Stanko's Stance

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas, Philip Kaufman
Staring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman
Streaming: Paramount+
Release Date: June 12, 1981

In case you are not on social media at all, this past weekend was the 40th anniversary of Raiders Of The Lost Ark being released. Households and families across world rewatched this timeless adventure over the weekend and everyone has to be happier for it. 40 years after its release, Raiders Of The Lost Ark still holds up as one of the best adventure movies ever made.

This has to be at least the eighth time I have seen the movie, and I still pick up on something different each time. This time around, watching it with my girlfriend and youngest sister, I noticed how gorgeous some of the shots cinematographer Douglas Slocombe constructed with Spielberg. The distinct shot of Indy with only a light on his eyes when he is leaving the bar Marion (Karen Allen) owns at the start of the movie. Then the shots in the desert with Indy and Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) as they are dashing to get the ark before the Nazis.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark is so much fun that you skim over the shortcuts in the story and the sometimes massive suspension of disbelief needed. We don’t need to know how Indy gets from place to place, or survives underneath an ocean on a Nazi submarine. Details, details, details.

The fact they are making a fifth Indiana Jones movie is scary, but it is in the hands of James Mangold. That at least gives me some confidence that it’ll be well made and better than Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008).

The new movie, which is slated to come out in July of 2022, has Ford back in the lead role (at 73 years old??) alongside Mads Mikkelsen, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renée Wilson, and Thomas Kretschmann.

As for Raiders Of The Lost Ark, it holds the test of time no matter how many times you dive into its treasures.

STANKO RATING: A- (4.5/5 Stars)

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