Release Year: 1981

Genre: Action, Adventure

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writers: Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas, Philip Kaufman

Stars: Harrison Ford

It's 1936 and Nazi Germany is working hard on earning its Worst People in the History of Everything Award. They've set their eyes on the Ark of the Covenant, the most sacred relic in all of Judaism and a convenient carrying-case for the actual Ten Commandments—and they think they've found it in the Egyptian desert.

Too bad for them that a certain swashbuckling archaeologist is on the case as well.

Raiders of the Lost Ark introduced the world to Indiana Jones: college professor, grave-robber, freelance Nazi-basher, and proud owner of the coolest hat ever. He stormed into theaters in the summer of 1981, courtesy of then-burgeoning wunderkinds Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. It was a serious Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together moment. Spielberg had already wowed audiences with Jaws and Close Encounters while Lucas had a little thing called Star Wars under his belt.

Throwing those two together was enough to get even the most cynical film geek to do the Snoopy dance on top of the candy counter in the theater lobby. Raiders had everything; it was a reimagined version of 1930s action-adventure serials, with a high-end budget and huge star in the form of Harrison Ford. Nobody thought that Ford could top Han Solo for pop culture immortality, but Indiana Jones pulled it off.

With a little extra swoon, to boot.

Everyone knew the film was going to be a hit, and in 1981, nothing else could come close. Raiders of the Lost Ark pulled in an astonishing $248 million, making it the biggest movie of the year. Adjust that number for inflation and it comes to $734 million, more than any of those new-fangled superhero movies that don't hold a candle to Raiders. Just sayin'.

Raiders worked because Harrison Ford is a god—wait, no. Start over. Raiders worked because it reminded adults what it felt like to be a kid: that movies could be fun without being simplistic or stupid. And back in those days, the Oscars didn't equate good movies with movies no one actually saw; Raiders netted nine Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Director. It walked away with five of them. Pretty fitting for a movie about a guy who likes stealing shiny gold statues.

And Raiders has stood the test of time. Not only did it inspire thirty more years of action-adventure movies, but it didn't lose an ounce of its charm along the way. It sits at a whopping 95% on Rotten Tomatoes (getting 62 positive reviews and 3 totally undeserved negative ones), and the handy critics consensus there lists it as "one of the most consummately entertaining adventure pictures of all time."

Truth is, we don't need to cite those guys. You want to know how great Raiders of the Lost Ark is? All you have to do is sit down and watch it.

You mean besides The Awesome? The miles and miles of pure, unfiltered Awesome?

Raiders of the Lost Ark is a textbook example of the Hero's Journey: The universal framework for a story—outlined by mythologist Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces—that defines literature and film… and pretty much every story ever told. Here's the gist:

• A threat arises to destroy all that is good.
• A hero sets out to find a prize that can thwart the danger.
• Said hero undergoes trials and gains new abilities.
• Hero eventually returns with hard-won wisdom to save the day (and get the girl).

It's actually seventeen steps (not four), but that's what it boils down to.

George Lucas and Joseph Campbell were actually buddy-buddy, and Lucas did more than anybody else to bring Campbell's theories straight into the mainstream.

Luke Skywalker was our first real exposure to the Campbellian hero, and since we met him four years before we met Indy, he gets seniority. But Lucas didn't deviate from the formula with Raiders: It pretty much takes all of its mojo from the Campbell playbook. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised to see Indy pull a copy of The Hero with a Thousand Faces out of his satchel to find out what happens next.

In many cases, the Hero's Journey involves strange worlds and far-flung locales. Star Wars has outer space and The Lord of the Rings has Middle-earth, neither of which is exactly a regular vacation spot. (And no, New Zealand doesn't count.) But Indy's adventures take place in a real world, with real-life countries and actual historically real bad guys to pummel.

That takes the Hero's Journey out of the "hey, this is just made up!" category and into something closer to real life. Sure, there's magic and trapped tombs and other far-fetched stuff, but at least we can spot the locations on that little map that keeps popping up.

Why does that matter? Because the Hero's Journey is supposed to apply to all of us. All of us are living the Hero's Journey in our own lives. We don't literally face down dragons (er, snakes?) or armies of villains, but we do face The Horrible Midterm of Doom, The Morning Commute of Terror, and The Bank Loan That Eats Your Face Off. Raiders brings the dragons and monsters a little closer to that reality. There's still magic, but it's not quite so out-there and helps us understand how stories like this connect to our own lives.

Turns out you may find a few life lessons amid the un-popped kernels at the bottom of your popcorn bag.