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Thursday, June 16, 2011

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK came out thirty years ago this week

In 1973, around the same time that he was putting ideas together for what would become the Star Wars saga, George Lucas came up with a rough outline for "The Adventures of Indiana Smith". Nothing came of it until a few years later, when Lucas was vacationing in Hawaii... and happened to run into fellow director Steven Spielberg building a sandcastle on the beach in Maui. It was Spielberg who suggested changing the name from "Smith", and Lucas thought up "Jones" instead.

Four years later, their new hero swashbuckled onto movie screens and forever into popular culture...

Raiders of the Lost Ark came out thirty years ago this week, on June 12th 1981.

Incidentally, this is my all time most personal favorite movie! I could literally watch it all day, all week, and not get tired of it. No other film ever influenced my life more. Raiders of the Lost Ark is what ignited my love and passion for history. I still remember pulling down the "A" volume of the World Book Encyclopedia as a seven-year old on the day after I saw this movie, so I could read up about the real Ark of the Covenant. And that led me to going all through our family Bible to read even more (guess you could say that the Ark was my very first research project).

Anyway... Happy Thirtieth Anniversary to Raiders of the Lost Ark and to everyone who made this movie happen!

3 comments:

Marc said...

Question: When and where did you see this movie for the first time?

As for me, I saw it in a movie theater when it first came out in 1981. Cant recall the name of the theater except to say it was in Brooklyn, NY, nor the exact, EXACT date except to say that it wasnt long after its official release in June 1981

Chris Knight said...

Saw it on December 30th, 1981. At the Carolina Circle 6 at the Carolina Circle Mall in Greensboro.

The mall is no longer there. It was demolished a few years ago to make way for a Wal-Mart Supercenter. But I saw MANY a movie at that place!! :-)

snowboardgamer said...

crazy...i didnt even know that was made before my time (84) as I used to watch those movies non stop as a kid!