The first film in the Indiana Jones series.It takes place a few years before World War II, when Nazi Germany was searching for supernatural artifacts. In this case, they were searching for the Ark of the Covenant, which held the remains of the tablets of the Ten Commandments. After getting word of this, Dr. Indiana Jones is sent to recover it, due to him knowing some people that had clues to where the Ark is held.This leads him on a wild chase involving fighting bad guys in a burning bar, fighting bad guys on moving trucks, and killer sand ghosts.And that's not even taking into account what he has to go through in the prologue, which involves the iconic boulder escape scene.The film itself was a massive hit, but due to the Troubled Productions of Star Wars, and Jaws, studios were reluctant to fund a film by bothGeorge Lucas and Steven Spielberg, despite those respective films also being massive hits. Paramount eventually agreed to fund the film, although the series largely belongs to Lucasfilm. The production, while having some problems (mainly the majority of the crew being ill in Tunisia), it wrapped ahead of time and on-budget (something Spielberg felt was important). Lawrence Kasdan was brought in to write a screenplay based on ideas born during story meetings between Lucas, Spielberg and Kasdan. The screenplay was so good that Lucas asked Kasdan to write the final draft of the first Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back.
Affably Evil: Rene Belloq, to the point that he and Marion power through a bottle of grappa and he tries to stop the Nazis from tossing her in the pit.
Appropriated Title: The first movie was released as just Raiders of the Lost Ark, while all other media include Jones' name in the title. Later re-releases did change the title to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Bang, Bang, BANG: used intentionally to provide "heroic" and "villanous" gunshot motifs. Note that every pistol Indy uses (from the 45 automatic in the bar fight to his trademark revolver) produces the exact same sound, a huge "kaboom" that was actually a recording of a 30/30 rifle.
Big Damn Heroes: Just when Toht is about to torture Marion with a red hot poker, it is ripped from his hand by a bullwhip with Indiana Jones at the other end, ready for battle.
The Brute: The shirtless Nazi who fights Indy by the plane.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: A passing mention from one of his students mentions "all that travel" Indy does. Save the world from Nazis on Sunday, midterm on Monday, sure, why not?
Chain Lightning: The Ark is apparently capable of generating an electrical effect that jumps from person to person.
Chekhov's Skill: Subverted/played with. Marion's Establishing Character Moment shows her drinking a large, burly brute under the table. She tries to use her hard-drinking ability to get the cultured and effete Belloq drunk in an attempt to escape from him, but fails; part of his "cultured" background is that his family owns a vineyard, and he has been drinking since he was a preteen.
Did They or Didn't They?: "I was a child; I was in love! It was wrong and you knew it!" Lucas has admitted that originally, he wrote young Indy and Marion's relationship as taking place when Indy was in his twenties and Marion was fourteen.
Dressing as the Enemy: Played with, where the first guard Indy knocks out in the sub pen is too skinny for his shirt to fit. Fortunately, a larger specimen turns up to scold him for being "out of uniform"...
Evil Laugh: Belloq, after sending the Hovitos to kill an escaping Indiana.
Excuse Me Coming Through: Averted, as Indy has to fight the crowd when Marion is kidnapped by Nazis.
Giant Mook: The really big sherpa in Marion's bar, and the mechanic who gets diced, both played by Pat "Bomber" Roach.
Giggling Villain: Toht. Added with his sexually impotent rapist personality who uses torture to vent his frustrations...
Good Is Not Nice: the Ark or more specifically what's powering it.
Gory Discretion Shot: The camera cuts away as the Giant Mook gets turned into red paste, only showing the splash of blood on a swastika. This is occasionally edited out of broadcast versions, but it's anyone's guess if they're editing out the blood or the swastika itself. Averted at the very end of the film, however.
Hollywood Density: The gold idol at the start of the film, which should weigh far too much to be toted around as easily as it is, let alone weigh about the same as a small bag of sand. When Indy looks at it, he actually removes sand from his bag to approximate its weight. A solid gold object of that size would weigh at least fifty pounds. However, it's never explicitely stated that the idol is indeed solid gold.
Belloq: Again, Dr. Jones, what was briefly yours is now mine.
Mayincatec: The trap infested Hovitos underground temple is one of the best-remembered trapped lairs of all time.
Meaningful Name: Major Toht's name is an anglicized spelling of the German word for death.
Memetic Sex God: In-universe. One of the girls in Indy's class goes so far to write "Love You" on her eyelids to flirt with him, when he's in his nerdy tweed ensemble. One can only imagine what they'd if they saw him in the fedora and whip outfit.
Serendipity Writes The Plot: The swordman chase scene originally involved Indy disarming the man with his whip, but Ford was sick with dysentery at the time, and he asked if he could just shoot the man, which the final cut had him doing.
Slasher Smile: A rare *heroic* version of this occurs when Indy uncovers the Well of Souls, though it's intended to prove Belloq's comments about the two men's similarities.
Star Making Role: For Harrison Ford. Star Wars was a huge success and his Lovable Rogue became an Ensemble Darkhorse, but it was after Raiders of the Lost Ark that he stopped being "the guy from Star Wars" and became Harrison Ford.
Sundial Waypoint: The purpose of the Map Room scene is to make use of this trope.
Swallowed a Fly: In the last few minutes of the film, Belloq is clearly seen to have a fly crawling across his face and into his mouth.
Tribal Face Paint: The Hovitos Indians at the beginning of the movie.
Weapon Twirling: The infamous scene where a swordsman shows off and Indy just shoots him.
We Have Reserves: During the Nepal bar brawl, Indy is struggling against one of Toht's burly mooks. Toht, however, tells one of his other mooks to "Shoot them. Shoot them both.". This has the hilarious effect of making both Indy and the big mook stop to shoot the other mook.
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