Raiders of the Lost Ark Page #14

quietly. They haven’t hurt you in

the last twenty-four hours, they

aren’t going to start now. I’ll be

back to get you in no time.

62.

He kisses her forehead, jumps up and hurries out of the tent.

96 EXT. SAND DUNE OUTSIDE DIGS - DAY 96

With the digs behind them, Indy and Sallah run up to the

ridge of the dune and over the top. At the bottom of the far

side, Omar’s truck is parked. Omar and his men are waiting.

97 EXT. DIFFERENT DUNE - DAY 97

This new spot gives Indy a higher, better view of the whole

scene. Indy is using a surveyor’s instrument to take a

reading -

WHAT HE SEES. Looking through the instrument, Indy gets a

line from the map room through the site where the Nazis are

digging in the dunes to a spot several dunes over. We focus

on that virgin spot of well-hidden sand as -

.

INDY:

There!

98 EXT. INDY’S DIG - DAY 98

Omar’s truck is parked at the stop just viewed from afar.

Dunes rise on either side. One of Omar’s men has been posted

as a lookout up on a ridge. Everybody else -- Indy, Sallah,

Omar, and his men -- have begun digging for the Well of the

Souls.

DISSOLVE TO:

SAME SCENE, NIGHT. They continue to dig furiously, all of

them drenched in sweat. The hole has grown but this is slow,

back-breaking work.

99 INT. COMMAND TENT - TANIS DIGS - NIGHT 99

Belloq, SHLIEMANN the ranking Nazi, and Shliemann’s Aide,

GOBLER, come into the tent, which is full of charts and maps,

drawings of the Ark, radio equipment, liquor and food. The

men have been out digging for the Well all day. They are

tired, discouraged, testy. In all matters, Gobler shows his

alliance with Shliemann against Belloq with small looks and

body language. The Frenchman has disappointed them and he is

feelings the isolation of a scapegoat. Belloq gets himself a

drink as Shliemann towels off his face.

63.

BELLOQ:

I cautioned you about being

premature with that communique to

Berlin. Archeology is not an exact

science. It does not adhere to time

schedules.

SHLIEMANN:

The Fuhrer is not a patient man. He

demands constant reports and he

expects progress. You led me to

believe -

BELLOQ:

Nothing. I have made no promises. I

said only that it looked very

favorable. Perhaps the Ark will

still be found in an adjoining

chamber. Based on the information

in our possession, my calculations

were correct. Perhaps some bit of

evidence still eludes us. Perhaps -

GOBLER:

Perhaps the girl can help us.

Belloq shoots him an angry look.

SHLIEMANN:

My feeling exactly. She was in

possession of the original piece

for years. She may know much.

(really evil)

If properly motivated...

BELLOQ:

I tell you, she knows nothing

useful.

SHLIEMANN:

I’m surprised to find you

squeamish. That is not your

reputation. But it needn’t concern

you. I have the perfect man for

this kind of work.

Shliemann signals Gobler, who steps outside the tent a

moment, calls someone and then reappears. Belloq looks warily

at the entrance. After a moment Belzig enters, reeking

villiany. When his eyes find Shliemann, his superior, he

snaps a crisp “Heil, Hitler!” at him, holding his palm rigid

a long time, exposing a burned scar in the perfect shape of

the sun medallion.

64.

100 EXT. INDY’S DIG - NIGHT 100

In the eerie conjunction of moonlight and torchlight, Indy

and the other men step back in awe of their discovery: there,

flush with the bottom of their pit, is a heavy stone entry

door to an underground chamber. Special prying tools are

produced. With two men assigned to each of the two long

tools, they work in unison to open the vault. They open it a

foot and the two other men rush in to flop the heavy door

completely open. Down inside, only blackness.

The men quickly prostrate themselves around the edge of the

entry to look inside. Indy and Sallah each take a torch and

hold them down the hole.

WHAT THEY SEE. The Well of the Souls is a spooky chamber

thirty feet deep. The walls are covered with hieroglyphics

and carvings. The roof is supported intermittently by stone

pillars, the closest of which hits the roof very near the

entry hole. The Well is quite large; as Indy and Sallah wave

their torches, more and more of the room is revealed. Now the

far end of the chamber comes into view. There is a stone

altar down there and on this elaborated carved platform is a

stone chest, big enough to enclose the Lost Ark and protect

it from the ravages of time. This altar appears to be the

only place on the floor of the Well that is not covered by a

strange, dark carpet of some kind.

.

INDY:

The Ark must be in that stone case.

What’s that gray stuff all over the

floor -

He breaks off realizing exactly what that carpet is. He

blanches. Indiana Jones blanches.

Indy drops his torch to the floor of the Well. This is

answered by the most horrific HISSING imaginable.

WHAT HE SEES. That thick dark carpet is moving. It’s alive.

It’s thousands and thousands of deadly poisonous snakes --

Egyptian asps. And the only thing that seems capable of

avoiding this venomous groundcover is the altar. The snakes

ebb and flow near it, but never encroach on it, as though

repelled by some invisible force.

Indy shakes his head and talks to himself.

INDY:

Why snakes? Why did it have to be

snakes? Anything else.

65.

After a moment of this, he stops. He gathers his energy and

resolve and gets back to the task.

SALLAH:

Asps. Very dangerous.

Where Indy’s torch has landed is a circle of snake-free

floor. The snakes hate the flame; they stay away.

INDY:

Lots of torches. And oil. I want a

landing strip down there.

101 INT. THE WELL OF THE SOULS 101

Fifteen torches have been dropped to the floor of the

chamber, combining to make a good-sized clear zone. Smoke

begins to fill the room. Several canisters of oil have been

lowered into this space. Now, a large wooden crate is lowered

slowly by rope. Rope handles are attached to each end of the

crate.

Up at the hole, Indy gives Sallah a reassuring pat, takes a

breath, and swings carefully onto a rope hanging from the

hole. Despite his care, he swings a bit and his feet hit the

stone pillar which is so near the entry. Surprisingly, the

pillar casually moves a bit, showering a light rain of

crumbled stone to the floor below.

.

Indy lands on the floor of the Well. He looks at the altar

over a sea of undulating death. He picks up an oil canister

and splashes two parallel lines of oil and lights them. A

path six feet wide beings to open the altar. Behind Indy,

Sallah comes quickly down the rope.

We beging to INTERCUT all the action in the Well from here on

with insert shots of the snakes outside the flames. Snakes

and snakes. We see: snakes piled and entwined six inches

deep; mother snakes laying snake eggs; snake eggs hatching

little snakes; snakes cannibalizing other snakes.

102 OMIT 102

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