I’m so excited! I think I’m finally ready to return to a cherished pastime I haven’t quite been up for in several years – I’ll be hitting theaters again for a season of summer movies! I’m especially enjoying the look ahead to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny because it’s also got me looking back to when the first Indiana Jones movie came out – 

Back to 1981.

That summer was kind of a filmic super-bloom for me. I didn’t just go see a lot of movies – I went to see movies a lot! And thinking of the original Raiders of the Lost Ark brings to mind those wide-eyed teenage days when everything was before me and I had everything to learn about life – some of which I learned that year through film.

There were practical reasons for this uptick in movie-going. My high school buddies and I were now all able to drive and so were in charge of our own entertainment destinies. I was also working part time in the office of the El Cerrito Community Center, so I had a bit of spending money. And I turned 17 that summer so there was now no movie (no respectable one!) that I couldn’t go see on my own.

Just a few months earlier, that wasn’t the case. In the spring, classmates who were fellow fantasy novel readers and fans of Arthurian legend grew enchanted by the idea of seeing the movie Excalibur. A possible troll under the bridge of this plan though was that the film was rated R – and some of us (myself included) weren’t yet the necessary age.

Not that it would have been my first R film. Being in a family made up entirely of Monty Python fans, the folks had taken me to “Monty Python’s Life of Brian”, so I was already familiar with R-Rated content – at least in terms of comedy bits and naughty bits.

Anyway, my loyal little band of Bay Area friends decided to embark together on a grand cinematic quest, journeying to the Oaks Theater in Berkeley (methought til now that wast in Albany…) where we solemnly pledged either to triumph as one – or just go get ice cream at McCallum’s. Honestly, I’d never had so much riding on the words “One, please” in my life! But we each stepped up to the ticket window, delivered this incantation with varying degrees of sternness – and magically, we all made it through the portal to the Garden of the Plushy Folding Seats! The film – and the night – were epic, indeed!

By summertime, I was pleased to be old enough to hit any movie I cared to without the added suspense! And with money in my pocket, good friends (good friends with vehicles), and no more homework to do until the fall, movie-going became my activity of choice – and I went all in!

I would happily discover that there were more movies in the fantasy genre on offer in 1981! I swooned over Christopher Reeve’s flying across the sky in Superman II. I got to compare the special effects in Clash of the Titans (the “last hurrah” of the stop motion era) with the newer techniques used by Industrial Light & Magic for Dragonslayer – and I was carried away by both!

I actually kept a list which I held onto for years of all the movies I saw that summer and how often I saw them! Sadly (and sorta like the cute figure I had in 1981), it’s up and disappeared…

I do recall though that the list included comedies like Arthur starring the brilliant Dudley Moore, as well as my runner-up for “Movie I Saw the Very Most Times” honors – Stripes with the hilarious Bill Murray and Harold Ramis!

Even though summer fare was largely escapist, our group did slip in a few titles we maybe thought could give us some insights into adulting. One option which didn’t feature anything that flew (except for barbs) was Alan Alda’s The Four Seasons – a funny but sobering look at marriage, divorce and parenting. It was entertaining, but I started to wonder if taking down a dragon might be the easier thing.

Over the rest of 1981, I’d get other peeks at the adult world from the safety of a theater seat. I’d be inspired by the Olympic saga Chariots of Fire, bemused by My Dinner with Andre, moved by the family drama On Golden Pond, and gutted by the World War I film Gallipoli. They gave me an inkling of how confusing and complicated and heartbreaking life could be – and as anxious as I was to be all grown up, I figured I could wait a little bit longer…

Maybe to that end, the top spot on my list of 1981 summer viewing was easily held by the now classic and pure adventure Raiders of the Lost Ark! If memory serves (and I feel pretty confident), I would “one, please” this one 13 times!

This might seem excessive to some. But in fairness, it was back in the unimaginable days when we couldn’t yet count on owning a film down the road! My household was a year away from getting a VCR. Cable was still a novelty which few friends had (I’ve mentioned how we used to break the rules and leave school during lunch to watch this thing called MTV!). And even fewer in my circle paid extra for HBO. Nope. Our best option was to go out to the theater and take in a favorite over and over again –

And. We. Did.

I recall being pretty thoroughly consumed by this movie. I wrote down as many lines as I could remember (probably when I was supposed to be doing something else), bought merch, and when asked what I wanted to do on any given warm summer night, my reply was “Let’s go see Raiders!”

Could I defend this behavior by suggesting I was learning more valuable life lessons? Like never trust a capuchin? Don’t stare directly into an Ark? Probably not. Although I will say that at times during my subsequent journeys through the grown-up world, I’ve felt like my torch was going out, or that there was a massive metaphoric boulder hurtling up behind me. And it hasn’t been a bad idea to channel my inner Indy and press on the more bravely!

Yeah, that’s a stretch – but good advice, nonetheless. As for the truth? I think the truth is it was just one heck of a good time!

I guess this will be the first Raiders movie installment that wasn’t directed by Steven Spielberg. I did just watch The Fabelmans which is supposed to be based on Spielberg’s own youth – and it was fun to see where inspiration for his directing those adventures might have come from. And I loved at the beginning how the mom character Mitzi tries to comfort her nervous little son before his first time seeing a movie with the notion that:  “Movies are dreams, doll, that you never forget.”

Although it’s been depicted plenty on screen, I don’t think we’ve quite yet figured out how to travel back in time. But I find that movies (music too) can escort my mind to younger days, sometimes summoning dear childish moments where I might have been full of wonder and curiosity about the world! For me, remembering Raiders calls up in particular the deep well of freedom, fellowship and fun that I drew from time and again in the summer of ‘81. When I’d hop into a friend’s car, snake an arm out the window, and ride a gentle breeze with the palm of my hand while talking over big, big plans –

On my way to a movie.

If musing about a superhero or an “obtainer of rare antiquities” can take me to that place again? Well, I sure hope Mitzi is right and that I never, ever forget…