“The Ark of the Covenant, the chest that the Hebrews used to carry around the Ten Commandments.”
Although a part of the pop culture vernacular now, the first project which teamed superstar Hollywood directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas featured a title which was not exactly greeted by most fans with confidence. The biggest question facing those lining up to see the movie on opening day was not whether it would be exciting—it seemed almost impossible that it would not be—but rather “what the heck is the raider of a lost ark, anyway?” Indy’s explanation makes the latter part clear enough to anyone still uninitiated.
“Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?”
Indiana Jones changed action heroes forever. John Wayne never showed fear of anything. James Bond coolly disposed of a poisonous snake slithering up behind him in the bathroom by using a cigar to ignite the spray from an aerosol can. Indy, by contrast, is just not terrified of snakes, the pitch of his voice actually rises to an almost girlish tenor. He’s not just afraid of snakes; he hates them. This unexpected emotional intensity serves the purpose of humanizing Indiana Jones in a way that Bond and the western figures of John Wayne and even Tarzan never really were. In addition, the scenes at school showing that he’s really just a college professor wearing tweed and glasses also undermine the traditional conventions of the action hero.
"Dr. Jones. Again we see there is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away."
The opening set piece is wonderfully exciting and memorable and effectively introduces Indiana Jones for the first. Other than that, it has nothing to do with the actual plot. Except for also introducing, briefly, at its end, the character who will become the film’s primary antagonist. Belloq’s essentially personality is exhibited with this line of dialogue—one of the film’s most quotable. The overly formal phrasing and the suave quality of the way it is delivered will later be effective in separating Belloq from his fellow villains: the Nazis with whom he is working.
“It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.”
This quote is in response to a former girlfriend’s observation that after ten years of estrangement, Indy is not the same man she knew. The reference here indicates that the adventures which the audience has already witness involved Dr. Jones are not exactly unusual. The line gives a resonance to the history of a man that is not directly addressed, but strongly implicated. Given the information available, the viewer is capable and even urged to imagine an almost infinite variety of possibilities for this figure. Considering that this is the very first movie featuring the character made in a time in which it could only be expected that sequels would come should the film be a hit, it is an insidiously effective way of expanding the legendary aspect of a movie character who had absolutely no backstory to bring in the form of exiting books or previous films or TV shows.
