Quite simply, Raiders of the Lost Ark is the greatest adventure movie ever made. After the disappointing 1941, Steven Spielberg teamed up with best buddy George Lucas to re-imagine the old-fashioned 1940's serial for the big screen. Instantly creating a cinematic icon and launching one of the most beloved franchises of all time, Raiders of the Lost Ark is as close to perfect as the summer movie can get. The prologue remains one of the most thrilling and widely recognized action scenes in history, but from there the movie just keeps upping the stakes and getting better. Harrison Ford's effortlessly charismatic turn as Indiana Jones, stunning visual effects, plenty of quotable dialogue and more than a few killer one-liners complement the barnstorming action sequences, with the story moving along at an increasingly frenetic pace. By the time the end credits rolled, adventure really did have a new name. The highest-grossing film of 1981 by a huge margin, adjusted for inflation the movie's $389.9m gross is equivalent to well over a billion dollars today. Raiders of the Lost Ark also picked up nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and scooped four in the technical categories. The franchise could never match the incredibly high bar set by the first installment but then again, very few movies can.
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