Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Tony Black and Darren Mooney, with special guest Niall Murphy, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT.
This time, kicking off our Indiana Summer, Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark.
In the lead-up to the Second World War, veteran archeologist Indiana Jones finds himself approached by the United States government with a top secret assignment: to locate and secure the long-lost Ark of the Covenant. However, to complete his mission, Indy will have to face Nazis, lost love and the wrath of God.
At time of recording, it was ranked 55th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show Notes:
- Recorded 22nd May 2021.
- Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
- Raiders of the Lost Ark at The Internet Movie Database.
- The IMDB 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
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- David Wolinsky at Total Film discusses how Steven Spielberg almost directed Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, February 2021.
- The Guardian reports on Steven Spielberg dropping out of directing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets due to “creative differences”, March 2000.
- Scott Tobias provides a retrospective on Shrek for The Guardian, May 2021.
- Steven Spielberg and George Lucas talk to The Washington Post about their inspirations for Raiders of the Lost Ark, June 1981.
- Steven Spielberg and George Lucas talk about their love of old movie serials to The New York Times, June 1981.
- Tom Shone at Slate discusses the complicated friendship between George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, June 2005.
- Total Film takes a look at the development of Raiders of the Lost Ark, August 2006.
- Pauline Kael reviews Raiders of the Lost Ark for The New Yorker, June 1981.
- Ian Freer at Empire discusses the production and reception of Steven Spielberg’s 1941, October 2014.
- Susan King takes a look back at 1941 for The Los Angeles Times, March 2015.
- William Friedkin talks to Vanity Fair about how Star Wars effectively steamrolled Sorcerer, April 2014.
- William Friedkin gets reflective with The New York Times about the failure of Sorcerer, April 2013.
- Gabriel Bell at Salon about how Star Wars obliterated Sorcerer from the cultural memory, May 2017.
- Ed Power at The Telegraph on the cocaine-fueled folly of New York, New York, November 2019.
- B.L. Panther at The Spool discusses New York, New York, October 2019.
- Robert W. Welkos at The Los Angeles Times on how Heaven’s Gate ended an era for Hollywood, June 2004.
- Nicholas Barber at BBC on the strange legacy of Heaven’s Gate on Hollywood, December 2015.
- Genevieve Koski takes a look back at Raiders of the Lost Ark for The A.V. Club, May 2008.
- Jay Glennie explores the making of Raging Bull for The Guardian, March 2021.
- Steven Spielberg writes about directing Raiders of the Lost Ark for The American Cinematographer, July 2017.
- Jim Emerson at RogerEbert.com takes a look at the opening shot of Raiders of the Lost Ark, August 2006.
- Jesse Nathan provides a brief history of the use of the 20th Century Fox logo on the Alien films on YouTube, May 2017.
- Roger Clarke at The Independent looks at how dysentery affected the shooting of key scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, November 2004.
- Steven Soderbergh’s Raiders, September 2014.
- Raiders of the Lost Ark Story Conference Transcript, January 1978.
- Darren Mooney argues at The Escapist for Raiders of the Lost Ark as the ultimate roller coaster movie, June 2021.
- Justin Chang at The Los Angeles Times discusses how Raiders of the Lost Ark is the ultimate summer movie, August 2020.
- Jeff Labrecque at Entertainment Weekly debates whether Raiders of the Lost Ark is appropriate for kids, September 2012.
- Steven Spielberg talks to The Independent about being rejected as a potential James Bond director twice, July 2016.
- Pauline Kael reviews Close Encounters of the Third Kind for The New Yorker, November 1977.
- Roger Ebert reviews Raiders of the Lost Ark for The Chicago Sun Times, April 2000.
- Paul D. Miller reviews Raiders of the Lost Ark for Patheos, April 2013.
- Leah Schnelbach discusses the religious relics and subtext of Raiders of the Lost Ark for Tor.com, December 2015.
- James Barber at Military.com looks at the films in Steven Spielberg’s filmography inspired by his father’s service in the Second World War, August 2020.
- James R. Hagerty takes a look back at the life and service of Albert Spielberg for The Wall Street Journal, August 2020.
- Bernard Weinraub at The New York Times looks at Spielberg’s production of Schindler’s List, December 1993.
- John Buguenet at The Atlantic accesses the contradictions and complications of Saving Private Ryan, June 2014.
- Thomas Powers at The Atlantic discusses the morality and the debate around the use of the nuclear bomb on Japan, July 1995.
- The Atomic Heritage Foundation provides a brief overview of the controversy around the Smithsonian’s planned exhibit of the Enola Gay, October 2017.
- Michael Castelle at Cine-File looks at Raiders of the Lost Ark as a black-and-white metaphor for the atomic bomb, November 2011.
- Colin Dickey at The New Republic looks at the obsession with weaponising the Occult in the mid-twentieth century, April 2017.
- Tim Martin takes a look at the Nazi obsession with occult for The Irish Independent, July 2017.
- Peter Staudenmaier at Aeon argues that the popular obsession with Nazi occultism doesn’t capture the historical truth, June 2017.
- Chamila Liyanage at Fair Observer reflects on the embrace of occult imagery by the alt-right, November 2020.
- David Neiwert at Southern Poverty Law Centre looks at the embrace of “meme magic” by the alt-right, May 2017.
- Brian Phillips at The Ringer reflects on the embrace of occult language and iconography by the alt-right, December 2018.
- Philip Bump at The Washington Post looks at the apocalyptic prophecy that explains why so much of the American right supports Israel, May 2018.
- Craig Graziosi at The Independent reflects on why Jerusalem is so important to American Evangelical Christians, August 2020.
- Stephen J. Dubner at The Guardian looks at Steven Spielberg’s private life, March 1999.
- Karen Arensen at The New York Times looks at Steven Spielberg’s complicated relationship with his Jewish heritage, September 1995.
- Michael Dirda at The Washington Post discusses the historical accuracy of Raiders of the Lost Ark‘s portrayal of Nazi occultism, August 2017.
- Adam Nayman takes a look back at Raiders of the Lost Ark for The Ringer, January 2019.
- Lorraine Boissoneault at The Smithsonian Magazine reflects on the complicated questions about Vichy France, November 2017.
- Oscar Martínez looks back on the discovery of Troy for National Geographic, November 2018.
- Eric H. Cline at Lapham’s Quarterly reflects on the search for Troy, March 2017.
- Scott Christianson at The Smithsonian Magazine looks back at Howard Carter, November 2015.
- Vincent Canby reviews Raiders of the Lost Ark for The New York Times, June 1981.
- Roger Luckhurst at The British Library looks back on the Victorian obsession with the occult, May 2014.
- Andrzej Diniejko discusses Victorian spiritualism at The Victorian Web.
- Mark Seal at Texas Monthly looks back on the possibility that Indiana Jones was inspired by Vendyl Jones, August 1992.
- Matt Promroy at Esquire reflects on the debate about the extent to which Indiana Jones affects the plot of Raiders of the Lost Ark, August 2014.
- Margaret Lockyer at Comic Book Resources looks back on how The Big Bang criticised Raiders of the Lost Ark, June 2021.
- Darren Mooney at The Escapist looks at the modern obsession with plot as the driving force of modern media engagement, March 2021.
- Patrick Radden Keefe at The New Yorker looks at how Spielberg and Lucas settled on Marion’s back story in Raiders of the Lost Ark, March 2013.
- Ben Kuchera at Polygon looks at the creepiness of the relationship between Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark, August 2015.
- Steven Spielberg assures Screen Daily that nobody will replace Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, December 2015.
- Adam Nayman at The Ringer looks back over the career and screen persona of Harrison Ford, June 2021.
- Eric Diaz at Nerdist looks at the incredible sound design on Raiders of the Lost Ark, June 2021.
- Charles Bramesco at Rolling Stone looks at the making of Raiders! The Greatest Fan Film Ever Made, June 2016.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: evil, george lucas, good, harrison ford, heroism, indiana summer, irony, nazis, niall murphy, occult, raiders of the lost ark, second world war, steven spielberg, The 250, theme park, tony black |
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