20 Things You Somehow Missed In Raiders Of The Lost Ark

If you remember, after he has met with Don Fellows's Colonel Musgrove and William Hootkins's Major Eaton, Indy is next found at home in a dressing gown, packing for his trip to Nepal in search of Abner Ravenwood and his daughter, Marion. Why is he in a dressing gown if he is about to leave for foreign climes?

The original plan was that, before answering the door to Denholm Elliott's Marcus Brody, Indiana Jones would have been seen romancing a beautiful woman in the next room.

Said beautiful woman was meant to be a student at the university named Susan Ryan (played by Pola Churchill), who can still be seen in the finished film, albeit briefly, as the young lady lingering outside of Indy's classroom as Brody approaches it. She would then have had a fleeting conversation with Dr. Jones concerning her term paper before turning up at his home later.

Although his fondness for the James Bond films had led Spielberg to make Raiders of the Lost Ark in the first place, he ultimately vetoed the idea of Indy being a playboy (although shades of this side to his character would emerge in later films in the franchise, thankfully with women closer to Indy's own age).

The scenes of Dr. Jones romancing a young beauty in his home were therefore left on the cutting room floor. It is really for the best, given that Susan is one of Indy's students and he is meant to be a role model of sorts.