Raiders of the Lost Ark turns 40 and it?s still an unqualified masterpiece

Even director Steven Spielberg has said he considers it the most perfect film in the franchise.(Major spoilers below because it's been 40 years, and who even are you if you haven't seen this movie yet?)George Lucas had wanted to make an homage to the serial adventure films of his youth since 1973, and came up with the idea of a globe-trotting adventurous archaeologist named Indiana Smith. (Indiana was the name of Lucas' Alaskan Malamute, which became a throwaway quip at the end of 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: "We named the dog Indiana!") He got distracted by other films, including Star Wars, released in 1977. Allen brought all those qualities and more to the role—"I was never really a girly-girl," she recently told the Hollywood Reporter—which is why she remains the franchise's best and most popular love interest for the archaeologist.Allen's natural adventurous spirit came in handy for some of the more difficult scenes, such as being trapped with Indy in the snake-invested Well of Souls. But a 2008 oral history of the film reports that Lucas suggested Marion was 11; Spielberg protested, saying "She had better be older." (Ya think?) Allen recently defended the age difference, insisting that the exact nature of the relationship was deliberately vague, and the two may have only "kissed a few times"—which would have been a big deal for a starry-eyed teenager of that era.As for real-world archaeologists, let's just say they have a longstanding love/hate relationship with Raiders. "I want non-archaeologists to know that's not really how archaeology is, but I don't want them to lose the value of these movies as fantasy, action, and adventure."Given Raiders' box office success, a sequel was soon forthcoming: 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Fortunately, The Last Crusade was a welcome return to form, with Sean Connery lighting up the screen alongside Ford as Indy's academic egghead father.Alas, the franchise stumbled yet again with 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, although we did get Karen Allen's return as Marion, Cate Blanchett as a deliciously evil villain, and the useful film trope "nuking the fridge" as an updated term for "jumping the shark" (inspired by a particularly implausible scene). The film still grossed nearly $800 million worldwide, even though critical reviews were mixed.A fifth Indiana Jones film (as yet untitled) just started filming earlier this month, with James Mangold (Logan) replacing Spielberg as director.