I ran across the most amazing story recently about the feature length fan film, Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. Back in the early 80s, three kids from Mississippi decided that they loved Raiders so much, they would do a shot for shot remake. It took them 7 years of summer vacations to complete. The result was nothing short of astonishing.
The general public didn’t find out for another 15 years however. The epic video project was regarded by its creators as a home movie that no one else would really want to see. Eventually, bootlegs got out to high profile fans like Eli Roth, Harry Knowles, and even Stephen Spielberg himself. Theater screenings in Austin, Texas were met with overwhelming enthusiasm.
After reading several articles, I HAVE to track down a copy of this. It sounds tremendous.
FROM AIN’T IT COOL NEWS:
“It stole BUTT-NUMB-A-THON 4. The premieres? Shameres. Eric Zala’s RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK – began to capture the audience. We kept waiting for them to drop the ball, but they were rising to each and every occasion. After key moments, cheers began rocking the Drafthouse. People started trying to guess how these kids would pull off the next big moment. And they always were doing it bigger than we could imagine.”
ARTICLES:
- Brief overview of the movie from the Austin Chronicle
- Harry Knowles’ Butt-Numb-A-Thon 4 report
- In depth history, originally published in Vanity Fair
This got me thinking about other offshoots of Raiders. It’s probably my favorite movie ever, so I like to keep track of these things. (At some point, I may want to post my own embarassing childhood film, Andiana Bones and the Forest of Gloom. I’ll have to track down the videotape first though.)
Want to hear a song about Indy’s arch enemy, Belloq? Go to the Lucky Nightstick site.
How about this hysterical “Hollywoodn’t” comic strip parody from Chud.com?
Josh Becker, Scott Spiegel, Sam Raimi, and Bruce Campbell once tried to get a parody film going called Cleveland Smith, Bounty Hunter. You can read Becker’s script and watch a short clip of their promo film online. Go to Almost A Movie: Cleveland Smith
Speculation over a fourth Indy movie has sparked many fan scripts. I’ve got the lowdown on many of them at Almost A Movie: Indiana Jones IV. See also Jeffrey Boam’s Indiana Jones and the Monkey King
See an in-depth analysis of the legacy of Indiana Jones at TheRaider.net
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Mike, go ahead and put up that masterpiece, Andiana Bones and the Forest of Gloom. Oh, so embarassing! I give you permission.