CHAPTER 6: THE MARKETING
Tom Shone: Nobody at Paramount knew how to sell the film.
Mike Matessino: To say the marketing of Raiders was “low key” is putting it kindly. I honestly don’t recall the trailer or an advance poster at all! I feel like everything I knew about the movie was from Starlog. In fact, there were very few people in the theater when I went to the first show on opening day. It really was word of mouth and positive reviews. As I recall everyone was expecting Superman II to be the hit of the summer.
Pete Vilmur (co-author, The Star Wars Poster Book): A movie poster’s job is to lure potential viewers into the theater, and the striking, high-caliber artwork of the [Raiders] posters certainly conveyed the studio’s high confidence and regard for their product. I think Amsel’s 1982 re-release [illustration] captures the energy and spirit of the film [better than the 1981 original], and also exhibits the iconic cast of characters surrounding the action. It’s a very visually pleasing illustration (and the lone Raiders poster I insist on displaying in the large 40x60-inch format in my office). I think Drew Struzan’s piece [featured on some newspaper advertising and tie-in product, and in some international territories] may have also spoken more clearly to what the audience could expect from their heroes—that this was to be a team effort to retrieve the Ark, not necessarily a solo affair (pun intended).
Steven Awalt: The original marketing for Raiders hinged on both Spielberg and Lucas's outsized successes and growing cultural cachet from Jaws, Close Encounters, and Star Wars, so these two men’s moments had arrived in the popular consciousness. And with Poltergeist and then the unimaginable heights that E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial took Spielberg and his work a mere twelve months later, his place in film history and our world culture was fully concretized. Not bad at all for a young man in his early 30s.
Sheldon Hall: While Raiders posted figures that would have been impressive by the standards of most other films, its UK performance did not match the level set by its runaway-hit status in the US. The distributor, Cinema International Corporation (jointly owned by Paramount and Universal), admitted that it could have done better and redesigned the marketing campaign to stress the elements that audiences had apparently overlooked first time around. The famous Richard Amsel poster art was deemed too somber to suggest the adventure’s tongue-in-cheek tone, so it was dropped and replaced with a new key image depicting Indy hatless, de-leathered, clean-shaven, smiling broadly and wielding his whip. Apparently, this made only a slight difference. While the film easily topped Variety’s 1981 box-office chart for the domestic market, earning 50% more than its nearest rival, Superman II, in Britain Raiders managed only to place eighth on Screen International’s equivalent list, landing between Private Benjamin and The Elephant Man. The field was led instead by Superman II, followed by For Your Eyes Only.
Pete Vilmur: [Utilizing an artwork-based illustration rather than photographic-based promotional material] is not only appropriate for a 1930s action-adventure romp but speaks to the filmmakers’ affinity for and dedication to classic illustration. Lucas and Spielberg are both avid enthusiasts of early 20th century illustration, and their choice of artists, style and genre for their movie posters demonstrate that.
CHAPTER 7: FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Mike Matessino: It was very clear when I first saw Raiders that the combined talents of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had given birth to something very special.
Alison Martino (Vintage Los Angeles): I’ll never forget seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark at the Mann National in Westwood Village. There was a huge line around the block and a massive painting of the film’s movie poster on the side of the theater. I was ten years old and very aware of who Steven Spielberg was already. I remember sitting in the third row. The film’s score by John Williams was the most exciting music I have ever heard in a theater.
Eric Zala (director, Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation): Raiders was earthy, grounded, nothing at all like Star Wars, Jaws, or like anything else I’d seen. Though unfamiliar, it swiftly drew me in, watching the man in the hat move through the dark jungle. By the time the boulder barreled down on our hero…at age eleven, I knew this was the best movie. Ever.
Steven Jay Rubin (author, The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia): Seeing Raiders first run at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood was the most fun I’ve ever had at the cinema, so much so that I sat through it twice, something I had never done before or since. It was the ultimate thrill ride, a truly flawless film.
Cliff Stephenson (home media special features producer, Hannibal, Knives Out): Here’s what’s insane to think about now: I had zero interest in Raiders of the Lost Ark when it was released. I was ten years old at the time and the idea of watching a movie about an archeologist seemed like homework. With the film’s June 12th release date, we were already out of school for summer, so it wasn’t like I heard kids talking about it. It was only after hearing my grandparents rave about it and assure me it wasn’t an educational drama did I finally get sold. When I did go see it (in late June 81), I actually just stayed in the theater to watch it three times in row (and by myself). That was it…I was all in on Indy.
Van Ling: I was a junior in high school back in 1981 when I recall going into Hollywood to see it with a bunch of friends, and it was like getting the perfect meal of all your favorite foods of that era: Spielberg! Lucas! ILM! John Williams’ music! Harrison Ford! Great stunts! And a rollicking adventure that unabashedly not only brought back the old serial genre to modern filmmaking but introduced its pleasures to a whole new generation. It proudly proclaimed in every frame of every bravura shot composition and camera movement that it was a movie, not a film.
Scott Mantz (film critic, KTLA-TV; co-producer, 1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever!; producer, Access Hollywood): I'll never forget seeing Raiders for the first time. You always remember the first—it's the sense of discovery that really stays with you! I was twelve years old and it was on the Saturday of its opening weekend at the Eric Feasterville, which was right outside Northeast Philadelphia (where I grew up). I went with my good friend Andy Berg and his family (his mother, his father and his two sisters). I can't say that I was super-excited about the prospect of seeing it, since it didn't really look like my kind of movie (in other words, it wasn't sci-fi—at least, not in an overt way), but I was already a big fan of Harrison Ford, thanks to those first two Star Wars movies, and of course, I loved Steven Spielberg, because of Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But from the beginning of Raiders, I was hooked!
Eric Lichtenfeld: I have a clearer memory of my second time seeing Raiders. That’s because my dad, who had already taken me, insisted we go back and take my mom. I was young, but I knew that a movie like Raiders wasn’t her bag. So, if we were taking her, then it had to mean that this was something special, something that crossed over.
John Scoleri (co-author, The Art of Ralph McQuarrie): As a card-carrying member of the Star Wars Fan Club following the release of The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a flyer in the mail announcing a new film coming from George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Harrison Ford. Thanks to that promotional flyer, I was there for the first showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark on opening day—June 12th, 1981, at the Century 21 dome in San Jose, California. From the opening scene, the film blew me away. I loved everything about it—from the cast, all of the exciting set-pieces, the cool (and often grisly) visual effects, and what I still consider to be John Williams’ finest score. Who knew that in the summer of 1981, I’d experience a film that would become my favorite film of all time, eclipsing even Star Wars, and still hold that slot forty years later.
Pete Vilmur: I remember thinking how incredibly realistic [Amsel’s] illustration of Harrison looked [on the one-sheet and newspaper advertisements].
Sheldon Hall: I was among the British punters who saw Raiders in the summer of ’81, not in a big-city showcase but in my local suburban cinema in the North East of England, where the matinee audience, I recall, was rather sparse. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the film hugely, already at the age of sixteen having a sense of the serial spirit to which it was paying tribute.
Michael Stradford (Executive Director, Worldwide Content Group–Warner Bros.): I was a student at the University of Toledo in 1981. Monday evenings at the Showcase Cinemas, admission was discounted for students, so I went with a friend to see a horror film (whose name has long escaped me) playing there. The woman at the box office said that since they hadn't sold any tickets for the horror film, they were about to run the reels of a new film that was coming out in a few weeks to make sure the reels were in good shape. Since we were the only ones in attendance, she said we could watch the new film and then the horror film or come back in a couple of hours to watch just the horror film. We decided two movies for the price of one was the way to go. The new movie: Raiders of the Lost Ark. In 1981, there was no Internet and aside from Entertainment Tonight, hardly any way to find out about new, upcoming films. So, my buddy and I walked in with absolutely no idea what was about to unfold before our eyes. We staggered out a couple of hours later stunned and babbling. The action, the humor, Harrison Ford, the period it was set in, Raiders was the greatest time at the movies that I've ever had, second only to seeing Enter the Dragon the day of its release. I'm sure I would have loved Raiders if I saw it during a regular engagement but seeing it in an empty theater with no notion of what was coming is an experience that's as fresh to me today as it was forty years ago.
Charles de Lauzirika: I first saw Raiders on the morning of Saturday, June 13th, 1981, at the Mann Chinese in Hollywood. As soon as the Paramount logo match dissolved to that South American mountain in 1936, I knew I was in good hands. The sense of scope, humor and inventiveness—not to mention what would become the iconic, heroic silhouette of Indiana Jones—all in that single shot set the perfect tone for the experience to follow. I'll especially never forget how Indy shooting the Swordsman brought the house down in a way I don't think I had ever seen in a movie before that point. The crazy audience reaction unleashed in that moment was louder and more enthusiastic than the explosion any shark or battle station had garnered previously.
Sarah Woloski (co-host, Skywalking Through Neverland): I’m not sure whether I saw the Indiana Jones films or Star Wars first, but I had a huge crush on Harrison Ford and he starred in both, which made me happy. I also knew that both Star Wars and Indy had George Lucas and composer John Williams involved, and [Raiders had a] bonus: Steven Spielberg. These films were all a part of my life growing up. I would watch them over and over with my best friend and we would listen to the soundtracks throughout high school.
Laurent Bouzereau: I saw it in a packed theater in Paris on a warm weekend. I had already read the movie-tie-in novelization and knew the soundtrack by heart—as was always the case in my youth, films reached the European markets months after the U.S. Even though I knew everything, I experienced the film as a revelation. It was amazing that aside from the brilliant directing and acting, the dialogue and writing stood out, even to someone like myself who was not fluent in English. I remember seeing it over and over and quoting the dialogue.
Peter Krämer: I used to be very snobbish about Hollywood blockbusters in my youth, which is why I missed out on the experience of watching the film when it first came out. Seeing it much later on the small screen did not leave that much of an impression either. But I grew to like Raiders more and more over the years.
Scott Higgins: Sunday matinee, June 14th, 1981. Showcase Cinemas near Pontiac, Michigan. It was an experience I immediately wanted to repeat. I spent many afternoons at the multiplex that summer, contemplating boulders, snakes, Karen Allen, and melting faces.
Joseph McBride: I saw it when it came out—the early scene with the giant boulder was a terrific way to get into it. But I became increasingly dismayed by the film's mindlessness and racism. The direction of action is expert, there is a fair amount of goofy humor, akin to MAD magazine's Scenes We'd Like to See, but the storyline is preposterous, childish, and uninvolving, and the Third World characters are stereotyped. I found the scene in which Indiana Jones casually shoots a sword-wielding Arab offensive, although the audience seemed to love it, which made me even more depressed.
Steven Awalt: I first saw the film before our folks even took us to see it on the big screen. Most of the kids in our suburbs were exposed to Raiders through a bootleg copy on VHS that was being passed around by the fathers in the neighborhood (along with a copy of The Empire Strikes Back). I remember the picture and sound were pretty dire, most likely shot with a video camera of the era pointed at a theater screen, but despite how crappy it looked and sounded, all of us kids were just completely enraptured by the film. We all wanted to be Indiana Jones after that, we wanted to study archaeology and go on exotic adventures, find buried treasures, mummy's tombs, and of course everyone wanted a bullwhip for our backyard horsing around. We wanted to kiss a girl as beautiful and as spunky as Marion Ravenwood.
John Cork: Seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark at a Friday night preview screening the week before it officially opened in my hometown of Montgomery, Alabama, was a glorious experience. I had just finished my freshman year of film school at USC and was working a construction job, so I was exhausted, but the film completely blew me away. I knew then, this was a film I would come back to over and over in my life. As a lifelong James Bond fan, I could see the inspirations, but I could also see the unique vision that made the character of Indiana Jones stand apart.
Mark O’Connell: All the tropes of the Indiana Jones saga are there within the first few paces of Raiders—British actors flanking Indy's academia and villainy, villains who Indy cannot help but quietly like and who he shares his passions with, the Hammer Horror meets a theme park set-pieces, the Bond tic of starting with the end flourish of another adventure, the backdrops of B-movie ingredients dependent on the era and that one plot McGuffin superseding all.
William Kallay: My parents sent me to Ohio to visit my grandparents in the summer of 1981. On one of our stops, we visited a bookstore. On the shelf was a magazine that I always begged my parents to buy for me, Starlog. With some spending money in hand, I bought the 5th anniversary issue of Starlog. It had an article about a film I was dying to see: Outland. The cover also showed a photo of George Lucas and there was an interview with him. There was a mention of a new film called Raiders of the Lost Ark that was based on an idea he had. At the time, I thought it was a silly title for a movie!
Chris Salewicz: I hadn't seen Raiders when it first came out. Then I ran into my old mate Don Letts in Soho. He urged me to see it: “It's sensational, one of the best films I've ever seen.”
Mark A. Altman: What I love about the original film was the sense of discovery I had as a kid when I first saw it. It may be the last film I ever watched where I literally knew nothing about it when I went to see it opening weekend other than Steven Spielberg directed it and Harrison Ford was in it wearing a hat. When I stepped into the theater for the first time, I literally thought it was about a quest for the Noah’s Ark having recently seen the Sunn Pictures anti-classic In Search Of Historic Noah’s Ark.
Laurent Bouzereau: The action sequences are so well choreographed, but the magic of it is that we are so engaged with the characters. That was really what stood out for me—I identified with Indiana Jones, there was something relatable that made you want to be part of the action. And that was something I had so far only experienced in James Bond films.
Stephen Danley: My introduction to Indiana Jones came about one night in 1990 when my parents had rented Last Crusade on VHS and decided to let me stay out on the couch and watch it with them (at least for as long as I could stay awake). I was five years old at the time and seeing someone I only knew as Han Solo take on another exciting movie persona must have overstimulated my little mind. The thrills and chills left quite an impression, as what I remember most is waking up disoriented still on the sofa from an intense Indy-inspired dream and being scared out of my wits. It wasn't until two years later in the summer of 1992 that I first saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara, California, was fresh off a successful revival screening of the Star Wars Trilogy and had offered an Indiana Jones triple bill as a follow-up the next weekend. Temple of Doom was still off limits for my younger brother and I, but witnessing Indy's true beginning with Raiders on the big screen was an eye opener—especially when it came to the finale. I'll never forget my mom struggling to cover our eyes as the villains' faces spectacularly melted away. It was the absolute craziest thing I'd ever seen onscreen.
