Hello everybody! Thank you for joining me. Today, we will be discussing one of my favorite movies, “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark”. “Indiana Jones” is one of my favorite movie series. My dad and I were watching a PBS special the other day. PBS was showing John Williams, in concert, conducting the Berlin Symphony. Being John Williams, they of course played music from “Indiana Jones”. The concert was shown on tv about three days ago. I have been singing the theme song to the movie, in my head, since. Because I was singing the theme in my head, I decided that it would be a good idea to make a blog post about it. So, here we are.
“Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” was released on June 12, 1981. It was directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie stars Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, and of course the man himself, Harrison Ford. The “Indiana Jones” franchise currently has four movies that have been released. There is a fifth one coming. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is the first of the, soon to be five movies, and it’s my favorite. It has action, adventure, romance, and a bit of comedy. The music by John Williams makes it that much better.
John Williams is a legendary and iconic composer. He composed music for a lot of great movies and movie franchises. He has composed for “Star Wars”, “Harry Potter”, “Jurassic Park”, “E.T.”, and of course “Indiana Jones”, just to name a few. I feel John Williams does a good job expressing the music to fit the character or situation. The way he writes music, helps tell the movie’s story. His music gives the movie life and feeling. As a viewing audience, we feel what the characters are feeling. The composition gives the viewers feeling like they’re part of the adventure. Also, the theme for “Indiana Jones” gives the feeling of happiness and heroism.
Let me share an example with you. I will share how the music gives the feelings of not only a character, but to the viewing audience. There is a scene where a truck blows up. John Williams times the music perfectly to give the viewers a sense of what the character is feeling. Not only that, but it also gives the audience a sense of that same feeling… sadness. The music is slow and quiet, with minimal instrumentation. It’s so simple, and yet it speaks volumes to convey an emotion. I can talk about music for a long time, especially when it comes to the work of John Williams and the movies he’s done, but let’s move forward.
Back in 2008 I was a film major in community college. I originally thought I wanted to go into the film industry, so I took a lot of film classes. Since I took a bunch of film classes at school, there are things I spot without even trying. I’ll see continuity errors, a boom mic in the frame, or camera angles I find odd. Now, speaking of odd camera angles, I will share one that has me confused. I’ll try and describe the scene without giving away too much, in case there is anyone out there who hasn’t seen the movie.
I’m not sure if anyone else feels the same way I do. There is a scene where Indiana Jones and his friend, Sallah, go to visit someone. They need someone to do a translation on some writing that’s found on a medallion. Anyway, there is a monkey there, probably the person’s pet, that kind of reminds me of Abu from “Aladdin”. The monkey eats some of the dates that are in a bowl. Now, the camera angle that has me confused is the angle used when we find out the monkey died. I’m sorry, if that felt like a spoiler. Anyway, the camera angle is an overhead or bird’s-eye-view, where we see a ceiling fan in the shot. The camera is basically above the ceiling fan, looking down at the ground. My question is, why did Spielberg choose that camera angle?
Did Spielberg use that angle, so it wasn’t obvious that it was a fake money? If that was his intention, that was not my interpretation of it at all… especially with the ceiling fan in view. The way that the monkey was laying, and the view of the ceiling fan gave me a different vibe. That was not a camera angle I would have chosen. No disrespect to Mr. Spielberg. I just found that angle odd. Everything else in the movie was great! That particular camera angle just seemed out of place or unnecessary. Does anybody else feel that way? Did anyone else notice? Please, feel free to share with me. I love having discussions to see what other people’s opinions are. You can email me at hangingwithkristina@gmail.com, or you can leave a comment.
Okay, moving on to the next thing. My favorite part of the movie. My favorite part is actually a stunt that Harrison Ford did. He’s fighting with the bad guys and ends up on the front of a truck. He is hanging onto, what looks like the grill of the truck. The bad guy driving the truck speeds up, to try and pin Indiana Jones between the two vehicles. Well, he has to do something! So, he slides underneath the truck, grabbing onto whatever he can, on the underside of the vehicle. He maneuvers himself toward the back of the truck, while still underneath, and the truck still in motion.
Indiana Jones makes his way toward the back, while holding onto parts of the truck, and without being dragged. Once he comes out the back, he flips over onto his stomach, holding his whip that’s attached to part of the truck. For me, it’s such a cool stunt. In order to defeat the bad guys, he needs to sneak up on them, right? So, what better way to do that, than crawling underneath a moving vehicle?
There is another scene, which happens sometime after the truck stunt, that I find interesting. Well, to be perfectly honest, it’s not so much a scene as it is a camera shot. Apparently, it’s a camera shot that most viewers watch carefully, and hit pause. It’s a scene where the main bad guy, Belloq (played by Paul Freeman), looks like he eats a fly. A fly lands on Freeman’s face and crawls toward his mouth. Due to editing, it looks like he eats it. However, Freeman mentioned in an interview that the fly flew off when he spoke.
I don’t want to give too much away for those who have not yet seen the movie. So, to round this off, I’m going back to why “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is my favorite “Indiana Jones” movie. It is a fun and interesting movie. As I mentioned before it has action, adventure, comedy, and romance. However, when it comes to the romance, I like the connection between Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood, AKA Harrison Ford and Karen Allen. I feel like Karen Allen was the best leading lady to Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones. Their chemistry, in my opinion, was the best. Marion and Indy were a better fit for each other, not just by personalities, but how they look together.
Thank you for joining me on today’s adventure. I hope you all have a great rest of the week. I look forward to seeing you all again soon for our next adventure. Take care.
Hanging with Kristina 