Product Details

• Actors: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies, Ronald Lacey
• Directors: Steven Spielberg
• Writers: George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan, Philip Kaufman
• Producers: Frank Marshall, George Lucas, Howard G. Kazanjian, Robert Watts
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Letterboxed, Original recording remastered, THX, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Arabic, English, German, Hebrew, Nepali, Spanish
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: October 26, 1999
• Run Time: 115 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (206 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792157648
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #134,908 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It’s said that the original is the greatest, and there can be no more vivid proof than Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first and indisputably best of the initial three Indiana Jones adventures cooked up by the dream team of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Expectations were high for this 1981 collaboration between the two men, who essentially invented the box office blockbuster with ‘70s efforts like Jaws and Star Wars, and Spielberg (who directed) and Lucas (who co-wrote the story and executive produced) didn’t disappoint. This wildly entertaining film has it all: non-stop action, exotic locations, grand spectacle, a hero for the ages, despicable villains, a beautiful love interest, humor, horror… not to mention lots of snakes. And along with all the bits that are so familiar by now--Indy (Harrison Ford) running from the giant boulder in a cave, using his pistol instead of his trusty whip to take out a scimitar-wielding bad guy, facing off with a hissing cobra, and on and on--there’s real resonance in a potent storyline that brings together a profound religious-archaeological icon (the Ark of the Covenant, nothing less than "a radio for speaking to God") and the 20th century’s most infamous criminals (the Nazis). Now that’s entertainment. --Sam Graham

Additional comment

This is a new title for the original Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New Raiders Special Collector's Edition due out May 13th, 2008! Great movie, good DVD, March 7, 2008

By 

Sanpete (in Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (Special Edition) (DVD)

The details of new DVD editions of the three classic classic Indiana Jones movies with all-new special features have been announced. They'll be available separately for the first time on DVD, or as a set. They were previously only available on DVD as a set.

The new releases will coincide with the new movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which comes out on May 22nd. They'll have new special features designed to introduce new Indy fans to the old movies, and to introduce old fans to the new movie.

The Indiana Jones movies are George Lucas's recreation/update of the serialized adventures of the 1930s and '40s. The first three were made in the '80s and set in the '30s. They feature Harrison Ford as a mild-mannered archeology professor who moonlights as an adventurous seeker of priceless antiquities. This takes him to exotic locations across the world, and gets him in some very tight spots of the kind that only a movie hero could get into, or out of. He invariably finds himself opposed by dangerous men with evil plans for the powerful objects only he has the skills to recover. There are elaborate set pieces with creepy critters, ancient traps, fights with weapons from bare hands to airplanes and tanks, and sometimes supernatural forces. Along the way Jones manages to have some romance too.

Raiders was the first in the series. In 1936, having barely survived an unsuccessful attempt to find (OK) and bring home (whoops!) an ancient idol from Peru, Indiana Jones is recruited in a race against the Nazis to recover the Ark of the Covenant (yes, the one mentioned in the Bible, but with lots of added mythology), which is reputed to have the power to make an army invincible. The ark is located in the Well of Souls somewhere in Egypt; the key to the exact location is a medallion located, naturally, in a seedy lodge/bar in Nepal, in the possession of Indy's ex-lover. All kinds of sparks fly, literal and metaphorical, as the pair, joined by another confederate in Egypt, use their knowledge of ancient myth and sheer bravado to work right under the noses of the Nazis to find the ark and remove it to safety. Almost. There are several reversals along the way, close escapes, a huge near-finale, and icky stuff--spiders and, especially, snakes, thousands of them, of which Indy unfortunately has a bit of a phobia.

Some of the more memorable moments are tinged with humor, if not outright hilarity. Indy's reactions make the snakes as amusing as they are scary. We see how to fight an expert swordsman, if you're in a hurry. The way the Nazis got a copy of (half) the medallion is painfully funny. The fate of the ark is a wry comment on Washington bureaucracy.

Raiders was an instant classic. I'm sure there are people who don't like it, but I've never met any. It's fine for most kids (PG violence and mild sexuality), and it's plenty smart enough for all but the most snooty adults.

The original title is just Raiders of the Lost Ark, which is preserved in the movie itself. The longer title makes it easier to market as part of the franchise.

If you just want Raiders and don't want to wait until May, you could get a used copy of the old Raiders DVD (people sell them out of the sets). The difference is in the extra features. The bonuses from the old set are on their own disc, so what you get when you buy just the old Raiders DVD is pretty bare. The new release, on the other hand, has the following, all new:

-- "Raiders of the Lost Ark: An Introduction" by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas

-- "Indiana Jones: An Appreciation," in which the cast and crew of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull pay tribute to the original trilogy

-- "The Melting Face," a recreation of the famous effect from the climactic scene that certainly left an impression on me (was new then), with Spielberg and Lucas on the evolution of visual effects and CGI

-- storyboards for "The Well of Souls" sequence

-- DVD galleries of illustrations, props, production stills and portraits, FX/Industrial Light and Magic stuff, and promotion/marketing materials

-- "Lego Indiana Jones," a demo and trailer for a game based on the trilogy

If you like a few extras, you'll probably like this new DVD, though maybe not enough to upgrade from the old one, or to wait until May. I like audio commentaries, myself, and since they're easy to produce and tend to bring out points not covered in other features, I subtract one star for a special edition without any, but I look forward to the rest. If you don't care about commentaries, this may be a five-star DVD for you.

There have been rumors of deleted scenes, but none are included.

Some will want to wait for a high-def release, which may make sense if you have the equipment or plan to get it. Many speculate that a Blu-ray release will come out for Christmas, but that's guesswork.

There's also some speculation that an edition with all four movies will be released for Christmas. They may bundle the four together, but I doubt that there will be a better edition of this movie soon, if ever, on standard DVD. Keep in mind that the previous set came out over four years ago, and if not for the new movie, that would probably be the only release during the decade of standard DVD. The next upgrade may be high-def only, and may not happen for a while.

If you do want the whole trilogy (highly recommended), the new set is here, the old set is here. If you want to pick up one of the others from the new set, the new edition of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is here, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade here.

I was in college when Raiders came out. There was great anticipation because of the people associated with it, after the great success of Star Wars. A bunch of us went to the old full-size theater downtown to see the premiere, waited outside for hours. We weren't disappointed. It was a wild, gripping ride from beginning to end, lots of excitement, good characters, clever moments for comic relief, and romance. More memorable than some entire semesters!

63 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spielberg and Lucas create the best action movie of all time, July 9, 2002

By 

Kristy M. Ross "Kristy" (CT, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Raiders of the Lost Ark (Widescreen Edition) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

After the box-office disappointment of 1941, Steven Spielberg teamed up with longtime friend George Lucas to create one of the greatest action adventure films of all time! The premise for the film, a throwback to the old Saturday morning serials, was thought up by Lucas, who told the idea to Steven and the two of them came up with the idea of Indiana Jones, a character famously named after Lucas's dog. To think they originally wanted Tom Selleck to play the role of the rugged, charming "collector of rare antiquities". Instead, Harrison Ford took the role, fresh from the latest Star Wars film THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK as the dashing Han Solo. Ford is the perfect guy for the job, running around in tombs, chasing after Nazis and searching for lost treasures, all with fedora, whip and sardonic grin all in place.

The action is masterfully handled by Spielberg, especially in the classic opening scene where Indy avoids a series of lethal booby traps to obtain a rare idol, only to have a giant boulder start rolling after him. Indy's reply when asked how he's going to catch up with a truck is "I don't know, i'm making this up as I go!" That classic line sums up the off-the-cuff action sequences which are all reminiscent of the building tension and excitement of the spirit of the old serials of the 50's. John Williams' score for the film has become one of the most instantly recognizable movie theme tunes ever composed, except for JAWS and STAR WARS (Anyone who asks what's so great about John Williams, just ask them to hum notes from any movie, and it'll be Williams) and is one of the most popular soundtracks of all time. And the supporting cast of Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies and Denholm Elliott elevates the film to true classic status.

Considering the scope and scale of the film, the job Spielberg and Lucas did creating the picture is nothing short of amazing. The film spans 5 major locale changes and would shoot in 4 different countries in just 73 days for $20 million (production wrapped 12 days ahead of schedule to boot!). For what was fast becoming a relatively average production cost by 1980, Spielberg and Lucas packed the running time of RAIDERS with non-stop action that creates an exciting adventure, that's my (and many other's) favorite film of all time.

RAIDERS was released in the summer of 1981 and became the biggest hit and highest grossing film of that year. Between THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RAIDERS for George Lucas and RAIDERS and E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL for Spielberg, the two filmmakers were now at the peak of their profession, having individually (and together) proven themselves as hitmakers on 9 films by the time they would return for the next Indiana Jones adventure in 1984 with INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, which is exciting, but not as fun, and INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, which is another one of my all-time favorite films. The huge influence that the eventual trilogy had on action movies is still seen today, with inferior rip-offs THE MUMMY, THE MUMMY RETURNS and TOMB RAIDER, to name a few. But those films don't come anywhere near the brilliance of RAIDERS. This is cinema par excellence.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Snakes....I Hate Snakes....", March 7, 2002

By 

Barry "Barrybgb" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Raiders of the Lost Ark [VHS] (VHS Tape)

George Lucas was hot off of his first two installments of his "Star Wars" series, when he hooked up with mega director Steven Spielberg to create a whole new series of films. Little did they know that this creation they've made would be so incredibly successful and beloved. Lucas' "Star Wars" hero, Harrison Ford, was on board as our star. This 1981 classic takes place in 1936, and Indiana Jones is a school professor who is also an archaeologist, which takes him on many dangerous and scary adventures all over the world. In this one, Indiana gets involved with the nazi's who are planning to use the mysterious powers of the ark in order to help them win the war. Along the way, Indy meets up with a feisty young lady(played by Karen Allen). This adventures gets Indy in a series of thrilling and death defying moments. The movie obviously draws inspiration from those old time Saturday morning serials of yore. Harrison Ford was the right choice. Is there anybody better?. Tom Selleck was the lead for this role, but dropped out because "Magnum PI" came up. Thank goodness for us, huh?. This series has become one of the most memorable and hailed film series in movie history. And rightfully so. There's no better evening entertainment than letting Indiana Jones take you all over the world on one exciting adventure after another. Get this movie and the rest of the trilogy as well. As perfect as perfect can get. Let's hope that Indiana Jones will someday ride again. Now, play that theme music and let's get going!!....