he loses (and he loses often), relentless in pursuit of his goals, and endlessly resourceful in the face of overwhelming numbers against him. 

“Raiders of the Lost Ark” is a true marvel of sight and sound — a masterpiece that needs little or no explanation to today’s audiences who are very familiar with it. And much of that is owed to the filmmakers’ devotion to a lost craft, old-fashioned storytelling, the creation of vulnerable, smart and tough-as-nails characters like Indy and Marion Ravenwood, and, of course, John Williams’ iconic score.

Oft-imitated, but yet to be equaled, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is a force of cinematic nature. 

It’s an homage of the highest degree, a crackerjack fantasy-adventure that shapes its pulp origins and sensibilities into exhilarating escapist entertainment. Similar to James Bond, Indiana Jones became the ultimate hero that every woman wanted and every man wanted to be. 

And for that ten-year-old who first witnessed Indy’s adventures and imperfect heroics some four decades ago, he never stopped idolizing that man with the hat.