Raiders of the Lost Ark

Release date 12th June 1981
Country : USA
Running time : 115 mins
Genre : Action/Adventure
Starring Harrison Ford
Screenplay by George Lucas, Phillip Kaufman
Directed by Steven Spielberg

Dr Indiana Jones, a renowned archeologist is hired by the US government to find the Ark of the Convenant. The Nazis are also after the Ark. Indy and ex-flame Marion have many close scrapes in the quest which ranges from Nepal to Cairo.

A tribute to the classic action-adventure serials with loads of thrills, almost as if the dull chapters have been edited out. Good fun even if some of the plot doesn't make a lot of sense and the villains are rather stereotypical Nazis. The Indiana Jones theme has become one of the most iconic in modern cinema.

Two lesser though still entertaining sequels followed : Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).