Trivialidades for
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

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• Tom Selleck was originally cast as Indiana Jones, but was not able to take the role because he was committed to "Magnum, P.I." (1980). "Magnum" did an episode that parodied "Raiders", complete with hat, whip, booby traps, etc.
  
  
• Although Tom Selleck had to give up the role of Indiana Jones to film "Magnum, P.I." (1980), the series didn't go into production until filming had already wrapped. Selleck was in fact in Hawaii waiting for the series to start as the final scenes to be filmed (the opening sequence) were being shot in Hawaii.
  
  
• Tom Selleck was Steven Spielberg's second choice for the role of Indiana Jones. Harrison Ford was his first, but George Lucas objected, since Ford had been in both American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars (1977).
  
  

• Nick Nolte turned down the role of Indiana Jones.
  
  
• Steven Spielberg originally wanted Danny DeVito to play Sallah and DeVito was set for the role, but he had to drop out due to conflicts with "Taxi" (1978).
  
  
• The scene where Indy threatens to blow up the Ark with a bazooka as it is being carried through a canyon was filmed in the same canyon in Tunisia used in Star Wars (1977) when R2-D2 was zapped and stolen by Jawas.
  
  
• In filming the Well of Souls sequence, the producers scoured every pet shop in London and the South of England for every snake they could lay their hands on. Hence there are snakes that are identifiable from many different geographical areas. However, once all the snakes were on set, it became clear that there were not nearly enough of them, so Steven Spielberg had several hoses cut into lengths, and these were used as well. Looking closely, you can tell which are the real snakes and which are not.
  
  
• Harrison Ford badly bruised his ribs during the scene where he is dragged behind the truck.
  
  
• When Indy is dragged under and then out behind a moving truck, it's a tribute to Yakima Canutt's similar famous stunt in John Ford's Stagecoach (1939). In fact, it was a stunt that stuntman Terry Leonard had tried to pull off the year before, and failed to do so, on The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981). He was thrilled at the chance of having another shot at it.
  
  
• A sheet of glass separates Harrison Ford and the arched (and highly dangerous) cobra when he falls into the Well of Souls. The snake actually did spray venom onto the glass.
  
  
• For the DVD release, over 970,000 frames were cleaned up by Lowry Digital Images, the same company that cleaned up Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), North by Northwest (1959) and Sunset Blvd. (1950) for DVD.
  
  
• To achieve the sound of thousands of snakes slithering, sound designer Ben Burtt stuck his fingers into a cheese casserole. This was augmented by applying wet sponges to the rubber on a skateboard.
  
  
• Originally intended as a small low-budget adventure, production costs tripled to $22 million.
  
  
• 1981's biggest grossing film.
  
  
• George Lucas first dreamed up the idea of an adventurous archaeologist about the same time he came up with the idea for the Flash Gordon-type space story which became Star Wars (1977).
  
  
• Traditionally when one of his films is about to open, George Lucas goes on holiday to get away from all the hoopla. As Star Wars (1977) was just about to open, Lucas went to Hawaii where he was joined by Steven Spielberg. When the grosses for Lucas's film came in, and it was clear that his movie was going to be a hit, Lucas relaxed and was able to discuss other topics with his friend. It was at this point that Spielberg confessed he always wanted to direct a James Bond film, to which Lucas told him he had a much better idea - an adventure movie called "Raiders of the Lost Ark". The conversation came up while the two were making a sand castle. After their trip, they got together and developed the script with Lawrence Kasdan.
  
  
• Director Trademark: [Steven Spielberg] [music]
  
  
• On the Bonus Features DVD, John Rhys-Davies talks about how when he auditioned for the role of Sallah, he was concerned since the script originally described Sallah as a "5-foot-2, skinny, Egyptian digger". Steven Spielberg mentioned that when he first heard Rhys-Davies speak, he reminded him of the Shakespearean character "Falstaff". Spielberg then told Rhys-Davies that for his performance as Sallah, to combine his earlier role as "Vasco Rodrigues" from the miniseries "Shogun" (1980) (mini) with the character of Falstaff.
  
  
• Steven Spielberg and Melissa Mathison wrote a script during shooting breaks on the location of this film. Mathison was there to visit her husband, Harrison Ford and Spielberg dictated to her a story idea he had; that script was eventually called E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
  
  
• The opening scene in the lost South American temple is partly based on a classic Disney Ducks adventure helmed by the legendary artist Carl Barks, many of whose comic books have inspired George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Exploring a lost temple, Donald Duck, his nephews, and Scrooge McDuck must evade a succession of booby traps, like flying darts, a decapitating blade, a huge boulder, a tunnel flooded with a torrent of gushing water, etc., in the story "The Prize of Pizarro" ("Uncle $crooge" no. 26, June-August 1959), which hit the newsstands when Lucas and Spielberg were respectively 15 and 12 years old. Both men are avowed fans of the Barks comic books.
  
  
• Despite having the dream team of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg behind the film, it was initially turned down by every studio in Hollywood. Only after much persuasion did Paramount agree to do it.
  
  
• George Lucas did some second unit work on the film.
  
  
• Philip Kaufman shares story credit with George Lucas because they originally dreamed up the film together in the 1970's. Reportedly, it was Kaufman's idea to pursue the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Originally, Kaufman was going to direct.
  
  
• Director Trademark: [Steven Spielberg] [stars]
  
  
• The first time Steven Spielberg ever directed in the UK.
  
  
• Shooting in Tunisia proved to be so stressful and so hot that Steven Spielberg managed to compress a six-week shoot into four-and-a-half weeks. This helped the production complete principal photography 12 days ahead of schedule.
  
  
• Indy's battered leather jacket was actually brand new and had to be artificially aged by the costume department. There were 10 jackets for general wear and tear and stunt purposes.
  
  
• Indiana Jones's hat came from the famous Herbert Johnson hat shop in Saville Row, London. The hat was the shop's Australian model. On the Bonus Features DVD, costume designer Deborah Nadoolman said that in order to properly age the hat, she grabbed and twisted the hat, then she and Harrison Ford both sat on it, and it eventually looked like "a very lived-in and well-loved" hat.
  
  
• Alfred Molina's screen debut. His first scene on his first day of filming involved being covered with tarantulas.
  
  
• The giant boulder that chases after Indiana Jones at the start of the film was made of fiberglass. The sound they used for it was of a Honda Civic rolling downhill.
  
  
• All the stunt men were sick on the day that Indiana Jones hits the pilot of the Flying Wing over the head, knocking him out, so producer Frank Marshall agreed to do it. Unfortunately for him, the shot took three days and a lot of it involved him sitting in a cockpit that was in excess of 100 degrees.
  
  
• Cameo: [Frank Marshall] Pilot of the Flying Wing.
  
  
• The out-of-control airplane actually ran over Harrison Ford's knee, tearing his ligaments. Rather than submit to Tunisian health care, Ford had his knee wrapped in ice and carried on.
  
  
• The truck chase took approximately eight weeks to film.
  
  
• Production designer Norman Reynolds had found a rusty looking ship that was perfect for the Bantu Wind. However, when the time came for this sequence to be filmed he was horrified to discover that the ship had been repainted and now looked pristine. It had to be swiftly repainted to achieve its distressed look.
  
  
• In a deleted scene, where the character of Sallah is confronted by a Nazi soldier, John Rhys-Davies who was suffering from cholera at the time was required to bend down. Unfortunately this prompted the very sick Rhys-Davies to soil himself.
  
  
• Some of the weeds in the Well of Souls were lifted by Lawrence Kasdan from the Dagobah set for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
  
  
• Indy's whip is 10 feet long, although some shorter versions were used, depending on the shot required.
  
  
• Harrison Ford was cast less than three weeks before principal photography began.
  
  
• Three different stunt men was used to double for Harrison Ford: Vic Armstrong when riding the horse; Martin Grace at the falling statue and Terry Leonard when pulled behind the truck.
  
  
• There are several deleted scenes unreleased on either DVD or VHS. Among the deleted scenes are: Marion explains to Indy the cause of Abner's death. As Indy was about to leave he returns to Marion to be kissed again. The shot appears in some DVD, VHS covers. - A longer version of Indy fighting against Pat Roach in the bar - The infamous planned sword fight duel - Imam the scholar forewarns Indy and Sallah not to touch or look at the Ark. Instead, this was not revealed until the climax. - While looking for a rope, Sallah spills water on a German officer. Because too much dust came from the background, the shot was spoiled. - A scene where a German student playing an officer threatens to execute Sallah. - Indy knocks out a local looking at him after coming out from the tomb - Indy clings to the periscope of the submarine all the way to the secret base by wrapping his whip around it and himself. It explains how he managed to survive in the sea all that time. However, prior to the advent of nuclear power, submarines were designed as surface ships that could go under water. They only submerged for defensive purposes. So, it is quite plausible that the German U-boat would have sailed on the surface of the water the entire time, enabling Indiana Jones to survive the trip without having to cling to the periscope.
  
  
• Most of the body blows you hear were created by hitting a pile of leather jackets with a baseball bat.
  
  
• To create the sound of the heavy lid of the Ark being slid open, sound designer Ben Burtt simply recorded him moving the lid of his toilet cistern at home.
  
  
• The spirit effects at the climax were achieved by shooting mannequins underwater in slow motion through a fuzzy lens to achieve an ethereal quality.
  
  
• Toht's name is never mentioned in the film.
  
  
• The original name of the lead character in the script was Indiana Smith. His name was changed to Jones on the first day of production.
  
  
• Indy's line to Marion when they are on the ship - "It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage" - was ad-libbed by Harrison Ford.
  
  
• Harrison Ford was actually dragged behind the truck for some of the shots. When asked if he was worried, Ford quipped: "No. If it really was dangerous, they would have filmed more of the movie first."
  
  
• The film used the submarine model from Boot, Das (1981).
  
  
• During filming in Tunisia, nearly everyone in the cast and crew got sick, except director Steven Spielberg. It is thought that he avoided illness by eating only the food he'd brought with him: cans and cans of Spaghetti-O's.
  
  
• Indiana Jones never loses his hat as an homage to the classic serials of the 1940s. In those serials, the heroes' hats stayed on heads through virtually any assault. This was done for continuity reasons, but also because it was considered poor taste for a gentleman to be without his hat in certain situations -- even on the silver screen. It eventually becomes a running joke through the series. Indy does, however, lose his hat once each in both Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
  
  
• The building used for one of the exterior shots of the university is the large music conservatory on the campus of The University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.
  
  
• The hieroglyphics in the Well of Souls include engravings of R2-D2 and C-3PO (from Star Wars (1977), etc). They can be seen on a post to the right of Indy and Sallah as they remove the Ark.
  
  
• Begins with a shot of a peak in the jungle which is reminiscent of the Paramount Pictures logo. See also Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
  
  
• Indiana Jones' name comes from the name of George Lucas' dog and is a play on Steve McQueen's eponymous character name in Nevada Smith (1966). Indiana the dog, who was a Malamute, also served as the inspiration for Chewbacca in Star Wars (1977). In the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), it is revealed by Indiana's father that Indiana is really named Henry Jr., but went by the name of his dog, Indiana.
  
  
• An early draft of the script had Indy traveling to Shanghai to recover a piece of the Staff of Ra. During his escape from the museum where it was housed, he sheltered from machine gun fire behind a giant rolling gong. Also in the same script, Indy and Marion flee the chaos caused by the opening of the Ark in a wild mine-cart chase sequence. Both of these scenes were cut from the script, but ended up in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).
  
  
• Director Steven Spielberg was quoted as saying: "I made it as a B-movie... I didn't see the film as anything more than a better made version of the Republic serials."
  
  
• The crate in which the Ark is placed at the end of the movie has the number 9906753.
  
  
• Indiana Jones' kangaroo-hide bullwhip was sold in December, 1999 at Christie's auction house in London for $43,000.
  
  
• The musical theme for the Ark of the Covenant is heard several times throughout the film. Each time, it either trails off, segues into a different theme, or modulates into a different key. Only at the climax of the film is the entire theme heard and resolved in its original key.
  
  
• When Indy gets on the plane on his way to Nepal, the Nazi agent aboard is reading a Life magazine. It is issue Volume 1, Number 2, dated November 30th, 1936 (the second issue of the magazine). Pages 42 and 43 are dedicated to the water color paintings of Adolf Hitler.
  
  
• Cameo: [Dennis Muren] Appears as a Nazi spy who is tracking Indiana Jones on the airplane. Only his eyes can be seen, though, as most of his face is hidden behind the Life Magazine he's reading.
  
  
• Cameo: [Glenn Randall Jr.] the stunt coordinator appears as the mechanic with the monkey wrench at the flying wing.
  
  
• The monkey raising his paw and saying (in his own language) "Heil Hitler" was thought up by George Lucas and is one of Steven Spielberg's two favorite scenes (in the interview included in the video box set, he says his other favorite is the "where doesn't it hurt" love scene on the ship).
  
  
• Exterior footage of the DC3 airplane carrying Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood across Asia is taken from the remake of Lost Horizon (1973).
  
  
• In Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), James Mason must also escape a huge boulder and is swept through tunnels by gushing water. Also, Mason is shown the desired path under the earth by a shaft of sunlight through a mountain crevice, similar to Indiana Jones being shown the desired location by a shaft of sunlight through the Staff of Ra.
  
  
• The truck used in the chase scene and the truck that blows up, are one and the same. They shot the chase scene first, then destroyed the truck by blowing it up.
  
  
• The truck used in the movie was specially constructed to be higher above the ground than normal so as to allow clearance for Indiana Jones to pass underneath safely. The center of the road was also dug out to allow more clearance.
  
  
• The final shot, with the camera panning out from the Ark in the government storage facility, is an homage to one of the final shots in Citizen Kane (1941).
  
  
• George Lucas made what was at the time an unusual deal for this film. The studio financed the film's entire $20-million budget. In exchange, Lucas would own over 40% of the film and collect almost half of the profits after the studio grossed a certain amount. It turned out to be a very lucrative deal for Lucas. Paramount executive Michael Eisner said that he felt the script for this film was the best he had ever read.
  
  
• Just before the fight around the Flying Wing, Gobler (Anthony Higgins) says to Dietrich (Wolf Kahler) in German: "The plane is ready. It can be loaded."
  
  
• In the submarine pen, the German who comes upon Indiana says, in German, "Good day" "Tired? Why do you sleep? Wash yourself! And straighten your shirt, so that you don't look like a pig at your court martial..." "Stand up... [straight]" He is cut off by Indiana's punch.
  
  
• The jacket and hat that Harrison Ford wore throughout the series are on display at the Smithsonian.
  
  
• Tim Matheson was also considered for the lead role.
  
  
• Sean Young was used as Marion in the screen test for all who auditioned for the lead role of Indy. Tim Matheson and John Shea were used for Karen Allen's screen test. Young would later star opposite Ford in Blade Runner (1982).
  
  
• In the map room, one of the buildings has red graffiti written on it that says, "Nicht stören", which is German for "Do not disturb".
  
  
• The truck used in the chase scene from the excavation is actually a WWII 2 1/2 ton GMC CCKW-353, with the hood and cab converted to approximate a pre-war Mercedes truck.
  
  
• The German aircraft in the desert is a complete fantasy product, although with various design elements borrowed from other German aircraft projects.
  
  
• The floatplane in the opening sequence has the registration prefix "OB-", which indicates that the action takes place in Peru.
  
  
• In a 2001 "making of" special, it was revealed that the effects used in the three antagonists' rather gruesome deaths (Dietrich, Toht, and Belloq) were a vacuum machine, heat gun with time-lapse photography, and shotgun, respectively.
  
  
• A scene where Sallah threatens a German soldier to shoot him was shot but left out in all prints.
  
  
• According to the director, when the movie was originally submitted for an MPAA rating, it was given a rating of "R" because of the sight of an exploding head. In order to lower the rating, flames were superimposed over this image. The result was the appearance of a head exploding behind a dense curtain of flames. The rating was lowered to "PG" (at the time, the PG-13 rating did not exist).
  
  
• According to an article in Time Magazine in 1981, the Washington Monument shot near the end was taken from Robert Wise's production of The Hindenburg (1975).
  
  
• Although the Nazis speak German in many scenes, most of the lines were dubbed for the German versions of the film because the actors spoke very bad German with a very strong American accent. Some lines were simply wrong. On the recent DVD release, no German lines are wrong. The majority of the German lines seems to be spoken by native German speakers with a slight south German accent.
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: as one of the German soldiers falls out the back of the truck Indiana Jones is driving.
  
  
• Amy Irving and Debra Winger were considered for the role of Marion.
  
  
• The name Marion Ravenwood was a combination of two names: Marion was the grandmother of Lawrence Kasdan's wife, and Ravenwood was from Ravenwood Court, a small street off Beverly Glen.
  
  
• The advance trailer for this film played up Steven Spielberg's earlier films with the exception of his previous film, 1941 (1979), which was considered a failure at that time.
  
  
• In his book "Kinski Uncut", Klaus Kinski writes that Steven Spielberg offered him a part in this movie, but he turned it down. "[...] as much as I'd like to do a movie with Spielberg, the script is as moronically shitty as so many other flicks of this ilk." Kinski was effectively offered the role of Toht, but he chose to appear in Venom (1981) because the salary was better.
  
  
• Instead of the standard Blue Mountain opening logo used between 1975-87, the opening logo was a version of the Paramount logo used in the 1940s or 1950s which read: "A Paramount Picture". The only difference is that it also read "A Gulf+Western Company". This logo was also used in the sequels instead of the Blue Mountain logo or the CGI Majestic Mountain (in the case of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
  
  
• Toht, the sadistic Nazi interrogator, only speaks a total of fourteen lines.
  
  
• Steven Spielberg originally envisioned Giancarlo Giannini for the role of Dr. Rene Belloq and then considered French actor/singer Jacques Dutronc (who, unfortunately, doesn't speak a word of English) before deciding on Paul Freeman.
  
  
• At the end of the film, when Indy and Marion are tied to the pole as the Nazi's and Belloq open the Ark, the dome-topped head of R2-D2 is resting on the top of the pole that they are tied to.
  
  
• The scene where Jones fires at the truck was a botched stunt. The truck was supposed to flip over by means of a telegraph pole being fired by explosives through the floor. The explosive wasn't powerful enough and it simply forced the truck to tip over at an angle as can be seen in the finished movie. Time did not permit any further attempts at getting it right.
  
  
• The instructions for the construction of the Ark are found in Exodus 25:10. The clothing that Belloq wears while acting as a High Priest during the ceremony at the end is found beginning in Exodus chapter 28.
  
  
• The last line to be added to the script was Dietrich's "I am uncomfortable with this Jewish ritual" because after reading through the script, the screenwriters realized that there was no mention of Jews or the Nazis' hatred of them.
  
  
• Apart from "The Prize of Pizarro", the greatest influence on the initial sequence of the film came from another Carl Barks story of Uncle Scrooge: "The Seven Cities of Cibola", where there is a native American lost city and a valuable idol that triggers a giant round rock that smashes everything on its way.
  
  
• The words that Belloq slowly recites before opening the ark are (badly pronounced) Aramaic, and are part of a paragraph recited in many Synagogues today when the Ark that holds the Sefer Torahs (the Old Testament handwritten on Parchment) is opened as part of the Sabbath service.
  
  
• For the conceptual process/drawings, Ralph McQuarrie was not brought in but instead, George Lucas brought in Marvel artist Jim Steranko.
  
  
• Voted number 20 in Channel 4's (UK) "Greatest Family Films"
  
  
• Nick Mancuso and Peter Coyote tested for the role of Indy.
  
  
• The infamous scene in which Indy shoots a marauding and flamboyant swordsman was not in the original script. Harrison Ford was supposed to use his whip to get the swords out of his attacker's hands, but the food poisoning he and the rest of the crew had gotten made him too sick to perform the stunt. After several unsuccessful tries, someone made the off-handed remark, "Why doesn't he just shoot him and get it done and over with?" Steven Spielberg immediately took up the idea and the scene was successfully filmed.
  
  
• The sounds of the monkey were performed (uncredited) by voice actor Frank Welker.
  
  
• In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #66 Greatest Movie of All Time.
  
  
• The documentary Great Movie Stunts: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (TV) inadvertently gives away one of the secrets behind the stunt where Indy goes under the moving truck. The camera slate (visible in the documentary) shows the camera was set at 20 frames per second instead of the traditional 24 fps; in other words, the shots were done in "fast motion," so the truck was not really moving as fast as depicted on screen.
  
  
• Harrison Ford actually outran the boulder in the opening sequence. Because the scene was shot twice from five different angles, he had to outrun it ten times.
  
  
• During the truck chase, Harrison Ford dispatches all three of his stunt doubles. All of which are playing German Soldiers. Terry Leonard plays the driver of the truck, who gets punched out of the cab by Harrison. Vic Armstrong and Martin Grace play soldiers hanging onto the side of the truck before being knocked off.
  
  
• 'Ronald Lacey (I)' had given up acting and had become an agent when he was cast in the role of Toht.
  
  
• Renowned British wrestler Pat Roach gets killed twice in this film - once as a giant Sherpa left in the burning Nepalese bar and once as the German mechanic chewed up by the plane's propeller.
  
  
• Michael Sheard auditioned for the role of Toht. 'Ronald Lacey (I)' won the coveted role and Sheard was later cast in a minor, uncredited role as the U-Boat Captain. He also appeared as Adolf Hitler in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
  
  
• 'Ronald Lacey (I)' ’s apparent torture weapon which is actually a coat hanger was a joke that Spielberg had tried two years earlier with Christopher Lee in 1941 (1979).
  
  
• 'Ronald Lacey (I)' was chosen for the part of Toht because he reminded Steven Spielberg of Peter Lorre.
  
  
• The Pan American seaplane that Indiana Jones flies to Nepal in is a Short Solent Mark III flying boat modified by matte effects to resemble a Boeing 314 Clipper.
  
  

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