History YMMV / RaidersOfTheLostArk

** Marion refers to the [[spoiler: spy]] monkey as her and Indy's baby. Then ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' comes around and we have [[spoiler: Indy's and]] Marion's son, Mutt Williams, swinging on vines with monkeys.

** Creator/StevenSpielberg losing Best Director to actor Creator/WarrenBeatty (for ''Film/{{Reds|1981}}'') is an arguable case. Those who support Creator/StevenSpielberg note that, while Beatty is a respectable director with a decent career, Spielberg was at the height of his powers directing incredibly well-made action movies. However, this is refuted by some who find ''Reds'' to be a directorial achievement above all else (not to mention a labor of love that took Beatty years to get off the ground), and many cite his win (the only Oscar he ever earned in his long career) as one that was justified both in context and by merit. It would get worse when Spielberg lost the following year over ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' (after which is when he started making serious drama movies). That being said, he did win for ''Film/SchindlersList'' and ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'' later on, which are both considered to be two of his greatest works.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Arguably the finest work of Music/JohnWilliams' career, which is filled with SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic.

** Belloq's head looks like a very obvious fake when it explodes in the climax. Which is odd because it directly follows the far more impressive visual of Toht's face melting. This is arguably lessened by the flame effect covering it, which was ordered at the insistence of the MPAA.

* SpiritualAdaptation: Creator/{{Herge}}, after seeing the movie, declared that only Spielberg could do ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'' justice. [[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTintin2011 It eventually happened thirty years later.]]

** Marion's disappearance and (understandably) assumed death. Indy is distraught by this.

** Marion's disappearance and (understandably) assumed death.

** "[[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids Rated PG]]!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]Because PG-13 wasn't an available rating yet, this film managed to squeak by with a PG rating with a few alterations. The "Rated PG" comment is almost always paired with the surprisingly graphic face-melting shots at the end of the movie.[[/labelnote]]

** Creator/JohnRhysDavies putting on brownface to play Sallah is already [[ValuesDissonance questionable enough]] on its own, but became harsher with Davies expressing Islamophobia in more recent years.

** Creator/StevenSpielberg losing Best Director to actor Creator/WarrenBeatty (for ''Film/{{Reds|1981}}'') is an arguable case. Those who support Creator/StevenSpielberg note that, while Beatty is a respectable director with a decent career, Spielberg was at the height of his powers directing incredibly well-made action movies. However, this is refuted by some who find ''Reds'' to be a directorial achievement above all else (not to mention a labor of love that took Beatty years to get off the ground), and many cite his win (the only Oscar he ever earned in his long career) as one that was justified both in context and by merit. It would get worse when Spielberg lost the following year over ''Film/{{ET}}'' (after which is when he started making serious drama movies). That being said, he did win for ''Film/SchindlersList'' and ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'' later on, which are both considered to be two of his greatest works.

* HarsherInHindsight: As Indy speaks with Marcus while packing for his trip, Indy says "You sound just like my mother" as he dismissively speaks of the Ark's powers (which turn out to be very real). In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', we learn that Indy's mother passed away during his childhood, and his relationship with his father fell apart afterwards. And he grew to hate his father for being so obsessed with the Holy Grail, rather than focusing on Indy.

** The transparent partition that separates Harrison Ford from the cobra ''used'' to be this but, hallelujah, Uncle George found a constructive use for his [[GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion digital editing powers]].
** When Indy slides under the truck, both the trench dug for the stuntman to slide along in, and the sped-up film to hide how slow the truck is actually going, are both stick out like sore thumbs. It's also obvious when Indy comes out the back, and he has to be out in the open and not sped up, that the truck is going ''really'' slowly.

* MisaimedFandom: George Lucas has been very clear that Indiana Jones is an {{Antihero}} verging on being a VillainProtagonist with his actions in the opening meant to be outright theft of cultural artifacts. A lot of people missed the point entirely and believed Indiana's "it belongs in a museum" attitude justified his actions completely. ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is meant to be a redemption story where Indiana rediscovers things to believe in.

* MisaimedFandom: George Lucas has been very clear that Indiana Jones is a {{Antihero}} verging on being a VillainProtagonist with his actions in the opening meant to be outright theft of cultural artifacts. A lot of people missed the point entirely and believed Indiana's "it belongs in a museum" attitude justified his actions completely. ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is meant to be a redemption story where Indiana rediscovers things to believe in.

** "Bad dates".

** The "Indy was irrelevant to the story" argument. A common criticism towards the movie (notably popularised by ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'') is that everything would have played out the way it did even if Indy had never got involved in trying to claim the Ark (or ''better'', if the Nazis had taken the Ark to Berlin and opened it in front of Hitler). [[https://collider.com/indiana-jones-doesnt-matter-theory-is-bad/ A rebuttal of this theory can be found here.]] [[WordOfGod Spielberg and Lucas have spoken against the argument]], saying that Hitler would've been smart enough to ''not'' open the Ark, and Belloq just wanted to open it to rub it in Indy's face.

** For awhile, it was popular to juxtapose the scene where Indy is running away from the boulder with the Music/Apollo440 song "Stop the Rock".

** Marion referring to the [[spoiler: spy]] monkey as Indy and her baby. Then ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' comes around and we have [[spoiler: Indy's and]] Marion's son, Mutt Williams, swinging on vines with monkeys.

** Marion referring to the [[spoiler: spy]] monkey as Indy and her baby. Then ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' comes around and we have [[spoiler: Indy's and]] Marion's son, Mutt Williams, swinging on vines with Monkeys.

* HarsherInHindsight: As Indy speaks with Marcus while packing for his trip, Indy says "You sound just like my mother" as he dismissively speaks of the Ark's powers (which turn out to be very real). In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', we learn that Indy's mother passed away during his childhood, and his relationship with his father fell apart afterwards. And he grew to hate his father for being so obsessed with the Holy Grail, rather than focusing upon Indy.

** Upon its original run, the movie did not follow the "Indiana Jones and the X" naming scheme that sequels did, simply titled ''Raiders of the Lost Ark''. However in later home media releases it was retrofitted, ie: ''Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark''. Even though that doesn't really make sense, as Indy ''is'' one of the titular "raiders".

** Did {{God}} spare Indy and Marion in the climax because they closed their eyes when His Ark was opened, or because they are fundamentally good? Similarly, did Indy tell Marion not to look into the Ark because he knew they would be killed, or so she wouldn't have to see the Nazis all die in horrible ways? The former makes sense, since the Ark is an Old Testament artefact (and God in the Old Testament is not hesitant to hand out fatal punishments to those who incur His wrath), but the latter fits in better with the more overtly New Testament themes and imagery of ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade The Last Crusade]]''.

* FanPreferredCutContent: A DeletedScene where a young {{Mook}} is tasked with executing Sallah but can't bring himself to do it has a lot of defenders, even among the cast and crew, who think it should have stayed in.