Capsule Review: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Already having created an iconic character in Han Solo, Harrison Ford was launched into superstar status with his role as the adventuring, whip-cracking archeologist explorer Indiana Jones in George Lucas' and Steven Spielberg's tribute to the Saturday morning serials of their childhood. Filled with old fashioned adventure, combined with unique international locales and a hero with charisma to spare, the film has been countlessly imitated but never improved upon. The finale, where the mythical Ark of the Covenant (which is meant to house the ten commandments) is opened, leading to the melting of anyone who looks into the light, is memorably gruesome. Followed by three sequels of varying quality.