AFI 100 #60: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

I’m dedicating two years of my life to watching and reviewing every movie on the American Film Institute’s 100 Years…100 Movies, even the ones I’ve seen before. Here’s #60, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I had a dream about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas the night I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal ohgodicantkeeptypingthis.

I dreamed that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg each made a biopic about the other. Spielberg’s biopic about Lucas was remarkably similar to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in that it’s about a regular guy who knows he has to do something on his own because nobody believes in him, but instead of meeting aliens it’s making Star Wars. A kind, loving tribute about a regular man who overcame the odds with pure willpower, which is somewhat true.

Lucas’ film about Spielberg, meanwhile, was far more telling. Made as a 1920s silent film, it was the story of a wunderkind who knew exactly what to do at every turn, kind of a cross between MacGuyver and that guy from Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Only Lucas had written himself into the story, even when he didn’t belong. He inserted himself into the making of Jaws, gave Spielberg advice about Jurassic Park and took all the credit for Saving Private Ryan. He did what Stalin did with the October Revolution, with Spielberg as Lenin.

Yeah, it was just a dream. And maybe comparing Lucas to Stalin is a bit much (though they’re both fans of retroactive continuity). But it sums up my thoughts on Spielberg -- the guy who will stop at nothing to make his movie work -- and Lucas -- the once-visionary who began to believe the sycophants.

And it all began with Raiders. Star Wars made Lucas famous, Jaws and Close Encounters made Spielberg respected, but Raiders made them important.

Even with the superstar team of Lucas and Spielberg, no studio wanted anything to do with Raiders. They said it would be too expensive, the plot too over-the-top and that audiences wouldn’t react to such a throwback. Even with Paramount’s support, Spielberg’s clout and Star Wars‘ runaway success, they still had to cut corners where they could; increased storyboarding, 3 or 4 takes instead of 30 or 40, remove scenes that required special effects, anything they could to save a buck here and there. This tense, rushed production often hurts movies that may have been great, but with Raiders it only helped the improvised mood of Indy’s adventure.

In spite of the odds, there is almost no movie more perfect than Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not better, more perfect. It is the best version of itself. There is not one scene where you can say “They should have done it this way” or “That part didn’t make sense” (except for one glaring error). And most of that is thanks to probably one of the greatest casting jobs in film history, choosing Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. It’s hard to imagine a time when Ford was anything but an iconic, brash yet sympathetic do-gooder, but he actually had to compete for the role (it almost went to Tom Selleck…ew). He may have played Indiana Jones and Han Solo with exactly the same amount of rashness and asshole-ishness -- they’re kind of the same character, if you think about it -- but somehow they manage to exist as two entirely different icons in our pantheon of great heroes. Even in the shittier sequels, when the walls of logic and likeability come collapsing around the film, he remains the most enjoyable feature.

The romance, the action, the adventure, the sense of wonder. The more you watch Raiders the more you fall under its spell.

 But after the phenomenon of Raiders, it became impossible to say “No” to Spielberg and Lucas. You know what that means…

Crystal Bull(shit)

Spielberg has said of the filming, “Had I had more time and money, it would have turned out a pretentious movie.”  Star Wars and Raiders succeeded against all expectations, but, like how it’s tough believing a rich rapper is still hustling or that a married punk rocker is still angry, I can’t imagine that Spielberg or Lucas have encountered any difficulty making any of their subsequent movies

Lucas had to retool scenes and improvise to deliver Star Wars on budget. Spielberg did the same with Raiders. By the time the got to Crystal Skull, there was no studio saying “No, you can’t do that” or “It’ll be too expensive.” And if an assistant thought something was a bad idea, he’d just be fired and replaced with a yes-man. That’s when you get fridge-nuking, Jar-Jar Binks, monkey-swinging swordfights, and NOOOOOOOO!

Both Spielberg and Lucas had ideas that they rejected from each other. Spielberg wanted Toht to have a robotic arm. Lucas wanted Jones to be closer to James Bond. The conflict made them question their initial instincts, and the film was better because of it. Seriously, Indy didn’t need a son. Marion didn’t need to come back. Nazis are way better villains than KGB.

Validation is a dangerous thing. As much as we imagine studio interference being a bad thing, akin to censorship, sometimes it spurs creativity. Raiders is better than it would have been because it was a challenge to make.

Comments: Always better than you remember it. Improves with age. Reminds you why you liked movies in the first place.

Deserves to be in Top 100: Absolutely. And deserves to be remembered as a warning to all budding filmmakers not to lose touch with their initial spark.

Inspired: A full, scene by scene remake by kids between 1982-1989 called Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. It’s seriously amazing, seek it out.

Next Week: #59 Rebel Without a Cause

Last Week: #61 Vertigo

AFI 100 IS BROUGHT TO YOU IN PART BY THE FINE FINE PEOPLE AT MOVIEWORKS BOSTON WHO HAVE A SHITTON OF MOVIES. IT’S WHERE I GET MY MOVIES FOR THIS PROJECT AND YOU SHOULD TOO.

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