In one of the most memorable scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark, instead of engaging in a full-fledged sword fight with an engaging swordsman in Egypt, Indiana Jones surprisingly just shoots him - here’s the real reason why. As an iconic adventure saga from the 80s, Indiana Jones movies are home to some of the best light-hearted, Spielbergian action, and fight sequences of all time. Indiana Jones, the rogue archaeologist who always has a fedora, satchel, and bullwhip in tow, is memorable for exciting combat with foes who try to stop him from the historical item he seeks.
In Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1930s professor Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) searches across the globe for the missing Ark of the Covenant, said to make any army invincible. Indy must find and return the Ark to a museum before it can be reached by the Nazis, who want to give its power to Hitler. Along the way, Indy is confronted by different agents of the Nazi regime that attempt to stop him, including a feared assassin swordsman in Cairo, Egypt. The swordsman challenges Indy in a crowded Cairo marketplace, intending to kill him in a sword fight. The swordsman laughs and brandishes his weapon to intimidate Indy before Indy surprisingly pulls out his gun and shoots him point-blank.
While the scene is still in character for Indiana Jones as he exhaustedly pulls out the gun because he’s in a time crunch to find Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), the original plan for the sequence was markedly different. Spielberg originally intended for Indy to engage in a sword fight with the instigator, though behind-the-scenes troubles on set changed the minds of those involved. At the time of filming the scene, Harrison Ford and much of the crew were extremely sick with dysentery, so filming a long fight scene would have been too taxing. Ford suggested Indy just “shoot the sucker” instead, to which director Steven Spielberg obliged.
The original scene was three-and-a-half pages long compared to the less than a minute sequence seen in Raiders of the Lost Ark, which included a lengthy and highly choreographed sword fight wherein Indy still came out the winner. The scene would have had Jones, almost played by someone other than Ford, show off his mastery and skill with his bullwhip as he took on the swordsman, giving audiences a clearer view of its use in combat added to its other multi-functional uses on his adventure. Spielberg also intended to include a gag in which the Cairo swordsman accidentally uses his sword to perfectly cleave a market man's meat in half, whereafter the vendor thanks the swordsman.
While Spielberg’s original plan would have been an exciting one-on-one action sequence for Indy, it’s hard to imagine Raiders of the Lost Ark without the iconic tired Indy shooting the swordsman instead. While a fun ride when watching, Raiders doesn’t include too many humorous moments, save for the Cario scene and Indy's fear of snakes. The scene plays for the biggest laugh in the film as Indy gives a sigh that suggests he’s too tired to fight this guy who wants to fight him so badly, then shoots him and walks off. It sounds wrong to say one should thank Ford’s sickness for one of the most iconic scenes, but Raiders of the Lost Ark is definitely better off for it.
