I hate snakes!

We’ve been talking about some cool movies the last couple of days, but now it’s time to run straight into the caverns and discuss what just might be Harrison Ford’s most iconic role, aside from that scruffy-looking nerf-herder.

Author

Tyler Clark
June 28, 2023

Good morning Consumers. This is Please Consume, the newsletter that loves movies more than Harrison Ford loves crashing planes.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

We’ve been talking about some cool movies the last couple of days, but now it’s time to run straight into the caverns and discuss what just might be Harrison Ford’s most iconic role, aside from that scruffy-looking nerf-herder.

We’re talking about the film that started it all, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark!

Where We See Robin Hood

From swashbuckling adventures to a shining star in the lead performance, Indiana Jones echoes the pulp, the style, of The Adventures of Robin Hood and other films of its era like it.

Indiana Jones feels like a classic fairytale. Despite the fact it’s an earnest, if not slightly post modern, take on pulpy, serials and early action talkies.

However, it takes its influences and tries to lift up the material to make something better. It’s like it said to the serials: “I love you, but I can do better”.

Where We See Lawrence of Arabia

Interestingly, we see Lawrence of Arabia in the opposite way that we see The Adventures of Robin Hood. 

With respect to Robin Hood, the film elevates the material, but with Lawrence of Arabia it bows down before David Lean, Wayne’s World style, screaming “We are not worthy!”It’s Spielberg trying to stand shoulder to shoulder with what he thinks is the most masterful film ever made.

Does he succeed? In many ways, yes. While he’s not quite able to reach the scale that Lean does with the telling of the T.E. Lawrence story, he does capture its energy, especially by cutting it down to a quick 105 minutes (that’s down from the 210 of Lawrence of Arabia).

As we said yesterday, it was Silverberg‘s goal to take the movie he loved and to cut out “the boring stuff”.

And the result was Raiders.

How Raiders Changed the Game

We have seen the continued influence of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the last 40 years in many ways, but especially in who it’s had an impact on.

Many filmmakers cite this as one of the films that got them into filmmaking, filmmakers like Kevin Smith and JJ Abrams. Steven Soderbergh even loves this film so much that he made his own cut of the film, turning it black and white, switching off the sound, and replacing the score with Trent Reznor’s Social Network music.

It also influenced action and adventure films that came after (spoiler alert: this is what we will be covering for the rest of the week). We could keep going, and we will tomorrow, but for now we will leave you with what is quietly one of the best scenes in all of Spielberg’s filmography.

No, it’s not an action scene. It’s classic adventure fun with some good ol’ fashioned tension.

Today’s Scene