The enduring attraction of Indiana Jones is easy to understand: it’s all about pure, old-fashioned adventure. Sure, he fights Nazis and Russians, but this isn’t political; sure, he’s got some issues, but he’s not post-modern about it. It’s all for the thrill. And thrill it does, with a quickening of the pulse that cannot be denied. This macho archaeologist, the brainchild of George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg, came into the world in 1981 with what may be the greatest action film of all time, Raiders of the Lost Ark (Entertainment Weekly ranks it at #3), and each scene feels like a best-of: the boulder, the monkey, the airplane fight. The snakes. Of course there were sequels—it was modeled on the matinee serials of the 40s, after all—and each are great in their own right, with the latest, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull “a slick, fun film that has by no means sacrificed the fast action beats of the first three.” (Empire)
Join us this fall as we celebrate the release of Crystal Skull with a look back to the classic that started it all—and with two screenings of what may be the most touching, impressive, and wacky homage ever made: Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, a near-shot-by-shot remake, made by three Mississippi kids from 1981-88 in their backyards. Not to be confused with Son of Rambow (a fiction about two British kids who make a low-budget sequel to First Blood, also in this calendar), this remarkable work is “nothing short of slapdash spectacular. The Adaptation is indie (or Indy?) filmmaking taken to its greatest and most sublimely ridiculous extreme.” (Village Voice) Eric Zala, the director, now in his 30s, will be at the screenings, where he’ll talk about the upcoming movie based on their story and the experience of meeting Spielberg—adventure, indeed!
The Turner Classic Movies channel recently did a great piece on the story behind the Raiders Adaptation. Watch it here: www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index/?cid=187535