That’s a gag that got cut out of Spielberg’s previous film, 1941, in which it was performed by Christopher Lee. Though it was deleted from the final film, Spielberg swore he would put it in every subsequent movie he made until it got a laugh. Fortunately, his next movie was RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
Fun fact: In the "final boss" fight, Harrison Ford had severe dysentery at the time, so the long and involved fight sequence with the swordsman they had planned got changed to one of the most iconic scenes in cinema.
Alfred Molina tells a funny story about how the spider scene was shot. He’s having spiders put on him by a spider wrangler. After he finished, Steven Spielberg came over and asked the wrangler, “Why aren’t they moving?” The wrangler explained that all the spiders were male and would need a female with them to compete over. Spielberg said, “Put a female in there,” and the wrangler did so. As Molina put it later, “All hell broke loose!” Spielberg turned to the cameraman and shouted, “Shoot! Shoot!” He told Molina, “Alfred, look scared!” To which Molina responded, “I’m scared! I’m scared!”
The spiders were also Brachypelma hamorii-from the dry forests of Mexico, and very out of place in a Sourh American jungle. (If they wanted to be accurate they should have used Goliath birdeaters, which are actually from South American jungles and are also the largest spiders in the world).
@@bkjeong4302My Dad told me once when he was stationed in Brazil back in the 60s, he was on training maneuvers and had to sleep in a hammock....20-30 feet off the ground so critters wouldn't come out for a snack. He has this fly net over him and in the middle of the night, he wakes up feeling something over his head trying to get through the net. He opens his eyes and sees THE BIGGEST SPIDER he's ever seen with quarter inch fangs! He reacted in the normal fashion: he pulled his gun and fired three rounds as he rolled out of his bed.... forgetting he's over 20ft in the air, and lands on his back knocking the wind out of. The rest of his team woke up to investigate and their guide, a local Indios, is laughing as he's holding up the bird catcher. It's body was as big around as a steering wheel. And since then Dad hated spiders with a passion.
Great story! Thanks for sharing! They used this species because their stripedy legs show up very well on film and contrast with the colours they are wearing. Goliath Bird-Eaters are not nearly so colourful, and wouldn’t ‘pop’ onscreen.
I think people who say it's a "plot hole" that Indy doesn't affect the plot are missing the point. The movie isn't about the effect Indy has on the Ark, it's about the effect the Ark has on Indy.
Also, he absolutely had an effect on the plot. I've gone into this on other reactors' videos, so I don't feel like repeating it all, but to sum it up, Indiana not being there would've resulted in the Americans not knowing where the Ark was taken, and the Führer continually sending soldiers and researchers to the Ark until they figured out how to use it.
It's not even what Plot Hole means; it isn't a gap in the story. Idiots on the Internet throw around the term Plot Hole for anything they don't understand or don't like about a story. Not to mention that Marian would have been killed by the Nazis; that's a pretty damn significant thing Indy affected.
@@AaronLitz OP did say "plot hole" in quotations though, and most of the time I don't see that being used at all (and I don't use it myself when trolling). Most of the time people say something like "Indiana Jones had no effect on the plot". And sure, that's significant for her on a personal level. He also killed and hurt a bunch of people so he was significant for them too, again on a personal level. But looking at the big picture, the biggest thing he affected is where the Ark ended up.
Also, without Indy, the Nazis still have the Ark. One way or another, Hitler still gets his hands on it. Because of Indy and Mirion, it gets into the hands of the U.S. and away from the evil seeking its power.
The exposition scene at the college with the army intelligence, is still one of the best examples of exposition in a movie. No wasted words, everything you need to know is explained, not to mention the awesome music/theme that plays that sets the tone. So well done.
The one half they had was from the guy's hand. Only one side was burned in, so that's how they got it and why they didn't have the second. Without Indy, everything kind of happens as it did here except, probably, for the ark ending up in a US warehouse. As for the new movie, I really enjoyed it. I love all 5 movies, but if I'm gonna give my personal order of best to least best, it's: Last Crusade Raiders Dial of Destiny Crystal Skull Temple of Doom I hope to see you react to all of them! I'd even be interested in a rewatch of Last Crusade after you've seen the first 2. (Also, Temple of Doom actually takes place a few years before the first movie. Not strictly needed to know but I think it's good to know.)
Guy's been up for two days, worked all through the night, fought snakes and Nazis all day, been punched a hundred times, shot, and thrown under a truck. And he got his jaw broken with a mirror. I think we should give him a break for falling asleep this one time. :) Actually, I like the fact that Marion did. All she said was "We can't catch a break."
Broken jaw? Don't know where you came up with that one. If that was true, it would be quite painful & I couldn't see how anyone would be in the mood for kissing with a freshly broken jaw.
At 28:31 Indy says "I don't know. I'm making this up as I go". I heard that was an ad lib by Harrison Ford because he forgot the line, but they liked it so much they left it in.
The Nazi submarine featured in Raiders was borrowed from Das Boot, which was being filmed at the same time. If you've never seen it, Das Boot is absolutely one of the best war films ever made - a must watch
god that film is brilliant, the ending absolutely tore me to bits. Highly recommend Stalingrad 1993, its in the same vein, again brilliant German war movie. I do have to ask, ive only seen the cut on Netflix, the movie version, is it a lesser version of the miniseries version? Would u recommend watching again for the miniseries?
There is an original film, mini series and director's cut. Mini series adds some character interaction and is nearly 300 minutes in total (I think it was 3 episodes). Director's cut is 219 minutes long. I think it's worth to see the series to fully appreciate this piece of cinematography.
One thing that gives Raiders its unique feel - you can almost seat your watch to it. It is an homage to the old Saturday morning serials (Rocky Jones Space Adventurer, Undersea Kingdom, etc) that Spielberg and Lucas grew up on. Each was a single reel long, shown before a Saturday matinee, and the reel was ten minutes long. If you watch this movie with a stopwatch, there’s a major scene or set piece for each 10-minute section of movie.
John Williams is still active scoring at age 91. He even scored the recently released INDIANA JONES 5 (DIAL OF DESTINY). In fact, he made Oscars history earlier this year by being both the oldest ever Oscar nominee (he was nominated for Steven Spielberg's THE FABELMANS (2022) just shy of his 91st birthday) and the only person ever to be nominated in 7 different decades (he has been nominated every decade from the 1960s to the 2020s inclusive).
I didn't know that! 😮 I feel like they should just rename "Best Original Score" to the "John Williams Award," because while there are some absolutely incredible composers, he's the GOAT!
This was Alfred Molina pre pretty much anything. He'd only had a few small roles, and was getting ready to quit acting and go home to England, when he got the call. This was his first credited role.
The original headpiece had all the information to get the correct length of the staff. The bald guy only got half, the front end of the headpiece, burned into the palm of his hand so that's why the Na26is were digging in the wrong place. They didn't have all the information from the headpiece to get the correct height. The guy who could read the writing, where the monkey was poisoned, stopped Indy and Sallah when they were talking about the length of the staff and then turned the headpiece around to read the rest of the writing and there it said to take back one kadam to honor the Hebrew God whose ark this is.
Thank you... I was hoping someone said this. I got stressed out every time she thought the Nazis had the full Talisman and Indy only had half. I wasn't sure how to explain what was really going on. So again, thank you! 😀
Yes, you saved me from having to type that out. I knew someone would explain it. I have a hard time understanding how anyone didn't get this as I understood it when was 11... (without a film school degree I might add). 😉
I’ve seen this movie arguably a 100 times, and just now realized that the other guide who was with Alfred Molina from the beginning was also the Nazi spy with the eye patch and monkey.
For me, folks who say Indy's presence doesn't matter in this adventure are missing a basic point. The ark is a MacGuffin, he and Marian matter in the story because it's their journey and adventure together. They are changed by the experiences and come out as wiser, possibly better people. That's a successful hero's journey even if the two heroes weren't needed to stop the bad guys. The two heroes took a humble leap of faith and left the bad guys to their fate.
I have watched many reaction videos for this movie and you are the first person to understand it. "Not for the eyes of mortals" Smart woman!! Way to go!
The thing with 'Indy doesn't change anything' is that it kind of speaks to one of the main themes of Raiders and the series overall. Because the one thing he does really change is that Marion would have died in Nepal if not for him. And ultimately the core of the film and series is realizing that that quest for knowledge or power isn't worth sacrificing love and friendship for. In Raiders, Indy's tested three times: he fails when he doesn't rescue Marion from the camp because it would mean losing his chance for the Ark, and again when his threat to destroy it to save her is exposed as a bluff, but then he *passes* the final test when he gives up his chance to know what's inside the Ark in order to save Marion's life, literally closing his eyes to knowledge because he realizes she's more important. So the only thing that Indy really changes is, ultimately, the only thing that really matters. And that's the film's central message.
It seems to me that the Nazis only found Marian in Nepal because they were following Indy. So, if Indy never went on his quest, Marian would have never been in danger... of course, she would have still been stuck in Nepal.
@@reedcockrell8126 Wrong. Army intelligence had intercepted the message directing Toht (they didn't know exactly who it was) to "acquire headpiece, Staff of Rha". So they knew who had it - Abner Ravenwood, Marion's father and they knew what they were looking for. The idea that the Gestapo couldn't have tracked Marion down in Nepal from that is very unlikely. They were coming, they just used Indy to speed up the process.
The scene at the end, when the Ark is opened . . . I've been watching this movie my entire life, I don't even remember the first time I saw it, I've seen it probably hundreds of times, and I still get chills. Between the setup and the unearthly sounds and the figures in the mist and the face-melting and the clouds parting and Williams's score-- Epic.
Tom Selleck was supposed to play Indy, but he couldn't get out of his commitment to Magnum P.I. He later made a movie called High Road to China which Roger Ebert called a "pale echo of Raiders."
No kidding! I think I remember seeing somewhere that Chip and Dale were dressed like Indiana Jones and Magnum P.I., but I never made the connection that it's because Tom Selleck was supposed to play Indy. Thank you for sharing!
I knew a martial arts teacher who had two completely different types of class. He taught people to compete in competitive tournaments, and he also taught self defense classes. In the competition classes he taught you to follow the rules, but in self defense classes he taught you to fight dirty. If you are fighting to defend yourself, you want every advantage. Trying to fight clean will only increase your chances of losing the fight. You fight dirty because you are fighting for your life.
Jacqui, if you're a film school grad, you might know about Peter Lorre, a popular character actor of the 1930s and '40s who specialized in playing creeps, psychos, weasels and general evil dudes. I've always thought the creepy Nazi dude who gets his hand burnt and his face melted at the end of the movie was doing his best Peter Lorre impression.
The opening is a perfect good news-bad news action sequence. Thanks for the reaction, Jacqui. Nice Die Hard reference BTW; "monkey in the wrench". Not Area 51, it's Warehouse 13. 😆 If Indy had not been in the story, Marion would probably be dead. That's about it.
I've been rewatching them all for The Dial of Destiny and I can tell you that both this film and The Last Crusade are some of my all time favorite films, especially The Last Crusade. You're going to have a lot of fun with these! 🤗
As you surmised, every kid wanted a whip after 'Raiders' came out, and I was no exception. My sister and I got cheapo toy whips at the local fair, and we even bought the official Indiana Jones fedoras. A big oak tree in our yard had a sturdy dead limb sticking out, so you can guess what I did. That cheapo whip broke halfway through the swing and dropped me hard on my ass. That was one of two times I tried to mimic something I'd seen in a movie. I'll tell you about the other one if and when you do a reaction to 'A Christmas Story.'
What a delight this reaction was! The "plot hole," people argue, is that the Nazis GOT the length of their Staff of Ra by reading the medallion's inscruption in Toht's burn scars, even though they lost the medallion itself. As we see when he raises his hand, we can clearly see the burn marks with the visible lettering. That tells us how they got the measurements, if our heroes got the medallion-but it also tells us why they only have one half of the measurements, because his palm only captured a good imprint of one side. As a result, as Indy and Sallah note in a FANTASTIC dual line delivery, "they're digging in the wrong place." Indiana, with the medallion in hand, is able to determine the real place to start his dig. (This is back when being a serious, multilingual field archaeologist WAS important to the plot: Indy wasn't just some brave guy who went on adventures, he would've been an expert in leading field excavations, which is what he ultimately does. The argument is that if Indy hadn't found the Ark and dug it up, the Nazis never would have, and everything would've been fine. I'm not sure I believe this. For one, the Nazis were within line-of-sight of the Well of Souls, and the fact that Indy was able to escape the Well by going through a wall into another section of the catacombs, and eventually find his way to a stone wall the Nazis had already uncovered at their base camp, suggests that it would only have been a matter of time before the Nazis, even digging in the wrong place, would have found the connecting passage and found the Well of Souls themselves. The other important point is that Indiana showed up in Nepal in time to save Marion and keep the medallion out of Nazi hands to begin with. If not for him, they would have straightforwardly found the Ark-and even if he helped them reach it in this film, they might have reached it not long after if Belloch, another archaeological expert, had had the time to study the ruins of Tanis and find his way from the wrong site to the right one.
The way I think about the Big Bang Theory plot hole is this: what if Indy never went on the mission and just stayed at the college teaching classes? If you think about it, everything he did helped the Nazis. The Nazis were already digging in Tanis without the headpiece, the Army Intelligence guys said so in the first meeting. After Indy got the headpiece, he flew straight to Cairo to meet with Sallah, and Sallah complained that the Nazis had already hired every digger in Cairo, and that they reached the Map Room "two days ago." So even before Indy got involved, the Nazis had Tanis and the Map Room; all they were missing was the headpiece. The Nazi's didn't know where the headpiece was; they thought Abner Ravenwood was still alive and had it in the US per the intercepted communique. Indy led them to Marion and the headpiece in Nepal (they followed him on the plane). Then, after leading them there, he got into the fight where the German guy had it burned into his had. But that burn wasn't enough; with only one side, their staff was too long. They wouldn't have found the Well of Souls with just the burn. They needed the real thing. Who brought the actual two-sided headpiece to Cairo? Indy did! Indy used it to find the Ark and bring it out of the Well of Souls, where the Nazis took it without even having to dig for it. Everything Indy did actually made the Nazi's job easier than if he had just stayed at home. Maybe they would have found it anyway just by digging everywhere for years, but that's unlikely because right before Indy's dig was spotted, Belloq was just in the process of complaining that the Germans were like a bull in a china shop and they had no idea where the Ark was and "maybe it's still hiding in some antechamber." In other words, they had no idea what to do next. Then they spotted Indy's team craning the Ark out of the ground. In other words, everything Indy did helped the Nazis find the Ark faster. If he had just stayed at home, they might never have found it, and it definitely would have taken much longer. When he did find it, the Nazis took it immediately. They only lost it through the wrath of God, not anything Indy did. That was the point of the Big Bang Theory: if Indy had just stayed at home, the Nazis would never have found the Ark. He didn't prevent them from finding it; he made it easier for them to find it. That's why it's a plot hole: he prevented nothing and actually made things worse than if he just stayed home the whole time.
I read a screenplay review of this movie where the screenwriter claimed what made Raiders of the Lost Ark great was that everything Indy tried to do failed but still advanced the plot until the end. By the way, the writer of that review wrote (along with this writing partnet) many movies including Pirates of the Carribean.
I'm old enough that I was in college when Snakes on a Plane came out and one of the YTMND memes was the scene with Indiana Jones in the plane with a snake. It said "The original Snake on a Plane." :D
One of my favorite movies. I got a movie reaction suggestion for you it's another one of my favorite movies, The Final Countdown (1980) The U.S.S. Nimitz goes back to December 6th, 1941. It's filmed on the Nimitz.
One thing you might find cool is Steven Soderbergh's edit of Raiders of the Lost Ark. He desaturates it to black and white, and replaces the soundtrack, including dialogue, with atmosphere synth. It's an exercise in drawing attention to Spielberg's masterful use of blocking and framing in Raiders, and it's really effective in showcasing what a uniquely brilliantly directed film it is.
The famous scene in which Indy shoots a marauding and flamboyant swordsman was not in the original script. Harrison Ford was supposed to use his whip to get the sword out of his attacker's hands, but the food poisoning he and the rest of the crew had gotten made him too sick to perform the stunt. After several unsuccessful tries, Ford suggested "shooting the sucker." Steven Spielberg immediately took him up on the idea, and the scene was successfully filmed.
Many stories likely have the same "flaw" of the main character being unnecessary. You could say the same about other characters in movies, such as the villain, or love interest. It is the interaction of those characters which makes the story, and a story worth telling. Thanks for the awesome reaction.
It doesn't bother me in the least, and I don't think it can be considered a flaw. I totally understand the debate, and I think it's something that can be great if it's all in good fun. This movie is a blast no matter what, and nothing changes that 😄 Thank you for watching, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Well in the case of Raiders Indy wasn't unnecessary. He told the US agents that the Ark's flaw is that it kills the people who use it as a weapon. You have to explain why the US government didn't use the Ark against all of the Nazis in WW2. The answer is that the American general's heads would explode!
As I understand it, the whole Indy being unnecessary thing is because it was the Ark that killed the Nazi's when they opened it. That would have happened whether Indy was around or not. So they were going to die either way simply because they opened the Ark. The other argument would be that since they were looking in the wrong place, they would never have found the Ark and they only did get in the film because Indy found it and got spotted. Maybe it would never have been found if Indy hadn't been there and maybe the Nazi's would have continued to tear the site apart until they did find it. We'll never know for sure. I wouldn't call it a flaw because at the start of the film no-one knew that the Ark would do that, it's all hindsight.
38:45 That's actually true of all the IJ movies. For example: You mentioned watching 'Last Crusade'? If the Nazi's found the Grail, they couldn't have taken it out of the cave anyway. Indy isn't the hero of these movies, he's the protagonist. In a lot of ways, the narrator. It said so point blank at 35:23 Indiana Jones is passing through history. He's fighting the bad guys, and he's saving the damsels, but history takes care of itself.
Not true. Indy figured out which cup was the true Grail. He was the only one who could pass the three traps to get to the Grail chamber. He figured out where the full tablet was hidden in the catacombs. He was the one who deduced that the Grail was located in Alexandretta. The Nazis had a whole lot of nothing without Indy. Indy was even more instrumental in _Temple of Doom._ All those children would've remained enslaved without him. The Thugees planned to spread their cult across the globe, and they might have succeeded if Indy hadn't stopped them in India.
The Nazis only had the limited information that they had BECAUSE of the scar on Toad's hand. Indy had BOTH sides of the headpiece. Penny's assertion was that the Nazi's would have eventually found the ark, just by sheer dumb luck, but then everyone on the island with the Ark would have died, and the Ark would be stuck on that island.
Indiana Jones made no difference to the plot because he actually failed: he was sent on a mission to prevent the Nazis from getting the Ark, yet they got it. Indeed, he found it for them. It was God, not Indy, that gave it to the Americans, who buried it deep within their bureaucratic archives, not to be seen again for another thousand years.
Actually, they would have had both sides of the headpiece because Indy wouldn't have been there to keep them from taking it from Marion in the first place.
I think that the argument is that they would have eventually have found Marion on their own, killed her, taken the headpiece, and had all of the information needed. It’s possible, but not certain. If Indy had not gone after Marion, would they have found her own as quickly, if at all? Debateable.
"Raiders of the Lost Ark": An homage to cliffhanger movies of the 1930's, it had enough stunts for THREE Action movies of the era, second choice Harrison Ford created another movie icon, "two-fisted Marion Ravenwood" stood tall as Indy's equal, and a generation of college students were persuaded to "dig in the dirt" as now-Cool Archeologists.
I think iconic movies like this are under appreciated later on because they have been emulated so many times over the years and people have seen something like it. But when this first came out? Wow!!!
The scene where they Indy encounters the guy with the sword was suppose to be an elaborate sword v whip fight, but it was a really hot day, they had already done several takes and everyone was tired. So i=Indy pulls his gun and shoots. Everyone played along. The sword guy fell down, and even the extras cheered. It worked so much better they kept it.
I think you were right. You're the first reactor I've seen who commented, "I wonder if he has the right side." Without both sides, the Nazis were digging in the wrong place. The side burned into his hand got them a clue where to dig, but not having the other side was crucial.
This movie is one of the Best "ODTAA" movies ever- "one darn thing after another". Some big problem happens, gets resolved, the audience gets time for ONE deep breath, and Something Else happens...
35:05 "Jones! Your persistence surprises even me!" He also should have said "And your inventiveness! Why, nobody on earth will invent a weapon like that for at least 6 or 7 years!" The U.S. invented the bazooka in 1942 which looked a little like that but loaded from the rear, not the front. The Germans captured some in battles in WWII and created their own Panzerfaust in 1943 which loaded from the front like this one, but looks very different. I don't think that exact weapon actually ever existed at all, but I'm certain they didn't exist (in production) until at least 1942. I'll assume he found some Nazi weapons lab where they were working on a prototype...
And that isn't a bazooka, or a Panzerfaust. It's the Soviet-era RPG-7, which wasn't produced till the 1950's. Undoubtedly it was what the prop department had that would fit the script.
Hi Jacqui, Just want to say, I really enjoyed your video and your genuine reaction(s) to this Spielberg/Lucas Classic I love this movie :) I remember seeing this with my parents, when I was a little boy, and my dear dad laughing at Harrison Ford’s greatest ad-libbed scene.. When he just shoots the s.o.b who’s swinging the sword. What’s even greater is, that after all these years, seeing someone see that scene for the 1st time and still have the same wonderful visceral reaction. I enjoyed watching the joy in your face. Thank you, Fabian
Glad you finally caught the film that is the gold standard for the genre, and started the iconic franchise. I hope you review all of the other films (including a rewatch for your thoughts on Last Crusade). I was 10 when this film came out. Talk about influential.... :)
Thank you! I'm so glad I can finally say I've seen it 😄 I had only planned on doing Temple of Doom, since I've seen Last Crusade, but if you guys want a re-watch commentary, I'm always down for some Sean Connery!) And I can well imagine what an effect this movie would have on a 10 year old! 😄
Random casting note - the guy who played the captain of the freighter went on to play Kingsley Shacklebolt in the Harry Potter films. Damn' fine actor who's been in loads of stuff over the years. 😃 I reckon I'm going to be in the minority, but I enjoyed the hell out of "Dial of Destiny" and don't care what anyone else thinks. There was one chase too many for me - one of them seemed like it was there because someone decided they needed another thing to happen - but that's more of a modern action movie thing than anything egregious that this movie committed. If "Last Crusade" didn't have Sean Connery in it I would put "Dial of Destiny" a notch above it - everyone looks at "Last Crusade" with rose tinted glasses so that they overlook some of the jaw-droppingly slapdash, lazy shit that we see in that movie. No idea what happened - maybe Lucas and Spielberg were tired of Indy by then? "Dial of Destiny" has one of the best conceived villains of the series, second only to Belloq in this but none of the other movies really wrote a good villain, relying on damn' good actors to breathe life into them - Mads Mikkelson is really good without trying to steal the movie. So that's what I think. 🙂
Fun Fact: In Lego Indiana Jones: The Videogame, the scene with Belloq and Indy argue over the idol is longer and funnier. Indy attempts to bribe Belloq with a diamond, a rubber ducky, and Threepio's Head, to which Belloq does a pretty fair impression of ol' Goldenrod.
I saw Raiders when I was 10 years old in the theater during its original theatrical run, and it blew my mind right through the back wall of the room! It remains to this day one of the very best theatrical experiences I’ve ever had, and influenced me and my young, impressionable mind to never give up when going for something. I wanted that grit and determination that Indiana Jones had. It also made me do things physically that probably raised my mother’s blood pressure significantly, as I kind of became an adrenaline junkie after that. But seriously. This movie is EVERYTHING, and remains my all time favorite film to this day. The scene blocking is amazing, the way each shot is set up and executed is flawless, the performances are believable, and that score is just the glue that puts it all together! Near perfect film!
The Last Crusade is my favorite of the 5 Indiana Jones movies! Raiders of the Lost Ark is my second favorite. Great reaction. I hope to see your reactions to the other movies in the near future. 😊
So. Summer of 1981. Fifteen years old. I was pumped as hell to see "Raiders," as I'd read extensively about it in Starlog magazine (how we oldsters got our genre movie info back then). Wasn't the closest theater or the best screen (it's long gone by now), but it didn't matter. I was so into the movie from jump, I was leaning forward in my seat the entire time. Until Marion "met" the corpses behind the wall in the Well Of Souls. I did not freak. Thankfully. But I did smoothly sit back in my seat for the first time since I'd sat down. For the duration of that scene. Whoa. Then I was back leaning in till the thrilling conclusion! This remains the greatest adventure movie of all time. Belloq laughing at his newly acquired gold idol. The swell and the sweep of John Williams' score. The greatest chase in movie history done entirely without a word of dialogue. "I don't know. I'm making this up as I go." The wrath of God destroying the Nazis. And, of course, shooting the sword-wielding Arab. Practically every scene is iconic. There may be grander cinematic thrill-rides, but there are none better.
So for all the references this movie generated that you call out, it’s kind of worth pointing out that Spielberg references many many cowboy movies he grew up watching, including a famous stagecoach chase where the character needs to slide under the stagecoach and is dragged just like that behind it… much like with Indy and the green truck.
I've always interpretated that last shot as an homage to the last shot of the movie "Citizen Kane", where they are cataloguing the accumulated possessions of Charles Foster Kane after his death.
Great reaction to a classic! Such a great script, cinematography, and direction, as you pointed out. Especially with the use of light, shadows, and silhouettes. And the amazing Williams score. Toht only has the amulet's one side burned into the palm of his hand. That burn/branding is how they were able to make the headpiece that they used to dig. But with only half the instructions... Marian was an example of the kick butt female lead that was pretty standard in a lot of the post-WWII serials that were the inspiration for Indy. She was smart, capable, and beautiful. Another example of such a character is from the 1946 serial The Crimson Ghost, wherein the female lead can fly a plane, drive a heavy duty truck, fire a gun, she also participates in many of the action scenes and pretty much wears pants throughout the serial. The Crimson Ghost is also known for having the actor who later played the Lone Ranger, Clayton Moore, as a bad guy. 😀 One thing that no one ever seems to get though is that she's NOT faking in the drinking contest with Belloq. He's grown up drinking this stuff from childhood, and it isn't affecting him as badly as she expected. She asks about the stuff they're drinking when she realizes that she's at her edge of functionality and he's still upright. When she learns that he's going to be impossible for her to drink under the table, she goes with the Plan B that she, smart cookie that she is, prepared just in case: the knife. It's an even better scene that way because it shows that she knows she's at the limit of her functionality and instead of pursuing a plan that will likely leave her incapable of aiding in her own escape, she smartly changes tactics and holds the unarmed and inebriated Belloq at bay with her knife. And then Toht walks in. The jerk. He'd sober anyone up. As would all the snakes in the Well of Souls. Strongman/wrestler/actor/and all around nice guy Pat Roach is in this movie twice and dies each time. He dies as the big Sherpa in the gunfight at Marion's bar and as the burly bald boxer who is more focused on Indy than the propeller. 😲 He would go on to appear in, and die in, the second and third Indy films, though his death scene in Last Crusade ended up on the cutting room floor, but he does appear briefly in the movie anyway. Speaking of people who die in movies, this movie also has an appearance of one actor who, this time, did not die. 😀The mustached suit and tie Army Major at the beginning and end of this movie ("Top. Men.") was previously seen in another Lucas/Spielburg film. He played the ill-fated Jek Porkins/Red 6 who did not survive in Star Wars. I am a HUGE practical FX guy. I grew up watching Harryhausen FX in movies and worked on trying to create some of my own primitive FX for theater and the Super 8 films we made as kids. Though horrifying to my 13 year old eyes when I saw this on release back in 1981, the practical FX of the deaths of Toht, Belloq, and the German commander were just so cool to me. 😀 And yes, they had all been judged and their remains were just gone as if they had never existed... 😀 Loved that! The final scene of the many many many ad infinitum crates in the warehouse was said to be the inspiration for SyFy's wonderful show Warehouse 13. I so love that show! The Indiana Jones trilogy is all there is. They waited too long and didn't have as good a script for Crystal Skull, and it only got much much worse for Dial of Destiny from what I've been told.
In case it wasn't clear, the German got branded with only one side of the medallion. That's why their staff was too long and they were digging in the wrong place. If Indy hadn't been there, maybe they'd have gotten the medallion from Marion and known the right length for the staff. Or maybe they'd have stumbled onto the Well of Souls just by persistence. In case you've never read any of them, Indy owes much of his existence to H. Rider Haggard, a 19th and early 20th century writer who created Indy's precursor, a Great White Hunter named Allan Quatermain and his adventures beginning with King Solomon's Mines in 1885. His books are kind of amazing and not nearly as racist as we might expect given the material and their setting. Haggard also gave us Ayesha, AKA She Who Must Be Obeyed, as well as many other compelling characters.
32:00. "Its not the years, but the mileage" is what my grandfather told me growing up my entire life starting in the mid 1970s. I love that it was said in this movie, but that is an old Italian adage from the 1500s.
I feel that when they made this movie it was like they caught lightning in a bottle and the feel of this movie has never been able to be duplicated in any of the sequels. Everything in this movie was just perfect for an adventure entertainment movie: the use of lighting and shadows (as you have noticed), the pacing, the dialogue, all the iconic elements, the basis for the story etc. There are other movies I feel the same way about that I thought should have been left as a stand-alone in my opinion such as The Matrix and Highlander to name a few.
I was14 when Raiders was released. I saw it with my Mum and Gran. We all loved it and I was an instant fan. On leaving the cinema I said 'Mum, can i have a whip for my birthday"? And I did. I now have an Indy costume made by the costumiers for the film in London. A big thrill was meeting the lovely gentleman at Herbert Johnson in London that created his legendary Indy Poet.
When Indy and Sallah are first lifting off the cover off the Ark, over Indy's right/screen left shoulder you can see C-3PO and R2D2 carved in with the Hieroglyphics
7:30 - That joke is funnier than most people realize . . . "eye" love you. 🤣 34:58 - Also, that was the most musical laugh I think I've ever heard from a reactor. 😍
The scene where Indy shoots the guy with the sword was supposed to be an actual fight. They practiced for a long time on it and when the day came to shoot Ford had been sick for days and came up with the idea to just shoot him himself. The swordsman was reportedly upset over it. The warehouse at the end was the inspiration for the TV show Wraehouse 13.
If Indy hadn't chased the ark, when the nazis died, more nazis would have come looking to see what happened to them. Then the nazis get the ark back And that he keeps losing right until the end is something that makes the movie more interesting
Steven Spielberg & George Lucas took a lot of inspiration from b-movies and serials from the 30s and 40s, but another inspiration that isn't mentioned enough is James Bond. That was a big reason why they got Sean Connery to play Indy's dad in Last Crusade. Have you seen any of the Bond movies? Edit: OK, I just saw that you have seen the first 2 Daniel Craig films, but you need to see the classics, particularly the Sean Connery ones.
Fun fact: Tom Selleck was originally signed to play Indiana Jones...but CBS gave a hard NO, as Sellect was already signed to do _Magnum, P.I._ and they would not suspend the show for Spielberg and Lucas. Left without a lead, they called Ford, who jumped at the role -- which is how he also got both the Han Solo and Deckard (Blade Runner) roles.
At my current age of 55 years, and several injuries, surgery, deaths of others,....when Indy says to Marion, as she aids his wounds, "It's not the years, it's the milage" I totally use that line, when I am asked how I am doing, now.
19:44 when they spread all the snakes they had over the floor, there weren't enough, they had to bring in more. When Indy falls and ends up face to face with the viper, there's a very slight reflection that can be seen on the sheet of glass that was between him and the snake (though on some DVD editions it was erased)
If you look closely @15:12 you'll see the metal pole used to overturn the truck on its side. The stunt team used explosives on the pole to launch it toward the ground overturning the truck.
So we all enjoy TBBT interpretation but for my point that’s what makes this such a uniquely brilliant film. Indy has no control over the overall story, in a weird way he’s simply an observer. A gloriously violent, murderous observer! But in a sense that’s how this movie stands out so wonderfully.
The initial cave scene was a source of amusement for the Dungeons & Dragons enthusiasts who were familiar with the game. The mysterious cave and the solitary beam of light were elements that resonated with them, as they resembled something that a Dungeon Master would create. Recognizing it as a trap, they found it reminiscent of the world of Dungeons & Dragons, resulting in laughter and anticipation.
The german officer melting at the end later became miracelously the german General at the end of Band of Brothers. Toht, the black-dressed Na#i was in Catweazle as Tearful Ted. In the Canyon where Indy threatens to blow up the Arc, R2D2 was kidnapped by the Jawas.
I was twelve when this film arrived -and have seen every Indy film in cinemas, and on disc. In the early-mid 90's, George Lucas set-up "the adventures of young Indiana Jones" on TV. About 30 episodes. Intended to be educational, and fun adventure. Indy was born in 1899 and the series continued until ;ike 1921. Episodes started and alternated between actors -a 10 year old traveling the world with his parents -a teen who goes to Europe to fight in the First World War, with the Belgian Army, under a fake name, and who then starts his adventures after WW1 -one story had a cameo part with Harrison Ford, set in the 1950's selecting on his time in Chicago in 1920 -and some of the original episodes had a 90 year old Indy, with an Eyepatch who would tell "the lessons" of his adventure (these were later be edited out for VHS, DVD release). Welcome to the adventures of Indiana Jones, and his friends, family, and enemies!
One of my fave lil facts for the movie is that the sound of the big Boulder chasing Indiana is the sound of one of the filmmakers lil 80s Toyota driving on gravel that they just stuck a mic next to lol
I watched this Movie when it first came out in the Movie Theatre. it was amazing seeing Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones after seeing him as Han Solo. It was 2 Iconic roles for him.
26:38 Stuntman/Actor Pat Roach got to play TWO minor characters who lost their lives fighting Indy in this film. The first was the giant Nepali in the "fire fight" at Marion's tavern. The second was as the gargantuan German who challenged Indy to a fistfight and should have watched out for the propeller. George Lucas cast Roach in a larger role a few years later in the movie "Willow", as General Kael.
Honestly, my favorite gag in the film is the buildup & payoff with the coat hanger. The dude pulled that scene off like a master.
His scenes are great, and he has one of the best face-melts. He elevates a mid-level hench to iconic status.
...and somehow people hated when a similar thing happened in The Last Jedi. This just proves people were hating this movie for sport.
that guy has been in a LOT and i mean a LOT of tv series, films, his scream is epic
@@paddyoddy The Last Jedi is trash regardless of a borrowed gag
That’s a gag that got cut out of Spielberg’s previous film, 1941, in which it was performed by Christopher Lee. Though it was deleted from the final film, Spielberg swore he would put it in every subsequent movie he made until it got a laugh. Fortunately, his next movie was RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
Hitting Harrison Ford in his wound in the 1930's is definitely a dick move. Doing it to him in a future cyberpunk setting is a Philip K. Dick move.
That is a fact.
I see what you did there.
Less problematic than the original joke, kudos
Well played
Now _that_ is an appropriate dick joke.
Fun fact: In the "final boss" fight, Harrison Ford had severe dysentery at the time, so the long and involved fight sequence with the swordsman they had planned got changed to one of the most iconic scenes in cinema.
Gotta love when "accidents" become iconic 😄 What an incredible moment!
Actually, he had diarehha, it I spelled it right.
Diarrhea.
it's probably the most American scene in any movie.
@@melanieparker Diarrhea. Or diarrhoea if you write British English, or even diarrhœa if you prefer archaic British English spelling. :)
Alfred Molina tells a funny story about how the spider scene was shot. He’s having spiders put on him by a spider wrangler. After he finished, Steven Spielberg came over and asked the wrangler, “Why aren’t they moving?” The wrangler explained that all the spiders were male and would need a female with them to compete over. Spielberg said, “Put a female in there,” and the wrangler did so. As Molina put it later, “All hell broke loose!” Spielberg turned to the cameraman and shouted, “Shoot! Shoot!” He told Molina, “Alfred, look scared!” To which Molina responded, “I’m scared! I’m scared!”
The spiders were also Brachypelma hamorii-from the dry forests of Mexico, and very out of place in a Sourh American jungle. (If they wanted to be accurate they should have used Goliath birdeaters, which are actually from South American jungles and are also the largest spiders in the world).
@@bkjeong4302My Dad told me once when he was stationed in Brazil back in the 60s, he was on training maneuvers and had to sleep in a hammock....20-30 feet off the ground so critters wouldn't come out for a snack. He has this fly net over him and in the middle of the night, he wakes up feeling something over his head trying to get through the net. He opens his eyes and sees THE BIGGEST SPIDER he's ever seen with quarter inch fangs! He reacted in the normal fashion: he pulled his gun and fired three rounds as he rolled out of his bed.... forgetting he's over 20ft in the air, and lands on his back knocking the wind out of. The rest of his team woke up to investigate and their guide, a local Indios, is laughing as he's holding up the bird catcher. It's body was as big around as a steering wheel. And since then Dad hated spiders with a passion.
Man, that is a F******** BADASS STORY!!!😂😂😂😂😂
@@bkjeong4302 Oh dear, really???!!!😔😔😔😔.....ohhh I'll have to try and forget that whenever I watch that scene - DON'T like inauthenticity 😠😠😠
Great story! Thanks for sharing!
They used this species because their stripedy legs show up very well on film and contrast with the colours they are wearing. Goliath Bird-Eaters are not nearly so colourful, and wouldn’t ‘pop’ onscreen.
"Is this area 51?" Nope, Warehouse 13. Look it up. Great series.
Warehouse 13 had a great cast. I miss Claudia.
Nope. It's an Amazon warehouse.
Don't forget "The Librarian" they have a similar warehouse in that all the artifacts are there. 1 of them is the ark from Raiders
It is Area 51, they revisit it in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
I think people who say it's a "plot hole" that Indy doesn't affect the plot are missing the point. The movie isn't about the effect Indy has on the Ark, it's about the effect the Ark has on Indy.
It's a fun one to troll fan-boys with though.
Also, he absolutely had an effect on the plot. I've gone into this on other reactors' videos, so I don't feel like repeating it all, but to sum it up, Indiana not being there would've resulted in the Americans not knowing where the Ark was taken, and the Führer continually sending soldiers and researchers to the Ark until they figured out how to use it.
It's not even what Plot Hole means; it isn't a gap in the story. Idiots on the Internet throw around the term Plot Hole for anything they don't understand or don't like about a story. Not to mention that Marian would have been killed by the Nazis; that's a pretty damn significant thing Indy affected.
@@AaronLitz OP did say "plot hole" in quotations though, and most of the time I don't see that being used at all (and I don't use it myself when trolling). Most of the time people say something like "Indiana Jones had no effect on the plot". And sure, that's significant for her on a personal level. He also killed and hurt a bunch of people so he was significant for them too, again on a personal level. But looking at the big picture, the biggest thing he affected is where the Ark ended up.
Also, without Indy, the Nazis still have the Ark. One way or another, Hitler still gets his hands on it. Because of Indy and Mirion, it gets into the hands of the U.S. and away from the evil seeking its power.
The exposition scene at the college with the army intelligence, is still one of the best examples of exposition in a movie. No wasted words, everything you need to know is explained, not to mention the awesome music/theme that plays that sets the tone. So well done.
Agreed!
@@movienightwithjacqui Poltergeist 1 - 3 are a must watch too...
Indy is ably assisted through the scene by Agent Jek Porkins!
@@daddynitro199 Also known as Munsen, Dr Zarkhov's assistant in "Flash Gordon" :)
The one half they had was from the guy's hand. Only one side was burned in, so that's how they got it and why they didn't have the second. Without Indy, everything kind of happens as it did here except, probably, for the ark ending up in a US warehouse.
As for the new movie, I really enjoyed it. I love all 5 movies, but if I'm gonna give my personal order of best to least best, it's:
Last Crusade
Raiders
Dial of Destiny
Crystal Skull
Temple of Doom
I hope to see you react to all of them! I'd even be interested in a rewatch of Last Crusade after you've seen the first 2. (Also, Temple of Doom actually takes place a few years before the first movie. Not strictly needed to know but I think it's good to know.)
Guy's been up for two days, worked all through the night, fought snakes and Nazis all day, been punched a hundred times, shot, and thrown under a truck.
And he got his jaw broken with a mirror.
I think we should give him a break for falling asleep this one time. :)
Actually, I like the fact that Marion did.
All she said was "We can't catch a break."
Broken jaw? Don't know where you came up with that one. If that was true, it would be quite painful & I couldn't see how anyone would be in the mood for kissing with a freshly broken jaw.
At 28:31 Indy says "I don't know. I'm making this up as I go". I heard that was an ad lib by Harrison Ford because he forgot the line, but they liked it so much they left it in.
The Nazi submarine featured in Raiders was borrowed from Das Boot, which was being filmed at the same time. If you've never seen it, Das Boot is absolutely one of the best war films ever made - a must watch
Das Boot is an epic fim/series. It should get much more appreciation and recognition.
god that film is brilliant, the ending absolutely tore me to bits. Highly recommend Stalingrad 1993, its in the same vein, again brilliant German war movie. I do have to ask, ive only seen the cut on Netflix, the movie version, is it a lesser version of the miniseries version? Would u recommend watching again for the miniseries?
There is an original film, mini series and director's cut. Mini series adds some character interaction and is nearly 300 minutes in total (I think it was 3 episodes). Director's cut is 219 minutes long. I think it's worth to see the series to fully appreciate this piece of cinematography.
@@mrshogun1689 I've only ever seen the series when it first came out. My whole family were engrossed by it.
The ending scene became the inspiration for the TV show "Warehouse 13" 😯
😮
I always wondered what warehouse number it would be
One thing that gives Raiders its unique feel - you can almost seat your watch to it.
It is an homage to the old Saturday morning serials (Rocky Jones Space Adventurer, Undersea Kingdom, etc) that Spielberg and Lucas grew up on. Each was a single reel long, shown before a Saturday matinee, and the reel was ten minutes long.
If you watch this movie with a stopwatch, there’s a major scene or set piece for each 10-minute section of movie.
John Williams is still active scoring at age 91. He even scored the recently released INDIANA JONES 5 (DIAL OF DESTINY). In fact, he made Oscars history earlier this year by being both the oldest ever Oscar nominee (he was nominated for Steven Spielberg's THE FABELMANS (2022) just shy of his 91st birthday) and the only person ever to be nominated in 7 different decades (he has been nominated every decade from the 1960s to the 2020s inclusive).
I didn't know that! 😮 I feel like they should just rename "Best Original Score" to the "John Williams Award," because while there are some absolutely incredible composers, he's the GOAT!
I feel like he and Horner will have some type of lifetime achievement award for the new people who do scores.
@@Deepthoughtsabound Yes! I'd definitely include Hans Zimmer in the pantheon, as well. The trifecta of iconic film composers!
@@movienightwithjacqui actually despite an incredible nomination tally, John Williams only won 5 Oscars (out of 53 nominations).
I heard that John Williams is retiring from scoring after he completed the score for Harrison's last act as Indiana Jones.
This was Alfred Molina pre pretty much anything. He'd only had a few small roles, and was getting ready to quit acting and go home to England, when he got the call. This was his first credited role.
The original headpiece had all the information to get the correct length of the staff. The bald guy only got half, the front end of the headpiece, burned into the palm of his hand so that's why the Na26is were digging in the wrong place. They didn't have all the information from the headpiece to get the correct height.
The guy who could read the writing, where the monkey was poisoned, stopped Indy and Sallah when they were talking about the length of the staff and then turned the headpiece around to read the rest of the writing and there it said to take back one kadam to honor the Hebrew God whose ark this is.
Thank you... I was hoping someone said this. I got stressed out every time she thought the Nazis had the full Talisman and Indy only had half. I wasn't sure how to explain what was really going on. So again, thank you! 😀
Yes, you saved me from having to type that out. I knew someone would explain it. I have a hard time understanding how anyone didn't get this as I understood it when was 11... (without a film school degree I might add). 😉
I’ve seen this movie arguably a 100 times, and just now realized that the other guide who was with Alfred Molina from the beginning was also the Nazi spy with the eye patch and monkey.
For me, folks who say Indy's presence doesn't matter in this adventure are missing a basic point. The ark is a MacGuffin, he and Marian matter in the story because it's their journey and adventure together. They are changed by the experiences and come out as wiser, possibly better people. That's a successful hero's journey even if the two heroes weren't needed to stop the bad guys. The two heroes took a humble leap of faith and left the bad guys to their fate.
Can you refer to which scene or line revealed how they grew wiser?
I have watched many reaction videos for this movie and you are the first person to understand it. "Not for the eyes of mortals" Smart woman!! Way to go!
The thing with 'Indy doesn't change anything' is that it kind of speaks to one of the main themes of Raiders and the series overall. Because the one thing he does really change is that Marion would have died in Nepal if not for him. And ultimately the core of the film and series is realizing that that quest for knowledge or power isn't worth sacrificing love and friendship for. In Raiders, Indy's tested three times: he fails when he doesn't rescue Marion from the camp because it would mean losing his chance for the Ark, and again when his threat to destroy it to save her is exposed as a bluff, but then he *passes* the final test when he gives up his chance to know what's inside the Ark in order to save Marion's life, literally closing his eyes to knowledge because he realizes she's more important. So the only thing that Indy really changes is, ultimately, the only thing that really matters. And that's the film's central message.
It's a myth
It's kind of nonsense though. I the nazis follow him to Marion, they didn't know where she was, and she had the staff piece.
A bluff made standing on a bluff 😁
It seems to me that the Nazis only found Marian in Nepal because they were following Indy. So, if Indy never went on his quest, Marian would have never been in danger... of course, she would have still been stuck in Nepal.
@@reedcockrell8126
Wrong.
Army intelligence had intercepted the message directing Toht (they didn't know exactly who it was) to "acquire headpiece, Staff of Rha".
So they knew who had it - Abner Ravenwood, Marion's father and they knew what they were looking for.
The idea that the Gestapo couldn't have tracked Marion down in Nepal from that is very unlikely.
They were coming, they just used Indy to speed up the process.
The scene at the end, when the Ark is opened . . . I've been watching this movie my entire life, I don't even remember the first time I saw it, I've seen it probably hundreds of times, and I still get chills. Between the setup and the unearthly sounds and the figures in the mist and the face-melting and the clouds parting and Williams's score--
Epic.
Tom Selleck was supposed to play Indy, but he couldn't get out of his commitment to Magnum P.I. He later made a movie called High Road to China which Roger Ebert called a "pale echo of Raiders."
No kidding! I think I remember seeing somewhere that Chip and Dale were dressed like Indiana Jones and Magnum P.I., but I never made the connection that it's because Tom Selleck was supposed to play Indy. Thank you for sharing!
I liked High Road to China. But then, I'll watch most anything with Bess Armstrong in it.
Roger Ebert was WRONG. High Road to China was terrific.
I knew a martial arts teacher who had two completely different types of class. He taught people to compete in competitive tournaments, and he also taught self defense classes. In the competition classes he taught you to follow the rules, but in self defense classes he taught you to fight dirty.
If you are fighting to defend yourself, you want every advantage. Trying to fight clean will only increase your chances of losing the fight.
You fight dirty because you are fighting for your life.
Hmm. Wise
If you have found yourself in a fair fight; your tactics suck.
@@jerryfick613 or you are in a tournament i guess 😂
Jacqui, if you're a film school grad, you might know about Peter Lorre, a popular character actor of the 1930s and '40s who specialized in playing creeps, psychos, weasels and general evil dudes. I've always thought the creepy Nazi dude who gets his hand burnt and his face melted at the end of the movie was doing his best Peter Lorre impression.
He also was in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, where he played a cowardly valet/grad student
The opening is a perfect good news-bad news action sequence. Thanks for the reaction, Jacqui.
Nice Die Hard reference BTW; "monkey in the wrench". Not Area 51, it's Warehouse 13. 😆
If Indy had not been in the story, Marion would probably be dead. That's about it.
I've been rewatching them all for The Dial of Destiny and I can tell you that both this film and The Last Crusade are some of my all time favorite films, especially The Last Crusade. You're going to have a lot of fun with these! 🤗
If Indy hadn't been in Nepal, the Nazis would have gotten the medallion right away and been able to read both sides from the start.
9:51 - 9:52 I love Indy looking at Sallah with that "what are you, fuckin' kidding me?" look after he tells Indy to go first. 😂😂
38:14 I believe it’s Warehouse 13 😂. Love that show!
As you surmised, every kid wanted a whip after 'Raiders' came out, and I was no exception. My sister and I got cheapo toy whips at the local fair, and we even bought the official Indiana Jones fedoras. A big oak tree in our yard had a sturdy dead limb sticking out, so you can guess what I did. That cheapo whip broke halfway through the swing and dropped me hard on my ass.
That was one of two times I tried to mimic something I'd seen in a movie. I'll tell you about the other one if and when you do a reaction to 'A Christmas Story.'
Indiana Jones is one of my favorite franchise. I am so glad you discover this movie Jacqui and I’m so exited to see your next réactions 🤠
What a delight this reaction was!
The "plot hole," people argue, is that the Nazis GOT the length of their Staff of Ra by reading the medallion's inscruption in Toht's burn scars, even though they lost the medallion itself. As we see when he raises his hand, we can clearly see the burn marks with the visible lettering. That tells us how they got the measurements, if our heroes got the medallion-but it also tells us why they only have one half of the measurements, because his palm only captured a good imprint of one side. As a result, as Indy and Sallah note in a FANTASTIC dual line delivery, "they're digging in the wrong place."
Indiana, with the medallion in hand, is able to determine the real place to start his dig. (This is back when being a serious, multilingual field archaeologist WAS important to the plot: Indy wasn't just some brave guy who went on adventures, he would've been an expert in leading field excavations, which is what he ultimately does.
The argument is that if Indy hadn't found the Ark and dug it up, the Nazis never would have, and everything would've been fine. I'm not sure I believe this.
For one, the Nazis were within line-of-sight of the Well of Souls, and the fact that Indy was able to escape the Well by going through a wall into another section of the catacombs, and eventually find his way to a stone wall the Nazis had already uncovered at their base camp, suggests that it would only have been a matter of time before the Nazis, even digging in the wrong place, would have found the connecting passage and found the Well of Souls themselves. The other important point is that Indiana showed up in Nepal in time to save Marion and keep the medallion out of Nazi hands to begin with. If not for him, they would have straightforwardly found the Ark-and even if he helped them reach it in this film, they might have reached it not long after if Belloch, another archaeological expert, had had the time to study the ruins of Tanis and find his way from the wrong site to the right one.
The way I think about the Big Bang Theory plot hole is this: what if Indy never went on the mission and just stayed at the college teaching classes? If you think about it, everything he did helped the Nazis.
The Nazis were already digging in Tanis without the headpiece, the Army Intelligence guys said so in the first meeting. After Indy got the headpiece, he flew straight to Cairo to meet with Sallah, and Sallah complained that the Nazis had already hired every digger in Cairo, and that they reached the Map Room "two days ago." So even before Indy got involved, the Nazis had Tanis and the Map Room; all they were missing was the headpiece.
The Nazi's didn't know where the headpiece was; they thought Abner Ravenwood was still alive and had it in the US per the intercepted communique. Indy led them to Marion and the headpiece in Nepal (they followed him on the plane). Then, after leading them there, he got into the fight where the German guy had it burned into his had. But that burn wasn't enough; with only one side, their staff was too long. They wouldn't have found the Well of Souls with just the burn. They needed the real thing.
Who brought the actual two-sided headpiece to Cairo? Indy did! Indy used it to find the Ark and bring it out of the Well of Souls, where the Nazis took it without even having to dig for it.
Everything Indy did actually made the Nazi's job easier than if he had just stayed at home. Maybe they would have found it anyway just by digging everywhere for years, but that's unlikely because right before Indy's dig was spotted, Belloq was just in the process of complaining that the Germans were like a bull in a china shop and they had no idea where the Ark was and "maybe it's still hiding in some antechamber." In other words, they had no idea what to do next. Then they spotted Indy's team craning the Ark out of the ground.
In other words, everything Indy did helped the Nazis find the Ark faster. If he had just stayed at home, they might never have found it, and it definitely would have taken much longer. When he did find it, the Nazis took it immediately. They only lost it through the wrath of God, not anything Indy did.
That was the point of the Big Bang Theory: if Indy had just stayed at home, the Nazis would never have found the Ark. He didn't prevent them from finding it; he made it easier for them to find it. That's why it's a plot hole: he prevented nothing and actually made things worse than if he just stayed home the whole time.
I read a screenplay review of this movie where the screenwriter claimed what made Raiders of the Lost Ark great was that everything Indy tried to do failed but still advanced the plot until the end. By the way, the writer of that review wrote (along with this writing partnet) many movies including Pirates of the Carribean.
The actor playing the villain Beloc played the priest in the Simon Pegg movie “Hot Fuzz”.
I'm old enough that I was in college when Snakes on a Plane came out and one of the YTMND memes was the scene with Indiana Jones in the plane with a snake. It said "The original Snake on a Plane." :D
One of my favorite movies. I got a movie reaction suggestion for you it's another one of my favorite movies, The Final Countdown (1980) The U.S.S. Nimitz goes back to December 6th, 1941. It's filmed on the Nimitz.
I like the references to Casablanca in this movie.
For film students, this is a perfectly directed, produced, written, cast, shot, edited, scored, and choreographed film!
The blocking of scenes in this film is near flawless. Spielberg has a gift for knowing how to set his scenes up.
One thing you might find cool is Steven Soderbergh's edit of Raiders of the Lost Ark. He desaturates it to black and white, and replaces the soundtrack, including dialogue, with atmosphere synth. It's an exercise in drawing attention to Spielberg's masterful use of blocking and framing in Raiders, and it's really effective in showcasing what a uniquely brilliantly directed film it is.
The famous scene in which Indy shoots a marauding and flamboyant swordsman was not in the original script. Harrison Ford was supposed to use his whip to get the sword out of his attacker's hands, but the food poisoning he and the rest of the crew had gotten made him too sick to perform the stunt. After several unsuccessful tries, Ford suggested "shooting the sucker." Steven Spielberg immediately took him up on the idea, and the scene was successfully filmed.
That's fantastic! I love when accidents become iconic 😄
Specifically it was dysentery, and it was also why he was so sweaty, he was spiking a fever at the time.
Many stories likely have the same "flaw" of the main character being unnecessary. You could say the same about other characters in movies, such as the villain, or love interest. It is the interaction of those characters which makes the story, and a story worth telling.
Thanks for the awesome reaction.
It doesn't bother me in the least, and I don't think it can be considered a flaw. I totally understand the debate, and I think it's something that can be great if it's all in good fun. This movie is a blast no matter what, and nothing changes that 😄 Thank you for watching, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Well in the case of Raiders Indy wasn't unnecessary. He told the US agents that the Ark's flaw is that it kills the people who use it as a weapon. You have to explain why the US government didn't use the Ark against all of the Nazis in WW2. The answer is that the American general's heads would explode!
Much like a lot of the movies being made today are unnecessary in general...haha
Thinking about it more, without Indie then Marion might have been tortured for the medallion and then killed.
As I understand it, the whole Indy being unnecessary thing is because it was the Ark that killed the Nazi's when they opened it. That would have happened whether Indy was around or not. So they were going to die either way simply because they opened the Ark.
The other argument would be that since they were looking in the wrong place, they would never have found the Ark and they only did get in the film because Indy found it and got spotted. Maybe it would never have been found if Indy hadn't been there and maybe the Nazi's would have continued to tear the site apart until they did find it. We'll never know for sure.
I wouldn't call it a flaw because at the start of the film no-one knew that the Ark would do that, it's all hindsight.
38:45 That's actually true of all the IJ movies. For example: You mentioned watching 'Last Crusade'? If the Nazi's found the Grail, they couldn't have taken it out of the cave anyway.
Indy isn't the hero of these movies, he's the protagonist. In a lot of ways, the narrator. It said so point blank at 35:23 Indiana Jones is passing through history. He's fighting the bad guys, and he's saving the damsels, but history takes care of itself.
Not true. Indy figured out which cup was the true Grail. He was the only one who could pass the three traps to get to the Grail chamber. He figured out where the full tablet was hidden in the catacombs. He was the one who deduced that the Grail was located in Alexandretta. The Nazis had a whole lot of nothing without Indy.
Indy was even more instrumental in _Temple of Doom._ All those children would've remained enslaved without him. The Thugees planned to spread their cult across the globe, and they might have succeeded if Indy hadn't stopped them in India.
Saw the last one last night. Nice send off to the franchise.
The Nazis only had the limited information that they had BECAUSE of the scar on Toad's hand.
Indy had BOTH sides of the headpiece.
Penny's assertion was that the Nazi's would have eventually found the ark, just by sheer dumb luck, but then everyone on the island with the Ark would have died, and the Ark would be stuck on that island.
Indiana Jones made no difference to the plot because he actually failed: he was sent on a mission to prevent the Nazis from getting the Ark, yet they got it. Indeed, he found it for them. It was God, not Indy, that gave it to the Americans, who buried it deep within their bureaucratic archives, not to be seen again for another thousand years.
Actually, they would have had both sides of the headpiece because Indy wouldn't have been there to keep them from taking it from Marion in the first place.
I think that the argument is that they would have eventually have found Marion on their own, killed her, taken the headpiece, and had all of the information needed. It’s possible, but not certain. If Indy had not gone after Marion, would they have found her own as quickly, if at all? Debateable.
*Toht*
@@JedHead77 I had a hunch I was wrong since I was going off what I heard, having never seen it written.
Thanks,.
"Raiders of the Lost Ark": An homage to cliffhanger movies of the 1930's, it had enough stunts for THREE Action movies of the era, second choice Harrison Ford created another movie icon, "two-fisted Marion Ravenwood" stood tall as Indy's equal, and a generation of college students were persuaded to "dig in the dirt" as now-Cool Archeologists.
I think iconic movies like this are under appreciated later on because they have been emulated so many times over the years and people have seen something like it. But when this first came out? Wow!!!
The scene where they Indy encounters the guy with the sword was suppose to be an elaborate sword v whip fight, but it was a really hot day, they had already done several takes and everyone was tired. So i=Indy pulls his gun and shoots. Everyone played along. The sword guy fell down, and even the extras cheered.
It worked so much better they kept it.
I think you were right. You're the first reactor I've seen who commented, "I wonder if he has the right side." Without both sides, the Nazis were digging in the wrong place. The side burned into his hand got them a clue where to dig, but not having the other side was crucial.
This movie is one of the Best "ODTAA" movies ever- "one darn thing after another". Some big problem happens, gets resolved, the audience gets time for ONE deep breath, and Something Else happens...
35:05 "Jones! Your persistence surprises even me!"
He also should have said "And your inventiveness! Why, nobody on earth will invent a weapon like that for at least 6 or 7 years!"
The U.S. invented the bazooka in 1942 which looked a little like that but loaded from the rear, not the front.
The Germans captured some in battles in WWII and created their own Panzerfaust in 1943 which loaded from the front like this one, but looks very different.
I don't think that exact weapon actually ever existed at all, but I'm certain they didn't exist (in production) until at least 1942.
I'll assume he found some Nazi weapons lab where they were working on a prototype...
And that isn't a bazooka, or a Panzerfaust.
It's the Soviet-era RPG-7, which wasn't produced till the 1950's.
Undoubtedly it was what the prop department had that would fit the script.
Historical fact, Raiders of the Lost Ark was supposed to be a B movie, but became a box office iconic master piece.
Hi Jacqui, Just want to say, I really enjoyed your video and your genuine reaction(s) to this Spielberg/Lucas Classic
I love this movie :)
I remember seeing this with my parents, when I was a little boy, and my dear dad laughing at Harrison Ford’s greatest ad-libbed scene.. When he just shoots the s.o.b who’s swinging the sword.
What’s even greater is, that after all these years, seeing someone see that scene for the 1st time and still have the same wonderful visceral reaction. I enjoyed watching the joy in your face.
Thank you,
Fabian
3:44 Your reaction to the spiders is making me REALLY look forward to your Temple of Doom video :D
Glad you finally caught the film that is the gold standard for the genre, and started the iconic franchise.
I hope you review all of the other films (including a rewatch for your thoughts on Last Crusade).
I was 10 when this film came out. Talk about influential.... :)
Thank you! I'm so glad I can finally say I've seen it 😄 I had only planned on doing Temple of Doom, since I've seen Last Crusade, but if you guys want a re-watch commentary, I'm always down for some Sean Connery!)
And I can well imagine what an effect this movie would have on a 10 year old! 😄
As usual another great review. I really like all the little extra things you insert into your videos. Keep up the good work!😎👍
Random casting note - the guy who played the captain of the freighter went on to play Kingsley Shacklebolt in the Harry Potter films. Damn' fine actor who's been in loads of stuff over the years. 😃
I reckon I'm going to be in the minority, but I enjoyed the hell out of "Dial of Destiny" and don't care what anyone else thinks. There was one chase too many for me - one of them seemed like it was there because someone decided they needed another thing to happen - but that's more of a modern action movie thing than anything egregious that this movie committed. If "Last Crusade" didn't have Sean Connery in it I would put "Dial of Destiny" a notch above it - everyone looks at "Last Crusade" with rose tinted glasses so that they overlook some of the jaw-droppingly slapdash, lazy shit that we see in that movie. No idea what happened - maybe Lucas and Spielberg were tired of Indy by then? "Dial of Destiny" has one of the best conceived villains of the series, second only to Belloq in this but none of the other movies really wrote a good villain, relying on damn' good actors to breathe life into them - Mads Mikkelson is really good without trying to steal the movie. So that's what I think. 🙂
Great review. I ❤ your facial reactions & sense of fun & themed clothes. Please keep it up.
Fun Fact: In Lego Indiana Jones: The Videogame, the scene with Belloq and Indy argue over the idol is longer and funnier. Indy attempts to bribe Belloq with a diamond, a rubber ducky, and Threepio's Head, to which Belloq does a pretty fair impression of ol' Goldenrod.
I saw Raiders when I was 10 years old in the theater during its original theatrical run, and it blew my mind right through the back wall of the room! It remains to this day one of the very best theatrical experiences I’ve ever had, and influenced me and my young, impressionable mind to never give up when going for something. I wanted that grit and determination that Indiana Jones had. It also made me do things physically that probably raised my mother’s blood pressure significantly, as I kind of became an adrenaline junkie after that.
But seriously. This movie is EVERYTHING, and remains my all time favorite film to this day. The scene blocking is amazing, the way each shot is set up and executed is flawless, the performances are believable, and that score is just the glue that puts it all together! Near perfect film!
I took a drink every time you said “iconic” and now I’m dead.
I was sitting and smiling all the way at your reaction... You rock 🙂
The Wilhelm Scream is used in every Indiana Jones movie and Star Wars movie.
The Last Crusade is my favorite of the 5 Indiana Jones movies! Raiders of the Lost Ark is my second favorite. Great reaction. I hope to see your reactions to the other movies in the near future. 😊
Maureen McCormick, from the original Brady Bunch series, was called in to audition for the part of Marion. She was cracked out and blew it.
So. Summer of 1981. Fifteen years old. I was pumped as hell to see "Raiders," as I'd read extensively about it in Starlog magazine (how we oldsters got our genre movie info back then). Wasn't the closest theater or the best screen (it's long gone by now), but it didn't matter. I was so into the movie from jump, I was leaning forward in my seat the entire time.
Until Marion "met" the corpses behind the wall in the Well Of Souls.
I did not freak. Thankfully. But I did smoothly sit back in my seat for the first time since I'd sat down. For the duration of that scene. Whoa. Then I was back leaning in till the thrilling conclusion!
This remains the greatest adventure movie of all time. Belloq laughing at his newly acquired gold idol. The swell and the sweep of John Williams' score. The greatest chase in movie history done entirely without a word of dialogue. "I don't know. I'm making this up as I go." The wrath of God destroying the Nazis. And, of course, shooting the sword-wielding Arab. Practically every scene is iconic. There may be grander cinematic thrill-rides, but there are none better.
So for all the references this movie generated that you call out, it’s kind of worth pointing out that Spielberg references many many cowboy movies he grew up watching, including a famous stagecoach chase where the character needs to slide under the stagecoach and is dragged just like that behind it… much like with Indy and the green truck.
I've always interpretated that last shot as an homage to the last shot of the movie "Citizen Kane", where they are cataloguing the accumulated possessions of Charles Foster Kane after his death.
Great reaction to a classic!
Such a great script, cinematography, and direction, as you pointed out. Especially with the use of light, shadows, and silhouettes. And the amazing Williams score.
Toht only has the amulet's one side burned into the palm of his hand. That burn/branding is how they were able to make the headpiece that they used to dig. But with only half the instructions...
Marian was an example of the kick butt female lead that was pretty standard in a lot of the post-WWII serials that were the inspiration for Indy. She was smart, capable, and beautiful. Another example of such a character is from the 1946 serial The Crimson Ghost, wherein the female lead can fly a plane, drive a heavy duty truck, fire a gun, she also participates in many of the action scenes and pretty much wears pants throughout the serial. The Crimson Ghost is also known for having the actor who later played the Lone Ranger, Clayton Moore, as a bad guy. 😀
One thing that no one ever seems to get though is that she's NOT faking in the drinking contest with Belloq. He's grown up drinking this stuff from childhood, and it isn't affecting him as badly as she expected. She asks about the stuff they're drinking when she realizes that she's at her edge of functionality and he's still upright. When she learns that he's going to be impossible for her to drink under the table, she goes with the Plan B that she, smart cookie that she is, prepared just in case: the knife. It's an even better scene that way because it shows that she knows she's at the limit of her functionality and instead of pursuing a plan that will likely leave her incapable of aiding in her own escape, she smartly changes tactics and holds the unarmed and inebriated Belloq at bay with her knife. And then Toht walks in. The jerk. He'd sober anyone up. As would all the snakes in the Well of Souls.
Strongman/wrestler/actor/and all around nice guy Pat Roach is in this movie twice and dies each time. He dies as the big Sherpa in the gunfight at Marion's bar and as the burly bald boxer who is more focused on Indy than the propeller. 😲 He would go on to appear in, and die in, the second and third Indy films, though his death scene in Last Crusade ended up on the cutting room floor, but he does appear briefly in the movie anyway.
Speaking of people who die in movies, this movie also has an appearance of one actor who, this time, did not die. 😀The mustached suit and tie Army Major at the beginning and end of this movie ("Top. Men.") was previously seen in another Lucas/Spielburg film. He played the ill-fated Jek Porkins/Red 6 who did not survive in Star Wars.
I am a HUGE practical FX guy. I grew up watching Harryhausen FX in movies and worked on trying to create some of my own primitive FX for theater and the Super 8 films we made as kids. Though horrifying to my 13 year old eyes when I saw this on release back in 1981, the practical FX of the deaths of Toht, Belloq, and the German commander were just so cool to me. 😀 And yes, they had all been judged and their remains were just gone as if they had never existed... 😀 Loved that!
The final scene of the many many many ad infinitum crates in the warehouse was said to be the inspiration for SyFy's wonderful show Warehouse 13. I so love that show!
The Indiana Jones trilogy is all there is. They waited too long and didn't have as good a script for Crystal Skull, and it only got much much worse for Dial of Destiny from what I've been told.
Did you know... The freighter captain, Katanga, would go on to play Kingsley SHacklebolt in the HP films
In case it wasn't clear, the German got branded with only one side of the medallion. That's why their staff was too long and they were digging in the wrong place. If Indy hadn't been there, maybe they'd have gotten the medallion from Marion and known the right length for the staff. Or maybe they'd have stumbled onto the Well of Souls just by persistence.
In case you've never read any of them, Indy owes much of his existence to H. Rider Haggard, a 19th and early 20th century writer who created Indy's precursor, a Great White Hunter named Allan Quatermain and his adventures beginning with King Solomon's Mines in 1885. His books are kind of amazing and not nearly as racist as we might expect given the material and their setting. Haggard also gave us Ayesha, AKA She Who Must Be Obeyed, as well as many other compelling characters.
32:00. "Its not the years, but the mileage" is what my grandfather told me growing up my entire life starting in the mid 1970s. I love that it was said in this movie, but that is an old Italian adage from the 1500s.
I feel that when they made this movie it was like they caught lightning in a bottle and the feel of this movie has never been able to be duplicated in any of the sequels. Everything in this movie was just perfect for an adventure entertainment movie: the use of lighting and shadows (as you have noticed), the pacing, the dialogue, all the iconic elements, the basis for the story etc.
There are other movies I feel the same way about that I thought should have been left as a stand-alone in my opinion such as The Matrix and Highlander to name a few.
The big bloke having the 'close encounter' with the propeller was a british wrestler called 'Bomber' Pat Roach, he was the baddie everyone routed for.
I was14 when Raiders was released. I saw it with my Mum and Gran. We all loved it and I was an instant fan.
On leaving the cinema I said 'Mum, can i have a whip for my birthday"?
And I did.
I now have an Indy costume made by the costumiers for the film in London. A big thrill was meeting the lovely gentleman at Herbert Johnson in London that created his legendary Indy Poet.
When Indy and Sallah are first lifting off the cover off the Ark, over Indy's right/screen left shoulder you can see C-3PO and R2D2 carved in with the Hieroglyphics
7:30 - That joke is funnier than most people realize . . . "eye" love you. 🤣
34:58 - Also, that was the most musical laugh I think I've ever heard from a reactor. 😍
The scene where Indy shoots the guy with the sword was supposed to be an actual fight. They practiced for a long time on it and when the day came to shoot Ford had been sick for days and came up with the idea to just shoot him himself. The swordsman was reportedly upset over it.
The warehouse at the end was the inspiration for the TV show Wraehouse 13.
Inside the Ark was except for the stone tablets Aarons rod and a jar of manna.
The relics did burn on the ship to keep them away.
"Is the monkey an informant?!" might be one of the better things I've heard recently
Great reaction! saw this when it came out, thought it was the best movie I had ever seen. OH and love your nails.
If you thought this movie was violent just wait until you watch Temple of Doom
Just noticed something after watching this 100 times. In the bazooka scene at 35:28, when did they have time to sew a custom fitted cover for the Ark?
If Indy hadn't chased the ark, when the nazis died, more nazis would have come looking to see what happened to them. Then the nazis get the ark back
And that he keeps losing right until the end is something that makes the movie more interesting
38:30 actually, there was a series “Warehouse 13” that was supposed to be about that collection…
Steven Spielberg & George Lucas took a lot of inspiration from b-movies and serials from the 30s and 40s, but another inspiration that isn't mentioned enough is James Bond. That was a big reason why they got Sean Connery to play Indy's dad in Last Crusade. Have you seen any of the Bond movies?
Edit: OK, I just saw that you have seen the first 2 Daniel Craig films, but you need to see the classics, particularly the Sean Connery ones.
Fun fact: Tom Selleck was originally signed to play Indiana Jones...but CBS gave a hard NO, as Sellect was already signed to do _Magnum, P.I._ and they would not suspend the show for Spielberg and Lucas. Left without a lead, they called Ford, who jumped at the role -- which is how he also got both the Han Solo and Deckard (Blade Runner) roles.
At my current age of 55 years, and several injuries, surgery, deaths of others,....when Indy says to Marion, as she aids his wounds, "It's not the years, it's the milage" I totally use that line, when I am asked how I am doing, now.
I 100% agree with @barkingmonkee, that has to be the most dramatic reveal of a coat hanger in film history.
19:44 when they spread all the snakes they had over the floor, there weren't enough, they had to bring in more. When Indy falls and ends up face to face with the viper, there's a very slight reflection that can be seen on the sheet of glass that was between him and the snake (though on some DVD editions it was erased)
If you look closely @15:12 you'll see the metal pole used to overturn the truck on its side. The stunt team used explosives on the pole to launch it toward the ground overturning the truck.
So we all enjoy TBBT interpretation but for my point that’s what makes this such a uniquely brilliant film. Indy has no control over the overall story, in a weird way he’s simply an observer. A gloriously violent, murderous observer! But in a sense that’s how this movie stands out so wonderfully.
The coat hanger! Greatest bit of all time.
The initial cave scene was a source of amusement for the Dungeons & Dragons enthusiasts who were familiar with the game. The mysterious cave and the solitary beam of light were elements that resonated with them, as they resembled something that a Dungeon Master would create. Recognizing it as a trap, they found it reminiscent of the world of Dungeons & Dragons, resulting in laughter and anticipation.
The Nazis needed to follow Indy to find Marion. So once again, Big Bang Theory is wrong... not the theory, the show 😂
The german officer melting at the end later became miracelously the german General at the end of Band of Brothers. Toht, the black-dressed Na#i was in Catweazle as Tearful Ted. In the Canyon where Indy threatens to blow up the Arc, R2D2 was kidnapped by the Jawas.
I was twelve when this film arrived -and have seen every Indy film in cinemas, and on disc. In the early-mid 90's, George Lucas set-up "the adventures of young Indiana Jones" on TV. About 30 episodes. Intended to be educational, and fun adventure. Indy was born in 1899 and the series continued until ;ike 1921. Episodes started and alternated between actors -a 10 year old traveling the world with his parents -a teen who goes to Europe to fight in the First World War, with the Belgian Army, under a fake name, and who then starts his adventures after WW1 -one story had a cameo part with Harrison Ford, set in the 1950's selecting on his time in Chicago in 1920 -and some of the original episodes had a 90 year old Indy, with an Eyepatch who would tell "the lessons" of his adventure (these were later be edited out for VHS, DVD release). Welcome to the adventures of Indiana Jones, and his friends, family, and enemies!
One of my fave lil facts for the movie is that the sound of the big Boulder chasing Indiana is the sound of one of the filmmakers lil 80s Toyota driving on gravel that they just stuck a mic next to lol
excellent commentary on this pulp classic. You noticed the small things that fans appreciated.
I watched this Movie when it first came out in the Movie Theatre. it was amazing seeing Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones after seeing him as Han Solo. It was 2 Iconic roles for him.
26:38 Stuntman/Actor Pat Roach got to play TWO minor characters who lost their lives fighting Indy in this film. The first was the giant Nepali in the "fire fight" at Marion's tavern. The second was as the gargantuan German who challenged Indy to a fistfight and should have watched out for the propeller. George Lucas cast Roach in a larger role a few years later in the movie "Willow", as General Kael.
You can see a Star Wars reference with C3PO's name on the getaway plane at the beginning of the film.