Alfred molina raiders lost ark8/31/2023 Several Hollywood studios rejected the project, balking at the proposed $20 million budget (a mere pittance by today's standards). It was Kasdan's job to weave all those elements together into a coherent, compelling narrative he found inspiration in classic films like Red River, Seven Samurai, and The Magnificent Seven. With screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, the two men held a marathon brainstorming session the following January in Los Angeles, coming up with an outline and several key set pieces. Spielberg convinced him to change the last name to Jones and eventually came on board as director. That same year, Lucas was vacationing in Hawaii with Spielberg and pitched his Indiana Smith idea. (Indiana was the name of Lucas' Alaskan Malamute, which became a throwaway quip at the end of 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: "We named the dog Indiana!") He got distracted by other films, including Star Wars, released in 1977. George Lucas had wanted to make an homage to the serial adventure films of his youth since 1973 and came up with the idea of a globe-trotting adventurous archaeologist named Indiana Smith. (Major spoilers below because it's been 40 years, and who even are you if you haven't seen this movie yet?) Even director Steven Spielberg has said he considers it the most perfect film in the franchise. The Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry, and it is widely considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time. Raiders was nominated for multiple Oscars, winning five (for film editing, art direction, sound, sound editing, and visual effects). It was the top-grossing film of that year and didn't leave theaters until the following March, ultimately grossing $354 million globally. Critics (mostly) raved, and audiences flocked to theaters to see Raiders again and again for several months after its release on June 12, 1981. I wasn't alone in my enthusiasm, despite a tepid trailer that captured none of the action/adventure flick's enduring magic. Snakes! Spiders! A Nazi monkey spy! Plus plenty of explosions and a gross-out melting face! Next to the first Star Wars movie, it was the best movie I had yet seen in my relatively young life. From then on, it was a nonstop ride of thrills, chills, and more than a few spills, with enough humor, romance, and supernatural mysticism thrown in to capture anyone's imagination. I spilled my popcorn at the very first jump scare: our hero, Indiana Jones, triggered a booby trap while tracking a Peruvian fertility idol, and a skewered, decaying skeleton popped into the frame. But here we are, four decades on, and the franchise is still kicking.I still remember the thrill of watching Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time in the summer of 1981. Its brown-face casting and colonial condescension less so. The film’s non-stop action is still thrilling. Indiana Jones is an old school, take-charge kind of guy, but he’s as plain as his surname, and as laconic and world-weary as those black and white heroes your dad liked to watch: Wayne and Cooper and Bogart. There is something reassuringly down to earth about such a man – in a strange way, he’s quite a paternal figure. He’s not impervious to danger, but he’ll shrug it off and do what has to be done with a grunt and a groan, then moan about it afterwards. Unlike the invincible machine-men Arnold Schwarzenegger would come to specialize in, Ford wasn’t afraid to be afraid (of snakes, for instance). Here was a pragmatic action hero whose dry understatement and wry humour saved the day. The indelible moment is surely the scene when Indy is faced with a terrifying master swordsman – pulls out his pistol and shoots him on the spot. He wasn’t a blue-eyed blond, and he wasn’t Marlon Brando, but Ford had a surly grace under pressure that caught the public imagination. Instead Raiders of the Lost Ark turned Harrison Ford into a legitimate box office champ at the ripe old age of 39. The role of Indiana Jones, the archaeologist-adventurer with the hat, the whip, and the slightly sarcastic smile had been earmarked for Tom Selleck – but the producers of Magnum PI wouldn’t give him leave of absence to film it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |