Raiders of the Lost Ark

Movie Review

Travel back with me, if you will, to June 12, 1981. Ronald Reagan was president. Major League Baseball was on strike. And a film titled Raiders of the Lost Ark hit the silver screen.

Featuring the now-iconic character Indiana Jones, the film has grossed more than $248 million in its lifetime. It was followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989 and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008, bringing the franchise total to just shy of a billion dollars.

But now that the fifth film in the franchise, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, is set to release at the end of this month, Fathom Events is re-releasing Raiders of the Lost Ark. And for two nights only, June 4 and June 7, audiences can head to theaters to see the flick on the big screen once again.

Raiders is set in 1936. It tells the story of how Dr. Jones (a “professor of archaeology,” “expert on the occult” and “obtainer of rare antiquities,” he’s called) races against the Nazis to locate the lost Ark of the Covenant.

Yes, Indy tells us, that Ark of the Covenant. The one built to house the stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The one from the Bible.

Though World War II hasn’t officially commenced, Hitler and the Nazis want to use the rumored power of the Ark to solidify their reign in Germany (and the rest of the world).

Indy says he doesn’t believe in magic or religious superstition. He’s in it for the history, adventure and professional competition (since the Nazis have hired Indy’s rival, a ruthless French archeologist and fellow treasure hunter named Belloq, to help them find the artifact). It doesn’t hurt that there’s a nice cash payout, too.

Indy teams up with his friend Sallah (a laborer working undercover at Belloq’s dig site) and his old flame, Marion (whose father spent his life searching for the Ark). And soon they’re involved in swordfights, car chases and what might be the greatest archaeological discovery in history.