Raiders of the Lost Ark Page #12

a new spot in which to dig...out

away from the camp.

INDY:

(resigned)

The Well of the Souls.

Sallah nods, moves to the food. He picks up a date, then

changes his mind and drops it, taking a bunch of grapes

instead. Indy picks up a chicken leg in one hand and a date

in the other, his mind distracted. Fayah enters the room just

in time to see Indy flip the date high into the air and try

to catch it in his mouth. It bounces off his chin and falls

to the floor. Indy looks sheepishly at Fayah. Fayah picks up

the fallen date and puts it in the dirty ash tray she is now

removing. Amir speaks in a slow, raspy voice without looking

up.

AMIR:

Come. Look.

The two men go and huddle over the old man. The Monkey peeks

up over the edge of the table at the array of food. He picks

up a date and disappears below the table. Amir points to some

markings on the lower part of the headpiece.

AMIR:

This is a warning... not to disturb

the Ark of the Covenant.

54.

INDY:

Just what I need.

The Monkey’s paw comes up over the edge of the table and

grabs another date.

INDY:

How ‘bout the height of the staff?

Did Belloq get it off of there?

AMIR:

Yes... it is here.

Indy, nervous, goes back to the food tray, picks up another

date. When he turns back to the men, the Monkey’s paw grabs

another date.

We see the headpiece in closeup on the table. Amir’s crooked

fingers trace a line of markings along the bottom section to

the break in the piece.

AMIR:

It says it is... ten jamirs high...

SALLAH:

About seventy-five inches.

AMIR:

Wait! I am not finished...

Amir’s finger moves across the break as the markings continue

on the sun medallion.

AMIR:

(reading)

“And one jamir to honor the Hebrew

God whose Ark this is.”

Indy, still holding the date, exchanges a long look with

Sallah.

INDY:

You said their top section was

blank. Are you absolutely sure?

Sallah nods.

INDY:

Belloq’s staff is seven and a half

inches short. They’re digging in

the wrong spot!

55.

Sallah and Indy begin to laugh. Amir gives them a glance and

returns to his wine. Sallah leans over and kisses the old

man.

SALLAH:

(to Amir)

A home run, my friend, grand slam!

(to Indy)

We have a saying -- “A little luck

is better than much smartness.”

Indy, pardner, you are very lucky

fellow.

Indy hoots. Then he takes the date in his hand and flips it

high in the air. He opens his mouth to catch it, but it

doesn’t come down. He has inadvertently thrown it into a bowl

of a hanging lamp. This makes the men laugh even harder.

Indy goes over and picks up another date. He turns laughing

to Sallah and doesn’t see as the Monkey’s paw comes up,

slowly, takes another date and begins to withdraw. Suddenly

the paw is stricken with palsy and the unseen Monkey goes

into its death throws. Sallah watches the paw as though

hypnotized. Finally the paw slips from sight and we hear a

solid THUMP! on the floor. Sallah walks around the table and

looks at the floor. The Monkey lies dead among a mess of date

pits.

.

Indy is in a happy world of his own. He throws his date high

in the air. He positions himself under it and waits for it to

drop in. Here it comes. Right on target. As it’s about to

disappear into Indy’s mouth, Sallah’s hand flashes in and

grabs it. Indy looks mystified and disappointed. Sallah

motions toward the dead Monkey.

SALLAH:

Bad dates.

82 EXT. DESERT ROAD - MORNING 82

Two old trucks come down a narrow mountain road and onto the

flat surface of the desert.

Further out into the desert, the one in the lead, Sallah’s

truck, stops and the second one, Omar’s truck, pulls up

beside it. There are half dozen Arab Diggers in Omar’s truck.

Indy, dressed as an Arab, gets out of the cab of Sallah’s

truck and moves over to confer with OMAR, another old friend.

They point off into the desert and reach some conclusion.

Indy gives him a pat on the back; Omar turns off the road and

drives into the desert with his workers. Indy hops back in

the car of Sallah’s truck with Sallah.

56.

As they move down the road we see that the back of the truck

holds three other Arab Diggers.

83 EXT. RISE ABOVE THE TANIS DIG - MORNING 83

Indy and Sallah are lying in classic shouting fashion at the

top of the rise looking down on the Tanis Digs. Down behind

them, Sallah’s truck is parked with the three Arab Diggers.

INDY:

My God! They aren’t kidding!

WHAT HE SEES. The Tanis Digs are laid out below like a

painting. Trucks, bulldozers, Arab workers and German

supervisors are everywhere. The excavations themselves are

extensive and somewhat random - holes have been dug and then

abandoned, foundations and passageways unearthed and then

deserted. Beyond the main digs, a crude airstrip has been

created. Sallah points to what appears to be a mound of dirt

with a hole in it near the center of the activity.

.

SALLAH:

There! That is the map room!

INDY:

What time does the sun hit the map?

SALLAH:

Just after eight.

INDY:

We haven’t got much time. Where are

the Germans digging for the Well of

the Souls?

Sallah points out into the desert a short way beyond the main

area of activity. The desert turns to sand dunes out there,

the surface undulating into the distance. Several trucks and

men are out there and a bulldozer is lumbering noisily toward

it.

INDY:

Okay. Let’s go.

84 EXT. THE TANIS DIGS - MORNING 84

Sallah’s truck drives through the camp, one of the Arab

Diggers at the wheel. Indy and Sallah are in the back and

look just like the other two Arab Diggers. Sallah’s truck

goes behind a tent and when it appears on the other side,

Indy and Sallah are gone.

57.

85 EXT. AMONG THE TENTS - MORNING 85

Indy and Sallah move stealthily among the tents. Indy carries

a smooth wooden staff almost seven feet tall. They stop

between two tents and look across a path at the entrance to

the map room. What appeared to be a mound of dirt is actually

the roof on the ancient building. The hole/entrance is a five-

foot square skylight. Indy looks around, then walks casually

to the edge of the hole and looks inside. Sallah joins him,

producing a length of rope from his robes. Indy drops the

staff into the unseen map room as Sallah ties the rope around

an oil drum. When it’s secure, Indy wastes no time

disappearing down it into the map room.

86 INT. MAP ROOM 86

Indy is down the twenty feet to the floor of the room in

seconds. He tugs on the rope and it immediately gets pulled

up. Indy looks around with real wonder and excitement. The

room is lovely, with elaborate wall carvings and frescoes,

all lit by the bright stream of sunlight flooding in from

above. This beam of light leads Indy’s eye to the far end,

and the room’s truly remarkable feature: built into the floor

in meticulous relief is a miniature stone model of the

ancient city of Tanis. Already, the sunlight has worked its

way down the far wall and is edging onto the miniature of the

city. On the floor, to the skylight side of the miniature, is

an elaborate line created by embedded mosaic tiles. The

evenly spaced slots in the line, each accompanied by a symbol

of a time of year, are for the base of the staff. Indy pulls

the headpiece from his robes -- it has been welded together --

and reaches for the staff.

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