Raiders of the Lost Ark Deleted Scenes
Indy vs. the Cairo Swordsman
One of the most famous and funniest scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark takes place during the basket chase through the streets of Cairo basket. Indy finds himself staring down a giant swordsman, preparing to attack Indy. After a quick display of his talents with a sword, the man was shot dead by Indy in what has become one of the film's most beloved scenes. Oddly enough, this particular scene was not planned. Indy was originally scripted to take on the swordsman in a much larger-scale fight with Indy using his bullwhip. But on the day they were supposed to film the fight scene between Indy and the swordsman, Harrison Ford came down with dysentery and was unable to hold out long enough to pull it off. So Ford suggest to Steven Spielberg, "Why don't I just shoot the son of a bitch?" When the stuntman who played the Cairo swordsman (Terry Richards) found out that his fight scene was to be cut short, he was quite furious. Richards had spent months practicing for the fight scene. So when it came time to film, Ford did as he suggested, pulled out his pistol and shot the swordsman dead. And luckily Richards followed through, resulting in one of the most memorable and humorous scenes in the entire Indiana Jones series.
Indy and Marion Kiss
This photo to the left is from a deleted scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. This picture was taken during a cut scene where Marion and Indy are talking in the Raven Bar. After Marion tells Indy of Abner's demise, Indy is about to leave, but before he can get out he door, Marion grabs him by his jacket collar and pulls in in for a kiss.
Indy's Trek on the Nazi Sub
One of the most talked about cut scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark (and arguably one of the film's largest plot holes) is the matter of how Indy survived the journey on the German submarine. As originally scripted (and partially filmed), Indy survived his trek on the sub by lashing himself onto the the U-Boat's periscope with his bullwhip. This deletion of this scene left a big question mark with fans. But if you look closely, just as the sub arrives at the secret Nazi submarine pen (right after the map trek sequence), you can see Indy holding onto the periscope. It's very hard to spot, but sure enough Indy is there. So, in fact, the answer to this riddle is not completely missing from the film, but what was filmed of the scene remains to be unseen.
