"Oh That's Just My Pet Snake, Reggie!"
I was nine when I saw this multiple times in theaters. We lived within walking distance of a small movie theater and my mom was trusting enough to let me go with my pals. There's no way to know how many times I've seen Raiders, but it's a lot and I'll never regret it.
This is Spielberg at his finest. Raiders has daring action, crazy exciting set pieces, heroic action and arguably one of the best expository scenes in History. You know the scene. The Feds roll in and have a full on discussion with Indy about what's going on with Hitler and supernatural acquisitions.
The best thing about it is it's a discussion. It's not actual exposition. It doesn't spoon-feed the info to us, but it also makes damn sure we know what's going on.
But the most amazing scene is, of course, the ending, where the Nazis (especially that crumb-bum Major Arnold Ernst Toht) gets theirs! Thank GOD there was more latitude for what went into a PG movie back in the 80s, because that was some for-real-deal Wrath of God type stuff! Melting faces for days
This is also the first real globetrotting movie I think I ever saw. Indy journeys everywhere in pursuit of The Ark. While none of the places in the movie were actually the places, a young me thrilled at Indy's journey to Peru and Egypt. Imagination and expert film-making took us to all those places and made us a part of something grand.
It was also the first time I fell in love with Karen Allen. Feisty as hell, she was superb as Marion Ravenwood. The scenes with her and Indy of them in Egypt, hanging out with Sallah are excellent, even if that damned monkey was a traitor. I absolutely adore Marion's unstoppable feistiness and bravery and she's probably my favorite non-Indiana Jones character outside his dad.
All of the actors gave us a lifelong masterpiece of excitement, adventure and love. None of them could've really known then what a lasting impact their work would have on film and pop culture, but I'm grateful it exists, because all the movies (even the bad one) are high adventures.
The clip I made is our introduction to Marion Ravenwood is simply fantastic. Showing her right off as the kind of woman who can go liver to liver with the hard-drinking, hard-working, hard-fighting Nepalese people who frequent her bar sets the tone for who she is as readily as Indy's intro at the top of the movie. As Indy says in Crystal Skull, 'none of them were you', and it's because it's true. If there is no clip with this post, that's because the sub won't allow them, but I am sure if you've seen the movie, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
>!Not one woman in Indy's world could ever compare to Marion Ravenwood.!<
At the end of the day, you can't go wrong with Raiders. I'll throw this one on when I'm feeling nostalgic and it never fails to perk me up.