Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project #13 – Raiders of the Lost Ark – 9/18/2012

16 thoughts on “Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project #13 – Raiders of the Lost Ark – 9/18/2012”

1. Yep I’d agree with that, there just isn’t a dead spot. Looking fwd to the Blu-ray release

   Reply

2. My guilty rewatchable movie is Independence Day….there I said it.

   Reply

3. Saw it on IMAX last thursday, then went to the marathon at the AMC nearby me to see the rest. Hadn’t seen the trilogy in a theater before then, so I’m happy to say that I have now!

   At the beginning they advertised that they’ll be showing a digital remaster of Lawrence of Arabia on Oct 4, for the 50th anniversary, with a bluray coming in November.

   Reply

4. I saw it this weekend as well. I’m so glad I got to see it in a movie theater – it looked and sounded awesome, and it holds up damn well.

   Reply

5. He knew not to look at the Ark because of all of the stories in the Old Testament about bad shit happening to people who mishandled the Ark. There’s a story, for example, of an incident where they were carrying the Ark through some unstable terrain, when it looked like it was about to fall over. A guy stuck his hand out to steady it and was immediately struck down by God. The ark was typically kept in a tent within a tent, deemed the Holiest of Holies, which no one was permitted to enter except Levite priests, because to look upon the Ark (presumably open) meant death. I’m pretty sure there are also incidents of people being struck blind, etc from looking at it wrong. Indy recognized the enormity of the sacrilege being conducted by the Nazis (compounded by a fake French Rabbi) and quickly realized that by showing respect to God’s mystery and the sacredness of the Ark he might be able to separate himself from the wrath that was to follow.

   Reply

6. I did not expect Adam to mention Brazil as one of his favorite movies. It’s in my top 3 and I really didn’t think people think of it as highly as me. Really sucks that there still isn’t a Blu-ray version out.

   EDIT: Guess I spoke too soon. It’s released tomorrow! FUCK YES!

   Reply

7. Weird little Blade Runner easter egg in Soldier when they show the “Soldier’s” battle history they make reference to Tannhauser Gate and in the battle montage sequence you can see a derelict spinner.

   Just tried to get a list of top 5 together, failed miserably, found I like Denzel Washington movies (Inside Man, Out of Time, Training Day) and slow Sci-Fi (Blade Runner, 2001, Moon, Sunshine, 12 Monkeys, Westworld) or Thrillers/Political Conspiracies (Pelican Brief, All The Presidents Men, 3 Days of the Condor, The Parallax View) or Actionish (Bullitt, Rollerball, French Connection, Marathon Man, Chinatown) Some of these cross boundaries but so what.

   Odd how it’s hard to nail down what you really love about a movie.

   Reply

8. They had a discussion about this on Filmspotting.net last week too.

   Reply

9. I agree with Will. In fact, Last Crusade is my favorite of the 2 movies. I think the back and forth between Indiana Jones and his father is brilliant, the motorcycle chase, the book burning scene, the the tank scene…and Dr. Schneider is far hotter than Marion.

   Reply

10. Great podcast. I think Crusaders is my favorite one, but only because I watched it repeatedly when I was a kid, and back then I didn’t know there were any other Indiana Jones movies. But I should definitely watch Raiders again.

    About why Indy knew not to look at the ghosts of the arc, there’s a great article about crucial scenes that never made it into movies on Cracked.com.

    There’s a scene in the movie where Indy talks to an old man who says the Ark “is not to be disturbed.” Well, ina deleted scene from the script, the guy explains exactly what he meant by that: If you touch the Ark or so much as look into it while it’s open, you die.

    Even though they cut that part, it’s pretty remarkable to see how deeply these warnings were ingrained into the story. Later, in the scene where Indy and Sallah first see the Ark, the script calls for Sallah to reach out to touch it, but Indy stops him:

    http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/9/2/9/139929_v1.jpg

    This part was also removed, but again, the movie acknowledges the erased moment by having Indy and Sallah carry the Ark on poles instead of just lugging it around.

    Reply

11. These keep getting better, guys. Keep it up!

    Also, I completely agree with Adam on Brazil–such a classic. From memory, the two scenes that stick out as the most prescient and delightfully satirical for me are the introduction of Sam’s mother, getting her face forcefully stretched past recognizability in the name of beauty, and (what I think is) the introduction of De Niro’s character, arriving to repair something in the apartment completely and utterly ensnared and engulfed in cables and wires. Brazil’s such a hilariously dark, comedic, prophetic film that absolutely needs to be seen by anyone who appreciates the medium.

    Reply

12. I’m willing to believe that Lucas and Spielberg were being technically accurate for the early WW2 uboats. Those were diesel-electric boats. For long runs, they stayed on the surface as much as possible, so the diesel engines could breathe. They only submerged in times of attack (or defense), and then ran on electric motors. If the batteries ran down, they HAD to surface.

    Indy’s transit was not under attack, so they never submerged. So he just got wet. And never lost The Hat.

    Reply

13. Now that I could buy into. And would have loved to. Unfortunately they didn’t include some little tidbit in the film to help you adjust to that.

    Reply

14. Also a Raiders of the Lost Ark fan here! Whereas I agree that Raiders was probably the best one, my childhood favorite was the Last Crusade. Agree with Adam that the second one was kind of silly.

    Reply

15. Umm… I’m new here, so please forgive me if this is the inappropriate place to put this.

    Dear Adam,

    I know that in the prop replicating world all you have are pictures to base your projects on.

    My question: Is there a good method to scale up an image to get fairly close measurements?

    For example: I have an image of man wearing some accessories that I want to replicate, I know he is about 5′ 11″, but there is nothing around him in that particular picture to give me any clue as to how to scale the photo. Any advise?

    Thanks Tested, and Adam, You Guys Rock!

    Reply

16. I just love how Adam “talks down” on Moonraker, yet has what appears to be a signed photo of Richard Kiel who played the iconic Jaws in that movie 😀

    Upper right corner of the frame, next to Grover, which is in itself hillarious.

    Reply