Running away from a gigantic boulder early in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones (played by the eternally cool Harrison Ford) established himself as a, well, cinematic rock star. Sorry, that is an absolutely terrible joke, but you’ve got to admit that even thinking about this movie moment gives you the chills.
While the next installment in the franchise is promised (or threatened) for next summer — given how Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull turned out, that may not be a good thing —Raiders of the Lost Ark hasn’t lost any of it’s punch.
This is a film that feels as bold and viscerally exciting in 2022 as it did when it first hit theaters in the summer of 1981. Scenes like the one featured above are a main reason why. Indiana Jones is no whipping boy, he’s an enduring hero who changed movies for the better.
(An earlier version of this article originally appeared in 2018, it has been revised and updated for our Summer of Blockbusters series).