Raiders of the Lost Ark (later marketed as
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark) is a 1981 American
action-
adventure film directed by
Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay written by
Lawrence Kasdan, from a story by
George Lucas and
Philip Kaufman. It was produced by
Frank Marshall for
Lucasfilm Ltd., with Lucas and
Howard Kazanjian as executive producers. Starring
Harrison Ford, it was the first installment in the
Indiana Jones film franchise to be released, though it is the second in internal chronological order. It pits
Indiana Jones (Ford) against a group of
Nazis who are searching for the
Ark of the Covenant, which
Adolf Hitler believes will make his army invincible. The film co-stars
Karen Allen as Indiana's former lover,
Marion Ravenwood;
Paul Freeman as Indiana's nemesis, French
archaeologist René Belloq;
John Rhys-Davies as Indiana's sidekick,
Sallah;
Ronald Lacey as
Gestapo agent
Arnold Toht; and
Denholm Elliott as Indiana's colleague,
Marcus Brody.