Raiders of the Lost Ark

Dir. Steven Spielberg. 1981, 115 mins. 35mm. With Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies. The film that introduced Indiana Jones remains one of the most exciting movies of all time, a perfectly engineered roller coaster that functions as both a winking homage to the action serials of director Spielberg’s childhood and a singular adventure in its own right. Its mix of incredible stunt work and then state-of-the-art special effects has never been topped, and Ford and Allen’s screwball chemistry as Jones and former flame Marion sets a standard by which all action couples should be judged.