Raiders of the Lost Ark
1981
Meet Indiana Jones, globe-trotting college professor, star archeologist, and hater of snakes. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ whip-cracking treasure hunter is a throwback to the heroes of 1930s serials, and the first of their Jones movies feels like a series of cliffhangers: Will Indy get out of that cave alive? How will he avoid being crushed by a rolling boulder? Can he rescue Marion Ravenwood and the ark of the covenant from the Nazis? The chase scene in which Harrison Ford hangs off the front of a moving truck remains the epitome of Eightiesmovie derring-do.