"Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981), Legendary Action-Adventure Directed by Steven Spielberg - Starring Harrison Ford and Karen Allen

[DonRocks]

At the beginning of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," when Indiana is running for the airplane, take note of the second arrow shot at him - the one on the right. It's such a *laughably* bad shot that it should not have been in the final cut. I guess they weren't thinking about "rewind," or whatever they call it on digital these days.

[ol_ironstomach]

One of the high water marks for visual storytelling...packed with so many incredible moments, beginning with the first dissolve from the Paramount logo into that mountain peak.  Walking into Marion's bar.  That shot where Indy peers through the lattice window while waiting for the sage to interpret the inscription.  The map room sequence.  The silhouettes of the diggers working surreptitiously into the sunset.  And always so gorgeously contrasty.  No wonder Time magazine's headline was something like "at last, a MOVIE movie!"

And then it turns out that prodigy Steven Soderbergh has used his own creepy modified version for years as a Spielberg masterclass in staging.

If you don't mind slightly polluting the experience of having seen only the finished film, I recommend reading the transcript of the 1978 story conference between Lucas, Spielberg, and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan.  It's hard to reconcile what a great storyteller Lucas used to be with his later work, when he started down the spiral of Howard the Duck and ultimately the SW prequels (I make a small exception for Willow, which was sweet but half-baked).

[DonRocks]

At the beginning of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," when Indiana is running for the airplane, take note of the second arrow shot at him - the one on the right. It's such a *laughably* bad shot that it should not have been in the final cut. I guess they weren't thinking about "rewind," or whatever they call it on digital these days.

One of the high water marks for visual storytelling...packed with so many incredible moments, beginning with the first dissolve from the Paramount logo into that mountain peak.  Walking into Marion's bar.  That shot where Indy peers through the lattice window while waiting for the sage to interpret the inscription.  The map room sequence.  The silhouettes of the diggers working surreptitiously into the sunset.  And always so gorgeously contrasty.  No wonder Time magazine's headline was something like "at last, a MOVIE movie!"

And then it turns out that prodigy Steven Soderbergh has used his own creepy modified version for years as a Spielberg masterclass in staging.

If you don't mind slightly polluting the experience of having seen only the finished film, I recommend reading the transcript of the 1978 story conference between Lucas, Spielberg, and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan.  It's hard to reconcile what a great storyteller Lucas used to be with his later work, when he started down the spiral of Howard the Duck and ultimately the SW prequels (I make a small exception for Willow, which was sweet but half-baked).

I love ol_ironstomach's post. The "bad arrow shot" is at 11:52 in the Soderbergh video, and you know what? The first one (the one on the left), is even worse - the first shot is *so* bad that I had to stop the video several times to even see it. I wonder if they were told to "aim high" for some reason; no Jovito worth his salt would shoot that poorly in real life.

Ha, ha, ha!

!!! When Marion is on top of Indiana's shoulders in the snake pit, does she yell out, "I have to pee ?!?" !!!

[DonRocks]

[ol_ironstomach]

See, this is what happens if you don't brush those spiders off in time.

[DonRocks]

See, this is what happens if you don't brush those spiders off in time.

I actually object to both brushings, both in terms of areas reached, and time required to get the spiders off.

Also, where did the snakes all go when he knocked down the wall?