Raiders of the Lost Ark 25th Anniversary (1 Viewer)

[Don Giro]

I was 17. I saw the "Raiders" trailer before some film I don't even remember at the Loew's Jersey City Triplex, and I remember having no desire to see "Raiders" at all. I saw it a week or two after it was released, and eventually saw it seven more times that summer...

 

[Ocean Phoenix]

I can't believe you people, praising a movie like Temple Of Doom that (aside from sequences at the beginning and end and a few nice moments from Capshaw) is ugly and boring, while criticizing the lighthearted, charming, and constantly exciting The Last Crusade for not aging well. Spielberg himself was disappointed by Temple Of Doom and considers The Last Crusade his favourite out of the trilogy. The way I see it, the first one was good, but flawed because it was shallow, the second one was a disaster with a scant few positive qualities, and the third took the best qualities of both (except for a good female lead), as it had action sequences just as riveting as the one excellent action sequence in Temple Of Doom, and had the emotional/character depth that Raiders lacked.

 

[Paul_Scott]

you're certainly entitled to that opinion, but for me Raiders was and remains a near flawless film.

and where you saw emotional/character depth I saw contrivance on the order of Return Of The Jedi. Honestly, I never really had a bad reaction to the film until my last viewing of it on DVD, and I ended up hating it for how shallow the sentiment was. I think the point where my indifference turned to outright contempt was where the group believes that Indy has gone over the edge of the cliff with the tank. Papa Jones gets all misty eyed and seems to be expressing genuine heartfelt emotion right up until - SURPRISE - Indy appears alive behind him, then after we get the 'gag' laugh release of the situation, Papa Jones goes back to behaving 100% as he did before.
The sentiment was solely in the service of a cheap laugh and dismissed as soon as the sequence is over until it rears up again at the end.

For me, Last Crusade was Spielberg at his worst and most facile.

Nothing in that film compares to the scene in Raiders where Indy finds that Marion is still alive in the tent. To me, that was honest emotion, and both characters reactions believable and consistent to their characters.

no contest imo.

 

[Andy Sheets]

That reminds me of the time when I was a kid and my family was trying to figure which movie to go see. Most of them were favoring Aliens but for some reason they asked me what I wanted to see and I ended up having the final say. So of course I said "Howard the Duck" and we all went to see that one instead of Aliens. I'm still kind of pissed at myself for that.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Andy,
That is among the worst decisions I have ever heard in my life. I am surprised you aren't seeing a top-shelf psychiatrist for the ramifications of said decision.

 

[Brett_M]

Well said, Paul. I agree.

 

[Dave H]

Brett,

I live close to Royal Oak --- where can I find the actual showtimes for Raiders on Aug. 11 and 12? So they actually start at midnight? I did a search for their Web site but couldn't find anything really.

Also, do they have a pretty big screen?

 

[Zack Gibbs]

Raiders is great, the word "flawless" describes it perfectly. Every aspect is literally flawless from opening frame to closing, I can think of only a few movies this can be said about. My childhood memory is...bad, so I don't remember first seeing it or anything else for that matter.

Temple of Doom is a wonderful sequel. It's instantaniously better than Last Crusade because it does just what a sequel should do; take hour hero on a *NEW* and interesting adventure. The best sequels are usually the ones that go to new places, which is why The Last Crusade hasn't aged that well. It was just Raiders all over again, they stuck Sean Connery in there to fool all you gullible guppies. Gullible guppies love anything with Sean Connery in it.

 

[Chad R]

I distinctly remember seeing the first film at the Interstate Mall 6 AMC in Altamonte Springs. We were at Chuckie Cheese's with our family friend -- a whole family that had my Dad's best friend, my mom's best friend, my brother's best friend, and a girl my age to pal around with (since she was a girl I'd never dream of calling her my best friend). Anyway, Howard (the other dad) suggested we go see it. I'd only seen posters, not a trailer or commercial for it. But being as Howard could talk my parents into doing anything, we went. It's sad that we all grew apart after the other couple got a divorce. Sigh...

Anyway, there was something wrong with the film becuase we waited for 15 minutes with an alternating black screen, then white screen. A black screen! For minutes at a time. I have no idea how that happened. Maybe one of the trailers they cut into the reel was badly processed and just black, but it took them 15 minutes to work it out and just start the movie.

God, I love that movie. It was perfect, at that perfect time in my life when summers lasted forever and I literally had no worries in life (I was eight).

 

[Josh.C]

Wow, I had no idea there were so many critics of the Last Crusade. The IJ's trilogy is one of the few in which I thoroughly enjoyed all 3. They each have there own greatness about them. The Last Crusade is maybe a bit more comical, but has its touching moments as well. I love the part at the end, where Indy is trying to pass through to get to the grail, while Jones Sr, is making half conscious murmurs like "The Penatent man will pass". I thought it was a great sequence. Unlike trilogies that only produce one or two good movies (The Matrix, Godfather), I think all of the Indiana Jones are Great films.

Not a gullible guppy, I just think that all three films can stand on their own, and this is one of the few true wonderful, epic, phenomenal trilogies ever created. I would group SW'S and LOTR'S in that category as well.

Just my humble, guppiesh opinion

JC

 

[Zack Gibbs]

Hahaha, I don't think Last Crusade is actually a bad film overall, it just doesn't hold up quite as well under scrutiny. And I really do take points off because the filmmakers have fully admitted to calculatingly trying to make it like Raiders. They couldn't deal with a little bit of criticism from Temple of Doom ("oh this is too scary, shame on you"), so they decided to throw originality out the window and just perform an encore, bad form.

 

[Frank Ha]

"I think we take for granted now what a refreshing experience at the movies Raiders was in its time."

I think that is so true. Refreshing describes it well. I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time in Savannah, Ga in 1981. I was 23 years old. It was definitely a "wow" moment for me, just like the first Star Wars movie four years before. I remember thinking, "This is what movies used to be like!" I also remember thinking that it was the best movie I had ever seen. (I hadn't yet seen Casablanca at that time in my life).



"It should also be noted (considering this is a HomeTheater forum ) that Raiders is one of those signature VHS releases. When it was released on video in 1983, there was great fanfare - not to mention the synergistic inclusion of a Temple Of Doom teaser. "

Yeah, I do remember that, although we had Beta, not VHS. It was the very first movie/video that I ever bought. I was thrilled to have that P&S copy. Wow! The concept of actually buying a movie was very novel, especially since you could record it when it came on TV. We've come a long ways haven't we .

Back then, I had the Betamax hooked to my stereo and we watched on a 25" TV. I didn't realize then that I had created a Home Theatre .

 

[Lord Dalek]

The local revival house was showing it this week in 70mm no less. There's something about seeing Raiders with a packed house that beats watching it at home.

 

[Ric Easton]

I was 22 at the time, living in Syracuse, NY. This girl I was dating wanted to see History of the World Part 1. I of course wanted to see Raiders. So we saw them both on the same night (the theaters were a few miles away). We saw Raiders first, and I gotta say, History of the World was a little disappointing after that!

After Temple of Doom came out, there was a news crew covering reaction when the movie let out. Raced home to record my reaction on the 11:00 news!


Same here... except got it as a B'day present, it was Beta and my TV was only 19 inches! And yes, those were still fun times!

 

[Sam Favate]

Here is a Karen Allen article and interview from yesterday's Newark Star-Ledger, mainly about the anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark:

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/...?colwhi&coll=1

 

[Dallas]

We didn't have much money growing up but one Christmas, maybe '84 or '85, my dad cut lose with probably $400-500 and bought a VCR. Raiders of the Lost Ark was the first movie purchased and viewed on that VCR. We didn't even bother moving out all the other Christmas gifts or the torn Christmas paper! We just all sat down and enjoyed one of the most entertaining movies ever made! I was 14 or 15 years old that Christmas...

 

[Jeff Pounds]

Wow... 25 years... amazing.

Being 31 years old, I was an impressionable 7-year-old when Raiders came out, and remember loving every minute of it.

I think somebody brought this up earlier, but it's worth repeating... for those of us who were little kids in the early-to-mid 1980s, has there ever been a better time to enjoy AMAZING movies that were essentially targeted directly at you? Think about the films that were released in the 1980-85 time frame:

STAR WARS (1980 re-release)
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980 and subsequent re-release)
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
E.T. (1982)
RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983)
BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)

These are just off the top of my head... I know there are a lot more...

 

[dailW]

you forgot 1984 witch brought us the classics
temple of doom
ghostbusters
gremlins
karate kid

82 had a raiders re-release , earlier that year for the oscars , E.T. that summer re-release of star wars oh and also right before e.t. came out star trek 2 then that november empire re-release and dec. dark crystal damn that was a fun year for a nine year old.

 

[Chris Atkins]

It was an amazing period to be a young boy who liked movies (I am also 31, Jeff).

I would add:

GOONIES
STAR TREK 2: THE WRATH OF KHAN
THE LAST STARFIGHTER
SUPERMAN II

 

[James@R]

I remember having no idea they were making a third one until it had already started shooting! I just happened to see a morning talk show interviewing Ford on set. (The first thing I heard was the interviewer saying, "The film is called, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade...") Quite a difference when compared to the state of things today!

Anyway, I also remember being quite jaded at the news. After all, it had been four years since TOD- which is like 20 years to a kid. I finally walked in thinking it wouldn't be the same, and walked out feeling exactly like I had after seeing Raiders. I couldn't believe they had pulled it off one last time.