Last weekend at the Indy Film Festival in SF I finally saw the infamous remake of Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. All I can say is that it that it lived up to my wildest expectations. I had to pay $20 to get in the door, and it was worth every penny. It had the stunning (how'd they film indy going out the windshield and under the car with one cheap camera in 1984), the funny (a dog playing the part of the monkey, and being held on people's shoulder's when necessary), the poignant (the actor playing indy's first kiss ever is onscreen), and the completely ridiculous (did they really just light some kid on fire for the bar fight scene?)

My favorite moments: the real submarine (apparently they talked there way into using one at a tourist site) and the way marianne's hair changes length every scene.

The filmmaker's came to the showing, and let us in on lots of great little factoids. Apparently it took 6 tries before they could make a boulder (from fiberglass). The 5th (made on a chickenwire frame) was blown away in a hurricane. To give it something to roll on they got delivered (by an 18-wheeler) two 40-foot telephone polls.

There was really a childish delight in seeing a movie where you knew they had a $5,000 budget for 7 years and you have to figure out "how'd they actually do that?" Since they didn't have a track for the camera during the boulder scene the cameraman is in a shopping cart which indy is pushing (apparently his hands never appear in the shot so it worked).

If any of you get a chance to see this film, I can't recommend it more. Alec and Nat particularly would love it.