Ep. 43 - It's the Raiders of the Lost Ark 45th Anniversary!

This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] J.J.: I'm wearing my 40th Raiders shirt.

[0:08] Olaf: Yeah, it looks nice for everybody at home that can't see this because it's a podcast.

[0:14] J.J.: You never know.

[0:15] Olaf: We are revisiting Indiana Jones, but not all of the movies.

[0:20] J.J.: Today we are talking specifically about Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[0:24] Olaf: It's the first one, it's the best one, and it's its anniversary.

[0:29] J.J.: It is the 45th anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[0:33] Olaf: So before we get into it, let's go back to the movie theater.

[0:52] J.J.: We are back, baby, and we are talking Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[0:56] Olaf: It's my favorite. It's a lot of purists' favorites because it is the first one.

[1:02] J.J.: You know, I begrudge no one that says The Last Crusade is their favorite because, wow, what a great movie.

[1:08] Olaf: But in my heart of hearts, Raiders is always the better film.

[1:12] J.J.: And even Spielberg says it too. It's like what he would consider just about a perfect movie.

[1:17] Olaf: And I want to thank you for indulging my wanting to celebrate this on the actual 45th.

[1:24] J.J.: It's nice to talk about the movie and give it its due and sink our teeth into it more than we could have when we were covering all three movies at once.

[1:34] Olaf: So Raiders of the Lost Ark, as you know, came out in 1981.

[1:38] J.J.: It has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 94% and an audience score of 96%.

[1:46] Olaf: I mean, it's beloved. It's a great movie.

[1:49] J.J.: As we all know, directed by Steven Spielberg, composed by John Williams, just fantastic.

[1:55] Olaf: The screenplay for this was written by Lawrence Kasdan, who has written some fantastic screenplays for George Lucas and Steven Spielberg over the years, as well as directed his own movies.

[2:08] J.J.: Right, stuff that he's done of his own.

[2:10] Olaf: Yeah, I've always enjoyed his writing.

[2:13] J.J.: We have the cast of Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman as Belloc, John Rhys-Davies as Sala, Denholm Elliott as Brody, Alfred Molina is like his first real.

[2:26] Olaf: Yeah, it was his first credited screen role.

[2:29] J.J.: And then Ronald Lacey as Tote, who was an actor's agent.

[2:34] Olaf: He tried to do some acting. It didn't really work. He became an agent and then came out of retirement to do this role.

[2:43] J.J.: Yeah, he's great.

[2:45] Olaf: This one of yours is about an archaeologist, Indiana Jones, in 1936, tasked by the Army Intelligence to help locate a legendary ancient power, the Ark of the Covenant, before the Nazis get it first.

[2:59] J.J.: Classic serial style story.

[3:02] Olaf: You know, interesting is despite having George Lucas and Steven Spielberg putting this film together, it was initially turned down by every studio in Hollywood.

[3:12] J.J.: It is very surprising to me considering the decade before that both of these directors already had.

[3:19] Olaf: Yeah, yeah.

[3:20] J.J.: I don't understand what you're worried about if you're a studio head when both of these guys come in.

[3:26] Olaf: It turned out to be 1981's biggest grossing film by a wide margin.

[3:32] J.J.: I'm trying to think, aside from like Chariots of Fire, like what other movies came out in '81 that people even talk about still.

[3:39] Olaf: It's amazing the legacy that this movie has.

[3:43] J.J.: Yeah, I read somewhere that when he initially was put in the wardrobe, he was like, why am I wearing a leather jacket?

[3:51] Olaf: It's like I'm in the jungle. I'm burning up in here.

[3:55] J.J.: Why do I have a whip?

[3:57] Olaf: Am I just going to whip people?

[3:58] J.J.: Am I going to be whipping people?

[4:01] Olaf: I want to say the whips probably used the most in this one, probably comparatively speaking, I think.

[4:07] J.J.: I mean, it's used quite a bit maybe in the second one.

[4:09] Olaf: I think he utilizes it to an extent in all three.

[4:13] J.J.: It just depends.

[4:14] Olaf: It's not used often as an actual weapon.

[4:18] J.J.: No, no, he uses it as a means to…

[4:21] Olaf: Right.

[4:22] J.J.: Deborah Nadulman was the costume designer who created the look of Indiana Jones.

[4:29] Olaf: Iconic.

[4:30] J.J.: Yeah, and what's really amazing is all of his costume pieces were brand new, the leather jacket and the hat.

[4:37] Olaf: And she, with the help of Harrison Ford and his own pocketknife, de-aged not only the jacket but the hat as well and just made it look well-worn and loved.

[4:49] J.J.: So if you're Indiana Jones, do you have just one pair of pants and shirt?

[4:55] Olaf: I get you would have one leather jacket.

[4:57] J.J.: Get it.

[4:58] Olaf: And one pair of boots.

[4:59] J.J.: Are you rocking like multiple pairs of pants and shirts?

[5:01] Olaf: Are you just packing the one outfit and it's just…

[5:04] J.J.: Yeah.

[5:05] Olaf: That's it.

[5:06] J.J.: It's hard to tell.

[5:07] Olaf: I mean, it doesn't seem like a lot of time passes in Raiders where he would change too many times.

[5:12] J.J.: And in a lot of situations, it does seem like I'll just rinse this off in the sink and let it dry.

[5:18] Olaf: Yeah.

[5:19] J.J.: Because there's a lot going on.

[5:20] Olaf: When do I have time to change clothes?

[5:22] J.J.: I'm not exactly where my luggage is.

[5:25] Olaf: Right.

[5:26] J.J.: Well, especially like when they—and I love—one of the things I love about this franchise, but this movie, is the map.

[5:32] Olaf: And you see the traveling across the map to where they're going.

[5:35] J.J.: Yeah.

[5:36] Olaf: Well, that's one of those things where it's like they show up and he's still in the same, you know…

[5:40] J.J.: Well, he's got two hats in this movie.

[5:43] Olaf: Yes, he does.

[5:44] J.J.: They're the same brand, same style, just one is gray and one is brown.

[5:49] Olaf: He's got his travel hat.

[5:50] J.J.: Right.

[5:51] Olaf: Yeah.

[5:52] J.J.: And the hats came from the Herbert Johnson hat shop in Seville Row in London.

[5:58] Olaf: The hat was the shop's poet model.

[6:01] J.J.: We've talked about this on movies that we really enjoy, especially the action-type movies, where they're already thrown into the action.

[6:08] Olaf: And that's one of the great things about this particular movie or the start of it.

[6:13] J.J.: I love movies that start mid-action.

[6:17] Olaf: We get to learn about a character or characters through whatever is mid-adventure.

[6:24] J.J.: There's not a lot of exposition ahead of time.

[6:26] Olaf: It's just, oh, okay.

[6:28] J.J.: They trust us to get what's happening.

[6:30] Olaf: You don't know what's going on.

[6:32] J.J.: You don't even get to see Harrison Ford.

[6:35] Olaf: You're just seeing him from the back.

[6:37] J.J.: You're seeing his hand or whatever.

[6:39] Olaf: And you're seeing Alfred Milleen and all the people that he's hired to go with him.

[6:43] J.J.: They're doing all of the work at the moment.

[6:46] Olaf: We're building this tension that we don't even know about.

[6:49] J.J.: You just hear this music.

[6:50] Olaf: You're in a jungle. There's poison darts.

[6:53] J.J.: Somebody's following them.

[6:55] Olaf: If they were, they'd already have killed us.

[6:57] J.J.: We say, and a lot of people have historically, it is a perfect movie.

[7:00] Olaf: It's got so many great elements that work.

[7:03] J.J.: It's great because it builds all the lore and idea of the world and the character of Indy in however long this opening sequence is.

[7:13] Olaf: Ten minutes?

[7:14] J.J.: Yeah, ten minutes.

[7:15] Olaf: You get introduced to the antagonist as well.

[7:18] J.J.: Yeah, Belak.

[7:19] Olaf: They call him Belosh.

[7:21] J.J.: Belosh.

[7:22] Olaf: I love what he does.

[7:23] J.J.: Belak.

[7:24] Olaf: Belak.

[7:25] J.J.: Belak.

[7:29] Olaf: The opening sequence is so iconic and is used and parodied for years to come.

[7:36] J.J.: Not anymore, of course, but for years it was.

[7:39] Olaf: The sense of adventure, booby traps, spooky caves, and all of this stuff, and then a giant boulder.

[7:46] J.J.: It's just so exciting.

[7:48] Olaf: That could have been the movie.

[7:50] J.J.: But it also could have been a really great beginning, and then everything else afterwards could have been terrible.

[7:56] Olaf: Because that's happened, too, where a movie will jump off the screen really well, and then it falters because of the script or because of execution or because of the characters or because of the actors.

[8:07] J.J.: And that doesn't happen here.

[8:09] Olaf: I guess where would you rank the opening sequence in terms of is it one of the top things in the movie?

[8:14] J.J.: Is it the best thing in the movie?

[8:16] Olaf: As far as action set pieces?

[8:19] J.J.: Set pieces, pacing.

[8:21] Olaf: When you think about Raiders of the Lost Ark, is that the thing that you remember?

[8:27] J.J.: Obviously the boulder gets immortalized.

[8:29] Olaf: I could probably say there's five distinct set pieces in this movie.

[8:34] J.J.: Okay.

[8:35] Olaf: I would say that the opening is probably fourth.

[8:40] J.J.: Wow.

[8:41] Olaf: Okay.

[8:42] J.J.: What would be five?

[8:43] Olaf: What is the opening beating?

[8:46] J.J.: I think the last would be the opening of the Ark.

[8:51] Olaf: Right.

[8:52] J.J.: Okay.

[8:53] Olaf: Yeah.

[8:54] J.J.: Yeah.

[8:55] Olaf: Are we to assume Belloc keeps the idol?

[8:56] J.J.: Indy doesn't ever get the idol back unless he discovers where Belloc is going to sell it?

[9:00] Olaf: I mean, even Indy's telling Brody, I had it in my hand.

[9:03] J.J.: Yeah.

[9:04] Olaf: And I think I know where I can get it because I think I know where he's going to sell it.

[9:07] J.J.: I always had the sense that Belloc doesn't keep a lot of the stuff that he discovers or finds.

[9:13] Olaf: He sells it.

[9:14] J.J.: He sells it.

[9:15] Olaf: He might keep some stuff for vanity, but I think overall he's just in it for the money.

[9:21] J.J.: And then as we get out of the opening, I have not ever, even on the rewatch, I don't even think I noticed this, but I guess the call letters on Jock's plane are OB-CPO.

[9:33] Olaf: Is that correct?

[9:34] J.J.: It's for OB-1 and C-3PO, but it's like a call to those two characters, and there was call letters on Jock's plane.

[9:40] Olaf: I don't know if that was purposeful.

[9:43] J.J.: That might have just been a coincidence.

[9:46] Olaf: I mean, C-3PO and R2-D2 make an appearance later in the movie.

[9:52] J.J.: They do.

[9:53] Olaf: They do.

[9:54] J.J.: But it is Lawrence Kasdan who also wrote Empire Strikes Back, and Lucas definitely was heavily involved in this movie, even though he didn't direct it.

[10:03] Olaf: So it wouldn't surprise me.

[10:04] J.J.: Again, I need to now go back and just catch the opening again.

[10:08] Olaf: So after all of that opening, we go back to finding out that he's a teacher.

[10:13] J.J.: He's a professor at a college.

[10:15] Olaf: He's got the glasses on and everything.

[10:17] J.J.: It's a great cover.

[10:18] Olaf: What we do see is that all of the female students are just enamored with Dr. Jones.

[10:25] J.J.: Correct.

[10:26] Olaf: And one of the girls has I Love You famously written on her eyelids, which is a great bit.

[10:31] J.J.: And Harrison Ford sells it so well when that happens.

[10:36] Olaf: But what we don't actually get to see is originally Spielberg had really tried to make this as close to James Bond as he could.

[10:45] J.J.: So Dr. Jones, Indy, was supposed to be more of a playboy.

[10:49] Olaf: So when after the Secret Service show up and the CIA shows up and talks to him and Brody about the Ark and going to get it, Brody goes to Indy's house and Indy's wearing a robe and pants and everything.

[11:05] J.J.: Honestly, it's very unassuming, unassuming.

[11:08] Olaf: But apparently the reason why he's dressed the way he was is he has a girl in the bedroom.

[11:13] J.J.: Now, is it one of the students?

[11:15] Olaf: I don't know.

[11:16] J.J.: But that's the reason why he's dressed the way he is, because they were trying to sell that playboy.

[11:23] Olaf: Right. James Bond, American vibe.

[11:26] J.J.: But then they cut that out.

[11:27] Olaf: And honestly, they're way better for it.

[11:29] J.J.: Oh, yeah.

[11:30] Olaf: Well, I believe it was Lawrence Kasdan who said because it was Spielberg.

[11:33] J.J.: I believe both Lucas and Spielberg were heavily going in that direction.

[11:37] Olaf: And Lawrence Kasdan said, no, let's not do that.

[11:40] J.J.: Let's make him more of what he ends up becoming on screen.

[11:43] Olaf: I love the scene between Indy and Brody at his house with Brody just being concerned and kind of setting up the legend and the spookiness of this Ark that they're going to go after and not knowing what it is and all of that.

[12:00] J.J.: So wishing he could go to or he if it was 10 years younger, he would be on the mission as well with him or on the adventure as well.

[12:07] Olaf: Yeah, it's a great little scene that just helps build the suspense for later.

[12:11] J.J.: And then, yeah, we get the map scene, the travel scene of the plane and the music.

[12:16] Olaf: And we also get a brief cameo by Dennis Murin, who was one of the legendary creators over at ILM.

[12:24] J.J.: Really?

[12:25] Olaf: He so when Harrison's getting on this plane to fly to Egypt, there's this tall man in a black hat and trench coat that's just like.

[12:34] J.J.: Focus on him getting into the plane, and then he's sitting on the plane obviously.

[12:39] Olaf: Watching Harrison, right? That's Dennis Murin as... see, I was under the impression that that was Toad.

[12:47] J.J.: Yeah, no, if they were trying to sell it, but he's Dennis Murin's like right a tower six feet taller than everybody.

[12:54] Olaf: Yeah.

[12:58] J.J.: The guy playing Toad is much shorter, so we get to Nepal where he's got to track down the medallion. He knows it belongs to Abner Ravenwood, Marion's father, and Marion, okay?

[13:08] Olaf: So, and I know there's been a lot of talks about this, things being written, and even Spielberg said this as well. Indy is a good guy here. I mean, obviously he and Marion have a past.

[13:19] J.J.: Why she's significantly... she's supposedly significantly younger. I think she's supposed to be like 10 years younger. I think Indy, as an original character, was written to be morally gray, not quite an antihero, but not a Boy Scout either. And there's a lot of different discussion about her age and when they were hooking up, right?

[13:38] Olaf: I will say that if George Lucas had his way, it would have been way worse.

[13:45] J.J.: Way worse.

[13:48] Olaf: I agree because even Spielberg says if we make her too young, then it becomes too big of an issue.

[13:54] J.J.: Now, yeah, the audience won't be able to get past.

[13:57] Olaf: Yeah, instead it was more like on the lines of like, you know, back in the 50s and 60s when songs were singing about 16-year-olds and...

[14:05] J.J.: Right, exactly like that. So you're absolutely right. That's a different time.

[14:11] Olaf: Yeah, 'cause even she even says, she's like, I was a child. And if you're thinking about this movie set in '36, then whatever it is that went down with them that went sideways was in 1926, like a hundred years ago.

[14:21] J.J.: Yeah, and when she says I was a child, I think she was meaning that just in the sense that she was a young teenager.

[14:30] Olaf: Yeah, right, and he was not literally a child.

[14:35] J.J.: No, no, no, no, I knew that. Right? I mean, she was... even if she was 16, he was still a student of her father's, and that would make him, or at least we're to assume that he was at least in his young... I always assumed he was in his early 20s.

[14:43] Olaf: Early 20s.

[14:47] J.J.: Yeah, their chemistry right out of the gate. Oh, it's fantastic, spot-on. Like she punches him right.

[14:54] Olaf: Yeah.

[14:55] J.J.: Which Lucas, I think, suggested, which I thought was a fantastic addition to her character because we already know she can handle her liquor.

[15:02] Olaf: She holds... she always the bar. If you watch the screen test version of that scene versus what is on camera, you can tell that there was a lot of rewriting and different ideas because in the screen test, Marion Ravenwood comes off way more like a helpless damsel and less tough as nails.

[15:19] J.J.: And speaking of that, and I haven't seen this, but I've heard that you can find it. There's a screen test with Karen Allen as Marion opposite Spielberg.

[15:32] Olaf: Yes, there's actually a couple. There's Karen Allen opposite Spielberg, and then Karen Allen opposite Tim Matheson.

[15:38] J.J.: Yeah, right when they were in Animal House together, and that's how she got this part.

[15:42] Olaf: Yeah, I need to go back and look at try and find that screen test with Spielberg because apparently he's got, you know, the glasses are off, and he's really trying to be... he's got the hat on.

[15:53] J.J.: He's got the hat on, really trying to be Indy.

[15:54] Olaf: Unsuccessfully, of course, but yeah.

[15:58] J.J.: But it's... I... this is one of those set pieces that I really enjoy because you think it's not a lot. He shows up, she rebukes him and is like, come back tomorrow. He goes to leave, and then Toad shows up with his goons.

[16:07] Olaf: And that's whenever it gets really good, and this is when we get our first real villain because Belloc, we know he's the antagonist, but he's not quite so villainous.

[16:18] J.J.: He's no... I'm just here for the job. I'm doing the money. You're my competition, but Toad is... I'm an assassin. I do the dirty business.

[16:26] Olaf: He's the Gestapo. Like, he's the one who's, you know, hand-to-hand with Hitler as opposed to Belloc.

[16:34] J.J.: Yeah, I'm gonna do whatever it takes.

[16:40] Olaf: So he shows sinister too.

[16:42] J.J.: Oh, he's so good in this.

[16:43] Olaf: Yeah, he's so good in this.

[16:47] J.J.: And we get the big bar fight. Indy shows up and whiskey.

[16:55] Olaf: Now he's fighting the same guy that he fights later on.

[16:59] J.J.: Yes, I didn't know that.

[17:05] Olaf: Yeah, this stuntman, he was a popular choice for Spielberg whenever he needed a big guy.

[17:11] J.J.: So he shows up in the bar fight in Raiders. He shows up in the airplane fight.

[17:16] Olaf: He's the bald guy that Indy fights at the plane with.

[17:24] J.J.: If that's famous, that's a great scene. He shows up again in Temple of Doom as the bearded, turbaned slave wrangler, child slave wrangler, and then he also makes a very brief appearance in Last Crusade when the Joneses get on the blimp, and as it's taking off, yes, they see the Gestapo, the colonel or general, and he's running along with them trying to stop the blimp from taking off.

[17:36] Olaf: And for fans of the movie Willow, he's the dude on the horse with like the skeleton mask or the...

[17:43] J.J.: Oh, yeah, that's right.

[17:54] Olaf: Yeah, that's him also.

[17:58] J.J.: Yeah, Pat Roach, his name.

[18:02] Olaf: Yeah.

[18:05] J.J.: That bar fight is fantastic. This movie does a really great job of pacing, not leaving anything wasted. Like they do a really good job of making sure to accomplish everything they're wanting to accomplish in every scene because this movie is the shortest of all of the Indy movies. It's under two hours.

[18:16] Olaf: Yeah, but it moves with a... and it's not like a breakneck speed pace.

[18:22] J.J.: It's... it just moves with intention.

[18:24] Olaf: I don't even think there's a scene in this movie where you ever get bored because there is rarely a scene where the characters get an opportunity to just be, and when they do, there's still something interesting happening.

[18:35] J.J.: Mm-hmm. What I loved that comes back later that they did so well that was so smart was in the bar scene, everything's on fire. The medallion has fallen off the table, and it's basically just in flame, just right, getting cooked.

[18:49] Olaf: And Toad takes refuge behind the table because guns are firing off and everything, and he happens to see the medallion, and he reaches down, and he gets a full palm grab on this thing, and it burns him so bad that he drops it, and he runs through the bar and jumps out a window, which by the way, if you watch that scene back, the door to go out is right next to him.

[19:11] J.J.: So instead of just going out the door, he jumps through the window.

[19:22] Olaf: Right, lands in the snow and cools his hand, and then later on, because you're like, how did they find out about the measurements?

[19:32] J.J.: Right?

[19:32] Olaf: And he comes back, raises his hand, and it's all been scarred into his hand. I was just brilliant.

[19:39] J.J.: I love that. What I love again is that just because he had that scarred into his hand, that only had part of the measurements, they didn't realize that there was more on the other side back.

[19:50] Olaf: So that's why they were off, and that's why they were digging in the wrong place. The fact that that's how they got it.

[19:56] J.J.: Yeah, and which I think you would really only get on a rewatch or multiple watches where you go, oh, you... they got it off the dude's hand. And of course, they only had one side of it, and that's why they're...

[20:06] Olaf: Yeah, no, I think it's great.

[20:08] J.J.: So we get to Egypt, and we get to see John Rhys-Davies as Salah, and he wasn't the original plan. They wanted Danny DeVito.

[20:16] Olaf: Yes, and because of Taxi, his schedule wouldn't line up for the schedule, so he had to bow out.

[20:25] J.J.: So they see this guy from Ronin.

[20:32] Olaf: Oh, I like this character.

[20:37] J.J.: If he could also be kind of like Falstaff as well, right?

[20:43] Olaf: Yeah, oh, he's great.

[20:49] J.J.: Yeah, he... well, the guy in Last Crusade who's part of like the crusade to keep the grail safe, the main guy that Indy fights on the boat in Venice, he was supposed to audition for Salah and missed his audition.

[20:54] Olaf: He was late for the audition, so he didn't get a chance to even... I don't think read for it, and he ended up...

[20:58] J.J.: Yeah, I don't think he had a chance to read for it.

[21:03] Olaf: Yeah, so no, I think John Rhys-Davies is great.

[21:06] J.J.: So they're in Egypt, and a lot of things going on. Obviously, Marion gets kidnapped, and Indy's looking for her through the crowd and through the town to the village.

[21:14] Olaf: We get that... I was just so excited.

[21:21] J.J.: It is. You got the great music playing. You've got all these baskets in the air. Harrison is just so frantic running through the village, and it's almost like a shell game of where she is.

[21:28] Olaf: We do get that famous scene with the guy, you know, in the middle of the street with his machete, with the swordsman.

[21:32] J.J.: Yeah.

[21:39] Olaf: So there's a whole cut scene. They'd rehearsed, they'd shot bits of it of this big guy, not Pat Roach, who does all of this sword fighting with Harrison.

[21:50] J.J.: Harrison only having his whip and his gun and everything, and everyone on the crew had gotten sick except for Steven Spielberg.

[21:58] Olaf: Right. Spielberg insisted on eating canned food from the UK. It's like Spaghetti O's or something.

[22:04] J.J.: Yeah, it was like all he was eating. So he was the only one that didn't get sick in Tunisia.

[22:10] Olaf: By the time they were ready to shoot this scene, Harrison Ford was so sick he could barely do anything.

[22:16] J.J.: And if you watch the scene when he's standing there and he's like, oh, I think his brow... I mean, it's great because you're watching the movie. He's just been running all over the place.

[22:28] Olaf: Right, so it makes sense that he's like worn out and sweaty. They, I guess, they tried to film the fight scene once or twice, and Harrison finally was just like, I can't, I can't do it. I can't do this. And so he's like, why don't I just shoot him?

[22:44] J.J.: It's awesome.

[22:47] Olaf: It's fantastic.

[22:49] J.J.: It's iconic.

[22:49] Olaf: Yeah.

[22:54] J.J.: I mean, I'd be curious to see how many times they had to do that take, like how many takes that took.

[22:57] Olaf: I would love for it to be like we did it once and that was it.

[23:02] J.J.: I don't think you can see the whole cut fight scene, but you can see parts of it, and like behind-the-scenes videos, you can see them rehearsing. John Rhys-Davies also famously got very sick on set, and...

[23:11] Olaf: Yeah.

[23:11] J.J.: He's being interviewed about the movie, and he talks about there's a cut scene where he was told to bend over and pick something up, and he did.

[23:20] Olaf: He did.

[23:22] J.J.: He had cholera. Like, he was... he was biting cholera.

[23:26] Olaf: Yeah, at the time, and as he put it, he filled his gelaba.

[23:31] J.J.: Yeah, soiled his drawers.

[23:36] Olaf: Yeah.

[23:40] J.J.: I know. Nobody enjoyed Tunisia. Everyone was miserable.

[23:45] Olaf: Everyone was sick, and it was so hot that Spielberg actually rushed through the shoot and was able to finish everything that needed to be shot in like three weeks as opposed to four weeks.

[23:53] J.J.: No.

[23:53] Olaf: I think it was like he had... he was gonna do it in six weeks, and he did it in like four. It was something wild where he was able to shave off like a third of the shooting.

[24:01] J.J.: There's one shot that I really love in this whole Tunisia where they're in the village. It's after the van blows up, and Indy thinks Marion is dead where they go to the bar.

[24:13] Olaf: Like he's summoned to the bar.

[24:20] J.J.: Yeah, by these guys in suits. There's two things. One, he's outside. He's at the bar, but he's sitting outside drinking, and he gets brought inside by these two guys in suits.

[24:25] Olaf: There's two things actually. One, where they get the monkey to salute Heil Hitler, which was a shot they got to get later on, but one, I think that's a hilarious scene where the monkey actually does a Heil Hitler.

[24:31] J.J.: But the real shot I love is they stay on Belloc for his whole speech when he's talking to Indy, where he's talking, he's going, he's pontificating about why they do what they do and all of these things because Indy's ready to cash his chips in, right?

[24:52] Olaf: He's gonna take Belloc out.

[24:53] J.J.: He doesn't care if he gets shot up in the bar also, but Belloc is like giving his monologue of whatever, and I was just watching, and I'm like, they don't cut away.

[25:01] Olaf: And I always like stuff like that.

[25:03] J.J.: I mean, however long that those shots happen to be, it's all... it's just really cool because you just get to see.

[25:08] J.J.: The actor, not act, he's just doing his thing. And Paul Freeman, I think, is very underrated as Belloc in this movie because of all the other actors that are doing their thing. I think he's fantastic in this movie. And when he got the role, they were like, great, we got you. And then apparently no one asked him if he could do a French accent. So suddenly, he's on vacation, and suddenly he gets a call from his agent saying Spielberg doesn't know if you can do a French accent. So he had to leave his vacation, show up at the Paramount offices and go, ooh, yes, of course, I can speak in a French accent. And they're like, all right, great. See you in a couple weeks. But he was like, all of a sudden, I was super worried that I was gonna lose this role that I just got. That's hilarious.

[25:52] Olaf: The scene where Marion and Belloc are in the tent, when we find out obviously Marion's alive. Now, does Indy just, he just happens to stumble into that one tent that she happens to be in? That's one of those coincidences.

[26:04] J.J.: After Indy and Sala discover the Well of Souls, they do their measurements, and he gets out of there. They're in the Nazi camp. They're in the hole, surrounded by them digging. So they have to get through there. And he just happens to go in, not knowing, he's just getting away from the Nazis.

[26:23] Olaf: Oh, I know. He just happens to stumble into the one tent that she's in. Is that a problem for you?

[26:29] J.J.: Well, it's not. It's just a little too convenient, but okay. They obviously have to figure out a way for him to discover that she's still alive. They could have done it in another place. But this is me just being super, super nitpicky. So I mean, give me a break. If this is the worst part of the movie.

[26:43] Olaf: I know. My apologies to everybody. A side note, that scene, another iconic scene when he puts the medallion on the rod and the sun burning through.

[26:53] J.J.: Oh, yeah. Iconic. I was gonna say the scene in the tent where they had to get Marion out of what she was wearing into the white dress. They didn't really have much there on the paper, on the page, excuse me, that apparently Karen Allen and Paul Freeman sort of came together and were like, this is what we should do. We should circle back to the fact that I can hold my liquor and there's a knife on the table. They improvised that whole scene. Getting her from one outfit to the dress and all of that is brilliant.

[27:20] Olaf: Yeah. Well, Karen Allen said there was no reason for me to wear this dress. So she went to Spielberg and said, can we come up with a reason?

[27:29] J.J.: Right. So she and Belloc figured it out. That's what we got. And it's great. It's a lot of fun.

[27:34] Olaf: Oh, yeah. And then Tote comes in in one of those amazing sort of scenes of levity, even though this movie is filled with a lot of them. He takes his coat off and he pulls out this, what looks like going to be some sort of torture weapon that he's going to use on Marion. And then in wonderfully executed sort of puts it together and it's a hanger for his coat.

[27:57] J.J.: Yeah. This is a gag that Spielberg has tried to use before and it wasn't working, but he loved it so much that he was like, I'm just going to keep putting it in my movies until it works. So he'd already tried it before in 1941 with Christopher Lee.

[28:13] Olaf: OK.

[28:13] J.J.: Yeah. Christopher Lee does the same gag in the movie, but it just didn't sell. This one sells.

[28:19] Olaf: Oh, yeah. It's perfect. I mean, the music helps, but the way he sort of takes his time and he's just very deliberate with everything he's doing. And then we get the, I love this shot. It's an iconic shot. They've figured out where they're supposed to dig. So Indy brings Sala and his crew up on this other hill and they start digging and we get the golden hour. The sun is setting and we get this far away shot and all you see are silhouettes of the diggers on the top of this hill and Indy's taking off his disguise and he bends down, picks up his hat and puts that hat on and it's all silhouette. And it just looks so good. The movie is so beautiful. All the shots are fantastic. It's Spielberg at his finest.

[29:04] J.J.: And he even says, I shot this like a B movie, like he wasn't even really going. Because it just looks amazing. It's like it's a masterpiece in filmmaking. Every shot is incredible.

[29:17] Olaf: They get down there, you get the snake reveal again, which is a great... Indy, why is the floor moving?

[29:24] J.J.: Snakes.

[29:25] Olaf: Why did it have to be snakes?

[29:27] J.J.: Why did it have to be snakes? Asps, very dangerous. You go first.

[29:34] Olaf: But he delivers these lines, Sala, not in a silly way.

[29:38] J.J.: No, he's sincere. Like not like he would do it in Crusade. Like in Crusade, you could see where he might be a little... But he would still get away with it. I'm not saying there's anything wrong. But I don't think he's in Crusade. He's doing anything for a laugh. Everything is very sincere as the character. It's not, oh, I've got to be silly now.

[30:00] Olaf: No, but it almost feels like he's a little lighter on his feet in Glass Crusade, even with the delivery of lines. And this, again, just an observation I made. They get down there, they get the arc out. Two things.

[30:08] J.J.: I'm really surprised they don't kill Sala. They're surrounded by all of the Nazis, all of the whatever. They have what they need, which is the arc. They don't need Sala anymore. And Sala was...

[30:21] Olaf: I just, I don't think that they cared.

[30:24] J.J.: That's fair. And again, it's not something that I dwell upon. They had what they needed. I mean, they could have killed all of the diggers.

[30:32] Olaf: Right. They could have killed everybody. But, you know.

[30:35] J.J.: Belloc says, I don't want to leave you down there by yourself.

[30:38] Olaf: Right. He said something like that.

[30:39] J.J.: No, Belloc does not say that.

[30:41] Olaf: What does he say? I don't want to leave you alone.

[30:42] J.J.: No, he doesn't say that either. He doesn't say that at all.

[30:46] Olaf: It's the Nazi general.

[30:48] J.J.: Oh, does the Nazi general say that?

[30:49] Olaf: Yeah.

[30:50] J.J.: Oh, I could have sworn it was Belloc.

[30:51] Olaf: No, Belloc's just like, oh, now you're going to be your own relic. Who knows? Maybe in however many years, you'll be worth something.

[31:01] J.J.: Yeah. Son of a...

[31:03] Olaf: Yeah. No, the Nazi generals are like, we hate to leave you down there all alone. And they throw the girl.

[31:10] J.J.: They throw Marion, because Belloc's like, Belloc, she was...

[31:13] Olaf: Yeah, he was...

[31:13] J.J.: No, Belloc likes Marion.

[31:15] Olaf: Oh, yeah. No, I know. That's what was confusing me. I couldn't remember what was going on there.

[31:18] J.J.: No, it's the Nazis. So there's a total of 7,000 snakes used in the temple chamber.

[31:27] Olaf: They started with, I think they started with 2,000 snakes. And not all of them are snakes. Actually, there are some legless lizards down there that look like snakes.

[31:39] J.J.: But they cleaned house of all the snake wranglers around. And all the snakes down there wasn't enough. Like, you can even see in the behind the scenes, Spielberg's like, we're going to need 3,000 more snakes.

[31:57] Olaf: So they were able to get more. There's also fake snakes down there as well. They had rubber snakes. They had some animatronic snakes. They had the lizards and the snakes. So it came to about 7,000 snakes. And then the two venomous cobras. They shot it really well.

[32:16] J.J.: I mean, oh, yeah. No, there's rarely a time where you're like, well, not a lot of snakes there.

[32:22] Olaf: Do you feel that Indy has to fight the bald guy? He's almost to the cockpit of this plane. And then he gets, you know, the bald guy comes out. Roach comes out. He's like, come on, fight me. I think the idea was that the big Nazi thug would have just gone after him. So he had to come down and fight him because there was, if he'd gone for the cockpit, the guy was just going to climb up and get him.

[32:46] J.J.: Yeah.

[32:46] Olaf: Or yell at the pilot to turn around. I mean.

[32:49] J.J.: Yeah, no, I get it. A lot of the airplane fight is also sort of improvised. They were kind of making it up as they win. They went from punch to punch to punch. Like, all right, now we'll do this. Now we'll do that. There was actually a moment where Harrison Ford got hurt in the fight. He gets run over by the wheel of the plane and ripped some stuff in his knee. So they had to stop and get that taken care of. But I love the fight because it does look very improvised.

[33:19] J.J.: Oh, the fight's great. You said the opener is probably number four. Is the fight one of your top five along with the tank or the scene?

[33:28] Olaf: Well, out of the five, I would say it's probably third.

[33:32] J.J.: OK, not tank. I meant later when he's chasing after the ARC.

[33:37] Olaf: Oh, that's number one.

[33:38] J.J.: That's number one. Yeah, that's the best part of the movie. I mean, the whole movie is fantastic. But yeah, the fight scene is a lot of fun because you've got all these elements all happening at once. The Marion in the plane, the wing of the plane hits the gas tanker that's parked next to it. Marion decides to get involved and knocks out the pilot with the chalk for the wheels. Then she gets in the gunner seat because she sees a truck of soldiers rolling up, takes them out. But now she's stuck inside the plane.

[34:11] J.J.: Yeah, it's a great scene. You've got a big thug Nazi fighting Harrison.

[34:15] Olaf: Oh, it's fantastic. And before she knocked the pilot out, the pilot's trying to shoot Harrison.

[34:21] J.J.: Harrison, yeah.

[34:22] Olaf: Yeah, no, it's great. And now the gas is flowing in towards everything. It's fantastic. You've got the burning truck that's been shot up by Marion. So you've got the flame element with the gas tank leaking. No, it's great.

[34:37] J.J.: What I do find funny is Harrison wins the fight because the big thug gets chopped up by the propellers. And he's trying to open the cockpit and he's telling Marion twist the thing. And she's clearly like, I don't know what you're talking about. I've never been in a cockpit before.

[34:51] Olaf: Right.

[34:54] J.J.: So he's just like, forget about it. Move away. You see this all happening without it. Like it doesn't cut away being said. And then he shoots it, which is just his gun, like puts out some smoke and it's filled with the iconic sound effects from the movie.

[35:09] Olaf: Yeah, I love it. And then it just opens up. And then they have a great sprint away from the plane as it blows up.

[35:15] J.J.: Oh, yeah. It's great. It's another great shot. There's a lot of really great iconic shots of the movie. I think one that you mentioned with the silhouettes and stuff is one that I think is forgotten a lot of times when you think about shots.

[35:27] Olaf: I think about that shot all the time. And then we get the famous I'm making this up as I go line because, you know, the plane's blown up. So now we got to take this arc on the truck and that's going. And that's my favorite part is he gets on a horse and runs after the truck and the whole getting onto the truck, trying to take it over, getting shot in the arm, fighting, getting dragged under the truck, climbing back around, throwing the driver out and him trying to do the same thing, but failing.

[36:00] J.J.: Well, it's just funny because the two people that he felt like he throws the driver out and he throws one or both. He throws the copilot out. And through two of his stuntmen, like those are roles that are played by two of his stuntmen.

[36:11] Olaf: Yeah, which I thought was a lot of fun. But yeah, that scene getting dragged however long he gets dragged, bruising a couple of ribs. He was asked, you know, is this too dangerous? He goes, if it was really dangerous, we would have shot. We would have shot more of the movie by now.

[36:25] J.J.: Yeah. Before we started shooting this.

[36:27] Olaf: Yeah, so this whole scene was shot by the second unit director. It was not shot by Steven Spielberg. And Steven's like, this is really the first time I've kind of like given this much control over to somebody else. But they just had so much going on. It was a race to shoot everything. And Indy being dragged under and then out behind the moving truck is a tribute to Yakima Knut's famous stunt and John Ford's stagecoach back in 1939. Terry Leonard is the stuntman that does this stunt. He'd actually had failed to pull off this stunt a year before in The Legend of the Lone Ranger. So he was really excited to get a second chance at doing this stunt again. And they nail it. It works out great.

[37:22] J.J.: Do you feel like with what we see, they do a really good job of establishing Marion and Indy's relationship?

[37:29] Olaf: Oh, yeah.

[37:30] J.J.: OK, because a lot of times you're like, did they earn the relationship? From the moment he shows up at the bar, they do a great job of establishing this relationship. It's rocky at that time, but she's happy.

[37:43] J.J.: Welcome back to the theater, everyone! Today, we are celebrating the 45th anniversary of "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

[38:13] Olaf: That's right! It's hard to believe it's been 45 years since Indiana Jones first graced the big screen.

[38:43] J.J.: I mean, this film is a classic. It really set the standard for action-adventure movies.

[39:14] JP: Absolutely! The opening scene alone is iconic. Who can forget that boulder chase?

[39:16] JP: And let's not forget the incredible score by John Williams. It just elevates the entire film.

[39:18] JP: The chemistry between Harrison Ford and Karen Allen is fantastic. They really brought those characters to life.

[39:20] JP: Plus, the humor sprinkled throughout the film makes it so enjoyable.

[39:22] JP: I love how it balances action, adventure, and comedy seamlessly.

[39:24] JP: And the villains! You have the Nazis as the perfect antagonists for Indiana Jones.

[39:26] JP: The stakes are high, and you really feel the tension throughout the film.

[39:28] JP: It's a perfect blend of history and mythology, which makes it so captivating.

[39:30] J.J.: And the cinematography! The way they shot those action sequences is just brilliant.

[39:32] JP: Definitely! The practical effects hold up so well even today.

[39:34] JP: It's amazing how they created such memorable scenes without relying heavily on CGI.

[39:36] JP: The truck chase scene is still one of my favorites. It's just pure adrenaline.

[39:38] JP: And the way they introduced the Ark of the Covenant is so well done.

[39:40] JP: It really adds to the mystique of the story.

[39:42] JP: You can see how influential this film has been on so many other movies since its release.

[39:44] JP: It paved the way for adventure films and inspired countless filmmakers.

[39:46] JP: I mean, just look at the Indiana Jones franchise that followed!

[39:48] JP: Each sequel has its own charm, but the original will always hold a special place in our hearts.

[39:50] JP: And let's not forget the iconic line, "It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage."

[39:52] JP: That perfectly encapsulates Indiana Jones as a character.

[39:54] JP: He’s rugged, adventurous, and always ready for a challenge.

[39:56] JP: The character development throughout the film is also impressive.

[39:58] JP: You really see Indiana grow as he faces various obstacles.

[40:00] JP: And the supporting characters add so much depth to the story.

[40:02] JP: From Sallah to Marcus Brody, they all contribute to the adventure.

[40:04] JP: It’s a well-rounded cast that makes the film even more enjoyable.

[40:06] JP: And the locations they filmed in are stunning!

[40:08] JP: From the jungles of South America to the deserts of Egypt, it’s visually captivating.

[40:10] JP: It really immerses you in the world of Indiana Jones.

[40:12] JP: I think we can all agree that "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is a timeless classic.

[40:14] JP: It’s a film that continues to resonate with audiences of all ages.

[40:16] JP: And it’s a perfect film to revisit, especially on its 45th anniversary.

[40:18] JP: So, what are some of your favorite moments from the film?

[40:20] JP: Let’s dive into some of those iconic scenes!