- Is number 60 on the American Film Institute's list of America's 100 greatest movies
- Was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1999
- Spielberg wanted to redeem himself after the excessive budget and shooting difficulties of his previous film, 1941, which was a box-office flop. Raiders was completed under its budget of $20.4 million and exactly on schedule
- Steven Spielberg originally wanted Danny DeVito to play Sallah and DeVito was set for the role, but he had to drop out due to conflicts with Taxi
- The original name of the lead character in the script was Indiana Smith. His name was changed to Jones when Steven Spielberg said he didn't like "Smith" and suggested "Jones" instead
- Indy's line to Marion - "It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage" - was ad-libbed by Ford
- The hieroglyphics in the Well of Souls include engravings of R2-D2 and C-3PO (from Star Wars (1977), etc). They can be seen on a post to the right of Indy and Sallah as they remove the Ark
- Indy's hat was actually kept on with double-sided tape
- Exterior footage of the DC3 airplane carrying Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood across Asia is taken from the remake of Lost Horizon
- The final shot, with the camera panning out from the Ark in the government storage facility, is an homage to one of the final shots in Citizen Kane
- One of the many sets of fedoras and jackets that Harrison wore throughout the series are on display at the Smithsonian
- In addition to Tom Selleck (who had to pull out due to not being released from his contract for Magnum P.I), Tim Matheson was also considered for the lead role
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