Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Average Rating: 9/10
Reviews Counted: 59
Fresh: 56 | Rotten: 3
Featuring bravura set pieces, sly humor, and white-knuckle action, Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the most consummately entertaining adventure pictures of all time.
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 2
Featuring bravura set pieces, sly humor, and white-knuckle action, Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the most consummately entertaining adventure pictures of all time.
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Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 808,555
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Movie Info
Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is no ordinary archeologist. When we first see him, he is somewhere in the Peruvian jungle in 1936, running a booby-trapped gauntlet (complete with an over-sized rolling boulder) to fetch a solid-gold idol. He loses this artifact to his chief rival, a French archeologist named Belloq (Paul Freeman), who then prepares to kill our hero. In the first of many serial-like escapes, Indy eludes Belloq by hopping into a convenient plane. So, then: is Indiana Jones afraid of
Cast
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Harrison Ford
Indiana Jones -
Karen Allen
Marion Ravenwood -
Denholm Elliott
Marcus Brody -
Paul Freeman
Belloq -
Wolf Kahler
Dietrich -
John Rhys-Davies
Sallah -
Ronald Lacey
Toht -
Anthony Higgins
Gobler -
Alfred Molina
Satipo -
Vic Tablian
Barranca -
Ishaq Bux
Omar -
Anthony Chinn
Mohan -
Patrick Durkin
Australian Climber -
Don Fellows
Col. Musgrove -
Ted Grossman
Peruvian Porter -
William Hootkins
Major Eaton -
John Rees
Sergeant -
Bill Reimbold
Bureaucrat -
Terry Richards
Swordsman -
Pat Roach
Giant Sherpa/1st Mechan... -
Matthew Scurfield
2nd Nazi -
Kiran Shah
Abu -
Fred Sorenson
Jock -
Eddie Tagoe
Messenger Pirate -
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Tony Vogel
Tall Captain -
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George Harris
Katanga -
Tutte Lemkow
Imam -
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Frank Marshall
Pilot -
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Jack Dearlove
Mr. Ford's Stand-In -
Steve Hanson
German Agent -
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Malcolm Weaver
Ratty Nepalese -
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Raiders of the Lost Ark Trailer & Photos
All Critics (60) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (64) | Rotten (3) | DVD (39)
Raiders of the Lost Ark has it all -- or, anyway, more than enough to transport moviegoers back to the dazzling, thrill-sated matinee idyls of old.
Top CriticThe thrills are fully consumed while you're seeing this movie, and it's totally over when it's over. It's a workout. You feel as if you'd been to the desert digs: at the end your mind is blank, yet you're parched, you're puffing hard -- you want relief.
...a crackerjack fantasy-adventure that shapes its pulp sensibilities and cliff-hanging serial origins into an exhilarating escapist entertainment that will have broad-cased summer audiences in the palm of its hand.
One would think that a collaboration between Steven Spielberg and George Lucas would produce something better than this giggly pastiche of a Republic serial...
Whether you swallow it or not, see it for a handful of totally unexpected visual jokes, worth the price of admission alone.
This is the kind of movie that, even today, audiences immediately fall in love with. It has all the right ingredients: a smart script, a likable hero, a dash of romance, more than a touch of comedy, and a lot of fast-paced action.
impossibly good
As action adventure goes, it's about the best there is.
Steven Spielberg's rollicking adventure yarn still looks buoyant and dashing after 30 years.
The boulder has never looked bigger, the guns have never sounded louder and Indy's whip has never cracked sharper than they do here.
If Lucas is Raiders' guts and Kasdan its head, then Spielberg is its beating heart. Little wonder Part IV is still on the cards.
A necessary package for any fan of the franchise, at least until the folks at Lucasfilm dust off another forgotten making-of feature or, God forbid, green light another Indiana Jones adventure.
Raiders is a classic and repeated viewings, especially when presented properly on the big screen, only reinforce this further.
Breathtakingly efficient, immaculately constructed... This is the ne plus ultra of blockbuster filmmaking.
It is the classic film [by] Lucas, Spielberg...back before they were replaced by automatons put here by aliens.
Indy's first adventure is a rip-roaring action masterpiece.
Justifiably one of the most indelible adventure films in cinematic history...
It's the perfect vacation-time movie: not a serious moment in its whole two hours but so crammed with laughter, thrills and cinematic sleight of hand that audiences will be sorry when it's over.
Raiders of the Lost Ark holds up as a spectacle film, spooky funhouse ride and rollicking adventure yarn. Steven Spielberg was, then and now, the finest director of grand-scale Hollywood blockbusters.
Lost Ark holds up for many reasons, not least of which is because of Spielberg's consummate skill as a visual storyteller and his ability to draw charged performances from his actors.
The postmodern heir to North By Northwest...Like any deathless classic, Raiders is a perfect marriage of star and material.
...among that rare breed that have their tongue planted firmly in their cheek but never ridicule the action-adventure style. (Blu-ray edition)
...despite the fast pace, the movie is never frenetic or tiring, just pure, unadulterated fun throughout. (Blu-ray edition)
Audience Reviews for Raiders of the Lost Ark
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Sallah: Ah Indy why does the floor move?
- Indiana Jones: Give me your torch.
- Indiana Jones: Snakes why does there have to be Snakes?
- Sallah: Asps very dangerous you first.
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- Marcus Brody: An army that carries the ark before it is invincible.
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- Satipo: Let's go. There's nothing to fear here.
- Indiana Jones: [pushes him up against the wall] That's what scares me.
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- Indiana Jones: Jock, there's a snake in the plane!
- Jock: Oh, that's just my pet.
- Indiana Jones: I hate snakes, hate some much.
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- Indiana Jones: Trust me.
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- Toht: What shall we talk about?
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Latest News on Raiders of the Lost Ark
August 15, 2012:
Raiders of the Lost Ark Is Headed for IMAXThe Spielberg classic will celebrate its Blu-ray conversion with a return theatrical engagement.
July 26, 2012:
Frank Marshall Offers Indiana Jones 5 UpdateYes, we have no MacGuffin.
April 20, 2012:
Five Favorite Films with Lawrence KasdanAs any student of popular American cinema knows, the name Lawrence Kasdan is synonymous with some...
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Foreign Titles
- Jäger des verlorenen Schatzes (DE)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (UK)
