THE STORY. The year is 1936 and the intrepid archaeologist Indiana Jones sets out in search of the fabled Lost Ark of the Covenant, racing a bitter rival and his Nazi cohorts to the prize.
The second Indiana Jones film, Temple of Doom, is actually the first Indy movie chronologically — it takes place in 1935, one year before the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom takes place in 1935. Raiders of the Lost Ark takes place in 1936. The bulk of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade takes place in 1938, although it starts off with a flashback to 1912. There are no other Indiana Jones films.
The film takes place in 1936. Taking its cue from classic action serials, which began each installment at the climax of the previous episode, Raiders of the Lost Ark starts with archaeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in South America closing in on the treasured artifact that he has been seeking.
The third film is set in 1938. Indiana and his friend Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) are assigned by American businessman Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) to find the Holy Grail.
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK BREAKDOWN: Indiana Jones Details You Missed | Deep Dive
Did Indiana Jones fight in WW1?
The bulk of the series centers around the young adult Indiana Jones and his activities during World War I as a 16- to 17-year-old soldier in the Belgian Army and then as an intelligence officer and spy seconded to French intelligence.
Although little of it was addressed in the movie itself, the character's background as a secret agent during World War II was developed for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull based around the idea that Indiana Jones was too old for combat and instead spent the conflict liberating art and artifacts from ...
How historically accurate is Raiders of the Lost Ark?
Raiders of the Lost Ark builds on a factual basis, but blends the facts with a lot of fiction. The powers of the Ark are changed and amplified to fit the Nazis' desires.
Raiders of the Lost Ark's shoot began in June 1980, (via LucasFilm) which meant that Harrison was 37 years old when he started filming the movie, the same age as Indiana Jones himself. However, as principal photography continued until September and lasted for 72 days, Ford is 38 years old in most of the scenes.
Set in 1957, this fourth movie in the Indiana Jones movie series is based around an older and wiser Indiana Jones (played by Harrison Ford) against agents of the Soviet Union–led by Spalko (Cate Blanchett)–for the crystal skull.
Set in 1969, Indy (Harrison Ford) is ready to retire when his estranged goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) comes back into his life — drawing him into a race to find a mystical dial before Nazi scientist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen).
The film made use of an antiquated stereotype of foreign people engaging in philistine-like acts, more akin to our primitive ancestors. Pictured as uncivilized savages, it's rather unsurprising that the majority of Indians, as it turns out, didn't support such depictions.
Like Indiana Jones and Willie Scott, Shorty is named after a pet dog: Short Round was the dog of the film's writers, Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was Ke Huy Quan's acting debut. The character of Teddy Kumar in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is based heavily on Short Round.
Lucas used the name “Indiana” because that was the name of George's dog, an Alaskan Malamute named Indiana. There's a bit of meta comedy at the end of Last Crusade (1989) in which it's revealed that Jones was named after the dog. This was the literal truth.
Marion's appearance in Raiders of the Lost Ark reveals she's 25 years old. So, if the clock is turned back a bit to the point Marion and Indiana meet, she's about 15 or 16 years old and a decade younger than Harrison Ford's Indy.
Critics often bemoan the unrealistic representation of archaeology and the mystification of historical facts. Some find it demeaning to the serious research undertaken in the field. But at the same time, many archaeologists appreciate that Indy raises the profile of archaeology in the popular imagination.
So many movies these days seem to come up with action first and string them together with some lame plot. Movies like this are quickly forgotten and one of the reasons Raiders holds up so well is because it works the Covenant story so well into the plot. The action comes in a succession of set-pieces.
The Hovitos tribe manipulated by rival archaeologist Belloq are fictional and are not descendants of the Chachapoyans. The idol itself is directly inspired by a sculpture believed to be of the purifying and fertility Aztec goddess Tlazolteotl (on permanent display at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum in Washington DC).
It turns out that before it became one of Harrison Ford's landmark roles, there was another leading man the Indiana Jones team were keen to hunt down. That man was Tom Selleck, who has just revealed that he was originally offered the role as the intrepid archaeologist, but decided not to don the famous hat and whip.
How old was Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark?
According to information available about the film and the actor, Harrison Ford was 38 when he appeared in the first Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). During filming Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Harrison Ford was 41.
What happened to the tank from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?
The tank was moved subsequently in May 2021, back to its original construction location at the Rock Island Arsenal in Rock Island, Illinois, where it was placed on exhibit in 2024. The British never allocated their Mark VIIIs to a tank unit; a single vehicle survives at the Bovington Tank Museum.
