Raiders was such a great movie; clearly one of the all time best
STill love the scene where that big Arab comes in swinging a huge sword like its a short knife and Indy just shoots him
which was completely a surprise to the director; Indy was supposed to use the whip but Harrison was sick that day and he said basically what the hell and pulled his pistol and shot him
If I remember correctly the director was sstunned and angry and then realized it was a great ad lib and they redid the scene so that appeared to be the way it was intended
The swordsman's real name was Terry Richards, who had a minor acting career but was more well-known for being a stuntman. He appeared in or did stunts for almost nine James Bond movies, stretching from
Goldfinger to
Tomorrow Never Dies. He was the Wampa (snow cave creature in
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back). He played in other movies like
Superman II, Red Sonja, Flash Gordon and the original
Total Recall.
Richards had done extensive sword fighting training just for the
Ark scene and was disappointed with the decision to call it off. He was a pure pro in that scene though, which helped make it a tiny but legendary part of the entire Indiana Jones franchise.
