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

[andySu]

The man with the hat Indiana Jones is 25 years old today, on this day 25 years ago “Raiders of the Lost Ark” June 12th 1981, played to audiences in the USA and not soon afterwads worldwide, this as spurned two sequels with the dashing archaeologist with "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" 1984 and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" 1989.

There have been countless mini episodes of a younger Indiana Jones getting his neck up into some scrapes as well.

So where you when it came out, and where you around at the time?

 

[Brett_M]

I was nine and living outside Chicago. Saw this with my Dad at Woodfield Mall. Loved every minute of it.

Come to think of it, has there ever been a year at the movies as good as 1982?

Raiders of the Lost Ark
John Carpenter's The Thing
Conan the Barbarian
Blade Runner

The list goes on and on.

 

[James@R]

I assume you're referring to the re-release of Raiders, but no matter. Raiders also instantly takes me back to circa 1982 as well. Whether or not that's when I actually saw it is irrelevant. It was definitely a great year for sci-fi/fantasy (Wrath of Khan, Road Warrior, E.T., etc.).

No wonder Uncle Rico wanted to go back there so badly.

 

[Kevin Grey]

I was six years old in Virginia Beach, VA. I went and saw it with my dad and thought it was the most boring movie I had ever seen. Saw it again maybe a year or two later during a re-release and loved it.

 

[nickGreenwood]

about two years away from being born...

I love the Indy Jones movies, Spielberg, Lucas and Zemeckis have created three of the greatest trilogies of all time. Hard to believe it's been twenty-five years. I can't wait to see Indy 4...

 

[AndrewD]

Anyone living near Atlanta, The Fox Theater is showing 'Raiders' tonight at 8p (6/12) as part of their Summer Movie Series.

It is going to be glorious!

 

[Paul McElligott]

I remember taking to Raiders even faster than I did to the original Star Wars, seeing it five times in the first two weeks back in '81. I think I'll break this one out tonight...

 

[andySu]

The last time I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark projected was at the Odeon in Westover road Bournemouth screen #1 2003, where they where running each of the three films over three nights, or was three weeks, one each week, anyway the condition of the 35mm was very jaded, it still had the original “A” certificate on the opening BBFC.

The Dolby Stereo A type playback was a bit toppy, and the cinema really could have done better with a cluster of x8 JBL 4645-B behind the screen! Scratches where all over the print, it looked like it had been dragged behind the truck!

However I have seen on the Spielberg forums San Francisco was playing it early this month, so looks like the print is doing the rounds on limited engagements, not saw if the film as been encoded with Dolby SR-D or weather it’s a Dolby Stereo A type print. And if it is Dolby SR-D is it the only 35mm print?



San Francisco

June 2–8
Raiders of the Lost Ark
F, M, Tu, Th: 7p, 9:20p; Sa, Su, W: (2p), 4:30, 7p, 9:20p Directed by Steven Spielberg Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott 1981, 115 min ‘SCOPE NEW 35MM PRINT, 25TH ANNIVERSARY

 

[Chuck Mayer]

7 years old. My mother put the newspaper ad on the fridge for a week or two before release. I didn't think I'd be interested in "mummies and old stuff". I wanted spaceships and lightsabers. I remember the theater I saw it at. I realized my mother knew me better than I knew myself

One of the greatest films of all time.

 

[andySu]

Chuck

I wish I had a mom like you mate, you know she’s spot on there!

As for me I was only 14 at the time of release.

 

[MikeEn]

I couldn't have said it better myself! Well ....

Mike

(I really like the coined word "afterwads." I think this is the antonym to "foreplay.")

 

[Tommy G]

I was 15 years old and I really didn't have much of an interest to see it. I went with a group of friends about a month after release and then proceeded to see it another 12 times before the summer was over.

 

[andySu]

Mike

LOL

Maybe I should rephrase those last words then

 

[dailW]

summer 1981. I was 8 at the time and the only thing on my mind that summer was superman II.and i saw cannonball run. but it wasn't until i saw it in a re-release the following feb. at a smaller theater. and at that theater they had this huge cutout poster for conan the barbarian. i thought it was the coolest poster i had ever seen. the the flick came on and i was hooked.it has always been in the top 50 of my all time favorite films but as the years have gone on it has became my favorite film of all time. bought a 44 inch widescreen last year and put the dvd in turned down the lights and felt i was nine again.awesome movie."doctor jones . again we see theres nothing you can possess witch i cannot take away."

 

[TerryRL]

I was 12 when I saw it in the summer of '81. I saw it at the Temple Theater in Tacoma, Wa. To say that I was absolutely blown away by it is a mild understatement. Of the three, the funnest one to see in theaters was 'Temple of Doom' (the audience was really jacked on opening night), but 'Raiders' is a close second. The scene where Indy shoots the swordsman drew a huge round of applause from the audience, with 'Temple of Doom' the crowd was basically cheering and clapping during the entire final 20 minutes of it.

The scene in 'Raiders' that was totally awe-inspiring on the big screen was easily the truck chase. To this day that sequence is an absolute marvel to behold.

 

[Jefferson Morris]

My first experience with Raiders was a little traumatic. I was nine, and saw it with both of my parents. They are about ten years older than baby boomers, and a bit prudish in their tastes relative to mine. They thought the film was far too violent for young kids and didn't approve of it. My father even said "Damn that Lucas!" (A much more commonly expressed sentiment these days, albeit for different reasons).

Being a somewhat timid and non-rebellious child, I feigned not liking the movie that much when they quizzed me about it. In secret I thought it was the greatest fucking thing I'd ever seen. But that experience scarred me a little - to this day I don't really enjoy watching movies with my folks unless it's comfortable (and preferably old) family fare.

The best action adventure movie ever. I'm hoping some revival theater around D.C. may trot it out in a decent print. The last, brief revival of the movie at the Uptown in downtown Washington showed an absolutely godawful print that would have made Robert Harris claw his eyes out.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Rocky F]

I was 8 and Raiders is one of a several movies that I can remember seeing at one of our local small town drive-ins. I know drive ins generally got prints later, so I don't know exactly how long it had been out before I saw it.

 

[RickER]

I was 17. I graduated from High School in 82. That was one of the best years of my life as far as movies. A friend and I saw Raiders about 10 times that year at the dollar movie theater. We wanted to see it as many times as we could before it was gone from movie screens forever. We saw new and good movies every week the 81-82 school year. Hey young guys, you know my mom always says time goes by faster as you get older. It is true, before long it will be 25 years later. It is not a long time.

 

[Andy Sheets]

My mom took me to see it when I was a kid. I loved the movie even though I puked almost immediately after the credits began to roll.

 

[DavidBL]

My older brother took me to this in the summer of '81 when I was 12. I had a childhood fear of skeletons and rotting dead bodies, so I was pretty freaked out by Forrestal, the mummy room, and the ark opening scene. But I still loved it and it remains one of my favorites to this day.