45 Years Anniversary Review Of Raiders Of The Lost Ark

For some young people in modern day society, they may not realise how important cinemas was for my generation back in the 80´s. To watch the latest Hollywood movies on the big screen was such a delightful moment, because there were some incredible movies made during the 1980´s. Just think about this for a moment, we had Escape From New York, The Howling, An American Werewold In London, The Thing, Blade Runner, Gremlins, The Goonies, Witness, The Hitcher, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and so many more titles during this time period. Not only did the 80´s have so many wonderful cinema releases, but the cinema posters back then looked much cooler than what modern cinema posters looks like in 2026. Just look at legendary director John Carpenter´s 1982 sci fi horror film The Thing, that movie poster designed by artist Drew Strutzan. It´s really well designed, very futuristic and still feels very 80´s in some ways with the blend of colors. This is actually one of my personal favourite John Carpenter films, and i can not tell you how many times i have watched it. Considering this film came out in 1982, this film have some brilliant practical make up effects by  artist Rob Bottin, alongside Stan Winston. Of course the acting performances in this film is brilliant as well, and for a sci fi horror story i think it´s very effective. I highly reccomend getting The Thing on a blu ray released from the distribution company known as Arrow Video. Since we are talking about Hollywood movies of the 1980´s, we have to mention legendary director Steven Spielberg. Back in 1975 he shocked the world with Jaws, and now into the 80´s he kept making cinema magic such as E.T. the ExtraTerrestrial and The Color Purple. But it was especially one character that would really bring cinema magic into the 1980´s, and that was Indiana Jones played by Harrison Ford. Steven Spielberg released 3 Indiana Jones movies in the 80´s and they were really loved by critics and fans. Indiana Jones is still to this day one of the most beloved cinema characters of all time, by many generations of cinema visitors. Since the first film Raiders Of The Lost Ark turned 45 years old in 2026, i thought it would be nice to revisit the first film with a anniversary review. Is this adventure film a worthy classic 45 years later, or have this film aged a lot over so many years?

In 1936, American archeologist Indiana Jones ( Harrison Ford ) recovers a Golden Idol from a booby-trapped Peruvian temple. Rival archeologist René Belloq ( Paul Freeman ) corners him and steal the Golden Idol. Jones escapes in a waiting float plane. After returning to the United States, Jones is briefed by two Army Intelligence agents that Nazi German forces are excavating at Tanis, Egypt, and one of their telegrams mention Jone´s former mentor Abner Ravenwood. It seems that the Nazis are seeking the Ark of the Convenant, which Adolf Hitler believe will render their army invicible. The agents recruit Dr. Jones to recover the Ark.

One of the things i always felt that legendary director Steven Spielberg managed to do in the Indiana Jones films, was to make real old school adventure films that felt like a throwback to cinema classics such as the 1954 film Secret Of The Incas, from director Jerry Hopper. I can´t say for sure but it is possible that director Steven Spielberg were inspired by films such as Secret Of The Incas, where legendary actor Charlot Heston played the hero character Harry Steele. If you have seen that film you can clearly see some details that might clearly be an inspiration for the character Indiana Jones. If you can get the Imprint blu ray release of Secret Of The Incas, it´s worth picking up if you want to see a classic. Lead actor Harrison Ford as the most iconic archeologist Indiana Jones in cinema history, have such a great combination of charm, his strength and flaws combined with slick dialogue. No one could play this character better than Harrison Ford, and in Raiders Of The Lost Ark he really proved how he managed to make this character such an icon for adventure movies. We will get into the other characters in a while, but i have to say i love how beautiful this film is with the set designs, the bright colors that captures the historical look of the 1930´s in Egypt. The action scenes in this film looks absolutely brilliant, and the adventure scenes are so well crafted it is very difficult not to be impressed how well designed they are with everything from stunts, to more physical violence. Speaking of the stunts, there are some really impressive action stunts made in certain scenes of this film. Legendary composer John William´s brilliant score for Indiana Jones is one of the greatest movie scores ever made. It really capture the essence of the character and the epic adventure combined. Regarding characters, we have actress Karen Allen portraying Marion, who does a wonderful performance. Paul Freeman as the Nazi character René Belloq is a perfect match for this character, one of the most unforgettable cinema villains of all time. Director Steven Spielberg manage to bring this adventure movie to life with a lot of nostalgic tools, where he knows exactly what the main character needs to capture the hearts of the audience. Raiders Of The Lost Ark is without a doubt one of the greatest adventure movies ever made, and will forever be one of the greatest cinema classics of legendary actor Harrison Ford. This is a must own in your physical ( or digital ) movie collection, a film you can rewatch and never get tired of. Raiders Of The Lost Ark is one of those 1980´s theatre releases that will never age, it will always be a true cinema classic.

Rating: DDDD