Raiders of the Lost Ark

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) — watch online on iFILM this action-adventure directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by George Lucas for Lucasfilm and Paramount Pictures. Harrison Ford plays Indiana Jones: a college professor by day who trades the classroom for a leather jacket and a whip the moment fieldwork calls. 115 minutes, one of the most profitable films of its era — made for $18 million, it cleared nearly $390 million at the box office.

The year is 1936. U.S. intelligence learns that Nazi Germany is excavating the Egyptian desert for the Ark of the Covenant, a biblical relic said to carry the power of God's wrath. Jones is sent to find it first. Joining him is Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), a sharp and stubborn bar owner from Nepal whose history with Indy is complicated. Standing between them and the Ark: French archaeologist Belloq (Paul Freeman), who does his best work under a swastika, and a column of SS officers who are not interested in negotiation. Each leg of the chase strips away another layer of control until the ending does something that no summer blockbuster was supposed to do.

The film took four Academy Awards at the 54th Oscars — film editing, sound, visual effects and art direction — and launched the most recognizable archaeologist in cinema history. Stream Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) in full online on iFILM.