The Raiders of the Lost Ark is broadcast on M6 this Thursday, June 1. If everyone remembers the cult scene where we see Indiana Jones nonchalantly shoot down a warrior armed with a sword, many are still unaware of the conditions in which it was shot…
Incredible but true, this mythical scene ofIndiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark might never have existed. Remember, in this first film of the cult saga, the archaeologist runs through the streets of Cairo, faces several adversaries, before finding himself face to face with a warrior armed with a saber, who challenges him to a duel. Neither one nor two, the character played by Harrison Ford pulls out his pistol and fires a bullet at his opponent, between weariness and nonchalance. A simple but devilishly effective scene, which marked several generations of fans.
And yet, this scene could never have seen the light of day in the state, confided Harrison Ford in an exchange shared on Reddit in 2014. saber against whip, in an intense and spectacular fight. But on the set, things didn’t really go as planned: on the day of the shoot, Harrison Ford was struck down by violent dysentery, an intestinal infection. Very upset, the actor asks that the filming of the scene be as short as possible: “I couldn’t be away from my trailer for more than ten minutes”, remembers the hilarious Indiana Jones.
“I then proposed to Steven that we kill this bastard”
“We both realized that this fight scene would take two or three days of filming. But it was the last thing we had to film before going to England, and I was only thinking of getting out. we had already filmed a scene where I fight with the whip with five men, during the kidnapping of Marion. It was a bit redundant”, detailed Harrison Ford about this anecdote. Before delivering the solution: “I then proposed to Steven that we kill this bastard and he said to me ‘I think exactly the same thing’.” Too bad for the British stuntman who had to fight against the actor in an epic duel and who had trained hard in saber for the occasion. So much the better for the sequence, which is also surprisingly enjoyable for the spectators!
Released in 1981, The Raiders of the Lost Ark airs this Thursday 1er June on television on M6, from 9:10 p.m. The entire Indiana Jones saga can be seen streaming on Disney+, before the release of the fifth film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, in theaters June 28, 2023.