‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ at 40: Movie magic of the best kind

We look at all the elements that combined to make the 1981 Harrison Ford-starrer an important pop cultural phenomenon, as well as the greatest action movie of all time

On June 12, 1981, an adventurer-archaeologist leapt off the screens into our collective consciousness with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on a story by George Lucas, the film was a tribute to the serial films that Spielberg and Lucas grew up on. The movie sees Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in a race against time to get the Ark of the Covenant before the wicked Nazis do. The movie was followed by a prequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), and two sequels, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). Now, Indiana Jones 5, with a 78-year-old Ford, has recently gone on the floors and is expected to be released in 2022. .