Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - Quotes

Taglines: If adventure has a name, it must be Indiana Jones!

Taglines: The Return of the Great Adventure!

Marion: Hey! What happened? You don't look very happy.

Jones: Fools. Bureaucratic fools.

Marion: What'd they say?

Jones: They don't know what they've got there.

Marion: Well I know what I've got here. Come on, I'll buy you a drink. You know, a drink?

Brody: Where is the Ark?

Maj. Eaton: I thought we'd settled that. The Ark is somewhere very safe.

Jones: From whom?

Brody: The Ark is a source of unspeakable power and it has to be researched!

Maj. Eaton: And it will be, I assure you, Doctor Brody, Doctor Jones. We have top men working on it right now.

Jones: Who?

Maj. Eaton: Top...men...

Jones: [aims a rocket launcher at the Ark from a ridge above] Hello!

Belloq: [cannot believe it] Jones? JONES?!

Jones: I'm gonna blow up the Ark, René!

Belloq: Your persistence surprises even me! You're going to give mercenaries a bad name.

Col. Dietrich: Dr. Jones? Surely you don't think you can escape from this island?

Jones: That depends on how reasonable we're all willing to be. All I want is the girl.

Col. Dietrich: If we refuse?

Jones: Then your Führer has no prize.

Belloq: [to the soldiers; to Jones; soldiers move to encircle the Ark, but Belloq takes a machine gun and forces them back; gestures to the Ark; Marion, Toht, Dietrich and the soldiers exchange pensive looks] Okay, stand back. All of you, stand back. Get back. Okay, Jones. You win. Blow it up. Yes, blow it up! Blow it back to God. All your life has been spent in pursuit of archaeological relics. Inside the Ark are treasures beyond your wildest aspirations. You want to see it open as well as I. Indiana...we are simply passing through history. This... This is history. Do as you will.

Marion: You're not the man I knew ten years ago.

Jones: It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage.

Jones: I'm going after that truck.

Sallah: How?

Jones: I don't know. I'm making this up as I go.

Belloq: [looking down at Indy in the Well of Souls] Hello! Hello! Why, Dr. Jones, whatever are you doing in such a nasty place?

Jones: Why don't you come on down here? I'll show ya!

Belloq: Thank you, my friend, but I think we are all very comfortable up here. Yes, that's right, isn't it? Yes, we are all very comfortable up here. So once again, Jones, what was briefly yours is now mine. What a fitting end to your life's pursuits. You're about to become a permanent addition to this archaeological find. Who knows? In a thousand years, even you may be worth something!

Jones: [laughs; mutters] Son of a bitch...

Dietrich: I'm afraid we must be going now, Dr. Jones. Our prize is awaited in Berlin. But we do not wish to leave you down in that awful place...all alone.

Sallah: Indy, why does the floor move?

Jones: [drops the torch into the chamber, revealing hundreds of snakes covering the floor of the Well] Give me your torch. Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?

Sallah: Asps. Very dangerous. You go first.

Old man: [Indy and Sallah sit] Come, come! Look, look here, look! Sit down. Come. Sit down.

Jones: What is it?

Old man: [pointing out inscriptions] This is a warning not to disturb the Ark of the Covenant.

Jones: What about the height of the staff, though? Did Belloq get it off of here?

Old man: Yes, it is here. This for the old way, this means six kadam high.

Sallah: About 72 inches.

Old man: [shows more inscriptions on other side] Wait! And take back one kadam to honor the Hebrew god whose ark this is.

Jones: [Sallah nods] You said their headpiece only had markings on one side. You absolutely sure? Belloq's staff is too long.

Jones, Sallah: They're digging in the wrong place!

Sallah: [laughing, singing] I am the monarch of the sea / I am the ruler of the Qu-

Sallah: Bad dates.

Jones: Belloq.

Belloq: Good afternoon, Dr. Jones.

Jones: I ought to kill you right now.

Belloq: Not a very private place for a murder.

Jones: Well, these Arabs don't care if we kill each other. They're not going to interfere in our business.

Belloq: [Indy then sits down as the monkey crawls off his shoulder and scampers away] It was not I who brought the girl into all this. Please, sit down before you fall down. We can at least behave like civilized people. : I see your taste in friends remains consistent. How odd that it should end this way for us, after so many...stimulating encounters. I almost regret it. Where shall I find a new adversary so close to my own level?

Jones: Try the local sewer.

Belloq: You and I are very much alike. Archaeology is our religion, yet we have both fallen from the pure faith. Our methods have not differed as much as you pretend. I am a shadowy reflection of you. It would take only a nudge to make you like me. To push you out of the light.

Jones: Now you're gettin nasty.

Belloq: [holds out a pocket watch] You know it's true. How nice. Look at this. It's worthless. Ten dollars from a vendor in the street. But I take it, I bury it in the sand for a thousand years, it becomes priceless! Like the Ark! Men will kill for it. Men like you and me.

Jones: What about your boss, der Führer? I thought he was waiting to take possession.

Belloq: All in good time. When I am finished with it. Jones, do you realize what the Ark is? It's a transmitter! It's a radio for speaking to God, and it's within my reach!

Jones: [prepares to shoot Belloq] You wanna talk to God? Let's go see Him together. I've got nothing better to do.

Belloq: Next time, Dr. Jones, it will take more than children to save you!

Sallah: Indy.. there is something that troubles me.

Jones: What is it?

Sallah: The Ark. If it is there, at Tanis.. Then it is something man was not meant to disturb. Death has always surrounded it. It is not of this Earth.

Toht: Good evening, Fraulein.

Marion: The bar's closed.

Toht: We...we are not thirsty.

Marion: What do you want?

Toht: The same thing your friend Dr. Jones wanted. Surely he told you there would be other interested parties?

Marion: [lights a cigarette] It must've slipped his mind.

Toht: The man is nefarious. I hope, for your sake, he has not yet acquired it.

Marion: Why? Are you willing to offer more?

Toht: [Marion blows smoke in his face and goes behind the bar] Oh, almost certainly. Do you still have it?

Marion: [sees the men penning her in] No. But I know where it is. Hey! H-How about a drink for you and your men?

Toht: [crosses to fireplace; stirs coals with a poker] Your fire is dying here. Why don't you tell me where the piece is right now?

Marion: Listen, Herr Mac. I don't know what kind of people you're used to dealing with, but nobody tells me what to do in my place.

Toht: Fraulein Ravenwood, let me show you what I am used to.

Marion: [Toht raises the poker toward her face, its end glowing hot] Take your hands off me! Take your lousy hands off! Wait a minute, wait! I-I can be reasonable!

Toht: That time is past.

Marion: You don't need that. Wait. I'll tell you everything.

Toht: Yes. I know you will.

Jones: Hello, Marion.

Marion: Ha! Indiana Jones! Always knew someday you'd come walkin back through my door. I never doubted that. Something made it inevitable. So what are you doing here in Nepal?

Jones: [turns away] I need one of the pieces your father collected.

Marion: [packs a solid right hook to his jaw] I learned to hate you in the last ten years!

Jones: [holding his jaw] I never meant to hurt you.

Marion: I was a child! I was in love! It was wrong and you knew it!

Jones: You knew what you were doing.

Marion: Now I do. This is my place. Get out!

Brody: Marion's the least of your worries right now, believe me, Indy. I mean, for nearly three thousand years, man has been searching for the Lost Ark. It's not something to be taken lightly. No one knows its secrets. It's like...nothing you've ever gone after before.

Jones: [unwraps his gun and throws it into his packed belongings, just in case] Oh, Marcus! What are you trying to do, scare me? You sound like my mother! We've known each other for a long time. I don't believe in magic, a load of superstitious hocus-pocus. I'm going after a find of incredible historical significance. You're talking about the boogeyman! Besides, you know what a...cautious fellow I am.

Maj. Eaton: Dr. Jones, we've heard a great deal about you.

Jones: Have you?

Maj. Eaton: Professor of Archaeology, expert on the occult and, how does one say it...obtainer of rare antiquities?

Jones: That's one way of saying it. Why don't you sit down? You'll be more comfortable.

Col. Musgrove: Thank you. Yes, you're a man of many talents. Now, you studied under Professor Ravenwood at the University of Chicago?

Jones: Yes, I did.

Maj. Eaton: And you have no idea of his present whereabouts?

Jones: Uh, just rumours, really. Somewhere in Asia, I think. I haven't spoken to him for ten years. We were friends, but we...had a bit of a falling out, I'm afraid.

Col. Musgrove: Now, Dr. Jones, you must understand this is all...strictly confidential.

Jones: I understand.

Col. Musgrove: Yesterday afternoon, our European section intercepted a German communiqué that was sent from Cairo to Berlin. Now-

Maj. Eaton: You see, over the last two years, the Nazis have had teams of archaeologists running around the world looking for all kinds of religious artifacts. Hitler's a nut on the subject. He's crazy. He's obsessed with the occult, and right now, apparently, there's some kind of German archaeological dig going on in the desert outside of Cairo.

Col. Musgrove: [reads the communiqué; [w:Tanis|Tanis] Now we've got some information here, but we can't make anything out of it, and maybe you can. ] development proceeding. Acquire headpiece, Staff of Ra, Abner Ravenwood, U.S.

Jones: The Nazis have discovered Tanis.

Maj. Eaton: Just what does that mean to you, uh, "Tanis"?

Brody: Well it-

Jones: [interrupts him] The city of Tanis is one of the possible resting places of the Lost Ark.

Col. Musgrove: The Lost Ark?

Jones: [[w:Ark of the Covenant|Ark of the Covenant; [Ten Commandments] Yeah, the ]. The chest the Hebrews used to carry around the ].

Maj. Eaton: What do you mean, the commandments? You're talking about the Ten Commandments?

Jones: [[Moses; [w:Mount Horeb|Mount Horeb] Yes, the actual Ten Commandments. The original stone tablets ] brought down from ] and smashed, if you believe in that sort of thing. Didn't either of you guys ever go to Sunday school?

Col. Musgrove: Well, uh, I-

Jones: [[w:Canaan|Canaan; [w:Temple of Solomon|Temple of Solomon] Look, the Hebrews took the broken pieces and put them in the Ark, and when they settled in ], they put the Ark in a place called the ].

Brody: [[w:Jerusalem|Jerusalem] In ].

Jones: Where it stayed for many years. Until, all of a sudden, whoosh, it's gone.

Maj. Eaton: Where?

Jones: Well nobody knows where, or when.

Brody: However, an Egyptian pharaoh...

Jones: [[w:Shishak|Shishak] ].

Brody: [[w:Well of Souls|Well of Souls] Yes...invaded the city of Jerusalem around about 980 B.C. and he may have taken the Ark back to the city of Tanis and hidden it in a secret chamber called the ].

Maj. Eaton: Secret chamber?

Brody: However, about a year after the pharaoh had returned to Egypt, the city of Tanis was consumed by the desert in a sandstorm that lasted a whole year. Wiped clean by the wrath of God.

Col. Musgrove: Well, obviously we've come to the right men. Now, you seem to know all about this Tanis.

Jones: No, no, not really. Ravenwood's the real expert. Abner did the first serious work on Tanis. Collected some of its relics. It was his obsession, but he never found the city.

Maj. Eaton: Frankly, we're somewhat suspicious of Mr. Ravenwood. An American being mentioned so prominently in a secret Nazi cable.

Brody: Oh, rubbish. Ravenwood's no Nazi.

Col. Musgrove: Well what do the Nazis want him for, then?

Jones: Well obviously the Nazis are looking for the headpiece to the Staff of Ra and they think Abner's got it.

Maj. Eaton: What exactly is the headpiece to the Staff of Ra?

Jones: [gestures with his hands to convey the length of the staff; draws a diagram on a blackboard; contemplates the enormity of such a potential discovery] Well the staff is just a stick, I don't know, about this big, nobody really knows for sure how high. And it's... it's capped with an elaborate headpiece in the shape of the sun with a crystal in the center. And what you did was you took the staff to a special room in Tanis, a map room with a miniature of the city all laid out on the floor, and if you put the staff in a certain place, at a certain time of day, the sun shone through here and made a beam that came down on the floor here... and gave you the exact location of the Well of the Souls.

Col. Musgrove: Where the Ark of the Covenant was kept?

Jones: That's exactly what the Nazis are looking for!

Maj. Eaton: Well what does this Ark look like?

Jones: [opens an old leatherback Bible to an illustration showing the Israelites holding the Ark above them, with great beams of light emanating from the Ark, piercing the ranks of the opposing army surrounding them, with the soldiers in various states of agony and death] Uh, there's a...picture of it right here. That's it.

Maj. Eaton: Good God!

Brody: Yes, that's just what the Hebrews thought.

Col. Musgrove: [pointing to the firebolts] Uh, now, what's that supposed to be coming out of there?

Jones: Lightning...fire...the power of God or something.

Maj. Eaton: I'm beginning to understand Hitler's interest in this.

Brody: [he exchanges a grim look with Indy] Oh yes. The Bible speaks of the Ark leveling mountains and laying waste to entire regions. An army which carries the Ark before it...is invincible.

Jones: THERE'S A BIG SNAKE IN THE PLANE, JOCK!

Jock: Oh that's just my pet snake Reggie!

Jones: I HATE SNAKES, JOCK! I HATE EM!

Jock: Come on, show a little backbone, will ya?

Belloq: [Indy reaches for his gun, only to hand it over when the warriors draw back their weapons] Dr. Jones. Again, we see there is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away. And you thought I'd given up. You chose the wrong friends. This time it will cost you.

Jones: [hands over the prized idol] It's too bad the Hovitos...don't know you the way I do, Belloq.

Belloq: Yes, too bad. You could warn them...if only you spoke Hovitos!

Jones: Give me the whip.

Satipo: [they both see a stone door closing] Throw me the idol. No time to argue! Throw me the idol, I'll throw you the whip!

Jones: [throws the idol] Give me the whip!

Satipo: [drops the whip; leaves] Adiós, señor.

Jones: [hands Satipo the stick] Stay here.

Satipo: [shrugs] If you insist, señor.

René Belloq: [to Colonel Dietrich] Let me ask you this: Would you feel more comfortable opening the Ark in Berlin for your Führer? Finding out, only then, if the sacred pieces of the Covenant are inside? Knowing only then whether you have accomplished your mission, and obtained the one, true Ark?

Marion Ravenwood: We never seem to get a break, do we?

Marion Ravenwood: You can't do this to me! I'm an American!

Marion Ravenwood: God damn it, Indy, where doesn't it hurt?

Indiana Jones: Don't look, Marion! Keep your eyes shut!

Indiana Jones: [as the Nazis are opening the Ark] Marion, don't look at it. Shut your eyes, Marion. Don't look at it, no matter what happens!