Raiders of the Lost Ark

Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American film directed by Steven Spielberg, introducing archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones as he races Nazi agents in 1936 to find the Ark of the Covenant, the biblical relic said to make whatever army possesses it invincible. Built as a deliberate homage to the action serials George Lucas and Spielberg had grown up watching, the film combines globe trotting adventure, comic timing and elaborate practical stunt sequences into a fast paced narrative largely free of the science fiction spectacle common in other blockbusters of its era. It became one of the most successful and influential adventure films ever made, launching the long running Indiana Jones franchise and earning a place in the United States National Film Registry.