title: University of Pennsylvania

text: In 1963, the Muslim Students' Association (MSA National) and Penn chapter of MSA National were founded to facilitate Muslim life among students on college campuses. The University of Pennsylvania chapter (Penn MSA) was established to help Penn Muslims build faith and community by fostering a space under the guidance of Islamic principles. In 1973, Penn MSA helped found Masjid Al-Jamia, a mosque close to campus, to facilitate Penn's and the local community's easy access to Islamic study circles, social events, Friday prayers and holiday celebrations. The establishment of the mosque and the 1980 organization of a relief fund to aid refugees fleeing Afghanistan in the wake of the Soviet attack are consistent with Penn MSA support of mission of its related umbrella organization, Islamic Society of North America, to "foster the development of the Muslim community, interfaith relations, civic engagement, and better understandings of Islam." Though Penn MSA stakeholders remain involved with Masjid Al-Jamia mosque, the local West Philadelphia community now operates the mosque, which, as of 2009, is owned by a national organization, North American Islamic Trust, Inc. In addition to Penn MSA support of Islam at Penn, The Muslim Life Program at the University of Pennsylvania provides such support and helped cause Penn (in January 2017) to hire its first full-time Muslim chaplain, the co-president of the Association of Campus Muslim Chaplains, Sister Patricia Anton (whose background includes working with Muslim, interfaith, academic and peace-building institutions such as Islamic Society of North America and Islamic Relief). Chaplain Anton's mandate includes supporting and guiding the Penn Muslim community to foster further development of such community by creating a welcoming environment that provides Penn Muslim community opportunities to intellectually and spiritually engage with Islam. Penn also has a residential house, the Muslim Life Residential Program, which provides Penn students with a live/learn environment focused on the appreciation of Islamic culture, food, history, and practice, and shows its residents how Islam is deeply integrated in the culture of Philadelphia so they may appreciate how Islam influences daily life in the home of one of the largest Muslim communities in North America.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn's sports teams are nicknamed the Quakers, but the teams are often also referred to as The Red and Blue as reflected in the popular song sung after every athletic contest where the Penn Band or other musical groups are present. The athletes participate in the Ivy League and Division I (Division I FCS for football) in the NCAA. In recent decades, they often have been league champions in football (14 times from 1982 to 2010) and basketball (22 times from 1970 to 2006). The first athletic team at Penn was the cricket team, which formed in 1842 and played regularly through 1846, the year it lost its "grounds", and then only played intermittently until 1864, the year it played its first intercollegiate game (against Haverford College). The rowing (or crew) team composed of Penn students but not officially representing Penn was formed in 1854 but did not compete against other colleges as official part of Penn until 1879. The rugby football team began to play against other colleges, most notably against College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1874 using a combination of association football (i.e. soccer) and rugby rules (the twenty players on each side were able to use their hands but were not able to pass or bat the ball forward).


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: The first University of Pennsylvania cricket team (reported to be the first cricket team in the United States composed exclusively of Americans) was organized in 1842 by a member of Philadelphia's prominent , William Rotch Wister (class of 1846 for Bachelor of Arts and 1849 for Master of Arts). Penn never possessed its own "ground" except in 1846 when it leased one day a week, for a total sum of $50, a "ground" (located east of the Delaware River). From 1846 to 1860, there is little evidence of Penn playing cricket but just as Civil War began, Penn students resumed playing cricket matches between classes of Penn students.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: On May 7, 1864, Penn played its first intercollegiate game against Haverford College and then proceeded to play Haverford for three consecutive years until 1869, when the Haverford faculty banned cricket away from their college grounds.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: After Penn moved west of the Schuylkill River in 1872, Penn played cricket at one of the local clubs (Belmont Cricket Club, the closest to campus at 50th Street and Chester Avenue, Merion Cricket Club, and Germantown Cricket Club), or at Haverford College. Though there is evidence of an occasional game during period 1870 through 1875, none were played against other colleges and there were no yearbook pictures for the three years after 1872 when Penn moved from Center City to University City. Starting in 1875 and through 1880, Penn fielded a varsity eleven, which played a few matches each year against opponents that included Haverford College and Columbia College.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: In 1881, Penn, Harvard College, Haverford College, Princeton College (then known as College of New Jersey), and Columbia College formed The Intercollegiate Cricket Association, which Cornell University later joined. Penn won The Intercollegiate Cricket Association championship (the "de facto" national championship) 23 times (18 solo, 3 shared with Haverford and Harvard, 1 shared with Haverford and Cornell, and 1 shared with just Haverford) during the 44 years that The Intercollegiate Cricket Association existed (1881 through 1924).


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: In the 1890s Penn's cricket team frequently toured Canada and the British Isles. In July 1895 an international cricket match between Canada and the United States was played on the Manheim grounds in Germantown section of Philadelphia with six of the United States team being Penn student athletes and, in September of that year, past and then current members of Penn's varsity cricket team played past and then current members of the English cricket teams of Oxford and Cambridge resulting in Penn defeating the Oxford-Cambridge team by one hundred runs. This was not surprising as in the last two and a half decades of the 19th century and first decade of the 20th century, Philadelphia was the center of cricket in the United States


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Cricket had gained in popularity among the upper class from their travels abroad and cricket clubs sprung up all across the Eastern Seaboard (even today Philadelphia still has three cricket clubs: the Philadelphia Cricket Club, the Merion Cricket Club and the Germantown Cricket Club).


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Perhaps the university's most famous cricket player was George Patterson (class of 1888), who still holds the North American batting record and who went on to play for the professional Philadelphia Cricket Team.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Following the First World War, cricket began to experience a serious decline (as baseball became the preferred sport of the warmer months and Imperial Cricket Conference, Cricket's "... international governing body and forerunner to the current International Cricket Conference (ICC), introduced a regulation making it clear that only countries within the British empire were welcome to compete") such that in 1924 Penn fielded its last team in the twentieth century. Starting in 2009, however, Penn once again fielded a cricket team, albeit club, that ended up being the first winner of a tournament for teams from the Ivies.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Rowing (crew) at Penn dates back to at least 1854 with the founding of the University Barge Club. The university currently hosts both heavyweight and lightweight men's teams and an open weight women's team, all of which compete as part of the Eastern Sprints League. Ellis Ward was Penn's first intercollegiate crew coach from 1879 through 1912. During the course of Ward's coaching career at Penn his "... Red and Blue crews won 65 races, in about 150 starts." Importantly, Ward coached Penn's 8-oared boat to the finals of the Grand Challenge Cup (the oldest and most prized trophy) at the Henley Royal Regatta (but in that final race was defeated by the champion Leander Club).


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn Rowing has produced a long list of famous coaches and Olympians. Members of Penn crew team, rowers Sidney Jellinek, Eddie Mitchell, and coxswain, John G. Kennedy, won the bronze medal for the United States at 1924 Olympics.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Joe Burk (class of 1935) was captain of Penn crew team, winner of the Henley Diamond Sculls twice, named recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award for nation's best amateur athlete in 1939, and Penn coach from 1950 to 1969. The 1955 Men's Heavyweight 8, coached by Joe Burk, became one of only four American university crews in history to win the Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. The outbreak of World War Two canceled the 1940 Olympics for which Burk was favored to win the gold medal.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: (a) John Anthony Pescatore (who competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games for the United States as stroke of the men's coxed eight which earned a bronze medal and later competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games in the men's coxless pair),


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: (b) Susan Francia (winner of gold medals as part of the women's 8 oared boat at 2008 Olympics and 2012 Olympics),


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: (g) John B. Kelly Jr., son of John B. Kelly Sr. (winner of three medals at 1920 Summer Olympics) and brother of Princess Grace of Monaco, was the second Penn Crew alumnus to win the James E. Sullivan Award for being nation's best amateur athlete (in 1947), who was winner of a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics).


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: The Penn men's crew team won the National Collegiate Rowing Championship in 1991. A member of that team, Janusz Hooker (Wharton class of 1992) won the bronze medal in Men's Quadruple Sculls for Australia at the 1996 Summer Olympics. The Penn teams presently row out of College Boat Club, No.11 Boathouse Row.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: The Penn men's rugby football team is one of the oldest collegiate rugby teams in the United States. Indeed, Penn first fielded a team in mid 1870s playing by rules much closer to the rugby union and Association Football code rules (relative to American football rules, as such American football rules had not yet been invented). Among its earliest games was a game against College of New Jersey (which in 1895 changed its name to Princeton) played in Philadelphia on Saturday, November 11, 1876, which was less than two weeks before Princeton met on November 23, 1876, with Harvard and Columbia to confirm that all their games would be played using the rugby union rules. Princeton and Penn played their November 1876 game per a combination of rugby (there were 20 players per side and players were able to touch the ball with their hands) and Association Football codes. The rugby code influence was due, in part, to the fact that some of their students had been educated in English public schools.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Among the prominent alumni to play in a 19th-century version of rugby (rules that did not allow forward passes or center snaps) was John Heisman, namesake of the Heisman Trophy and an 1892 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Heisman was instrumental in the first decade of the 20th century in changing the rules to more closely relate to the present rules of American football. One of Heisman's teammates (who was unanimously voted Captain in the fall after Heisman graduated) was Harry Arista Mackey, Penn Law class of 1893 (who subsequently served as Mayor of Philadelphia from 1928 to 1932).


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: In 1906, Rugby per Rugby Union code was reintroduced to Penn (as Penn last played per Rugby Union Code in 1882 as Penn played rugby per a number of different rugby football rulebooks and codes from 1883 through 1890s) by Frank Villeneuve Nicholson (Frank Nicholson (rugby union)) University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine (class of 1910), who in 1904 had captained the Australian national rugby team in its match against England.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn played per rugby union code rules at least through 1912, contemporaneously with Penn playing American gridiron football. Evidence of such may be found in an October 22, 1910, "Daily Pennsylvanian" article (quoted below) and a yearbook photo that rugby per rugby union code was played.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: The player-coach of United States Olympic gold-winning rugby team at the 1924 Summer Olympics was Alan Valentine, who played rugby while at Penn (which he attended during 1921/1922 academic year) as he was getting a master's degree at Wharton.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Though Penn played rugby per rugby union rules from 1929 through 1934, there is no indication that Penn had a rugby team from 1935 through 1959 when Penn men's rugby became permanent due to leadership of Harry "Joe" Edwin Reagan III Penn's College class of 1962 and Penn Law class of 1965, who also went onto help create and incorporate (in 1975) and was Treasurer (in 1981) of USA Rugby and Oreste P. "Rusty" D'Arconte Penn's College class of 1966 Thus, with D'Arconte's hustle and Reagan's charisma and organizational skills, a team, which had fielded a side of fifteen intermittently from 1912 through 1960, became permanent.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: In spring of 1984 Penn women's rugby, led by Social Chair Tamara Wayland (College class of 1985 who subsequently became the women's representative to and vice president of USA Rugby South from 1996 to 1998), Club President Marianne Seligson, and Penn Law student Gigi Sohn, began to compete. Penn women's rugby team is coached, as of 2020, by (a) Adam Dick, a 300-level certified coach with over 15 years of rugby coaching experience including being the first coach of the first women's rugby team at the University of Arizona and who was a four-year starter at University of Arizona men's first XV rugby team and (b) Philly women's player Kate Hallinan.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn's men's rugby team plays in the Ivy Rugby Conference and have finished as runners-up in both 15s and 7s in the Conference and won the Ivy Rugby Tournament in 1992. , the club uses the state-of-the-art facilities at Penn Park. The Penn Quakers' rugby team played on national TV at the 2013 Collegiate Rugby Championship, a college rugby tournament that for number of years had been played each June at PPL Park (now known as Subaru Park) in Philadelphia and was broadcast live on NBC. In their inaugural year of participation, the Penn men's rugby team won the Shield Competition, beating local Big Five rival, Temple University, 17–12 in the final. In the semifinal match of that Shield Competition, Penn Rugby became the first Philadelphia team to beat a non-Philadelphia team in CRC history, with a 14–12 win over the University of Texas.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn men's rugby, as of 2020, is coached by Tiger Bax, a former professional rugby player hailing from Cape Town, South Africa, whose playing experience includes stints in the Super Rugby competition with the Stormers (15s) and Mighty Mohicans (7s), as well as with the Gallagher Premiership Rugby side, Saracens and whose coaching experience includes three successful years as coach at Valley Rugby Football Club in Hong Kong; and Tyler May, from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, who played rugby at Pennsylvania State University where he was a first XV player for three years.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Players on the 2019 men's team came from 11 countries: Australia, Botswana, Chile, Great Britain, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, South Africa, and the United States).


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn's graduate and professional schools also fielded rugby teams. The Penn Law Rugby team (1985 through 1993) counts among its alumni Walter Joseph Jay Clayton, III Penn Law class of 1993, and chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from May 4, 2017, until December 23, 2020, and Raymond Hulser, former Chief of Public Integrity Section of United States Department of Justice. The Wharton rugby team has competed from 1978 to the present. Other recent Penn Rugby Alumni include Conor Lamb (Penn College class of 2006 and Penn Law class of 2009), who played for undergraduate team (and had an additional year of eligibility allowing him to continue to playing for undergraduate team while a student at Penn Law per USA Rugby rules), and, as of 2021, is a member of United States House of Representatives, elected originally to Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district, since 2019 is a U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn first fielded a football team against Princeton at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia on November 11, 1876.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn football made many contributions to the sport in its early days. During the 1890s, Penn's famed coach and alumnus George Washington Woodruff introduced the quarterback kick, a forerunner of the forward pass, as well as the place-kick from scrimmage and the delayed pass. In 1894, 1895, 1897 and 1904, Penn was generally regarded as the national champion of collegiate football. Among the key players on the teams from 1897 to 1900 was Truxton Hare, Sr. who was selected as a charter member of the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. While primarily a guard, he also ran, punted, kicked off, and drop-kicked extra points.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: The achievements of two of Penn's other outstanding players from that era, John Heisman, a Law School alumnus, and John Outland, a Penn Med alumnus, are remembered each year with the presentation of the Heisman Trophy to the most outstanding college football player of the year, and the Outland Trophy to the most outstanding college football interior lineman of the year.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Also, each year the Bednarik Award is given to college football's best defensive player. Chuck Bednarik (class of 1949) was a three-time All-American center/linebacker who starred on the 1947 team and is generally regarded as Penn's all-time finest. In addition to Bednarik, the 1947 squad boasted four-time All-American tackle George Savitsky and three-time All-American halfback Skip Minisi. All three standouts were subsequently elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, as was their coach, George Munger (a star running back at Penn in the early 1930s). Bednarik went on to play for 12 years with the Philadelphia Eagles, and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn's game against University of California at Berkeley on September 29, 1951 (in front of a crowd of 60,000 at Franklin Field), was first college football game to be broadcast in color.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: ESPN's "College GameDay" traveled to Penn to highlight the Harvard–Penn game on November 17, 2002, the first time the popular college football show had visited an Ivy League campus.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn basketball is steeped in tradition. Penn made its only (and the Ivy League's second) Final Four appearance in 1979, where the Quakers lost to Magic Johnson-led Michigan State in Salt Lake City. (Dartmouth twice finished second in the tournament in the 1940s, but that was before the beginning of formal League play.) Penn's team is also a member of the Philadelphia Big 5, along with La Salle, Saint Joseph's, Temple and Villanova. In 2007, the men's team won its third consecutive Ivy League title and then lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Texas A&M. Penn last made the NCAA tournament in 2018 where it lost to top seeded Kansas.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: At least 43 different Penn alumni have earned 81 Olympic medals (26 gold). Penn won more of its "medals" (which were actually cups, trophies, or plaques, as medals were not introduced until a later Olympics) at 1900 Summer Olympics held in Paris than at any other Olympics. Penn's track and field alumni who won 21 'medals' at the 1900 Paris Olympics are: (1) Alvin Kraenzlein (University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine class of 1900), known as "the father of the modern hurdling technique", who was first sportsman in the history of Olympic games to win four individual gold medals in a single discipline; (2) Josiah McCracken, MD (University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine class of 1901) who won the silver medal in the shot put and a bronze medal for the hammer throw; (3) John Walter Tewksbury (Penn Dental School class of 1899) who won five 'medals' (gold in the 200 meter dash and 400 meter hurdles, silver in the 60 meter dash and 100 meter dash, and a bronze in the 200 meter hurdles); (4) Irving Baxter (Penn Law class of 1901) who won five "medals" (gold in both the men's high jump and men's pole vault and silver in all three of the standing jumps (long, triple, and high); (5) Meredith Colket (College Class of 1901 (BS), Penn Law class of 1904) who won the silver 'medal' in the pole vault, (6) Truxton Hare (Penn Law class of 1904) who won the silver 'medal' in the hammer throw (and at 1904 Summer Olympics held in St. Louis, Missouri, won (i) bronze medal in the all-around discipline (which consisted of 100 yard run, shot put, high jump, 880 yard walk, hammer throw, pole vault, 120 yard hurdles, long jump and one mile run), and (ii) gold medal as part of United States tug of war team), and (7) George Orton (University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Arts and Sciences class of 1894 (MA) and class of 1896 (PhD)) who (as first physically disabled Olympic athlete) won a gold 'medal' in the 2,500 meter run and a bronze metal in the 400 meter hurdles


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: The first African American in the United States to win an Olympic gold medal at an Olympics, the 1908 London Olympics, as part of Medley relay where he ran the third leg, the 400 meters, was John Taylor (University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (class of 1908)). Taylor was followed by William Hamilton and Nate Cartmell (fellow Penn athlete).


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: In the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan, in summer of 2021, nine Penn students and alumni played in six different sports from six different countries.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Franklin Field (with seats for 52,593 fans) is where the Quakers play football, field hockey, lacrosse, sprint football and track and field (and formerly baseball, soccer, and rugby). It is the oldest stadium still operating for football games, the first stadium to sport two tiers, and first stadium in the country to have a scoreboard. It hosted the first ever football radio broadcast (in 1922) and first commercially televised football game (in 1940) and was site of first ever use of use of instant replay (in 1963). Franklin Field also played host to the Philadelphia Eagles from 1958 to 1970 (where installation of artificial turf in 1969 caused it to be first NFL stadium to have such artificial turf), and was the site of 18 Army–Navy games between 1899 and 1935.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Today it is also used by Penn students for recreation such as intramural and club sports, including touch football and cricket. Franklin Field hosts the annual collegiate track and field event "the Penn Relays."


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn's home court, the Palestra, is an arena used for men's and women's basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big Five basketball, as well as high school sporting events. The Palestra has hosted more NCAA Tournament basketball games than any other facility. Penn staff and students make use of the Palestra to play and/or watch basketball, volleyball, and fencing. Penn's River Fields hosts a number of athletic fields including the Rhodes Soccer Stadium (for both women's and men's soccer, which includes elevated stands for 650 spectators, a 180-degree rotating scoreboard, and the Rapaport Family Suite), the Ellen Vagelos C'90 Field Hockey Field (with special artificial turf), and Irving "Moon" Mondschein Throwing Complex (for javelin, shot put, discus, and Hammer throw). In addition, Penn baseball plays its home games at Meiklejohn Stadium at Murphy Field.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: The Olympic Boycott Games of 1980 was held at the University of Pennsylvania in response to Moscow's hosting of the 1980 Summer Olympics following the Soviet incursion in Afghanistan. Twenty-nine of the boycotting nations participated in the Boycott Games.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn has produced many alumni that have distinguished themselves in the sciences, academia, politics, business, military, arts, and media.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Some eleven heads of state or government have attended or graduated from Penn, including former president Donald Trump; former president William Henry Harrison, who attended the medical school for less than a semester; former prime minister of the Philippines Cesar Virata; the first president of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe; the first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah; and the current president of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara. Other notable politicians who hold a degree from Penn include India's former minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha, former ambassador and Utah governor Jon Huntsman, Jr., Mexico's current minister of finance, Ernesto J. Cordero, former Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter, and former Pennsylvania governor and DNC chair Ed Rendell.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: The university's presence in the judiciary in and outside of the United States is also notable. It has produced three United States Supreme Court justices, William J. Brennan, Owen J. Roberts and James Wilson; Supreme Court justices of foreign states (e.g., Ronald Wilson of the High Court of Australia, Ayala Procaccia of the Israel Supreme Court, Yvonne Mokgoro, former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa); and Irish Court of Appeal justice Gerard Hogan.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn is also a top feeder school for careers in finance and investment banking on Wall Street and its alumni have a strong presence in financial and economic life. Indeed, Penn alumni include 64 living billionaires, 28 of whom are undergraduate alumni billionaires (as Penn has the second highest number of undergrad billionaire alumni with only Harvard [with only one more (but Penn undergraduate alumni billionaires have accumulated over 65 billion more in wealth than Harvard's)], Penn has educated several governors of central banks including Dawne Williams ( St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank), Yasin Anwar (State Bank of Pakistan), Ignazio Visco (Bank of Italy), Kim Choongsoo (Bank of Korea), Zeti Akhtar Aziz (Central Bank of Malaysia), Pridiyathorn Devakula (governor, Bank of Thailand, and former minister of finance), Farouk El Okdah (Central Bank of Egypt) and Alfonso Prat Gay (Central Bank of Argentina), as well as the director of the United States National Economic Council, Gene Sperling. Other alumni include Warren Buffett (CEO of Berkshire Hathaway), Steven A. Cohen (founder of SAC Capital Advisors), and Robert Kapito (president of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager).


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn alumni who are founders of technology companies include Ralph J. Roberts (co-founder of Comcast); Elon Musk (co-founder of PayPal, Tesla, OpenAI and Neuralink, founder of SpaceX and The Boring Company); Leonard Bosack (co-founder of Cisco); David J. Brown (co-founder of Silicon Graphics) and Mark Pincus (founder of Zynga, the company behind FarmVille).


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Among other distinguished alumni are the current or past presidents of over one hundred universities including Harvard University (Drew Gilpin Faust, Harvard's first female president), Cornell University (Martha E. Pollack), Penn (Judith Rodin, first female president in the Ivy League), Princeton University (Harold Dodds), the University of California (Mark Yudof), Carnegie Mellon University (Jared Cohon), and Northwestern University (Morton O. Schapiro).


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn's alumni also include poets William Augustus Muhlenberg, Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams; linguist and political theorist Noam Chomsky; architect Louis Kahn; cartoonist Charles Addams; actresses Candice Bergen and Elizabeth Banks; journalist Joe Klein; TV producer Shabnam Rezaei; fashion designer Tory Burch; multidisciplinary artist Kamau Amu Patton; and alumni who have won 20 Tony Awards, 16 Grammy Awards, 11 Emmy Awards, and 4 Academy Awards (Oscars) as exemplified by EGOT recipient, recording artist John Legend.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Within the ranks of Penn's most historic graduates are also eight signers of the Declaration of Independence and seven signers of the United States Constitution and 24 members of the Continental Congress. These historic figures include George Clymer, Francis Hopkinson, Thomas McKean, Robert Morris, William Paca, George Ross, Benjamin Rush, James Wilson, Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, Rufus King, Thomas Mifflin, Gouverneur Morris and Hugh Williamson.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: Penn alumni have also had significant impact on the United States military as they include Samuel Nicholas, United States Marine Corps founder, and William A. Newell, whose congressional action formed a predecessor to the current United States Coast Guard, in addition to numerous generals or similar rank in the United States Armed Forces, as well as at least five United States Medal of Honor recipients.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: As of 2020, there have been 24 Nobel Laureates affiliated (see List of Nobel laureates by university affiliation), with the University of Pennsylvania, of whom four are current faculty members and eight are alumni. Penn also educated members of the United States National Academies and the Academy of Arts and Sciences, eight National Medal of Science laureates, numerous Sloan Fellows, several members of the American Philosophical Society and many Guggenheim Fellowships.


title: University of Pennsylvania

text: In addition to active alumni chapters globally, in 1989, the university bought a 14-story clubhouse building (purpose-built for Yale Club) in New York City from Touro College for $15 million to house Penn's largest alumni chapter. After raising a separate $25 million (including $150,000+ donations each from such alumni as Estee Lauder heirs, Leonard Lauder and Ronald Lauder, Saul Steinberg, Michael Milken, Donald Trump, and Ronald Perelman) and two years of renovation, the Penn Club of New York moved to its current location at 30 West 44th Street on NYC's Clubhouse Row across the street from the Harvard Club of New York, a block west of the Cornell Club of New York, and two blocks west of the Yale Club of New York City. It also is one block north of the Princeton Club of New York and joins with those clubs in inter-Ivy events. Although its university is located in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan, the Columbia University Club of New York does not have its own clubhouse and shares the 30 West 44th Street clubhouse with the Penn Club. The New York region of the university maintains an office in the Penn Club.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: Joseph Lyle Menendez (born January 10, 1968) and Erik Galen Menendez (born November 27, 1970) are American brothers who were convicted in 1996 for the murders of their parents, José and Mary Louise ("Kitty") Menéndez.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: During the trial, the Menéndez brothers stated that they committed the murders in fear that their father would kill them after they threatened to expose him for years of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse, while the prosecution argued that they did it to inherit their father's multimillion-dollar estate. They were first tried separately, with one jury for each brother. Both juries deadlocked, which resulted in a mistrial. For the second trial, they were tried together by a single jury, which found them guilty, and as a result, they were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: Lyle and Erik's father, José Enrique Menéndez, was born on May 6, 1944, in Havana, Cuba. At age 16, shortly after the start of the Cuban Revolution, he moved to the United States. José attended Southern Illinois University, where he met Mary Louise "Kitty" Andersen (1941–1989). They married in 1963 and moved to New York City, where José earned an accounting degree from Queens College.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: The couple's first son, Joseph Lyle Menéndez, who goes by his middle name, was born on January 10, 1968 in New York. Kitty quit her teaching job after Lyle was born, and the family moved to New Jersey, where Erik was born on November 27, 1970, in Gloucester Township. In New Jersey, the family lived in Hopewell Township and both brothers attended Princeton Day School.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: In the summer of 1976, Lyle and Erik's cousin Vander Molen, would often stay at the Menendez house in the summer. Lyle told her about how he was being sexually abused by his father and what he did to them. After that Vander Molen told Kitty Menendez and she did not believe what Lyle said. Kitty then took Lyle upstairs and that was the last Vander Molen heard anything about it.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: In 1986, José's career as a corporate executive (he had recently joined the company then known as International Video Entertainment) took the family to Beverly Hills, California. The following year, Erik began attending Beverly Hills High School, where he earned average grades and displayed a remarkable talent for tennis, ranking 44th in the US for 18-and-under players. Lyle attended Princeton University from which he later was suspended for plagiarism. Before Lyle was suspended, he was on academic and disciplinary probation for poor grades.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: On the evening of August 20, 1989, José and Kitty were standing in the den of their Beverly Hills mansion when Lyle and Erik entered the den carrying shotguns. José was shot 6 times, including the fatal shot in the back of the head with a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun. Kitty was shot 10 times in total. Before the fatal shot to her cheek, she was on the ground, slowly crawling and moaning. Lyle then ran to his car to reload, and then fired the fatal shot to her face.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: Immediately after the killings, both brothers remained in the house, expecting police to respond due to the noise of the gunshots. When police did not arrive, the brothers picked up the shotgun shells from the ground and left the house to dispose of the guns and to build an alibi. The brothers returned to the house later that night and Lyle phoned the police, shouting, "Someone killed my parents!" When police arrived, the brothers told them that the killings had occurred while they were out at a movie theater seeing "Batman" and attending the "Taste of L.A." festival at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Police failed to seek gunshot residue tests from the brothers, tests that would have indicated whether either had recently discharged a firearm.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: In the months after the killings, the brothers began to spend extravagantly on luxury items, businesses, and travel. Lyle bought a Chuck's Spring Street Cafe, a Buffalo wing restaurant in Princeton, New Jersey, as well as a Rolex watch and a Porsche Carrera. Erik hired a full-time tennis coach and competed in a series of tournaments in Israel. The brothers eventually left the Beverly Hills mansion unoccupied, choosing to live in adjoining condominiums in nearby Marina del Rey. They also dined expensively, and went on overseas trips to the Caribbean and London. They collectively spent approximately $700,000 before their arrests. (Family members later disputed a connection between their spending and the murder of their parents, claiming that there were no changes in their spending habits after the killings.)


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: During the early stages of the investigation, police tried to narrow their search to suspects who had motives to kill José and Kitty. They also investigated potential mob leads. As their investigation continued, police began to suspect that the brothers were the most likely perpetrators because of the obvious financial motive and their exorbitant spending after the killings. In an attempt to get a confession from Erik, police arranged for his friend Craig Cignarelli to wear a wire during a lunch with Erik at a local beachfront restaurant, but when Cignarelli asked Erik whether he had killed his parents, Erik denied it. Erik eventually confessed to his psychologist Jerome Oziel, who then told his mistress, Judalon Smyth. Smyth later broke up with Oziel and told the police about the brothers' involvement. Lyle was arrested on March 8, 1990, and Erik turned himself in three days later after returning to Los Angeles from Israel. Both were held without bail and kept separate from each other.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: In August 1990, Judge James Albrecht ruled that tapes of the conversations between Erik and Oziel were admissible evidence since Oziel stated that Lyle allegedly threatened him and violated doctor–patient privilege. Albrecht's ruling was appealed, after which the proceedings were delayed for two years. The Supreme Court of California ruled in August 1992 that most of the tapes were admissible with the exception of the tape on which Erik was recorded discussing the murders. After that decision, a Los Angeles County grand jury issued indictments in December 1992, charging the brothers with the murders of their parents.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: The Menéndez case became a national sensation when Court TV broadcast the trial in 1993. Represented by their defense lawyer, Leslie Abramson, the brothers stated that they killed their parents out of fear for their lives after a lifetime of abuse at the hands of their parents, especially sexual abuse at the hands of their father, who was described as a cruel perfectionist and pedophile. Meanwhile, their mother was described as an enabling, selfish, mentally unstable alcoholic and drug addict who encouraged her husband's behavior and was also violent towards the brothers.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: The allegations against the couple were supported by two family members during their testimonies. The brothers' cousin, Andy Cano, said that as a child, he was told by Erik about the sexual abuse, which they both described as "penis massages." Diane Vander Molen, another cousin of the brothers, stated that she once told Kitty about José's molestation of Lyle, although Kitty told her that it was false.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: A photograph was presented as physical evidence by the defense, showing Lyle and Erik's genitalia allegedly taken by their father when they were children. The prosecution argued, however, that the killings were done for financial gain. The financial gain theory was disputed by the defense team claiming that the brothers did not think they were getting any inheritance. Lyle's prosecutor, Pam Bozanich, argued that "men could not be raped because they lack the necessary equipment to be raped."


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: Erik testified that a couple weeks before the night of the killings, that he told his brother about the sexual abuse he was experiencing, which then led to several confrontations within the family. They also testified that their father threatened to kill them if they did not keep the abuse a secret. They claimed that the last confrontation happened inside the house den on August 20, 1989, a few minutes before Kitty and José were killed. The brothers then stated that their father closed the den's door at that time, which was unusual. Paranoid and afraid that they would be killed by their own parents, Lyle and Erik went outside of the house to load their shotguns. Erik stated, "As I went into the room, I just started firing."


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: The trial ended with two deadlocked juries, and as a result, Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti announced immediately that the brothers would be retried. The second trial was somewhat less publicized, in part because Judge Stanley Weisberg did not allow cameras in the courtroom. During the second trial, Weisberg, upholding a legal decision by the Supreme Court in an unrelated case, limited testimony about the sexual abuse claims and did not allow the jury to vote on manslaughter charges instead of murder charges.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: Both brothers were eventually convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and of conspiracy to commit murder; in the penalty phase of the trial, they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The jury said that the abuse defense was not a factor in its deliberations, but decided not to impose the death penalty because both brothers had no criminal record or history of violence prior to the killings. However, unlike the juries in the previous trials, the jury in the penalty phase rejected the defense's theory that the brothers killed their parents out of fear and believed that they committed the killings in order to inherit their father's wealth.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: During the penalty phase of the trial, Abramson (the brothers' defense lawyer), apparently told a defense witness named William Vicary to edit his own notes, but the district attorney's office decided not to launch a criminal investigation on Abramson. Both brothers also filed motions for a mistrial, claiming that they suffered irreversible damage in the penalty phase as a result of possible misconduct and ineffective representation by Abramson. On July 2, 1996, Weisberg sentenced the brothers to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and also sentenced them to consecutive sentences for the killings and the charges of conspiracy to commit murder.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: As in their pretrial detention, the California Department of Corrections separated the brothers and sent them to different prisons. Since they were considered to be maximum-security inmates, they were segregated from other prisoners. They remained in separate prisons until February 2018, when Lyle was moved from Mule Creek State Prison in northern California to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County; where they were housed in separate units. Erik also spent some time at Pleasant Valley Prison in Coalinga, California.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: On April 4, 2018, Lyle was moved into the same housing unit as Erik, reuniting them for the first time since they began serving their sentences nearly 22 years earlier. The brothers burst into tears and hugged each other at their first meeting in the housing unit. The unit where they are housed is reserved for inmates who agree to participate in education and rehabilitation programs without creating disruptions.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: On February 27, 1998, the California Court of Appeal upheld the brothers' murder convictions, and on May 28, 1998, the Supreme Court of California declined to review the case, thus allowing the decision of the appellate court to stand. Both brothers filed "habeas corpus" petitions with the Supreme Court of California, which were denied in 1999. Having exhausted their appeal remedies in state court, they filed separate "habeas corpus" petitions in the United States District Court. On March 4, 2003, a magistrate judge recommended the denial of the petitions, and the district court adopted the recommendation. They then decided to appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On September 7, 2005, a three-judge panel denied both their "habeas corpus" petitions, although Judge Alex Kozinski stated that the trial judge changed many of his rulings during the two trials.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: On July 2, 1996, Lyle married Anna Eriksson at a ceremony attended by Abramson and his aunt Marta Menéndez, and presided over by Judge Nancy Brown; they divorced on April 1, 2001 after Eriksson discovered that Lyle was allegedly cheating on her with another woman. In November 2003, Lyle married Rebecca Sneed at a ceremony in a visiting area of Mule Creek State Prison; they had known each other for around ten years before their engagement.


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: On June 12, 1999, Erik married Tammi Ruth Saccoman at Folsom State Prison in a prison waiting room. Tammi later stated: "Our wedding cake was a Twinkie. We improvised. It was a wonderful ceremony until I had to leave. That was a very lonely night." In an October 2005 interview with ABC News, she described her relationship with Erik as "something that I've dreamed about for a long time. And it's just something very special that I never thought that I would ever have."


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: In 2005, Tammi self-published a book, "They Said We'd Never Make It – My Life with Erik Menéndez", but she said on CNN's "Larry King Live" that Erik also "did a lot of editing on the book." In an interview with "People" magazine, she stated:


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: Tammi also stated that she and her daughter drive the every weekend to visit Erik, and that her daughter refers to him as her "Earth Dad". Despite his life sentence, Erik stated: "Tammi is what gets me through. I can't think about the sentence. When I do, I do it with a great sadness and a primal fear. I break into a cold sweat. It's so frightening I just haven't come to terms with it."


title: Lyle and Erik Menendez

text: In 2010, A&E released "Mrs. Menéndez", a documentary about Tammi. In late 2017, A&E aired a five-part documentary titled "The Menendez Murders: Erik Tells All", in which Erik describes via telephone the murders and the aftermath. The series also shows never-before-seen photos and new interviews with prosecutors, law enforcement, close family and friends, and medical experts.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, and Denholm Elliott. Ford portrays Indiana Jones, a globe-trotting archaeologist vying with Nazi German forces in 1936 to recover the long-lost Ark of the Covenant, a relic said to make an army invincible. Teaming up with his tough former lover Marion Ravenwood (Allen), Jones races to stop rival archaeologist Dr. René Belloq (Freeman) from guiding the Nazis to the Ark and its power.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Lucas conceived "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in the early 1970s. Seeking to modernize the serial films of the early 20th century, he developed the idea further with Kaufman, who suggested the Ark as the film's goal. Lucas eventually focused on developing his 1977 space opera "Star Wars". Development on "Raiders of the Lost Ark" resumed that year when he shared the idea with Spielberg, who joined the project several months later. While the pair had ideas for set pieces and stunts for the film, they hired Kasdan to fill in the narrative gaps between them. Principal photography began in June 1980 on a $20million budget and concluded the following September. Filming took place on sets at Elstree Studios, England, and on location mainly in La Rochelle, France, Tunisia, and Hawaii.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Though prerelease polling showed little audience interest in the film, especially compared to the superhero film "Superman II", "Raiders of the Lost Ark" became the highest-grossing film of 1981, earning approximately $330.5million worldwide, and played in some theaters for over a year. It was a critical success, receiving praise for its modern take on the serial film, its non-stop action and adventure, and the cast, particularly Ford, Allen, and Freeman. The film was nominated for several awards and, among others, won five Academy Awards, seven Saturn Awards, and one BAFTA.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is now considered one of the greatest films ever made and has had a lasting impact on popular culture, spawning a host of imitators across several media, and inspiring other filmmakers. The United States Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1999. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is the first entry in what would become the "Indiana Jones" franchise, which includes four more films—"Temple of Doom" (1984), "Last Crusade" (1989), "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008), and "Dial of Destiny" (2023)—a television series, video games, comic books, novels, theme park attractions, toys, and an .


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: In 1936, American archaeologist Indiana Jones recovers a golden idol from a booby-trapped Peruvian temple. Rival archaeologist René Belloq corners him and steals the idol; Jones escapes in a waiting seaplane. After returning to the United States, Jones is briefed by two Army Intelligence agents that Nazi German forces are excavating at Tanis, Egypt, and one of their telegrams mentions Jones' old mentor Abner Ravenwood. Jones deduces that the Nazis seek the Ark of the Covenant, which Adolf Hitler believes will make their army invincible. The agents recruit Jones to recover the Ark first.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: At a bar in Nepal, Jones reunites with Ravenwood's daughter Marion—with whom Jones once had an illicit relationship—and learns Ravenwood is dead. The bar is set ablaze during a scuffle with Gestapo agent Arnold Toht, who arrives to take a medallion from Marion. Toht attempts to recover the medallion from the flames, but only burns its image into his hand. Jones and Marion take the medallion and escape.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Traveling to Cairo, the pair meet Jones's friend Sallah. Sallah reveals Belloq is assisting the Nazis, who have fashioned an incomplete replica medallion from the burns on Toht's hand. Nazi soldiers and mercenaries attack Jones, and Marion is seemingly killed, leaving Jones despondent. An imam deciphers the medallion for Jones, revealing that one side bears a warning against disturbing the Ark, and the other bears the correct measurements for the "staff of Ra", an item used to locate the Ark. Jones and Sallah realize that the Nazis are digging in the wrong location, infiltrate the Nazi dig site, and use the medallion and the correctly-sized staff of Ra to locate the Well of Souls, the Ark's resting place. They recover the Ark—a golden, intricately decorated chest—but Belloq and the Nazis discover them and seize it. Jones and Marion—whom Belloq has held captive—are sealed inside the well, but the pair escape and Jones captures a truck carrying the Ark. Alongside Marion, Jones arranges to transport the Ark to London aboard a tramp steamer. A German U-boat intercepts the steamer and seizes the Ark and Marion; Jones covertly boards the U-boat. The vessel travels to an island in the Aegean Sea, where Belloq intends to test the power of the Ark before presenting it to Hitler.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: On the island, Jones ambushes the Nazi group and threatens to destroy the Ark, but surrenders after Belloq deduces that Jones would never destroy something so historically significant, also surmising that Jones wants to know if the Ark's power is real. The Nazis restrain Jones and Marion at the testing site as Belloq ceremonially opens the Ark but finds only sand inside. At Jones' instruction, he and Marion close their eyes to avoid looking at the opened Ark, as it releases spirits, flames, and bolts of energy that kill Belloq, Toht, and the assembled Nazis before sealing itself shut. Jones and Marion open their eyes to find the area cleared of bodies and their bindings removed.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Back in Washington, D.C., the United States government rewards Jones for securing the Ark. Despite Jones' insistence, the agents state only that the Ark has been moved to an undisclosed location for "top men" to study. In a large warehouse, the Ark is crated up and stored among countless other crates.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: "Raiders of the Lost Ark" also features Wolf Kahler as Nazi officer Colonel Dietrich, and Anthony Higgins as Major Gobler, Dietrich's right-hand man. Don Fellows and William Hootkins appear as United States Army Intelligence agents Colonel Musgrove and Major Eaton, respectively. George Harris plays Simon Katanga, captain of the "Bantu Wind" tramp steamer, and Fred Sorenson portrays Jones' pilot Jock.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Producer Frank Marshall appears as the Flying Wing pilot. Pat Roach and Vic Tablian each portray two characters in the film: Roach appears as the Nazi who brawls with Jones by the Flying Wing and one of Toht's Nepalese Sherpas; Tablian plays Jones's treacherous Peruvian guide Barranca, and the Monkey Man in Cairo. The film features the first theatrical appearance of Alfred Molina as Jones' guide Satipo. Terry Richards portrays the Cairo swordsman shot by Jones.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: George Lucas conceived "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in 1973, shortly after finishing the comedy film "American Graffiti" (1973). An old movie poster of a heroic character leaping from a horse to a truck reminded Lucas of the early 20th-century serial films he enjoyed as a youth, such as "Buck Rogers" (1939), "Zorro's Fighting Legion" (1939), "Spy Smasher" (1942), and "Don Winslow of the Navy" (1942). He wanted to make a B movie modeled on those serials and conceived "The Adventures of Indiana Smith", featuring an adventurous archaeologist named after his Alaskan Malamute dog. Around the same time, Lucas was trying to adapt the space opera serial "Flash Gordon" (1936), but could not obtain the rights. He shelved the Indiana Smith project to focus on creating his own space opera, "Star Wars" (1977).


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: In 1975, Lucas discussed his serial film idea with his friend Philip Kaufman. The pair worked on a story for two weeks. Lucas imagined his character as a college professor and archaeologist adventurer, based on his own appreciation for archaeology and famous archaeologists like Hiram Bingham III, Roy Chapman Andrews, and Leonard Woolley. Kaufman removed Lucas' vision of Smith as a nightclub patron and womanizer, and suggested the Ark of the Covenant as the film's central goal; he learned of the Ark from his childhood dentist. The Ark provided a source of conflict for the hero and the Nazis, playing off Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's historical fascination with the occult.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Lucas wanted Kaufman to direct the film, but because he was already committed to working on the western "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (1976), Lucas paused the idea again and resumed working on "Star Wars". In May 1977, Lucas vacationed in Hawaii to avoid any potential negative news about the theatrical debut of "Star Wars". He invited Steven Spielberg to join him and his wife. On a beach near Mauna Kea, Lucas and Spielberg discussed their next projects. Spielberg wanted to direct a James Bond film, but Lucas pitched him "The Adventures of Indiana Smith". Lucas still hoped Kaufman would direct it, but a few months later it was clear he could not participate and Lucas asked Spielberg to replace him.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Lawrence Kasdan, Spielberg's recent discovery, was chosen to write the script. Kasdan had been working as a professional screenwriter for only a month but Lucas agreed to hire him after reading his script for "Continental Divide" (1981). In January 1978, Lucas, Kasdan, and Spielberg spent about nine hours a day over three to five days at Lucas' assistant's house in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, developing Lucas' outline. Several ideas came from these discussions, including the boulder trap, the monkey in Cairo, Toht burning the medallion's imprint into his hand, and government agents locking the Ark away. Kasdan realized Spielberg and Lucas had several set pieces in mind, but they were looking for someone else to do the hard work of piecing them together.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Spielberg hated the name Indiana Smith, believing it would remind audiences of the Steve McQueen character Nevada Smith. All three men agreed to use "Jones" instead. Actors Clint Eastwood and Toshiro Mifune, and the James Bond character were the basis of Jones' own. Lucas wanted Jones to be a kung fu practitioner and a playboy, funding his lifestyle with the spoils of his adventures, but Spielberg and Kasdan felt the character was complicated enough being an adventurer and archaeologist. Spielberg suggested making Jones an avid gambler or an alcoholic, but Lucas wanted Jones to be a role model who is "honest and true and trusting." Both men felt it was important Jones be fallible, vulnerable, and as capable of comedic moments as well as serious ones. They intended he be someone the audience could relate to and idolize. Lucas suggested Marion would have a romantic past with the much older Jones at the age of 11; Spielberg replied, "she had better be older".


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: While Spielberg directed "1941" (1979), Kasdan used his office to write "Raiders", taking inspiration from the early 20th-century serials, and adventure films like "Red River" (1948), "Seven Samurai" (1954), and "The Magnificent Seven" (1960). He wrote Jones as an antihero, an archaeologist reduced to grave-robbing. Kasdan wanted a supporting cast with their own unique characteristics and believed it was important these characters had a memorable impact. He described the hardest part of writing was explaining how Jones would fall into successive dangerous events and survive, and how he traveled between locations. In August 1978, after approximately five months, Kasdan completed his first draft.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Spielberg described the draft as good but too long; Kasdan and Lucas collaborated to trim and refine it. The script was a globe-spanning tale set in the United States, Egypt, Greece, and Nepal. Several elements were cut, including a journey to Shanghai that would lead to a minecart chase and Jones using a gong to shield himself from gunfire, ideas later used in the prequel "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984). To his frustration, much of Kasdan's love story between Jones and Marion was trimmed, as were scenes showing the mutual attraction between Marion and Belloq. The screenplay was completed by December 1979.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Lucas wanted to fund "Raiders of the Lost Ark" himself, but lacked the money. Lucasfilm offered the project to several Hollywood studios. They rejected it, in part because of the proposed $20million budget, but also because of the deal Lucas offered. He wanted the studio to provide the budget, have no creative input and allow him to retain control of the licensing rights and any sequels. The studios considered this deal unacceptable. They were also hesitant because of Spielberg's involvement due to his having delivered a succession of films over-schedule and over-budget; his recent effort, "1941", was both over-budget and a critical failure. However, Lucas refused to do the project without Spielberg.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Paramount Pictures president Michael Eisner compromised with Lucas, agreeing to his deal in exchange for exclusive rights to any sequels and severe penalties for exceeding the schedule or budget. Lucas reportedly negotiated a salary between $1million and $4million plus a share of the gross profits, though a separate report stated he received only net profits. Spielberg received up to $1.5million as director and a share of the gross profits.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Producer Frank Marshall, who had experience on smaller independent films, was hired because Spielberg believed he would keep the film on schedule and budget. Spielberg also hired cinematographer Douglas Slocombe and production designer Norman Reynolds because he liked their previous works and his long-time collaborator Michael Kahn as editor. Lucas served as a second unit director and the film's executive producer, along with his acquaintance Howard Kazanjian, whom Lucas believed would be a disciplined influence and not indulge the filmmakers' larger ambitions. He also brought in his long-time collaborator Robert Watts as associate producer and production manager. Paramount mandated a filming schedule of 85 days; Lucas, Spielberg, and Marshall agreed on a self-imposed 73-day schedule. Spielberg was determined to avoid criticism for another schedule overrun.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Six months of pre-production began in December 1979. Spielberg preferred to spend a year in pre-production, but worked at a faster pace to keep the budget low. Spielberg and Lucas were both simultaneously working on other projects. Artists Ed Verreaux, Dave Negron, Michael Lloyd, and Joe Johnston provided extensive storyboarding, with over 80% of the script represented, equaling approximately 6,000 images. This helped Spielberg pre-visualize scenes and limit the time taken to set up shots. The script described the opening of the ark only as "all hell breaks loose", and the artists were tasked with envisioning what should happen. Each offered different aspects: spirits, flames, and weird light effects; Johnston was tasked with combining all three. Spielberg also had miniature sets of larger scenes built to plan layouts and lighting, including the Well of Souls, the Tanis dig site, and the Cairo marketplace. They contained 1-inch tall figurines to suggest how many extras would be required. Among changes made at this stage, Spielberg abandoned his idea for Toht to have a mechanical arm that could be replaced with a machine gun or flamethrower. Lucas said it put the film into a different genre.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Lucas wanted a relatively unknown actor, willing to commit to a trilogy of films, to play Indiana Jones. Those considered for the role included Bill Murray, Nick Nolte, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Tim Matheson, Nick Mancuso, Peter Coyote, Jack Nicholson, Jeff Bridges, John Shea, Sam Elliott, and Harry Hamlin. Casting director Mike Fenton favored Bridges but Lucas' wife and frequent collaborator Marcia Lucas preferred Tom Selleck. Selleck was contractually obligated to filming the television series "Magnum, P.I." if it were to be made into a full series. Lucas and Spielberg asked the show's studio, CBS, to release him 10 days early from his contract. Realizing Selleck was in demand, CBS greenlit "Magnum P.I.", forcing him to drop out and leaving the production with no lead actor only weeks before filming. The 1980 actors strike later put the show on hiatus for three months, which would have allowed Selleck to star as Jones.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Spielberg said Ford was perfect for the role after seeing him in "The Empire Strikes Back"; Kanzanjian said Ford had always been considered but not cast because he was already a well-known actor. Lucas was concerned about seeming reliant on Ford by casting him in another film after "Star Wars", and he also did not think he would commit to three films. However, Ford thought it would be a fun project and agreed to the deal. He negotiated a seven-figure salary, a percentage of the gross profits, and the option to re-write his dialogue. Ford undertook extensive exercise to enhance his physique and trained for several weeks under stunt coordinator Glenn Randall to use a bullwhip, becoming proficient enough to disarm the Monkey Man (Vic Tablian); his wrist had to be rehabilitated to compensate for an old injury. Ford's interpretation of the character was as an academic first and an adventurer second.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: For Jones' love interest Marion, Spielberg wanted someone akin to early 20th-century leading ladies like Irene Dunne, Barbara Stanwyck, and Ann Sheridan, who equaled their male counterparts. Lucas wanted Debra Winger, but she was not interested, and Spielberg wanted his girlfriend Amy Irving, but she was unavailable. They also considered Stephanie Zimbalist, Barbara Hershey and Sean Young. Spielberg was aware of Karen Allen from her performance in "Animal House" (1978), portraying an independent female character, and she impressed him with her professionalism during auditions for "Raiders". One of the first things Spielberg asked Allen was "how well do you spit?". Allen developed a backstory for Marion that included her mother's death and her relationship with Jones when she was 15–16, but Spielberg said it belonged in a different movie. Kasdan named Marion after his grandmother-in-law, and took Ravenwood from a Los Angeles street.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Belloq was intended to be a sophisticated villain to counter the "beer-drinking" hero. Spielberg cast Freeman after seeing him in the docudrama "Death of a Princess" (1980); Freeman's piercing eyes had captivated him. Giancarlo Giannini and singer Jacques Dutronc were also considered. Danny DeVito was approached to portray Sallah, described as a skinny, tall Egyptian like Gunga Din in "Gunga Din" (1939). DeVito could not participate because of scheduling conflicts with his sitcom "Taxi" and because his agent wanted too much money. Rhys-Davies was cast based on his performance in the 1980 miniseries "Shōgun". Spielberg asked him to play the character as a mix of his "Shōgun" role and the character John Falstaff. Ronald Lacey was cast as Toht because he reminded Spielberg of actor Peter Lorre. Klaus Kinski was offered the role but chose to appear in the horror film "Venom" (1981) because it offered more money.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Principal photography began on June 23, 1980. Filming took place on location in La Rochelle in France, Tunisia in North Africa, and Hawaii, and on sets at Elstree Studios, England. Elstree was chosen because it was well-staffed with artists and technicians who had worked on "Star Wars". On-location shooting cost around $100,000 a day in addition to crew salaries; sets cost an additional $4million. The production could afford certain equipment only for a limited time, including a Panaglide camera stabilizer for smoother shots, and a camera crane for higher angles. To maintain the tight schedule, Spielberg said he "...didn't do 30 or 40 takes; usually only four... Had I had more time and money, it would have turned out a pretentious movie."


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Filming began in La Rochelle, depicting the capture of the "Bantu Wind" by a Nazi U-boat. Watts borrowed a submarine from the war film "Das Boot" (1981) on condition it not be taken into deep waters. World War II German U-boat pens in La Rochelle represented the U-boat dock. An original coal-fired tramp steamer boat could not be found for filming, so an Egyptian boat found in an Irish port was decorated appropriately and sailed to France.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: The production moved to Elstree Studios by June30. Interiors included the scene featuring an imam deciphering the staff headpiece and the Peruvian temple. There were repeated delays while filming the Well of Souls scene: there were too few snakes, a lack of anti-venom, and Stanley Kubrick's daughter Vivian—who was visiting Kubrick on the set of "The Shining" — called the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) about the treatment of the snakes. The interior of Jones' school was filmed at The Royal Masonic School for Girls in Rickmansworth, near Hertfordshire; the exterior was the University of the Pacific in California.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Tunisia was used to portray Egypt. Spielberg described this phase as one of his worst filming experiences: the temperature was often over , and over 150 crew members became sick with amoebic dysentery from the local food. Spielberg was one of the few to remain healthy because he ate food and water he brought from England. Lucas also suffered a severe sunburn and facial swelling. The Cairo village was filmed in the city of Kairouan. A day of filming was lost there because over 300 TV antennas had to be removed from the surrounding houses. Budget constraints affected Spielberg's desire to have 2,000 extras as diggers; he had to settle for 600. Stuntman Terry Richards, who portrayed the swordsman nonchalantly dispatched by Jones, spent weeks practicing sword skills for an extended fight scene. Ford was unable to perform for long periods while suffering from dysentery, and it was decided to shorten the fight scene significantly. The Sidi Bouhlel canyon near the city of Tozeur is where a rocket launcher-equipped Jones confronts the Nazis for the Ark. Lucas had used the canyon in "Star Wars" to portray the planet Tatooine. During the scene, a fly crawled onto Freeman's lip during his dialogue, but he continued to deliver his lines. Although it appeared to be eaten, Freeman clarified it flew away.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: In late September, filming moved to Hawaii for exterior shots for the film's Peruvian opening. The Paramount logo dissolving into a natural mountain was an improvisation by Spielberg based on his own childhood habit of doing the same while making films; the mountain is Kalalea Mountain on the island of Kauaʻi. Though the scene appears to be a single location, it was shot across 10 areas in Hawaii, including the Huleia National Wildlife Refuge. It was originally more elaborate and longer, featuring an added betrayal by one of Jones' guides, resulting in a fight, and it had more dialogue; this was deemed unnecessary and removed for a tighter paced sequence. The cave's exterior was considered a perfect location, though a nearby pool was a mosquito breeding ground; even with anti-mosquito equipment the crew was bitten. The donkeys used for the trek suffered lameness. It was difficult to find replacements, and eventually, a pair of grey donkeys were painted brown with colored hairspray and flown by helicopter to the Nā Pali Coast State Park to finish the scene.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: The loosely detailed script led to much improvisation; where the script described three people talking in a room, in the film it would take place in a quarry alongside 500 extras. Scenes like the young girl with "Love You" written across her eyelids and Marion putting on a dress to conceal a weapon were also improvised. Allen believed the latter scene focused on her character seducing Belloq, undermining her loyalty and love for Jones. She and Freeman collaborated to develop the idea of Marion getting Belloq drunk instead. Allen, Lacey, Freeman, and Rhys-Davies often spent time together between filming to talk and discuss their characters. Allen described Ford as a private person who would not discuss his character in detail, and it took her a while to adapt to his working style. Filming concluded in September 1980, after 73 days. Lucas described it as the film he had the least problems with because of the lack of studio interference.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Post-production lasted about two months and focused mainly on special effects and pick-up shots. Spielberg's first cut was close to three hours long before he and Kahn re-edited it to just under two hours. Lucas was happy with this edit, but later asked if he could shorten the ending. He and Kahn collaborated on the edit; Spielberg said he was happy with their changes. The final cut of the film runs for 115minutes. Marcia Lucas opined there was no emotional closure for Jones and Marion because she was absent following the closure of the Ark. Marcia is not credited in the film, but her suggestion led Spielberg to shoot a final exterior sequence on the steps of San Francisco City Hall showing Jones and Marion together.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Other changes included the addition of a scene where the Ark makes a humming noise in the "Bantu Wind" hold and the removal of a scene showing Jones holding on to the U-boat periscope to follow the Nazis; Spielberg thought it looked poor and hoped the audiences would not care how Jones accomplished the feat. Lucas removed a scene of a man fainting at the sight of Indiana and Marion emerging from the Well of Souls because he thought the joke did not fit with the tone of the movie. Shots of the Douglas DC-3 in which Jones flies to Nepal were repurposed from the adventure film "Lost Horizon" (1973), and a street scene outside Jones' home was taken from "The Hindenburg" (1975). Spielberg said it was cost-effective and only sharp-eyed viewers would ever notice. Special effects supervisor Richard Edlund maintained the street scene was done with miniatures.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: John Williams served as composer for "Raiders of the Lost Ark". He said the music did not have to be serious for the film and was instead theatrical and excessive. Williams spent a few weeks working on the Indiana Jones theme, more commonly known as "The Raiders March" that plays during the main character's heroic scenes. Two separate pieces were played for Spielberg, who wanted to use both. These pieces became the main theme and musical bridge of "The Raiders March".


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: For the romantic theme, Williams took inspiration from older films like the drama "Now, Voyager" (1942) to create something more emotionally monumental that he felt would contrast well with the film's humor and lighter moments. Williams used "dark" orchestral pieces to represent the actions of the Nazis, using the "seventh degree on the scale of the bottom". He said this signified a militaristic evil. To create something suitably biblical for the Ark of the Covenant, he used a mix of chorus and orchestra.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: The Peruvian temple interiors used in the film were life-sized sets. The giant boulder—made of fiberglass, plaster and wood—was designed to be wide, but this was reduced to , with the resulting prop weighing . Spielberg liked the effect and had its ramp extended to give it more screen time. The boulder was controlled by a steel rod concealed in the wall by rubber rock outcroppings. Ford performed the stunt ten times for the different camera angles. Spielberg said he was an idiot for letting Ford do it, but it would not have looked as good with a stuntman concealing their face. Ford performed as many of his stunts as was allowed throughout "Raiders", suffering various injuries. The tarantulas on Molina's body would not move because they were male and non-aggressive. A female spider was put on his chest to encourage movement. Abandoned ideas for the temple included a crushing wall trap and a pit concealed by spider-webs. The golden idol also had mechanically operated eyes that could follow Jones. For the last part of the scene where Jones flees by plane, the first take ended in near-disaster when the plane crashed from a height of because Ford's dangling leg was blocking the aircraft's right flap.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Filming of the Well of Souls scene was delayed initially by a lack of snakes. There were 500–600 snakes to use for close shots and some mechanical snakes for wider shots, but Spielberg wanted more. A request was made to snake handlers from around London and Europe who produced between 6,000 and 10,000 snakes in a few days. Afterward, they struggled to obtain anti-venom; with local supplies having expired, it had to be imported from India. Many of the snakes were harmless grass snakes or non-venomous pythons, but the cobras were positioned behind plexiglas to protect the cast and crew. The stage doors were kept open during filming for quick access to a waiting ambulance. Spielberg recounted that Allen was so scared she could not scream on cue. He dropped a dead serpent on her to elicit a genuine reaction. Allen said she got used to the creatures after 3–4 days. Animal handler Steve Edge donned a dress and shaved his legs to stand in for Allen at specific points. Vivian Kubrick's complaint to the RSPCA about the perceived poor treatment of the snakes required production to cease while safeguards were added.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Reynolds and production artist Ron Cobb created the BV-38 flying wing based on the Horten Ho 229, the Northrop N-1M and the Vought V-173. Constructed by the British engineering firm Vickers, it was dismantled and shipped to Tunisia. It was not designed to be flight-worthy, only to serve as a source of danger from its propellers. The plane was abandoned in Tunisia and slowly dismantled over the following decade by souvenir hunters before being demolished. The fight between Jones and the German underneath the plane was mainly improvised; Spielberg had to restrain himself from making it too long as each new idea led to another. During the fight, the moving vehicle rolled over Ford's foot and towards his knee before it was stopped. It took 40 crew members to move it off of him. He avoided injury through a combination of the extreme Tunisian heat making the tire soft and the ground being covered in sand. Dysentery had left the production with a lack of stuntmen, and Spielberg had Marshall stand in as the flying wing pilot. The three-day shoot was one of Spielberg's more difficult scenes to film, and he was reported saying he wanted to go home.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Second unit director Michael D. Moore filmed most of the truck chase. Spielberg had not used a second director before but agreed to it as the scene would take a long time to film being set in multiple locations. Moore completed wider shots where stuntmen stood in for Ford. He closely followed Spielberg's storyboarding but innovated a few shots Spielberg considered improvements. Stuntman Glenn Randall suggested the scene of Jones traversing the underside of the truck. Ford sat in a concealed bicycle seat attached to the truck underside when clinging to its front. One of the convoy cars going over a cliff was a combination of matte painting background and stop motion animation of miniature figures falling out of the car.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) handled the film's special effects, under the supervision of Richard Edlund. The team worked on both "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and the dark fantasy "Dragonslayer" (1981). He felt special effects were a financially economical method of delivering a good film; as long as they were emotionally involved in the story, he said audiences would buy into even a poor special effect. Spielberg liked practical effects because he could regularly check the raw footage during filming, rather than waiting months for the completed composite effects.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Freeman said he had no idea what was happening when he opened the Ark. He was told to imagine something coming towards him and to scream. Special effects artist Steve Gawley created the Ark's spirits by suspending small robed puppets in a clouded water tank in front of a blue screen. They were shaken to create a natural movement that was composited into the live footage. A Lucasfilm receptionist, dressed in a long white robe, was suspended in the air in front of a blue screen for the close-up of the ghost. She was filmed moving away from the camera and the footage was reversed to create an inhuman movement. Her visage was composited with a skeletal model for the monstrous transformation.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Freeman, Lacey, and Kahler's death scenes were created using different models. A mold was made of Kahler's face; it was lined with bladders filled with air. Controlled by up to ten people, the air was removed to make the head shrivel. Special effects artist Chris Walas sculpted Lacey's melting face using different colored layers of gelatin placed over a carved, heat-resistant stone skull. Propane heaters were used to melt the gelatin and filmed using a slower-than-normal camera so the effect appears to take place rapidly when played at normal speed. Belloq's head mold contained a thin-plaster skull filled with blood bags and detritus. It was blown up using explosives, shotguns, and an air cannon. It took three attempts to get the desired effect. Belloq's death was considered so extreme the Motion Picture Association of America initially classified the film with an R rating restricting it to those over the age of 17 without an adult. Flames were superimposed over the scene to conceal the effect.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Kasdan scripted detailed montages during the transition between locations, but Spielberg saved money by showing a map and an animated line traveling between destinations. Skulls and rotting bodies made by chief make-up artist Tom Smith filled the Well of Souls catacombs. To get the monkey to perform a Nazi salute, the trainer hit it on the head to make it touch the affected area. When this did not work, the filmmakers hung a grape over its head to encourage it to reach up; it took 50 takes to capture. A partially deaf rat was used for the scene of the ark humming in the hold of the "Bantu Wind", giving it a unique and unnatural head movement.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Matte paintings were used to create more elaborate backgrounds: these included the establishing shot of Marion's Nepalese bar and the warehouse where the Ark is later stored, the latter painted by Michael Pangrazio. Spielberg disliked the painting of the China Clipper plane (by Alan Maley) as he did not think it looked real against the water they had filmed. Jones' attire—a leather jacket and khaki pants—was based on Humphrey Bogart's in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) and Charlton Heston in "Secret of the Incas" (1954). Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis dumped boxes of hats on the floor for Ford to try on. After picking the right style, she purchased an Australian model she aged with Fuller's earth and mineral oil, and then scrunched beneath a bed. The hat allowed them to create a recognizable image even in silhouette. Designer Ralph McQuarrie was responsible for the Ark decorations.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Spielberg wanted a moodier film noir lighting style like in "The Informer" (1935). In contrast, Slocombe wanted to make things brighter and used backlighting to create a greater depth of field; Spielberg preferred his changes. Slocombe often employed natural light, using solar position predictions to plot a scene's layout. Spielberg liked the beams of sunlight glimpsed through scenery and tasked special effects artist Kit West with using a smoke machine to create artificial sunlight shards. For the bar fight, Spielberg wanted pitch-black shadows on the wall, but the lighting required to achieve this would have shrouded the actors' eyes; he settled for subtler shadings. He also wanted to illuminate the Well of Souls with a lighting effect through the ceiling opening, but once this was sealed it no longer made sense. The flaming torches used in the scene did not provide enough light, so he opted to use an artificial light source. Spielberg noted Allen always looked beautiful in her scenes because Slocombe would spend twice as long setting up her lighting as he would Ford's.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Sound effects supervisor Ben Burtt recorded the film's many sounds. The snake slithering is a mix of Burtt running his hands through cheese casserole and wet sponges being dragged across grip tape; the rolling boulder is a Honda Civic driving down a gravel hill; and the Ark lid opening is the sound of a toilet cistern being opened. The Ark spirits are the cries of sea lions and dolphins filtered through a vocoder. Jones' revolver is the sound of a Winchester rifle firing, while his whip-crack was made by recording Ford using the whip.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: By the summer of 1981 (June–September), the film industry had been in decline for over a year. This was the result of few box office successes, rising film production costs, diminishing audiences, and increasing ticket prices. The season was predicted to be down 10% or $250million against the previous year. Over 60 films were scheduled for release—more than the previous year—by studios eager to make the next blockbuster film. This increased competition to attract audiences, mainly those aged 12 to 24, at the most profitable time of the year.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: The superhero film "Superman II" was expected to dominate the season, and based on industry experts and audience polling, films including "History of the World, Part I", the latest James Bond film "For Your Eyes Only", and "The Great Muppet Caper", were also expected to perform well. Conversely, audience polling by CinemaScore showed little awareness or anticipation for "Raiders" until nationwide previews a week before its release. "The New York Times" reported Paramount had provided theater owners with a more beneficial deal than usual to ensure "Raiders" was screened in the best theaters and locations.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Featuring two camels, an elephant, and a python, the press event for the film cost $10,000. Film prints were supplied to theaters in lead-sealed containers to prevent tampering alongside a letter to theater managers stating they were responsible for any misuse of the film. This letter inspired a whistleblower at one theater to alert Paramount of the planned theft of a "Raiders" print to make pirated copies. The 1,200 film prints cost an estimated $1.7million. The theatrical release poster was created by Richard Amsel.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: In the United States (U.S.) and Canada, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was released on June12, 1981, in 1,078 theaters. The film earned $8.3million—an average of $7,705 per theater, and finished as the number one film of the weekend, ahead of the debuts of "Clash of the Titans" ($6.6million) and "History of the World, Part I" ($4.9million). The film fell to the number three position in its second weekend with an additional gross of $8million—a decline of only four percent—behind the debuts of "The Cannonball Run" ($11.8million) and "Superman II" ($14.1million). By its fourth week, "Raiders" began climbing box office charts, reaching the number two position with a gross of $7.3million, behind "Superman II" ($10.9million). In its sixth week, it regained the number one position with $6.4million. The film spent most of the following nine weeks as the number one film, and forty-weeks straight as one of the top ten highest-grossing films. It was declared the top box office film of the summer by early September, with a total approximate gross of $125million. Of this figure, $72 million was estimated to have been returned to the studio; the profit-sharing deal with Spielberg and Lucas meant that after marketing costs, Paramount had earned $23million in profit.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: The film remained a steady success; six months after its release, industry executives joked "Raiders" would be the year's big Christmas film. The film officially left theaters on March18, 1982, although some were still playing it by July. "Raiders" earned an approximate total box office gross of $212.2million, making it the highest-grossing film of 1981, ahead of "On Golden Pond" ($119.3million), "Superman II" ($108.1million), and "Stripes" ($85.3million). An estimate by Box Office Mojo suggests over 77million tickets were bought to see the film. "Raiders" remains the "leggiest" film ever released, referring to the difference between the highest-weekend gross and the time taken to achieve the overall total gross.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Outside the U.S. and Canada, "Raiders" earned a further $141.7million, making it the highest-grossing film ahead of "For Your Eyes Only" ($140.5million) and "Superman II" ($82.2million). In total, the film earned a worldwide gross of $354million, making it the highest-grossing film of 1981 worldwide, again ahead of "For Your Eyes Only" ($195.3million) and "Superman II" ($190.4million).


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: "Raiders" has been re-released several times, first in July 1982, when it earned an additional $21.4million and again in March 1983, when the film earned an additional $11.4million. A remastered IMAX version, supervised by Spielberg, was released in 267 U.S. and Canadian theaters. The success of the release led to the run being extended to 300 additional theaters. These releases have raised the film's worldwide theatrical gross to an estimated $389.9million.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: The record $1.95billion summer box-office of 1981 represented a 15.6% increase over 1980, with a 22.5% increase in ticket sales. This success was attributed mainly to "Raiders" and "Superman II". The most successful film genres of the year offered fun, comedy, and escapism. "Superman II" broke box office records, but it was "Raiders" that earned the most money and played in theaters for over a year. "The New York Times" reported that audiences considered other films only if both "Superman II" and "Raiders" were sold out. It became one of the top-four highest-grossing films ever, a list dominated by Lucas and Spielberg with "The Empire Strikes Back", "Jaws", and "Star Wars".


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was released to general acclaim by critics and audiences. The National Board of Review and critic Vincent Canby listed it as one of the ten best films of the year. Canby labelled the film an "instant classic" and one of the most humorous and stylish American films ever made. He described it as having refined the old serial films into their most perfect form for a modern audience. Roger Ebert called it a series of "breathless and incredible" adventures inspired by and celebrating childhood stories told in comic books and movies. He concluded the film was successful in its singular goal of entertaining, creating an adventure epic in the vein of "Star Wars", the James Bond films, and "Superman". Writing for "The Hollywood Reporter", Arthur Knight said a constant stream of thrills kept the film moving at a steady pace. Writing for "Variety", Stephen Klain called the film "exhilarating escapist entertainment". He continued that the film successfully balanced action, comedy, and suspense with mystical mythologies. Michael Sragow described it as the "ultimate Saturday action matinee". Gene Siskel said it was as entertaining as a "commercial movie" could be, the kind of film that makes children excited about cinema.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Richard Schickel called it a return to form for Spielberg, demonstrating a competence not seen since "Jaws". He described it as a film Walt Disney would have made were he still alive, featuring an "enchanting" combination of fantasy and cinematic movement. Stanley Kauffmann said while the film's thrills did work on him, the frequency eventually irritated him. He criticized the film's reliance on nostalgia and updating older films instead of innovating new ideas. Pauline Kael was critical of the film, saying Lucas and Spielberg had thought like marketeers, in creating a film that would appeal to the broadest masses. Kael said though "Raiders" was a sophisticated update of older serials, avoiding cliches with clever editing, it was too focused on surpassing each previous action spectacle to the detriment of characterization or plot progression. She opined the failure of "1941" had made Spielberg too cautious, and scenes evidenced he was rushing and not achieving the best possible take as in his previous work. Lucas later named a villain in his 1988 fantasy film "Willow" after Kael. Dave Kehr said the constant rush between setpieces felt monotonous. He also criticized the story for allowing the hero to choose to rescue the Ark over his romantic interest on multiple occasions, believing it made Indiana Jones difficult to support.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: The principal cast was generally well-received. Ebert said the amusing and unusual characters elevated the film beyond just a technical accomplishment. He described Ford's performance as taciturn and stubborn character in the vein of Humphrey Bogart in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", but with the ability to laugh at himself. Klain said Ford's performance was "riveting", marking a major career highlight. Canby described Ford and Allen as both "endearingly resilient". Ebert said Allen gives Marion a charming toughness. Knight appreciated Marion did not become idiotic when the male star was in danger. His review concluded the character was the definition of an activist. Sragow said Allen's physical performance made her every bit the equal of Ford, and her vitality provided a positive counter to Ford's deadpan performance. Kael was critical of many cast performances, feeling they were stilted and heavily scripted. She singled out Freeman for praise, however, for continuing his performance after a fly crawled into his mouth; Freeman jokingly called it the best review of his career. Klain called Lacey's Toht one of the most offensive Nazi stereotypes seen in cinema since World War II. However, he praised Rhys-Davies' and Elliott's performances.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: Several reviewers singled out the opening of the Ark as one of the film's best special effects. Knight said the effects artists deserved a "special accolade" for their work. Canby described it as a visual display as "dazzling" as the denouement of Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Ebert said the truck chase stunt was the best he had ever seen, ahead of those in films like "Bullitt" (1968) and "The French Connection" (1971). Aljean Harmetz, Klain, and Siskel asserted the film's PG rating—meaning any child could see it unsupervised—was too lenient for such a scary film filled with a variety of on-screen deaths. An intermediate rating between PG and R, PG-13, would not be introduced until 1984, in part a response to the violence of the Indiana Jones prequel, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". Some children were reported to have suffered nightmares afterward.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: At the 1982 Academy Awards, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" received five awards: Best Art Direction (Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley, and Michael D. Ford); Best Film Editing (Michael Kahn); Best Sound (Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker, and Roy Charman); Best Sound Editing (Ben Burtt and Richard L. Anderson); and Best Visual Effects (Richard Edlund, Kit West, Bruce Nicholson, and Joe Johnston). The film received a further four nominations: Best Picture; Best Director; Best Cinematography; and Best Original Score. It tied with the drama film "Ragtime" for the third-most nominations, behind "On Golden Pond" and "Reds".


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: For the 39th Golden Globe Awards, "Raiders" received one nomination for Best Director. At the 9th Saturn Awards, "Raiders" won seven awards, including Best Fantasy Film, Best Actor (Ford), Best Actress (Allen), Best Director, Best Music (Williams), Best Writing (Kasdan), and Best Special Effects (Edlund). Spielberg received a Directors Guild Award nomination.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: The 35th British Academy Film Awards earned the film one award for Best Production Design (Reynolds), and a further six nominations: Best Film; Best Supporting Actor for Elliott; Best Original Music; Best Cinematography; Best Editing; and Best Sound for Charman, Burtt, and Bill Varney. The film also received a Grammy Award for Williams' score, a People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture, a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, and a nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the 34th Writers Guild of America Awards.


title: Raiders of the Lost Ark

text: In the early 1980s, the Videocassette recorder (VCR) home video market was rapidly gaining popularity. In previous years, VHS sales were not a revenue source for studios, but by 1983 they could generate up to 13% of a film's total revenue; the U.S. and Canadian cassette rights could generate $500,000 alone. In November 1983, Paramount released a record 500,000 home video copies of "Raiders", priced at $39.95. Paramount priced their home videos significantly lower than their competition, reasoning it would broaden the sales audience and promote home video watching. By September 1985, over one million copies of the film had sold, making it the best-selling VHS of its time. In 1991, McDonald's launched possibly "the largest video sales promotion...to date" during which videocassettes of the first three Indiana Jones movies were sold at their restaurants for $5.99 each. Almost 10 million cassettes of the Indiana Jones series had been sold by this point. This promotion was expected to sell at least 5 million more. By 2000, the film was marketed as "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark" for consistency with other titles in the franchise.