The six best parts of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

1. Commandeering the truck - The obvious choice. This is why the Hollywood term "set piece" was invented. Consider this: out the windshield, down the front grill (bending off the Mercedes hood ornament along the way), under the chassis, then back up into the back (thanks to a handy bullwhip). A Nazi tries the same move a few minutes later and gets run over with a delightful shriek of pain. If you're not a globe-trotting archaeologist, don't try this at home. "Truck? What truck?"
2. The bar fight - No phony CGI trickery here, only practical on-set effects (spreading fire, sparking bullets, breakaway tables and chairs) and clever fight choreography in very closed quarters. Also a great reminder of the dangers of picking up a Staff of Ra medallion without first checking its temperature.
3. The flying wing fight - Suspenseful in that Everything Goes Wrong. Marion gets trapped in the flying wing, a fire's slowly spreading to a giant fuel tank, and Indiana's getting his ass kicked by a guy who belongs in the WWE. Few actors can take a beating as convincingly as Harrison Ford. Watch out for those propellers.
4. The Peruvian temple opening - There are character introductions and then there are sequences like this. Movie heroes don't often get iconic set-ups like the one Indiana Jones gets here. You don't pull a gun on him, you do exactly as he says in a hidden temple ("Stay out of the light."), you throw him the whip when he asks or run the risk of death by impalement, and you most definitely don't stash a snake in his plane seat.
5. Escaping the Wells of Souls - In a movie full of movie-serial cliffhanger moments, this is the movie's best. Indiana and Marion sealed in an ancient chamber all alone, surrounded by snakes, with their torches going out. There's no plausible way out whatsoever. They'll die here. Right?
6. Opening the Ark - The payoff. Only here do the filmmakers let their visual effects flag fly as Belloq, Toht, and Deitrich find out first-hand what the Power of God can do and millions of pre-teen boys can't believe their frickin' eyes. "Close your eyes, Marion!"

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