The first episode of the “Indiana Jones” franchise is broadcast on M6 this Thursday, January 25, 2024. And one of the film’s cult scenes was filmed in very special conditions…
Time for adventure this evening on the TV program. M6 broadcasts the first episode of the Indiana Jones franchise, entitled Raiders of the Lost Ark this Thursday, January 25 at 9:10 p.m. This film, released in 1981, has become a huge classic of the genre, putting Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford at the top with suspense, fine dialogue and unforgettable action sequences.
It now seems unthinkable today, but one of the scenes that became legendary in Raiders of the Lost Ark could never have seen the light of day. In this episode, the archaeologist finds himself facing a warrior armed with a saber, who challenges him to a duel, during an unforgettable sequence in Cairo.
Neither one nor two, the character played by Harrison Ford takes out his pistol and fires a bullet at his opponent to get rid of him with nonchalance. A simple but devilishly effective scene, which has marked several generations of fans.
It is now difficult to imagine that this sequence was not planned in the initial scenario. And yet… In an exchange shared on Reddit in 2014, Harrison Ford himself confided that Steven Spielberg originally had other plans. His character had to confront his opponent with a whip, in a spectacular fight.
But on the set, things didn’t really go as planned: that day, Harrison Ford was struck down by violent dysentery (intestinal infection, editor’s note). Very indisposed, the actor asked that the filming of the scene be as short as possible: “I couldn’t be away from my caravan for more than ten minutes”, he recalled in 2014.
Steven Spielberg’s plans must then change. “We both realized that this fight scene would take two or three days of filming. But it was the last thing we had to film before going to England, and all I was thinking about was getting out. Not to mention that “We had already filmed a scene where I had a whip fight with five men during Marion’s kidnapping. It was a little redundant,” recalled Harrison Ford.
The actor, however, has more than one trick up his sleeve and made a suggestion to the director: “I then suggested to Steven that we shoot this bastard and he told me ‘I think exactly the same thing’.” Too bad for the British stuntman who had trained hard with the saber for the occasion. But so much the better for Raiders of the Lost Ark, which contains a scene surprising but hilarious for the viewer.
