Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the most memorable films in the George Lucas series. Harrison Ford appears for the first time in the titular role of Dr Jones, and learns of an ancient Ark of the Covenant, and the powers it has.
While the adventure film certainly has a certain adult nature around some of its scenes, it doesn’t contain any truly gruesome moments, other than some bloodless gunfights.
Despite this, when Channel 4 viewers sat down over the Christmas break to watch the iconic Steven Spielberg film, they were left a frustrated.
Instead of showing the full version of the film, Channel 4 instead showed an edited version, which saw a pivotal scene cut out.
Specifically, fans noted that the iconic scene in which the Nazis’ faces melt after looking at the Ark of the Covenant was absent from the film.
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Raiders of the Lost Ark is rated PG by the BBFC, which in the UK means it can only include mild violence, mild fantasy threat and horror, and no nudity.
Fans of the franchise were entirely outraged by this omission, and went on to express their disdain on Twitter.
One fan angrily wrote: “Channel 4 cut the face melting scene from Indiana Jones. That’s an odd decision. We can take some 1980s PG-rated face-melting at 7:40pm, even during a pandemic. BBC showed it when they had the film.”
Another agreed: “Channel 4 just butchered the ending of Indiana Jones by cutting out the face melting! WTF!”
Legendary director Spielberg brought it to life with the ineffable Ford, and an incredible surrounding cast including John Rhys-Davies, and Karen Allen.
The film was an extraordinary success, grossing a spectacular $389 million at the box office on just a $20 million budget.
At the 1982 Academy Awards, Raiders of the Lost Ark won five Oscars.
Included in this collection was awards for Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects.
Raiders of the Lost Ark kickstarted a much-loved series involving Indiana Jones, with The Temple of Doom being released just two years later in 1984.
Indiana Jones then took on The Last Crusade in 1989, which saw the arrival of Sean Connery as Henry Jones Senior.
A much reviled fourth film, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, was released in 2008, with Shia LaBeouf playing Mutt – Indie’s son.
The Indiana Jones films are available to watch on Amazon Prime Video now.
