Published: 27th February 2015
I can’t hear the first few bars of Raiders of the Lost Ark without the hair standing up on the back of my neck.
It’s a great film. Forget Christian Grey – if you want to see a man who loves leather and a whip give me Indy every day of the week.
Like his other iconic character Han Solo, Ford is every inch the action hero but, unlike the cocky pilot of the Millenium Falcon, Indy appears to be making it up as he goes along. He’s driven, moral, vulnerable and very, very funny.
But, just when you think Raiders of the Lost Ark can’t get any better, along comes a story to give you a lump in your throat to join that upstanding neck hair.
In 1982, in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, Chris Strompolos 11, asked Eric Zala, 12, a question: “Would you like to help me do a remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark? I’m playing Indiana Jones.”
The friends had seen the film at their local cinema and fallen in love with it. So…they did it. Every shot, every line of dialogue and every stunt.
They borrowed and collected costumes, convinced neighbourhood kids to wear grass skirts and play natives, cast a 15 year old as Indy’s love interest, rounded up 7000 snakes (sort of), built the Ark, the Idol, the huge boulder, found a desert in Mississippi and melted the bad guys’ faces off.
Oh yeah and it took them SEVEN years.
The story of Chris and Eric’s Raiders has been knocking around online for a few years but now it has finally received the full recognition it deserves. A full length documentary that tells the story of their friendship, dedication and creativity. It’s such a heartwarming tale.
There’s something magical about childhood friendships especially when those friends join forces to do something extraordinary, and it’s all captured here.
Here’s the trailer for the documentary which should hit our screens later this year. Try not to grin stupidly, swallow strongly or frantically dab your eyes. Instead just think of the words that end another great movie – Stand By Me.