When "Raiders of the Lost Ark" Was in Production in 1980 -- I Had No Idea What It Was About

This is just "one man's opinion," but I would like to report it.

Coming out of the 70's, George Lucas had made American Graffiti and Star Wars; Steven Spielberg had made Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Together, those two were IT. The coming of a new generation of blockbuster filmmakers.

Spielberg had had two other movies in the 70s -- his rather modest and downbeat debut (The Sugarland Express of 1974) and an overproduced and largely unfunny comedy flop(1941 of 1979). But 1941 it wasn't THAT bad, and hope sprang eternal.

And to start the 80's, it was announced that Lucas and Spielberg would JOIN FORCES, and give us a movie called "Raiders of the Lost Ark" for 1981 release. Lucas producing (from a story by Lucas); Spielberg directing (quickly and on budget, to "make up" for the overkill of 1941.)

It was damn exciting news.

And here's the thing, as I recall it:

All through 1980, as Raiders of the Lost Ark was being made, NOTHING was sent out by Paramount to explain anything about it, nor were any photos published to suggest what it was about, either.

I've thought about this from time to time. It was exciting enough, I guess, to know that this was to be a "Lucas/Spielberg production" -- that should be selling point alone. And that Harrison Ford was in it. Ford had been in Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, to be sure, but "on his own" he'd also been in disappointing films like "Force Ten From Navarone," "The Frisco Kid" and "Hanover Square." Ford alone wasn't much of a selling point.

Again, I can't remember a single photo being released in 1980 of the movie in production, or a publicity still. There were NO photos of Harrison Ford in his Indiana Jones attire - nor was the name of the character mentioned.

There were NO quick synopses about the storyline, either.

I remember rather desperately forming an "image" of the movie in my mind. OK, it had an Ark in it -- so I pictured a BIG ship, like what Noah built (I wondered if Noah's Ark had something to do with the story.) "Raiders" What kind of raiders? I pictured a LOT of these raiders, perhaps in a stampeding horde, with big broadswords raised above their heads, "raiding Noah's Ark."

It was that bad. I was that far off.

Eventually, the movie was done and set for June 1981 summer release. I think around March 1981, a trailer finally appeared and we FINALLY had a sense of it: Indiana Jones, the character. WWII setting -- Nazis. Deserts. No Noah's ark. No horde of raiders, broadswords raised, raiding.

I can't think of another movie that was so heavily promoted without a clue of its content being said or shown. Close Encounters was somewhat tightly guarded, but we knew it was about UFOs. The alien in Alien was top secret, but we knew that "in space, nobody can hear you scream." Star Wars was under wraps for a long time, but at least we knew it was about...star wars. (Some columns erroneously called it "The Star Wars.")

Anyway, that's my report. From one guy at the time. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" as a title meant nothing, conveyed little. And my guess was all wrong about what it was about.

I guess these days it is called "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark." Feh. But if they had called it that THEN...I would have had more to work with.

Ha.

PS. If anybody DOES remember seeing photos from the film in 1980, or a synopsis of the plot, I'd love to hear about it.