Raiders of the Lost Ark Page #4

(a hard look)

I hope they got him.

A young male graduate student, Indy’s TEACHING ASSISTANT,

taps on the door and then pushes his way in with an arm-load

of reference books. Indy helps him find a spot for them.

TEACHING ASSISTANT

I couldn’t get the McNabe,

Professor. Someone’s got it checked

out ‘till next month when classes

start.

INDY:

That’s all right, Phil. Thanks a

lot.

TEACHING ASSISTANT

(eager to please)

Will there be anything else?

INDY:

No. I’ll see you Thursday.

The Teaching Assistant leaves. Brody is scowling as he

examines the last of the artifacts.

INDY:

Hey, if you don’t like them, I can

always return them.

BRODY:

No, they’re beautiful. The Museum

will buy them as usual. No

questions asked.

INDY:

Then what’s wrong?

BRODY:

I brought along some people today.

INDY:

What kind of people?

BRODY:

Government.

14.

INDY:

(concerned)

Government?

BRODY:

Don’t worry, it’s not about your

business.

(indicates the artifacts)

They’re from the Army.

INDY:

I’ve already served.

BRODY:

Army Intelligence. They’re looking

for Abner.

19 INT. INDY’S LECTURE HALL/CLASSROOM - DAY 19

Indy’s course - a combination of archeology and anthropology -

is taught in this amplitheater-type lecture hall. His desk

and lectern hold large reference books; blackboards line the

wall. Bones, maps, charts fasten on the walls.

Indy leans against his desk talking with Brody and two

uniformed Army officers, COLONEL MUSGROVE and MAJOR EATON,

who are situated around the first seats in the classroom.

MUSGROVE:

...but you did study under

Professor Ravenwood at the

University of Chicago?

.

INDY:

(nods)

We haven’t spoken in ten years. I’m

afraid we had a bit of a falling

out.

EATON:

You know nothing of his

whereabouts?

INDY:

(negative)

Just rumors. Somewhere in Asia,

last I heard.

Musgrove and Eaton exchange a look; they’re disappointed.

15.

EATON:

(to Musgrove)

Maybe Dr. Jones can make sense of

it.

Again, the military men have a silent communication, deciding

what to reveal.

MUSGROVE:

Well... you must understand, Dr.

Jones, this is all strictly

confidential.

INDY:

I understand.

MUSGROVE:

Yesterday, one of our European

sections intercepted a Nazi

communique from Cairo to Berlin. We

don’t quite know what to make of

it.

Musgrove takes a sheet from his briefcase.

MUSGROVE:

Here it is - “Tanis development

proceeding. Acquire headpiece,

Staff of Ra, General Tengtu Hok,

Shanghai. Locate Abner Ravenwood,

U.S.”

Brody is excited. He looks at Indy.

BRODY:

Tanis. They must have discovered

the lost ruins.

Indy contemplates this big news; he’s impressed.

INDY:

(to himself)

Tanis. Ain’t that somethin’!

EATON:

Frankly, we’re a little

suspicious... An American being

mentioned so prominently in a

secret Nazi cable.

INDY:

Ah, Ravenwood’s no Nazi.

16.

EATON:

Then what do they want him for?

INDY:

They’re looking for the headpiece

to the Staff of Ra.

MUSGROVE:

(indicates his sheet)

But it says here that’s in China.

INDY:

Only half of it. Ravenwood had the

(MORE)

other half.

EATON:

What would the Nazis want with this

- this Staff of Ra?

BRODY:

I can tell you that. Over the last

two years the Nazis have had teams

of archeologists running around the

world looking for all kinds of

religious artifacts.

.

MUSGROVE:

That’s right. Hitler’s a nut on the

subject. Crazy. He’s obsessed with

the occult.

EATON:

What is this Staff of Ra, anyway?

INDY:

It all has to do with the Ark of

the Covenant.

(the Army guys look

mystified)

The chest the Hebrews used to carry

around the Ten Commandments.

Now it’s the Army men who are impressed.

INDY:

An Egyptian pharoah stole the Ark

from Jerusalem and took it back to

the city of Tanis. A short time

later, Tanis was consumed by the

desert in a sandstorm that lasted a

year.

17.

INDY(cont'd)

But before that, the Pharoah had

the Ark hidden away in a secret

chamber called the Well of the

Souls. Which is where the Staff of

Ra comes in.

Indy moves to the blackboard and makes a quick sketch to give

a rough idea of the system as he describes it. (And we get a

glimpse of what an interesting and enthusiastic teacher he

must be)

INDY:

Now this was rather clever. The

Staff was really just a big stick -

oh, I don’t know, say like this

(he indicates about six

feet)

-no one really knows for sure.

Anyway, it was capped by an

elaborate headpiece with a carving

of the sun at the top. What you had

to do was take the Staff to a

special room in Tanis - it had the

whole city laid out in miniature on

the floor. When you placed the

Staff in a certain spot in the

room, at a certain time of day, the

sun would shine through a hole here

in the headpiece and then send a

beam of light down here - to the

map - giving you the location of

the Well of the Souls...

MUSGROVE:

... where the Ark of the Covenant

was kept.

INDY:

(nods)

Which is probably what the Nazis

are after.

.

EATON:

What’s this Ark look like?

INDY:

Look like? Why, it’s right here...

Indy pulls a big format book from the stack on his lectern

and flips through the pages until he finds a large color

print. The other men gather to look.

THE PRINT fills the screen.

18.

It shows a Biblical battle. The Israelite Army is vanquishing

an opposition force. At the forefront of the Israelite ranks,

two men carry the Ark of the Covenant, a beautiful gold

chest, crowned by two sculptured gold angels. The men do not

touch the Ark itself; rather they carry it by use of two long

wooden poles which pass through rings in the corners of the

Ark. The painting is very dramatic, full of smoke, tumult and

sinewy dying men. But the most astonishing thing in the

picture is the brilliant jet of white light and flame issuing

from the wings of the angels. It pierces deep into the ranks

of the retreating enemy, wrecking devastation and terror.

EATON:

Good God!

INDY:

Yes. That’s what the Hebrews

thought.

MUSGROVE:

What’s that supposed to be coming

out of there?

INDY:

Who knows... lightning... fire...

the power of God.

EATON:

I’m beginning to understand

Hitler’s interest in this thing.

INDY:

Oh yes. The Bible tells of it

leveling mountains and wasting

entire regions. Moses promised that

when the Ark was with you, “your

enemies will be scattered and your

foes fell before you”.

(pause)

An army which carries the Ark

before it is invincible.

Eaton and Musgrove exchange worried looks.

INDY:

Oh, there’s one other thing that

Hitler undoubtedly believes about

the Ark...

(a long, pregnant pause)

It’s said that the Lost Ark will be

recovered at the time of the coming

of the True Messiah.

19.

MUSGROVE:

Dr. Jones, you’ve been very

helpful. I hope we can call on you

again if we have questions.

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