Raiders of the Lost Ark poster

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Film · 1h 55m · Rated PG

Action, Adventure

A fedora-clad archaeologist races the Nazis in a brisk, pulpy, and suspenseful quest for a legendary artifact.

Epic, with dry wit. A party watch at a brisk pace. Emotionally it carries some weight.

Streaming on Prime Video, Disney+ and Paramount+.

Raiders of the Lost Ark parents guide

Heads up on strong violence and light gore. That is past what the PG on the box suggests. Beyond that, mild language and a few tense moments.

Scare
Mildly scary
A few tense or eerie moments.
Jump scares
A couple
One or two sudden jolts.
Gore
Light gore
Some blood or injury, briefly.
Violence
Strong violence
Violence is frequent or intense.
Sex and nudity
None flagged
It is a PG from before PG-13 existed, when a PG could carry more, so treat our zero as unconfirmed.
Language
Mild
Mild words like damn, hell or crap.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Raiders of the Lost Ark scary?
Only a little. Raiders of the Lost Ark has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.
How gory is Raiders of the Lost Ark?
Light gore and strong violence.
What is Raiders of the Lost Ark rated, and is it OK for kids?
Rated PG, with more than the label suggests: strong violence.

What is Raiders of the Lost Ark about?

When Dr. Indiana Jones – the tweed-suited professor who just happens to be a celebrated archaeologist – is hired by the government to locate the legendary Ark of the Covenant, he finds himself up against the entire Nazi regime.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

Yes. It lands on a happy note.

Cast and crew

Directed bySteven Spielberg
StarringHarrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies, Ronald Lacey, Wolf Kahler

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.