Thread by @LeCineNerd

I live tweeted watching #RaidersoftheLostArk a few years back, but I didn’t do it as a thread.

I’m correcting that now.

Put on your hats and away we go!

Vintage Paramount logo right away sets up a vintage feel.

Man, that dude in the colorful hat has a real problem with bats.

This is Kauai, Hawaii, which often doubles for jungles, like in Jurassic Park.
@wikiparaz and I went swimming at these falls on our honeymoon. I jumped off the cliff to the left. I believe they’re closed now because people kept getting hurt.

Fuck yeah a character introduction. He's looking at secret old shit, and he knows when fools draw on him.

It took me so many viewings before I noticed the guy who pulls a gun is the same actor as the guy with the monkey later. Still don’t know why that is.

Hi, Alfred Molina! You’re an underrated actor. Watch “An Education” to see him be brilliant.

Setting up danger with dialogue, then showing it to us.

A real archaeologist would spend their lives mapping and cataloging these traps. But Indy’s got to get back to school before the three-day weekend is over.

I want a MacGuffin collection - all the doodads people seek in movies. This fertility idol and the Maltese Falcon would be the centerpieces.

Then the briefcase from Pulp Fiction, the box from Kiss Me Deadly … I’d have trouble fitting in the car from Repo Man, but a girl can dream.

First of many shoutouts to John Williams' score. Great slowly creeping music building to something. This and Superman are my favorite Williams scores.

Don't. Touch. Gods' Shit.

This is a recurring theme.

I like Belloq's way of doing things. Let some other fool risk his ass.

Oh, you thought the action was over? Nope. Now we're running from Hovitos and swimming and jumping and flying.

One thing Indy 1 and 3 nail is the comedy. There's always a lot of light comedy floating around. 2 has some, then it drops out when we're into, you know, child slaves and cults and shit.

Hi, Denholm Elliott! RIP.

I’m such a nerd when it comes to geography errors. The globe’s map of Africa’s all wrong for the time period.

Hitler was really into occult stuff, but not to this level. But it does give us a Marvel Easter egg.

And we have two MacGuffins introduced - Ravenwood and the headpiece of the staff of Ra, plus setting up a sequence we get to see in, like, an hour.

Love how professorial Indy is with the government guys. “Read your syllabus - this will be on the test!”

Yeah, the Bible doesn’t talk about the Ark of the Covenant much, let alone leveling mountains. But, you know, it sounds cool. It’s a great MacGuffin. Familiar, but not too familiar.

Indy lives in San Rafael, California. At least, that’s where his house is.

The next town over, San Anselmo, has statues of Indy and Yoda gifted by George Lucas, who lives there. Skywalker Ranch is nearby. I’ve been, it’s beautiful.

Effects legend Dennis Murren is the guy behind the magazine.

Accurate: San Francisco had a seaplane port on Treasure Island, before the Navy took it over in WWII. Not accurate: Golden Gate Bridge wasn’t finished yet.

Dang it, another map error. Thailand was Siam then.

Hi, Karen Allen. Marion fucking rules. This is a great way to establish her as a bad-ass - outdrinking Jeremy Clarkson.

I disagree with some of the folks at @TheRewatchables thinking she should be more of a femme fatale. She’s like Indy but uses her smarts less than her fists.

Punches in this movie have such a distinct sound. Deeper than usual. Like beating a heavybag full of steaks with a lead pipe.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - showing your characters thinking is important - watch Marion looking at the money and the headpiece

One of those henchmen is the big dude that gets it via plane propeller later. But I really wish they just got some Asian thugs instead of putting makeup on some white guys.

I wonder where he picked up local thugs. Toht brought some German guys and....some dudes he picked up by the Home Depot.

One last map error - Jordan was Transjordan then.

Hi, John Rhys-Davies! I love your acting despite your recent Islamaphobia!

That’s Frank Welker doing the monkey squeaks. That’s why he sounds the same as Abu from Aladdin.

No mention of the British troops in Egypt back then guarding the Suez Canal noticing a ton of German troops running around. I guess it’s part of appeasement? It’s pre-war, after all.

Look at all the elements of this chase scene set up before it starts - horse cart, piles of baskets, vendors, doorways. I think that Spielberg fella might know what he's doing.

Marion puts up a hell of a fight, but like all women, is betrayed by a Nazi monkey.

Coolest moment in a movie ever. Screw you, swordsman. Indy’s “I don’t have time for this” face is the BEST.

Pretty much everybody making this movie got food poisoning in Tunisia, except Spielberg, who only ate canned food he brought from England.

That’s why Indy shoots the swordsman. Because Harrison Ford was sick as a dog and didn’t want to film a fight scene.

Sallah says 6 kadam is 72 inches. So why not say a kadam is a foot? Thanks for the help, Sallah.

Spielberg loves shooting through things in this movie - the ceiling fan, a candle, lattice work. It adds atmosphere.

I wonder if there was a guy in charge of updating the map room back in the day every time someone built a deck on their house or added a bedroom. Did Tanis have a planning commission?

Nice matting effect of the spooky storm behind them as they open the Well of the Souls. Remember, that's not green screen back then.

What are all those snakes eating? Is it just each other? Has survival of the fittest made these, like, super snakes?

Hey, remember how we were introduced to Marion, drinking a dude under the table? Well, that’s what we call set-up, kids. Build your escape plan around your strengths.

Scary torture? No, clothes hanger! Psych!

I can't believe this guy wears a leather trench coat in the desert. He must reek!

Just like Princess Leia, Marion will resist being mind-probed.

I love the hair in Marion's face as she stares down the snake. I relate. And then her answer to this horrible situation is vowing revenge. Marion's the bomb.

OK, she does some whining, but she hasn't had time to process what the hell's going on. She was drinking, then a Nazi showed up, then someone threw her in a hole and there's snakes? Then she's covered in skeletons? That's not how she thought the day would go.

Turns out the Well of the Souls was behind the latrine at the airfield. Who knew?

Hi producer Frank Marshall as the pilot! Turns out the flying wing is similar to later Nazi prototypes, but not real. Bummer. It’s cool lookin’.

When the Nazis notice the explosion, there's a literal record scratch. Their record player is jostled and makes a scratch noise. It so quiet, but plays as a better gag now than it did then, I think.

"What truck?" Ha! That whole action scene was pointless!

The geography of the truck sequence is perfection. We understand where all the people and vehicles are at all times.

Indy is so fucking pissed they dragged him with the truck. No noble heroics, he's just angry.

“It’s not the years, honey, it’s the mileage.”

Hi, borrowed U-boats from Das Boot!

I guess the base is a day’s cruise away and the sub never submerges for Indy to stay up there. I’ll call it plausible. I’m guessing he left his hat on the ship and they’ll, like, mail it to him later.

Or maybe that’s how they get off the island. We never see how they leave, so maybe they radioed Kananga after everybody else got gooified.

Oh, the Nazi’s uncomfortable with a Jewish ritual. Boo hoo. I like to think the last thing all these Nazis think is “I owe the Jews an apology.”

Paul Freeman (Belloq) is so committed he ignores a fly in his goddamn mouth. He’s a pro!

I wonder who sewed that snappy Ark cozy.

This is Aramaic, not Hebrew, so don’t ask me what he’s saying. It’s not something I heard in temple. He is wearing a nice high priest outfit, with the breastplate with 12 stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel.

How does Indy know not to look? Lucky guess.

Ooh, they laughed at God's stuff. Now some special effects are going to fuck them up.

Ha ha ha ha! Eat Old Testament wrath, Nazis!

Real question: If your head melts, at what point are you dead?

For those Nazis, getting their faces melted was the worst day of their lives. For God, it was Tuesday.

The message of this movie: Don’t. Touch. Gods'. Stuff.

I like to imagine the other Nazis losing radio contact with this base and investigating and being confused because 2 dozen guys, including officers, disappeared without a trace. No bodies, nothing taken, no signs of an attack.

Then they open the Ark and it dusts more Nazis. Rinse. Repeat.

I find it hard to believe not one government putz doesn't try to open it and peek.

Hi, inside of San Francisco City Hall! You appear in tons of movies as everything except a city hall.

And that's it except for enjoying John Williams' incredible score one more time. Marion's Theme, the Raiders march, the map room, the truck chase - each one of them is amazing. That they're all in one movie - DAMN.

At the end of the truck chase, Deitrich throwing a melon at a dog nicely distracts from the empty suit that’s supposed to be Toht sitting in the front seat.

The eye is drawn to movement.