99 Fun Facts About Raiders of the Lost Ark

How is Marion Ravenwood introduced in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Winning a drinking contest: Marion out-drinks a man twice her size for cash in her own bar, and Karen Allen later pushed for her to try the same trick on her captor in the desert tent.

What does Indiana Jones grab from the booby-trapped temple in the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark?

A golden idol sits on a weighted pedestal, and Indy's swap with a bag of similar weight fails: taking it brings the temple down around him and sets a giant boulder rolling after him.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the booby-trapped temple of the opening sequence is in which country?

Peru is only where the story puts it: the temple interior, boulder run included, was a life-sized set built on a soundstage at Elstree Studios in England.

Which rival archaeologist robs Indy outside the temple and later opens the Ark for the Nazis?

René Belloq, the film's French villain, was played by an Englishman, Paul Freeman; French singer Jacques Dutronc was among those considered for the part.

The Nazis are excavating for the Ark of the Covenant at which ancient Egyptian city?

Tanis is a real ruined city in the Nile delta, once Egypt's capital; in 1939, three years after the film is set, intact royal tombs holding silver coffins were dug up there.

In which country does Indy find Marion Ravenwood running a bar?

Nepal is where Marion runs the tavern her late father left her, until a gun battle with Toht's hired thugs leaves it in flames and she sets off with Indy to get paid.

What does the Gestapo agent Toht end up with burned into the palm of his hand?

The medallion's image is seared into Toht's palm when he grabs the red-hot headpiece, but the burn shows only one face, so the Nazis miss the correction on the back and dig in the wrong place.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the snake-filled chamber where the Ark lies buried is called what?

The Well of Souls looked too bare to Spielberg with the snakes first brought in, so filming paused while thousands more were rounded up.

What do the Nazis find inside the Ark when they open it on the island?

Only sand is inside, and the Nazis' disappointment lasts a few seconds, until sparks fly and spirits pour out of the chest to wipe out the whole ceremony.

How do Indy and Marion survive the opening of the Ark?

They keep their eyes shut while the Ark's spirits kill everyone watching; a 2013 Big Bang Theory episode argued this makes Indy irrelevant, since the Nazis would have died opening it anyway.

At the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Army Intelligence agents say the Ark is being studied by whom?

Top men is all Indy gets out of them: the last shot shows the Ark nailed into a plain crate and wheeled into a vast warehouse stacked with thousands just like it.

Raiders of the Lost Ark was conceived as a throwback to which kind of old-time entertainment?

Saturday matinee serials of the 1930s and 1940s were George Lucas's boyhood favourites, and he shelved this tribute to them to make another one first, set in a galaxy far, far away.

Who wrote the screenplay for Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Lawrence Kasdan got the job after his Continental Divide script impressed Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas then had him rework The Empire Strikes Back too.

When George Lucas first pitched him Raiders of the Lost Ark, what did Steven Spielberg say he wanted to direct next?

A James Bond picture was Spielberg's wish on that 1977 beach holiday; Lucas replied that he had something better than Bond, a globe-trotting archaeologist.

George Lucas named the hero of Raiders of the Lost Ark after what?

His dog Indiana, a big and hairy Alaskan Malamute, gave the archaeologist his first name, and the same pet was also George Lucas's model for Chewbacca.

What was Indiana's surname in early drafts of Raiders of the Lost Ark, before Steven Spielberg objected to it?

Smith reminded Spielberg of Nevada Smith, a 1966 Steve McQueen western, so the filmmakers swapped it for another surname just as plain: Jones.

Which writer-director, credited on the Raiders of the Lost Ark story, suggested the Ark of the Covenant as its goal?

Philip Kaufman had been hooked on the Ark since childhood, when his dentist told him tales of its powers; he left the project early to work on The Outlaw Josey Wales.

Which actor was originally cast as Indiana Jones but was tied to a TV series?

Tom Selleck's Magnum, P.I. pilot had sat unsold until George Lucas and Steven Spielberg asked CBS to release him; the network promptly ordered the series and held him to it.

Why was George Lucas hesitant to cast Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones?

He had just been in Star Wars, and George Lucas feared seeming reliant on one actor, the way Martin Scorsese leaned on Robert De Niro; Ford signed only weeks before filming.

Steven Spielberg cast Karen Allen as Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark after seeing her in which 1978 comedy?

Animal House showed Spielberg an actress who could play an independent woman, and one of the first things he asked Karen Allen at her audition was how well she could spit.

Which Taxi star was the first choice to play Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Danny DeVito was the first choice, but between his Taxi schedule and his agent's price the part went to John Rhys-Davies, whom Steven Spielberg had seen in the miniseries Shogun.

Which notoriously volatile German actor turned down Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark for a better-paying horror film?

Klaus Kinski took the thriller Venom because it paid more, and later wrote that he had found the Raiders script moronic; Ronald Lacey played Toht instead.

Which future Spider-Man villain first appeared on film as Satipo, Indy's treacherous guide in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Alfred Molina's film debut had him covered in tarantulas that would not move because they were all males, until a female was added to stir them up.

Which actor plays museum curator Marcus Brody, Indy's loyal friend?

Denholm Elliott plays Brody as a dignified scholar here, but the third film turned him into comic relief, a man said to have once got lost in his own museum.

The Paramount logo that opens Raiders of the Lost Ark dissolves into a real mountain located where?

Kauai, Hawaii supplied the peak: the match was a last-minute idea Steven Spielberg sprang on his crew, and a producer had to scramble across the island hunting for a mountain of the right shape.

Which director's visiting daughter reported Raiders of the Lost Ark to a cruelty-prevention charity over its snake scenes?

Stanley Kubrick's daughter Vivian wandered onto the snake-covered set, was upset by what she saw and phoned the RSPCA, which cost the production another day.

Which country stood in for Egypt during the filming of Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Tunisia gave the film its Cairo in the old city of Kairouan, where a day of shooting was lost while the crew took some 300 television aerials down from the rooftops.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, why was the planned whip-versus-sword fight in Cairo cut down to a single gunshot?

Ford had dysentery and was in no state for a long, choreographed duel, so he suggested simply shooting the swordsman, and Spielberg said he had been thinking the same.

The rolling boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark is widely seen as a nod to a comic starring which Disney character?

Uncle Scrooge got there first: Carl Barks's 1954 comic The Seven Cities of Cibola has a booby trap that sets a giant stone rolling, and the filmmakers have cited those comics as an inspiration.

Sound designer Ben Burtt made the Raiders of the Lost Ark boulder's rumble by recording what?

A Honda Civic on a gravel hill did it: Burtt let his own small car coast slowly over the stones, and the tyres became the roar of the giant rock.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the sound of the Ark being opened was made with which household item?

A toilet cistern lid: sound designer Ben Burtt lifted the heavy cover off his own toilet at home, and he got the snakes' slither by running his fingers through a cheese casserole.

During the Flying Wing fight in Raiders of the Lost Ark, what happened to Harrison Ford?

The wheel rolled over his foot and was braked just short of his knee; the desert heat had softened the tyre, and it took some 40 crew to rock the plane off him.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Toht's melting face was built from layers of what, warmed by heaters?

Gelatin was layered over a heat-proof stone skull and filmed in time-lapse as it slowly melted, which is why Toht's face seems to run off the bone in a few seconds.

Which effects company, supervised by Richard Edlund, created the visual effects for Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Industrial Light & Magic, George Lucas's own effects house, made the Ark's ghosts by shaking small robed puppets in a cloudy water tank and filming them against a blue screen.

What finally got the monkey in Raiders of the Lost Ark to give its Nazi salute?

A dangled grape did it: tapping the monkey's head had not worked, so the crew hung the fruit on a fishing line just out of shot, and the salute is really a reach for a snack.

Who composed the score for Raiders of the Lost Ark, including "The Raiders March"?

John Williams played Steven Spielberg two candidate tunes for the hero on the piano; the director asked why he didn't use both, so one became the march's main theme and the other its bridge.

Why does Raiders of the Lost Ark show its journeys as a red line crossing a map?

To save money: the script called for lavish montages to carry the story from one country to the next, and Steven Spielberg swapped them for a map with a moving line.

To keep Raiders of the Lost Ark on schedule, Steven Spielberg had four artists produce thousands of what?

Storyboards covered not just the chases but the dialogue scenes too, and sticking to them let Spielberg wrap in 73 days, 12 ahead of the schedule the studio had set.

Which Paramount president, later the boss of Disney, agreed to George Lucas's costly terms for Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Michael Eisner said yes after rival studios balked at the terms, but in return he secured the rights to any sequels and wrote in stiff penalties for any overrun.

Made for roughly $20 million, Raiders of the Lost Ark has grossed about how much worldwide?

$390 million or so, re-releases included, for a film that most Hollywood studios had turned down as too big a risk at that budget.

Which sequel was tipped as the runaway hit of summer 1981, only for Raiders of the Lost Ark to out-earn it?

Superman II so dominated pre-summer polls that one pollster dropped it from the list, while almost nobody had heard of Raiders; the unknown film went on to earn roughly twice as much.

Raiders of the Lost Ark lost the Best Picture Oscar for 1981 to which film?

Chariots of Fire won, and its screenwriter Colin Welland waved his own Oscar at the crowd and announced that the British were coming; Raiders went home with four craft awards and a special one for sound effects editing.

Raiders of the Lost Ark won the Academy Award in which of these categories?

Best Visual Effects was one of its four competitive wins, all for craft; its famous march, by contrast, lost Best Original Score to a synthesizer soundtrack by Vangelis.

How did three Mississippi children pay tribute to Raiders of the Lost Ark between 1982 and 1989?

Made a shot-for-shot amateur remake: Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala began as schoolboys and gave it their summers for years, and the one scene they had to skip, the exploding plane, they came back to film as adults.

Which Indiana Jones sequel, released in 1984, is actually a prequel set before Raiders of the Lost Ark?

The Temple of Doom takes place in 1935, a year before Raiders, and it opens in Shanghai with a sequence first written for the original film and cut from its script.

The TV spin-off The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles sent its teenage hero to fight in which war?

World War I: George Lucas designed the series to teach history, so young Indy serves in the trenches and, across the episodes, meets real figures from Theodore Roosevelt to Leo Tolstoy.

The fifth Indiana Jones film, released in June 2023, was subtitled what?

Dial of Destiny opens in 1944 with Harrison Ford, by then 80, digitally de-aged to look as he did around the time of the original films.

Raiders of the Lost Ark rented a full-size vessel from the makers of which other film?

Das Boot had a full-size U-boat replica built for its own shoot, and renting it saved Raiders the cost of making one; the crew filmed it at real wartime submarine pens on the French coast.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, what appears to crawl into the villain's mouth in the middle of a speech?

A fly landed on Paul Freeman's lip during a take and he simply carried on; Steven Spielberg maintains he swallowed it, Freeman says it flew off, and critic Pauline Kael singled him out for not flinching.

Which two characters from another George Lucas series appear as hieroglyphs on a wall in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

R2-D2 and C-3PO appear among the hieroglyphs of the chamber where the Ark is buried, one of several nods to the space saga George Lucas released in 1977.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, where has a student in Indiana Jones's lecture written a love message to him?

On her eyelids, where she flashes it at him during class. The moment was improvised on set, like much of the loosely scripted film.

The last shot of Raiders of the Lost Ark, a crate lost in a vast warehouse, echoes the ending of which classic?

Citizen Kane gives the same fate to the beloved childhood sled of its main character. Steven Spielberg called Raiders a film about movies, designed as a tribute to filmmaking.

In the truck chase of Raiders of the Lost Ark, which carmaker's hood ornament snaps off in Indiana Jones's grip?

Mercedes aided the Nazi regime, and the snapping badge, which drops Indy beneath the moving truck, has been read as the film mocking that history.

The costume designer of Raiders of the Lost Ark also created a famous red jacket for which Michael Jackson video?

Thriller dressed Michael Jackson in a red jacket by Deborah Nadoolman Landis, who chose Indy's hat by tipping boxes of them on the floor for Harrison Ford to try.

The canyon where Indiana Jones ambushes the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark had earlier played which desert planet?

Tatooine was filmed in the same canyon, Sidi Bouhlel, when George Lucas made his 1977 space epic, four years before the Ark was carried through it.

The slithering of the snakes in Raiders of the Lost Ark is partly the sound of fingers running through which food?

Cheese casserole squelched under sound designer Ben Burtt's hands, and he mixed the result with wet sponges dragged across grip tape.

Which sitcom built a 2013 episode around the claim that Indiana Jones changes nothing in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

The Big Bang Theory has Amy call Indiana Jones superfluous to the story, and a dejected Sheldon retaliates by picking holes in her favorite show.

Which Welsh actor, later the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings, plays Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

John Rhys-Davies won the part on the strength of his role in the miniseries Shogun, and Steven Spielberg asked him to add a dash of Shakespeare's Falstaff.

In 1991, which restaurant chain sold videocassettes of Raiders of the Lost Ark and its two sequels for $5.99 each?

McDonald's ran what was called possibly the largest video sales promotion to date, expecting to shift at least five million more tapes of the trilogy.

According to the Bible, the Ark of the Covenant sought in Raiders of the Lost Ark was built to hold what?

The Ten Commandments were said to lie inside the gold-plated wooden chest, which had to be carried on poles because it was too holy to touch.

Which actor joined the series as Indiana Jones's father in the 1989 sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Sean Connery first turned the part down because he was only twelve years older than Harrison Ford, then reshaped the father into a match for his son.

The 1989 sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark sends Indiana Jones and his father after which legendary relic?

The Holy Grail closes the original trilogy, and Steven Spielberg has called that film partly an apology for the reception of the darker second installment.

Harrison Ford's work in Raiders of the Lost Ark helped win him the lead in which 1982 science fiction film?

Blade Runner's makers heard Steven Spielberg, then finishing Raiders, strongly praise Ford's work, which helped settle the casting of its lead.

Which style of hat, scrunched under a bed to age it, does Indiana Jones wear in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

A fedora, which the costume designer aged with Fuller's earth and mineral oil. It gave the hero an outline recognizable even in silhouette.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, what does Adolf Hitler believe the Ark of the Covenant will do for his army?

Make it invincible, which is why Army Intelligence sends Indy to get there first. In the film, its agents describe the dictator as obsessed with the occult.

Indiana Jones's jacket and khakis in Raiders of the Lost Ark copy which star's look in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre?

Humphrey Bogart's costume was one model for the outfit. The other was Charlton Heston's in the 1954 adventure Secret of the Incas.

Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest films put Raiders of the Lost Ark second, behind which crime saga?

The Godfather took first place, while Empire praised the runner-up as the most efficiently entertaining adventure film of them all.

Near the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones threatens to blow up the Ark with which weapon?

A rocket launcher, but his rival calls the bluff, guessing that Indy could never destroy something so historically significant.

A 1982 video game based on Raiders of the Lost Ark was released for which home console?

Atari 2600 owners needed both joysticks, since designer Howard Scott Warshaw used the second controller to manage the items Indy carries.

Which resort opened the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, a live show based on Raiders of the Lost Ark, in 1989?

Walt Disney World opened the live show at its Hollywood Studios park in Florida, the first Indiana Jones attraction at any Disney park.

What had to be taken down from over 300 houses before Raiders of the Lost Ark could film its Cairo street scenes?

TV antennas would have looked wrong in a story set in 1936, and clearing them from the city of Kairouan cost the production a whole day of filming.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, what does the Ark burn off its wooden crate while leaving the crate itself unharmed?

The Nazi emblem is scorched away, a sign that the holy relic rejects its captors long before it destroys the men who open it.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the headpiece that reveals the Ark's resting place sits on top of which object?

The Staff of Ra has to be cut to the right height, and only one face of the headpiece carries the correction that gives the true measurement.

During the snake pit scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark, what stood between the cast and the venomous cobras?

A plexiglass screen shielded cast and crew, the stage doors stayed open for a waiting ambulance, and fresh anti-venom had to be imported from India.

Ronald Lacey was cast as Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark because he reminded Steven Spielberg of which actor?

Peter Lorre was the model Steven Spielberg had in mind, and the part set Lacey on a run of screen villains that lasted five or six years.

What is the first name of Marion's late father, Indiana Jones's old mentor, in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Abner Ravenwood never appears on screen: Marion reports that he is dead, yet a Nazi telegram naming him is what first draws Indy into the hunt.

The island where the Nazis open the Ark at the climax of Raiders of the Lost Ark lies in which sea?

The Aegean Sea island is reached by U-boat, and a scene of Indy holding on to its periscope for the trip was cut because Steven Spielberg thought it looked poor.

During the Raiders of the Lost Ark truck chase, what hidden prop held Harrison Ford as he clung to the vehicle's front?

A bicycle seat was fixed out of sight beneath the truck. The idea of Indy crawling along its underside came from stuntman Glenn Randall.

The tarantulas in the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark refused to move until the crew added what?

A female spider did the trick: the tarantulas placed on the actor's body were all male and placid, so one female was set on his chest to stir them.

Which animals were mixed in among the thousands of real snakes in the snake pit of Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Legless lizards helped fill the floor after Steven Spielberg decided 500 or so snakes looked too few and handlers across Europe rushed thousands more to the set.

Which producer of Raiders of the Lost Ark stepped in to play the Flying Wing pilot when stuntmen ran short?

Frank Marshall took the controls during a three-day shoot so difficult that Steven Spielberg was reported saying he wanted to go home.

On the American Film Institute's 2003 list of screen heroes, Indiana Jones ranked second behind which character?

Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird took first place. The same institute ranked Raiders tenth on its list of the 100 most thrilling American films.

When brown donkeys went lame during the Raiders of the Lost Ark shoot, how were two gray replacements disguised?

Colored hairspray turned the pair brown, and they were then flown in by helicopter to finish the jungle trek of the opening scenes.

Which planned gadget for Toht was dropped from Raiders of the Lost Ark because George Lucas felt it changed the genre?

A mechanical arm was Steven Spielberg's idea, one that could be swapped for a machine gun or a flamethrower. It was abandoned before filming began.

Who was suspended in a white robe to play the ghost seen in close-up in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

A Lucasfilm receptionist was filmed moving away from the camera, and the footage was then reversed to make her movement look inhuman.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, what is the name of the pet snake belonging to Jock, Indiana Jones's getaway pilot?

Reggie is the one subject the easygoing pilot and Indy ever clash over, since the hero's best-known weakness is a fear of snakes.

Which English actor plays the rival archaeologist working for the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Paul Freeman caught Steven Spielberg's attention in the docudrama Death of a Princess, where his piercing eyes captivated the director.

What is the name of the tramp steamer whose captain agrees to carry the Ark in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Bantu Wind was played by an Egyptian boat found in an Irish port, dressed for the part and sailed to France because no coal-fired steamer could be found.

A German U-boat announcement in Raiders of the Lost Ark hides a nod to which early-1970s science fiction film?

THX 1138 was directed by George Lucas, and the announcement translates as the number 1138, one of several in-jokes about his own films.

Which actor did the casting director of Raiders of the Lost Ark favor for Indiana Jones before Harrison Ford was hired?

Jeff Bridges was Mike Fenton's pick from a long list that also included Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Jack Nicholson and David Hasselhoff.

Which stuntman doubled for Harrison Ford beneath the moving truck in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Terry Leonard jumped from a horse and climbed underneath the truck for the wide shots, the stunt he remains best known for.

Which film editor, a long-time Steven Spielberg collaborator, won an Oscar for Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Michael Kahn won again for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, and here he helped trim a first cut of nearly three hours to just under two.

Which tribe's warriors confront Indiana Jones outside the temple in the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark?

The Hovitos force Indy to hand over his prize to a rival, and their poisoned darts kill the treacherous guide Barranca as he runs away.

Which actress did George Lucas want as Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark, only to find she was not interested?

Debra Winger passed, Steven Spielberg's own pick Amy Irving was unavailable, and Barbara Hershey was considered before the part was finally cast.

Real wartime submarine pens appear in Raiders of the Lost Ark; in which French port were they filmed?

La Rochelle's German U-boat pens were built during the war, and filming began there with the capture of the steamer before the crew moved on to England.

George Lucas named a villain in his 1988 fantasy Willow after which critic of Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Pauline Kael wrote that the filmmakers had thought like marketers chasing the broadest audience, and Willow's army commander duly became General Kael.

Steven Spielberg's Best Director nomination for Raiders of the Lost Ark lost to which actor-director?

Warren Beatty won for Reds, and with it became the first person nominated for acting, directing, producing and writing the same film a second time.

Which director released a black-and-white edit of Raiders of the Lost Ark in 2014 with its original sound removed?

Steven Soderbergh wanted viewers to study how each scene is staged and edited, so he stripped out the color and every original sound.

The interior sets for Raiders of the Lost Ark, including the snake pit, were built at which English studio?

Elstree was chosen because it was well staffed with artists and technicians who had already worked there on George Lucas's 1977 space epic.