David Guercio Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 Does anyone know which movie inspired Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to make Raiders Of The Lost Ark? I remember when Ben Mainkawitz showed that movie one time and he mentioned which one it was. Was it Valley Of The Kings or a different movie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 SECRET OF THE INCAS, a Paramount adventure film from 1954 starring Charlton Heston. They copied a good deal of it, down to the style of jacket Heston wears. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_of_the_Incas 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NipkowDisc Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 dam right! chuck was the man! the real Indiana jones 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 The one Ben Mankiewicz discussed was Valley of the Kings (1954) with Robert Taylor & Eleanor Parker. I juts watched it last week, and it had the Ben Manky intro where he talked about the movie's influence on Raiders. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_the_Kings_(film) There are several movies that inspired Indiana Jones and Raiders, including Secret of the Incas, and any number of serials. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sukhov Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 The full list can be seen in the "references" section in this link from IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082971/movieconnections And yes, Secret of the Incas is on the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 13 minutes ago, Gershwin fan said: The full list can be seen in the "references" section in this link from IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082971/movieconnections And yes, Secret of the Incas is on the list. But not Valley of the Kings, which is the one Ben Mankiewicz was talking about. Valley of the Kings features an American archaeologist with academic ties and the daughter of his dead mentor looking for fabled treasure and a religious artifact in Egypt. It also features a shady Egyptian contact named Salah/Sallah, and opens with a large excavation by native workers, just like the one at the midway point of Raiders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 1 hour ago, Gershwin fan said: The full list can be seen in the "references" section in this link from IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082971/movieconnections And yes, Secret of the Incas is on the list. Viewers who do not look outside the MGM-WB-RKO films that TCM shows probably won't know about SECRET OF THE INCAS. I thoroughly enjoyed it when I watched it on Amazon Prime two years ago. It is notable for being Robert Young's last feature film before he concentrated on television. The exteriors were filmed on location and as a result the scenery is quite breath taking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 Ya know, I'm pretty sure a certain Bob Dylan song sort of influenced Messrs Spielberg and Lucas also. Uh-huh, yep. And this scene in the flick in particular... (...c'mon now...do I REALLY need to say the punchline here???!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 2 hours ago, LawrenceA said: But not Valley of the Kings, which is the one Ben Mankiewicz was talking about. Valley of the Kings features an American archaeologist with academic ties and the daughter of his dead mentor looking for fabled treasure and a religious artifact in Egypt. It also features a shady Egyptian contact named Salah/Sallah, and opens with a large excavation by native workers, just like the one at the midway point of Raiders. I remembered the scene where Belloq (the French-archeologist baddie) holds up the South American idol, the natives bow down, and Indy makes his run for it, was borrowed from the same scene in another Egyptian-adventure serial, as the Muslim call to prayer saves our heroes at the very last second from a hundred Arabian-thug scimitars, but I was blanking on which movie. Also, reportedly, "Marian" was originally going to be Professor Jones' lovestruck student, who stowed away and followed him on his adventure, but story revisions decided to give Indy an old flame who knows the Himalayas better...And who, of course, was the daughter of an old archeologist friend. (...c'mon now...do I REALLY need to say the punchline here???!!!) (Um...it wouldn't hurt? ? ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NipkowDisc Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 2 hours ago, LawrenceA said: The one Ben Mankiewicz discussed was Valley of the Kings (1954) with Robert Taylor & Eleanor Parker. I juts watched it last week, and it had the Ben Manky intro where he talked about the movie's influence on Raiders. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_the_Kings_(film) There are several movies that inspired Indiana Jones and Raiders, including Secret of the Incas, and any number of serials. but the look of Indiana jones is borrowed directly from heston in secret of the incas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 3 minutes ago, NipkowDisc said: but the look of Indiana jones is borrowed directly from heston in secret of the incas. I never disputed that, but was that what the OP asked? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NipkowDisc Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 3 minutes ago, NipkowDisc said: but the look of Indiana jones is borrowed directly from heston in secret of the incas. and wasn't indy after some south American golden incan head at the beginning of Raiders? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NipkowDisc Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 give the great man Heston is due. doan cheat him because he became a conservative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 Just now, NipkowDisc said: give the great man Heston is due. doan cheat him because he became a conservative. Who is cheating anyone of anything? I was answering the OP's question, not trying to dispute what anyone else had to say. He asked what movie Ben Mankiewicz discussed in regards to its influence on Raiders of the Lost Ark, and seeing as how Secret of the Incas has never been shown on TCM, Ben's comments were likely not before that particular movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 3 hours ago, NipkowDisc said: dam right! chuck was the man! the real Indiana jones AAAAH! So THAT'S where Chuck got one of last and most famous lines in life from, EH Nip! Uh-huh, YOU remember?! That one scene in The Secret of the Incas where Chuck says to those bad guys: "You can have my whip when you pry it from my cold........" (...well, you know) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickAndNora34 Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 Wow, thanks for all the info. I never knew this. I figured, of course, that "Raiders" was based off of a previous project, but never remembered which one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewhite2000 Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 7 hours ago, Dargo said: Ya know, I'm pretty sure a certain Bob Dylan song sort of influenced Messrs Spielberg and Lucas also. Uh-huh, yep. And this scene in the flick in particular... (...c'mon now...do I REALLY need to say the punchline here???!!!) I would hope you don't need to say the punchline! Just wanted to say I "got it"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts