Truth, Justice, and the American Way

I am a comic book fan who also hopes to practice intellectual property law (copyrights, trademarks, patents). Therefore, it was with great interest that I followed the court case filed by the heirs of Jerome Siegel, one of the co-creators of Superman, that sought to establish their rights to the character under a provision of the 1976 copyright act. But before we get into the importance of the court ruling, a little history lesson is in order.

During the early 1930s, the comic book medium was in its true infancy. Most of the comics at the time were mere collections of the daily "funnies" printed in the newspapers at the time. 1938 ended up being the key year that, at the latest, marked the beginning of the Golden Age of Comic books. Action Comics #1 was published. On the cover was a costumed adventurer who was lifting a car full of hoods over his head and smashing it into a giant rock.



This was the world's introduction to Superman, a character created for National Periodical Publications by Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster. Eventually, NPP would take the initials from its other best selling comic book at the time, Detective Comics, and be renamed DC Comics. Superman was the archetype for the superhero. He had powers beyond those of mortal men and used them to fight evil in the world. His success was such that, in 1939, DC issued a new monthly that, in addition to Action Comics, would spotlight Superman in his own adventures. This monthly was simply called Superman. Even as the comics taste of the public has waxed and waned over the years, Superman and Action Comics are still in publication today.

Superman is now considered a cultural icon. His iconic "S" emblem has adorned all manner of merchandising since the Golden Age of comics and continues to bring in millions of dollars to Time Warner (the present day owners of DC comics). After often being handed to lesser writers, today writers vie for the honor of creating new adventures for this iconic character. Superman has starred and continues to star in cartoons, with "Superman and the Legion of Super Heroes" providing the latest excellent incarnation of the character from the DC Animated Universe of Bruce Timm. The Superman films have also returned untold millions to Time Warner in the form of box office, videocassette and DVD sales, and other merchandising. Superman toys have been sold since the 1930s, and I personally have a collection of Superman Action figures that goes back to the 1960s with the original "Captain Action" Superman set.

all the way through to the newest one released in 2006.


In between, there have been hundreds, if not THOUSANDS, of Superman toys produced and sold to kids. All of these toys lined the pockets of the corporate parents for DC Comics and the shareholders with untold gains.

Now we come to the importance of today's court ruling. What does a seemingly innocent court ruling by a California District court have to do with the character of Superman? Why will this decision likely resound with the corporate directors of many Fortune 500 companies? Well, when Siegel and Shuster worked for DC, they were considered employees of the company. Interestingly, the character of Superman, however, was conceived long before they worked for DC. They were trying to shop the character around, but they were denied until NPP needed a few pages for a new publication, "Action Comics." NPP sent the standard release agreement at the time. They offered to purchase the story for $130; in exchange for this consideration, Siegel and Shuster signed a release granting the company rights to Superman “to have and hold forever.” Forever is a pretty long time, and it was considered standard practice to allow publishers these terms. After all, merchandising and money making from characters was not all that commonplace. Aside from Little Orphan Annie, Popeye, and Betty Boop, the merchandising juggernauts of today were nothing more than minnows at the time. Furthermore, $130 in 1937 dollars was a pretty considerable sum of money (adjusted for inflation, that sum would be the equivalent of $1,911.12 today). One would almost think that the creators were making out pretty well from all of this. The issue here is the unbalanced positions of the parties at the time the contract was issued. Siegel and Shuster did not negotiate the contract with NPP nor were they in equitable bargaining positions. The corporation took advantage of the naivety of these two creators and denied them the rights to a character who would one day become one of the most recognizable on the planet. The $130 consideration was the real world equivalent of Jack's handful of magic beans, but this time the beanstalk leading to the giant's riches did not grow overnight. It took decades of legal battles and the dogged pursuit of justice on the part of the creator's heirs. In the 1940s, a special referee in NY upheld the grant of copyright, and the creators dropped their suit in exchange for a single payment of $94,000. In the 1970s, due in no small part to the new focus on the rights of creators who had been cheated from profiting from their characters, DC awarded both creators annual annuities of $20,000 and then $30,000. Nevermind that "Superman: The Movie", released over Christmas of 1978, would reap untold levels of profit for Warner Communications and DC Comics. Warners at the time probably also had an eye towards a provision of the 1976 Copyright Act. The Act represented the first wholesale change to US copyright law since 1909. Within the provisions of the 1976 Act was a cause of action that allowed heirs to recover the rights of their creations from the corporate owners under certain circumstances. In 2006, this provision allowed the heirs to recover the rights in the character and associated characters for Superboy. Around that same time, references to Superboy disappeared from DC comics almost overnight. During the intervening two years, they killed the then-current incarnation of the character and made another version of the character into a homicidal killer. Revenge of sorts? That case is on-going, for there is an issue concerning whether the current CW series. "Smallville," is based upon Siegel and Shuster's version of Superboy. Are you getting a sense of how big this is?

Today, the Federal District Court for the Central District of California ruled that the heirs of Jerome Siegel owned a share of the Superman copyright. In other words, Time Warner owes the heirs of Siegel a percentage of any profit garnered from their use of the Superman character since 1999. That is a significant amount of money that might also be enough to move the stock values of the company. This battle is not over yet, for the heirs of Shuster are also trying to get rights to the character, something they may be entitled to as of 2013. This means that Time Warner cannot publish Superman comics, create Superman cartoons or movies, or issue Superman related merchandise without a license from the heirs of the creators. This also may have a ripple effect among the heirs of the creators for many popular characters who then worked for large corporations. Who is to say that the family of Ub Iwerks will not attempt to get a royalty from monies owed from his co-creation, with Walt Disney, of the character of Mickey Mouse? What of the rights of Jack Kirby, the co-creator of the Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, and Captain America? What of the rights of Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Spider-Man? What about Bugs Bunny, the product of numerous creators (Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Bob McKimson, and the voice actor Mel Blanc? Can their heirs sue for the rights of the character as well?

Under the terms of the Copyright Term Extension Act (the Sonny Bono Act), copyrights for works extends to life + 70 years for works of an individual author and 120 years (after creation) or 95 years (after publication) for works of corporate authorship. There is a widespread belief that, as some of the more identifiable corporate icons reach these thresholds, there will be yet another extension of copyright term, but this may be challenged as antithetical to the Constitutional mandate that such rights be granted for a fixed time. A change of this level would appear to vest copyright in perpetuity, with few characters every lapsing into the public domain.

In the end, though, we should cheer the victory of the Superman heirs. Though the ruling may slow the flow of Superman-related stories, media, and merchandise, I have a feeling that having someone else monitoring quality would be a bad thing. So many times (see my review of "Superman Returns"), I have bemoaned the fact that the powers that be sometimes cannot see the forest for the trees. Verisimilitude in the treatment of such iconic characters is extremely important. Having another set of eyes watching to insure the proper treatment of Superman is something that, hopefully, will be good for the character. I am also eager to see how this ruling plays out with regard to claims from other creators. The creators are the ones responsible. Isn't it fair that they and their heirs reap the benefits from their creations? Without Siegel and Shuster, we might never have had Batman, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, or any other super hero. Their contribution to mass media goes far beyond that short comic story they sold for $130. It is just that they be properly rewarded for it.


The New York Times article on the court decision can be found here.

Yo Joe!

Ok, I know I promised an update on my trip to Vegas, but I came across these pictures of Ray Park (Darth Maul from "The Phantom Menace" and Toad from "X-Men") in costume as Snake-Eyes in Stephen Sommers live action "G.I. Joe" film.



Wow. I have never witnessed a better translation from the comic/cartoon image to live action than this. Furthermore, it looks like the filmmakers are being faithful to the origins of the character. Thanks to AinitCoolNews and USA Today for posting this. I hope the script for this film is as tight as these images.

A brief glimpse of my last week-details to follow.

This was the night view from my suite at my hotel in Vegas.


and this was my meal at the Mesa Grill on Wednesday night:


Jealous?

Details will follow later in the week.

The Sharpe Movies-a Quick note

Eddie has kindly pointed out something that I neglected to mention. Most of the Sharpe books have been made into films starring Sean Bean in the title role. My older brother gave me the entire set on DVD one birthday. All of the DVDs were organized in this wooden crate with the name "Sharpe's" wood-burned on the front. The set also included a map of Europe at the time of the Peninsular Wars. A really cool gift. Here is what it looked like:


Pretty cool, huh?

An Ode to Richard Sharpe-Part Two

So where was I? Ah, yes..I had stumbled across the first in the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, the novel known as "Sharpe's Rifles" which, as memory served, also happened to be the name I remembered from that long ago film from Maryland Public Television. I made my way up to the register and paid for it. I was eager to begin reading it, for I knew that I would immediately love the character and read all of the books in the series. It had a cool cover, too:


Look at that guy. Would you want to face him on the battlefield? There he is, looking mighty pissed off, holding an oversized cavalry sword and a patched up green jacket. This is the type of novel that positively begs to be read, right? Well, no. I always tend to drag my feet when it comes to adopting a new author. While I really wanted something new to read, I put the book aside for a couple of months and made do with the free newspapers that were available at the time (the RedEye and the RedLine). And it sat on my bookshelf until one August morning when I finally decided to give it a chance. I am glad that it did not stay there any longer. Although I could tell that this was an early novel (it read much like a first novel, and it was, in fact, the sixth Sharpe novel written), now, looking back, I can recognize the beginnings of the rich characterization Cornwell would bring to the Sharpe's novels.

"Sharpe's Rifles" introduces us to Richard Sharpe, a Lieutenant in a British rifle battalion that is part of the British force in Spain in 1809. The rifle company is part of the 95th, and the British rifleman are referred to as the "green jackets" because, rather than the red of the "redcoats", they wear jackets of green that speak to the elite nature of the rifle corp. As the story opens, the battalion is ambushed by French troops, and Sharpe must deal with mutiny within his ranks as a large Irishman named Patrick Harper and he do battle. Harper is beloved by the men and sees Sharpe as weak, but what is amazing is that the two become fast friends through the course of the events in this novel and the remaining novels in the series. Sharpe and the battalion meet up with Don Blas Vivar, a Spanish nobleman fighting for his country. Don Blas wants to get to Santiago de Compostela, a Spanish city occupied by the French, and raise the flag of Spain's patron saint as a sign of the indomitable spirit of the Spanish people during their war against Napoleon. Sharpe assists Don Blas in his efforts. One man seeks to thwart these plans, and that man is the Count of Mouromorto, a Spanish nobleman who also happens to be Don Blas' brother. Along the way, Sharpe and the rifles get into skirmishes and battles, rescue a damsel in distress, and end up no worse for the wear. By the end of the novel, however, one sees the greatness in the character.

I read the novel in record time. There were many things I loved about the novel. One of the main things was its educational aspect. Before I read the novel, I had no idea about the Peninsular Wars. The US educational system does not do justice to the proper study of Napoleon, Wellington, and the great European wars of the early 1800s. "Sharpe's Rifles" brought to life those volatile years in Europe. Cornwell's mastery of prose instantly transported me to the battlefields of Spain, and one could almost taste the salt from the gunpowder cartridges that Sharpe and his men used in their rifles. The character of Sharpe himself is a fascinating one. In future novels, we would discover that he was the son of a prostitute who had no knowledge of his father. After he was orphaned at the age of 3, he was raised in a foundling home, one of those horrible work houses straight out of "Oliver Twist." He grew up unloved and unwanted, beaten horribly and malnourished. He escaped to a bar where a barmaid named Maggie took him under her wing as a sort of matronly Fagin. He learned the finer arts of thieving from Maggie. As a young man, Sharpe joined the army as a way to escape the hangman's noose, for he had killed a man who was a rival for the affections of another young lady (young women would continue to be a weak spot for Sharpe throughout the novels). Sharpe started the novels as a Private and ended up a Lieutenant Colonel by the time of the 100 days (the period of time that marked Napoleon's return to power from the time of his escape from Elba until his defeat at Waterloo, Belgium). Sharpe's promotions were unheard of during a time when only the elite could be officers (commissions were purchased and not earned by merit, so only the rich could afford to be officers). Currently, there are 24 Sharpe's novels. Cornwell also wrote a 4 book series set during the Civil War (The Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles) that has a link to the Sharpe series through the inclusion of a character who happens to be related to a Sharpe regular.

My recommendation for anyone reading the series is to start with "Sharpe's Tiger", the novel that describes the adventures of young Private Sharpe in Wellington's army's of India. When you start reading, you will find a tremendous sense of time and place thanks to the wonderfully descriptive prose of Bernard Cornwell. You will learn more about Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington who was affectionately called "Nosey" by his troops. You will discover how the destinies of Sharpe and Wellesley became intertwined early in their careers and will learn about the British conquest of India, the Battle of Trafalgar (of course Sharpe was on one of the ships), the siege of Copenhagen, the retreat of Napoleon from Portugal through Spain and back to France thanks to the efforts of the British forces and Spanish freedom fighters, and the final battle at Waterloo. That novel, simply titled "Waterloo", is one of my favorite books. Period. You will not be disappointed in the series. I have recommended the series to many people, and they invariably get hooked. Who wouldn't?

An Ode to Richard Sharpe-Part 1

Who is Richard Sharpe? Why is he one of my favorite literary characters, on par with even James Bond and Sherlock Holmes? Why should everyone take the time to learn more about him?

My story begins during my second year in graduate school. Let me take you back to 1995 Baltimore. I was living in student housing at the corner of Lombard and Greene Street. Around that time, the University of Maryland Medical Center thought it would be a good idea to begin construction on what was to become the Homer Gudelsky tower, an addition to the University of Maryland Hospital located on the north side of Lombard Street right across from the student center. At the time, the new library had not been constructed, and the promise of a new building made me more excited because I knew that the value of any degree was based, in part, upon the modernity of the facilities at the educational institutions. Furthermore, I was granted a wonderful vantage point from which I could watch the hospital go up. My window faced the construction site, and I envisioned watching the building take shape from start to finish.

Unfortunately, the construction plans included a LOT of night construction. The cranes, cement mixers, and bulldozers worked through the evening, especially during the summer. Now, our building did not have air conditioned rooms, and those of you who are familiar with Baltimore in the summertime will understand how difficult sleep would be even under normal circumstances. My situation was exacerbated by the neverending cacophony of the construction across the street. This situation was made worse by the contractors need to have bright flood lights mounted high over the construction site. Remember, in "Seinfeld", how Kramer could not sleep thanks to the bright red Kenny Roger's Roaster's sign located near his window. I would welcome light that was that dim. My room, even through its curtains, was forever bathed in light. Insomnia beckoned nightly, and there was nothing I could do to keep it at bay.

During one of these sleepless summer nights (yes, in grad school for one's PhD, there are no summer vacations), I found myself channel surfing at 3 AM. I neither had cable nor particularly good aerial reception for my tiny 13" television. Most of the time, my local Maryland Public Television station was a grainy blur, but on this one evening, I was treated to a movie that would introduce me to one of my favorite literary characters-Richard Sharpe. I cannot remember the particulars of the film. All I remember was that I was mesmerized by the story of a British rifleman during the Peninsular Wars between Britain and the France of Napoleon Bonaparte. There was action, there was intrigue, and there was..history? Although I began my search for a show in a desperate bid to find something to put me to sleep, I ended up finding a film that kept me up until 5 AM, long after the construction had finally ceased for the night.

After that night, years went by. I never found another Sharpe film, and in the infancy that would become the World Wide Web, I never thought to try and search for Sharpe on the internet. Heck, I did not even have an e-mail address at that time. I just thought that if I ever came across a videotape of Sharpe (yes, this was before the advent of DVDs), I would definitely pick up the film.

Flash forward to the summer of 2002. Almost 8 years had passed since I first watched my first Richard Sharpe film, and I had almost forgotten about the character. True, I had watched the actor, Sean Bean, in numerous films afterwards (including particularly good turns in "Patriot Games" and "Goldeneye"), and I knew that he was to play the character of Boromir, a member of the "Fellowship of the Rings", in Peter Jackson's upcoming adaptation of the "Lord of the Rings" saga, but I had not thought about the character except on those rare occasions watching a Sean Bean film. This all changed one day while I was perusing the shelves of the Border's Books and Music on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Chicago Avenue along the Magnificent Mile here in Chicago. I was on a lunch break and was desperate to find something to read on my long journeys to and from work. Riding the El without reading material is infinitely more tiring when there is nothing to grab one's attention, and I started to scan the titles in the "literature" section, starting with authors whose names began with the letter "A". My intent was to find a book series rather than an individual novel. After the "As" and "Bs" failed to yield anything of interest, my eyes were immediately drawn towards a series of novels whose spines were bright orange in color. I started a bit when I noticed the title of the first novel in the series was..."Sharpe's Rifles." The author was a man named Bernard Cornwell, a British expat now living in Massachusetts. Was the movie I remembered actually based on a series of books? That seemed too good to be true. I decided to take a chance. I picked "Sharpe's Rifles" from the shelf, made my way to the cashier, and made my purchase, with the intent that I would start reading it on my ride home from work.

Join me for my next blog entry, where I will answer the question "Who is Richard Sharpe?" in much more detail.

A little perspective, people....

Let me start off by saying that I am an animal lover. Dogs, cats, birds...it doesn't matter. Animals seem to like me as well, and somehow that sort of makes me feel better in a Stuart Smalley kind of way (I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and, gosh darn it, animals like me). I think that animals are much more adept than people at sniffing out BS; they see through the players and can tell which people are sincere and which are not.

Having said that, I think that we tend to lose perspective when it comes to animal cruelty. Now, I am not here advocating that we should all go out and beat up a bird, but when the news days is dominated by the news that a somewhat pro golfer killed a hawk by hitting it with a golf ball, we need to step back and take stock in what is really going on in the world. True, it is a tragedy that deserves a quick mention, but PETA is already out there beating the drum for this golfer to be strung up by his own petard for the temerity to kill a bird. As if Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders don't commit this very same heinous act millions of times per day. As if all of us, in the middle of our chicken dinners, will pause for a moment of silence for the spirit of the dead bird.

Do I sound harsh? If I sound harsh, this is why:

Benedict Rogers book is an account of the systematic genocide of the Burmese people. The Karen are a peaceful people who live an agrarian lifestyle, but they are being killed by the ruling regime. Where is the righteous indignation on the part of the press concerning GENOCIDE? Oh, right...a bird died. Stop the presses. The people will put down their chicken dinners to shed a few tears for a bird on a golf course, but AN ENTIRE POPULATION in a country most Americans cannot even point to on a world map? Someone else's problems. Those of you who own rubies or want rubies, consider this: over 90% of the world's rubies comes from a single valley in Burma, where the workers are akin to slaves. Remember that the next time you take out your ruby jewelry.

Have we also forgotten about this?


The Darfur conflict is ongoing. The tribal civil war in Sudan has claimed between 200,000 to 400,000 people. That's hundreds of thousands, people. Are the world governments in an uproar over this? Well, there are SANCTIONS, but because we can get oil elsewhere, we are not supporting the Sudanese government's attempts at genocide...yet. The Chinese government has no such hesitation, as they are purchasing most of the oil that the Sudanese government sells. And what does the government buy with the money? Why, the latest and greatest arms with which to mow down innocent civilians. Why give kids who are running from the violence a chance when you can purchase a brand new RPG and get rid of a whole lot of them in one fell swoop.

Now, a lot has been mentioned about what is going on in Asia and Africa. We still have problems in our own country. Remember this?


I know that Daisy does. This is an image taken in the days following Hurricane Katrina. Now the rest of the country, thanks to the news media, wants to believe that everything is back to normal in New Orleans. It isn't. When a couple of friends visited the city for the BCS "National Championship" (yeah, it's in quotes for a reason), they recounted how the side streets were still pretty deserted and how the city seemed like a shell of what it must have been. People are not moving back, and the country has apparently forgotten about this classic American town (built below sea level by the French...so they are the real culprits in the tragedy).

But no...instead of focusing on real problems such as genocide in far away places or poverty and hardship right here in the US, we get stories of PETA demanding action for a bird that died. In the grand scheme of things, aren't there other things that are more important?

I am sad about the bird, but I am haunted by reading about the Karen people genocide.

My Favorite Movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark

There are some cinematic creations that truly stand the test of time. As stated insightfully by Eddie in his comment on my Academy Awards post, the real test of a classic film is how it is viewed in the decades following its release. A film's longevity cannot be measured simply in years; it must be measured in decades. One such film that belongs in the pantheon of cinematic classics is "Raiders of the Lost Ark."


In May of 1977, George and Marcia Lucas and Steven Spielberg and Amy Irving were vacationing in Hawaii. It was the weekend of the release of "Star Wars", and Lucas continued his tradition, begun with the release of "American Graffiti", of getting out of Hollywood every time one of his films was released. As Lucas watched in amazement the reports by Walter Cronkite on the burgeoning phenomenon (lines around the block) that was to become "Star Wars", he and Spielberg started to discuss a new film based on Lucas's story idea of an homage to the great movie serials of the past. Lucas would write the film and produce it, with Spielberg handling the directing chores. The story would follow the adventures of a globe trotting archaeologist with a penchant for getting into trouble. The focus of the film would be the MacGuffin to end all MacGuffins, and the villains and and heroes would be of the strict "black hat-white hat" variety with none of the shades of grey found in the antiheroes (Vito Corleone, Popeye Doyle, Harry Callahan) of the 1970s. Even the name would be iconic. Lucas had written a story treatment for the film, "The Adventures of Indiana Smith." Spielberg was the one who pointed out that the name Smith just did not sound right. Lucas changed it to Jones, and the rest is cinematic history.

Indiana Jones.

Yes, Indiana was the name of a dog (Lucas' dog), and Spielberg helped him come up with the surname. During production of The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas, producer Frank Marshall, and writer Lawrence Kasdan worked on the story and refined the elements, discarding many that would later resurface in the 2 sequels. Spielberg and Lucas began work on June 23, 1980 (the summer of "The Empire Strikes Back"), shooting the film as they would an independent film (few takes, rapid set-ups and take downs, multiple set-ups per day, etc).

One of the more well known bits of trivia is that Tom Selleck was originally cast in the role of Indiana Jones. Due to his contractual commitments to the TV series "Magnum PI", however, Selleck was forced to bow out. On the strength of his performances as Han Solo, Harrison Ford convinced the producers and Spielberg that he would be ideal in the role of Indiana Jones. In hindsight, it would be difficult to see anyone else in the role.

I was 10 years old when Raiders was released in 1981.

I was 11 years old when I finally saw it in the theaters. By that time, I had memorized every panel of the Marvel Comics adaptation. I thought that I knew the film backwards and forwards, and I believed that, after a year of listening to my classmates extol the virtues of Professor Jones, there was NO WAY the film could live up to the hype. One could tell the story of the film just by a sequence of memorable quotes from the film.

"The Hovitos are here. Pppp...the poison is still fresh. They are following us, I tell you."
"This is where Forrestal cashed in." "A friend?" "A competitor. He was good. He was very good."
"You throw me the whip, I throw you the idol."
"I hate snakes, Jock. I HATE THEM."
"Didn't any of you guys ever go to Sunday School?"
"An army that carries the Ark before it...would be invincible."
"Besides, Marcus, you know how careful I am."
"Whisky?"
" . . . more than that, Jones. I'm your goddamn partner!"
"Bad Dates"
"Snakes..why'd it have to be snakes?"
"Asps...very dangerous...you go first!"
"What truck?"
"I am the monarch of the sea...."
"It ain't the years..it's the mileage" (CLASSIC MOVIE QUOTE)
"It's a transmitter...a radio for speaking to God."
"And I assure you it will be. We have top men working on it now." . . . "Who?" . . ."Top...men..."

Iconic moments in cinematic history abound in the film. From the first traps of the South American tomb (spiders, spears, darts, and giant boulder), the viewer is transported to a small college, where we learn of the Ark of the Covenant. With the first strains of the Ark theme playing in the background as the army men learn of the power of the ark from Marcus Brody and Indiana Jones, the audience gets a sense of the mystery and the importance of the quest. The music of Raiders represents some of the best in the career of John Williams, and that is saying a lot considering the man created memorable scores for Jaws, Star Wars, and Superman. We were then whisked away to Nepal with a meeting with Marion Ravenwood and the evil Toht. A snowy gunbattle and an icy night later, we are in Egypt with Sallah, Indy's ally. The map room of Tanis sequence (after the memorable chase scene and the "duel" between Indy and the swordsman) is one of the best moments of the film. The discovery and escape from the Well of Souls, the airplane fistfight, the truck chase, the escape by sea, and the final climax on the hidden Nazi island as Belloq, in a Jewish ritual conducted among Nazis, pays the ultimate price for his evil, all rush by at breakneck speed. Of all of the lasting images, however, none is so indelible as the final scene of the film. After being assured by Army men that "top men" are conducting research on the Ark, we see the truth. With the eerie strains of "the Ark theme" playing in the background, a faceless worker crates up the Ark, stencils on an ID number, and slowly wheels it down an endless row of similar boxes in a nameless government warehouse...somewhere. As the Ark is slowly wheeled from sight, the screen fades to credits and the "Raiders March" plays over the speakers.



Brilliant. Freaking brilliant film.

What critiques can one make of the film? The performances were top notch, the story was engaging, and the concept was familiar yet unique. True-the cartoon Nazis in Spielberg's "Indiana Jones" world are a far cry from the ones who inhabited his Academy Award-winning "Schindler's List", but the unspoken menace posed by a Nazi Germany in possession of the Ark was enough to move Indiana Jones into action.

After its initial run, the film had grossed an astonishing $384 million dollars (1981 dollars) worldwide. When adjusted for inflation, this puts it at #16 on the list of all-time blockbusters (where #1 is "Gone with the Wind"). Spielberg and Lucas reunited twice more for sequels to the original, but neither sequel came close to matching the masterpiece that was "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Whenever someone asks me to name my favorite films, "Raiders" is always close to the top.

It is now 10 pm, but writing this entry has made me want to watch "Raiders." Catch you later!