For the into to my Danger Girl: the Ultimate Edition collection, I went into great detail about how seeing Star Wars, like many other kids in the late 70's, was a life changing experience. But while the Star Wars trilogy probably had the deepest influence on me and probably had the most to do with why I chose a career in the creative visual arts, my all time favorite movie is actually Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I can still remember seeing the TV commercial with indy running from the natives. My dad told me "This is from the guy who made Star Wars and the guy who made Close Encounters." But I can also remember thinking "But I don't think I wanna see a cowboy movie!" (You see, because Indy wore a fedora hat, I assumed he must be a "cowboy", and at the age of 8, I wasn't really into cowboys.) Instead, I wanted to see the other new movie opening up Clash of the Titans! "That one had monsters and stuff like that in it. Cool!" And while I still remember that movie fondly and would later grow up to have great respect for the stop motion master Ray Harryhausen, ultimately that film was total "crap-olla" compared to the other movie my dad and I eventually got around to seeing... Raiders!!!
It's funny how memories work. Just about everything around that young age is a ghostly blur, but I can still remember first seeing Raiders like it was only several years ago. I can remember walking out of the theater and back out through the mall with my dad and my cousin Joey, my head still spinning from the experience. I can remember seeing it again, this time with my sister and parents, hoping that this time I'd be brave enough to open up my eyes to watch the infamous face melting scene at the end. (It wasn't until the third time that I think I finally watched that part. My younger sister watched it her first time.)

Indiana Jones sketch by J. Scott Campbell.

As the years have passed on, while other neon colored, skinny tie wearing, synth pop relics of the 80's seem to get funnier looking and more embarrassingly out of date, Raiders of the Lost Ark, like a fine wine, seems to only get better and better with age. It's timeless. And while every few years hope is occasionally rekindled that some other new adventure movie will somehow take the torch, they always seem to trip up, fall short and pretty much blow it. They can never live up. So I've gone ahead and outlined my reasons why I think Raiders of the Lost Ark is still the BEST action adventure... HELL, The BEST MOVIE of all time, PERIOD!:

Badass Character intro 101:

The way Spielberg chose to gradually introduce us to Indiana by only showing first his silhouette, his shape, his back, then his hands, remaining silent as we watch his raggedy traveling party scamper after him through the jungle, quickly built up such a mystique for the character in only about 5 minutes of screen time. We see his expertise with the poisoned dart, the map, all without hearing him or seeing his face. And when one of those bums in his crew tries to knock him off, we see Indy's almost 6th sense reflexes as he whips the gun out of his hand with his trademark weapon. And then, when we finally see his weathered, well travelled, sun beaten face, Spielberg has Indy walk out of the shadows and right up to the camera for the close-ups of all close-ups. Within 5 minutes we know everything we need to know about this character, we know that he's some sort of expert, a serious adventurer, he's great at using this whip of his, and he's mysterious, all of this in 5 minutes... and the guy hasn't even spoken yet. An instant Icon! Now that's an intro!

The VILLAINS of Raiders:

Now, as if we weren't already impressed enough with Indy, by the end of the first sequence we see him bested by his arch rival Belloq, the sophisticated uptown archeologist to Indy's down to earth approach. We're even treated to an almost cartoonish super villain laugh as he clutches Indy's Idol while our hero races back through the jungle for his life. And then there's Toht, the uber Nazi of Nazis. I mean, seriously, has there ever been a more NAZI looking Nazi in all of movie history. What a perfect looking badguy. Why didn't we ever see that guy again in any other films? And then there is that whole array of random Cairo swordsman, monkey welding nut jobs, and Nazi solders that litter the film. It's all perfect. And Nazis are the all time best movie villain, hands down. I mean, you love to hate them!

Raider's timeless CINEMATOGRAPHY:

One of the biggest reasons why the newest generation of action movies tend to be so disappointing to me is that they put way too much emphassis on special effects. Spielberg's directing of Raiders was the special effect! It was ART! He was like a painter with those scenes. Both Spielberg and his director of Photography Douglas Slocombe put together some of the truly memorable scenes in cinema history. One of favorites that comes to mind is when the silhouette of the Nazi agent is standing in the center of a narrow ally. I love how the narrow shaft of light around the agent disappears when he is joined by a dozen or so hooded swordsmen. It's an awesome sinister moment. Or when indy's franticly searching the streets of Cairo for his girl Marion. The search reaches it's most desperate moment when Indy, runs all the way down the long ally way and continues until his sweat beaten brow fills the entire frame. Man, you really feel like you're in his shoes at that moment.

Some of my other favorite visuals: The scene where the agent on the plane peaks over the LIFE magazine to peer over at Indy. Of course, the now very famous "Map" traveling sequences, very comic book-like. The shot of Indy letting just the right amount of sand slip through his fingers with the goolish gold idol crisply focused in the background, almost like it's watching him. Another favorite, I love the shot where we're looking down through the fan blades at the dead poisoned monkey on the floor. Another great shot that went unappreciated by many for years until the WIDESCREEN versions of the films made their way back into our homes was a great subtle moment when Belloq and Indy are talking in the restaurant. Just out of focus on the right side of the screen, you can see a gun being passed. I always thought that was really cool! And there's just so much authentic rich detail to all of the sets, it's such a beautifully shot movie. You completely believe that you are there.

Use of Indy's trademark 'SILHOUETTE':

I also love how often Spielberg used Indy's distinctive silhouette throughout the film. It's almost like he was telling us "Hey listen, Indiana Jones is already an icon that can be recognized by just his shadow. Accept it." And we all did. I love that they had such confidence in their brand new character that they treated him like he was already a legend. Awesome.

These 4 shots are probably 4 of my absolute favorites of the entire film. The shadow of Indy standing in the doorway of Marion's bar without even saying a word still gives me chills it's so cool. And his face in darkness as he leaves the bar with only his eyes showing is the kind of thing we just don't see in movies anymore. And I'll always remember Indy's silhouette as he changes from his Arab disguise and back into his trademark hat and jacket as his team begins to dig for the Ark at sunset. Classic!

Raiders is genuinely 'SPOOKY':

Now, I enjoyed the recent two Mummy movies for what they were, somewhat silly but still fun summer action movies. But Raiders is truly and genuinely Spooky. They play the movie completely straight and not at all stupid or ridiculous. In fact, if you'll notice, it's never really even certain that the Ark has any supernatural aspects until maybe the last 15 minutes of the movie when we first get the real sense that the Ark may be trouble, when it burns the Nazi Swastika off of it's holding crate. Movies just don't take that kind of time anymore to really payoff like that. Everyone's in too much of a rush these days to see all of the bells and whistles right of the bat, and there's nothing at all spooky about that.

Also, when I was a kid, my family was very religious, so Raiders played very dead serious to me. I still get chills when Marion pulls out her sacred head piece, when the wind suddenly whistles through the room almost like the squeal of an ancient spirit. Or the scene were Indy's team is about to open the Well Of Souls and the sky is angry, almost as though God doesn't want them there. And that ending. As a kid I used to have nightmares because that ending played so real to me. The sound of those spirits leaving the Ark and the strange reverberating base noise that the Ark gave off. Damn, that's spooky!

Indy Cheats!:

I think a big reason why we found Indy so appealing is that he's the "every-man". And the every-man isn't perfect and occasionally has to cheat just a bit to get by. I love that when Indiana was overmatched by that huge boxing mechanic that he would scratch, bite and throw sand in the guy's face if it meant he might gain a slight edge. And his fights certainly WEREN'T pretty like Bruce Lee's or James Bond. Indy often found himself looking a bit stupid and unprepared in his fights, and that played very convincingly. And for a Hero, Indy also took a bit too much satisfaction and sadistic fun in flinging german soldiers off the truck to their deaths. And let's not forget his famous poor sportsmanship when he shot the expert swordsman in cold blood.

Indiana's comical moments:

Another aspect to Indiana's "every-man" appeal came from our ability to laugh at him. Indy's funniest moments were the ones where he would show cracks in his tough guy facade and make an almost "cry baby" pouty face when he suddenly found himself in really deep s##t. And those moments were plentiful as you can see here. The funny moments in Raiders are almost too many to count. And yet, with all of these great comical moments, Raiders never became stupid. And more importantly, the comedy never took away from the seriousness of the story and overall tone of the film. That's an amazing balance they achieved.

No mater how many Phantom Menaces and A.I.s these two guys make now in there later years, Steven Spielberg & George Lucas will always remain respected legends to me because of the happiness they've continued to bring me over the years with these films. And though there has been talk now for several years about Steven, George and Harrison bringing back Indy for one more go around, I for one kind of hope they don't. Now don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to see more Indy, but Indiana Jones needs to exist in that pre-WWII filled world of Nazi's and crude technology. I don't think I want to see a old timer, gray haired Harrison Ford running around the 1960's looking all out of place and odd. I think it will just taint to whole series. Besides, 3 is a good number! Perhaps if Steven and George were to think of the Indy franchise in more of the same way the James Bond films have continued to be handled. What if they got a new actor, say, a Clive Owen or somebody like that to play Indy, you could continue having pre-WWII adventures in that same time period that fit's him so well. That's really the only way Indiana could continue in my opinion.

Anyways, I purposely held back posting this feature until I came upon a Sunday afternoon. Over the years, I've found that there's almost nothing better then kicking back on a Sunday afternoon or evening and throwing on one of the three Indy movies. I was so happy when they became available on DVD, re-mastered and looking and sounding better than ever. I had purposely avoided watching them for several years, hoping that they wouldn't be quite so fresh in my mind by the time I saw them again on DVD. Man, what I would give for the experience of watching Raiders of the Lost Ark again for the very first time, that would be sweet!

JSC