With themes like treasure hunt it’s hard to approach it differently. I’m guessing I’ll have a lot of matches this week because honestly I couldn’t think of a way to think outside the box for this. Even finding a theme within a theme seemed too much for me this week. That being said, I gave it a go and here’s what I ended up with.
3. NATIONAL TREASURE (2004)
To this day it’s probably my favourite treasure hunt movies. It’s just so good in its own little way. Sure you can nitpick at it but back in the day (ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO) it was one hell of an adventure movie. And it still holds up! Nicolas Cage was in his prime, the humour was good and Sean Bean delivered a villain better than any food delivery service can deliver food. Anyway. National Treasure is a treasure on its own!
2. SAHARA (2005)
It’s fun and that’s basically all you need. We have a very stereotypical plot with token characters but I ain’t complaining. There is good humour and I mean if you don’t go in taking it too seriously you’ll enjoy it. It’s also good as a rewatch because it’s a bit forgettable I guess. Not as a bad thing but like it’s very generic in its form which makes it easy to forget.
1. INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
How could I not mention Indiana Jones? He is the true treasure hunter of our time. I love this one and there’s not much to add. Probably the best of the bunch and both the previous mentions saw this as inspiration. Also did you notice that all my three picks have one common colour scheme. All movies have an orange gif, two have an abundance of sand and well one does end up in a sandy cave like thing. Does that count as a theme within a theme? Oh and all three sorta have one white male lead with a sidekick and a female to complete the trio.
THIS SERIES IS CREATED BY WANDERING THROUGH THE SHELVES
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I never saw Sahara but I love Steve Zahn so I may have to! National Treasure is still a really fun movie, and Raiders is a classic. Great picks.
Sahara is fun, don’t expect a lot but just enjoy it while watching!
I agree Raiders is the best of the series, I love The Last Crusade as well but it’s missing Marian or more specifically Karen Allen who had such a great spiky chemistry with Harrison Ford. He and Sean Connery worked wonders in that film but it’s not the same thing. I remember going to see it in the theatre when it was new and having such a wonderful “movie” time watching it.
I didn’t enjoy of the other two quite as much but did like each. In both cases though I liked the sidekicks, Steve Zahn and Justin Bartha respectively, much more than the lead. I was more surprised by Sahara because word of mouth was so negative. It wasn’t art not nearly as bad as it was reputed to be.
I almost always get a kick out of treasure hunt films and have seen so many I decided to do a deep dive into the obscure for my three.
Green Hell (1940)-A group of fortune hunters lead by Keith Brandon (Douglas Fairbanks Jr) including David Richardson (Vincent Price) and Forrester (George Sanders) head deep into the South American jungle in search of rumored Incan treasure. Shortly after Richardson is killed by natives his wife Stephanie (Joan Bennett) arrives. Despite his loss she decides to stick it out and look for the booty but as the months tick by tempers and passions flare as the local heathens become increasingly hostile.
Plunder of the Sun (1953)-Down on his luck and short on funds insurance adjuster Al Colby (Glenn Ford) makes a deal with Thomas Berrien (Francis L. Sullivan), a crooked collector of antiquities to travel by ship to Oaxaca, Mexico smuggling a small package. During the voyage Berrien dies, Colby opens the package finding three parchments and a stone medal. Contacted by rival archaeologist Jefferson (Sean McClory) Colby discovers the parchments are a key to hidden treasure and the search is on!! Filmed in Mexico at the Zapotecan ruins of Mitla and Monte Alban.
Beyond Atlantis (1973)-When a fisherman wants to trade in his pearls for cash pimp Fast Eddie (Sid Haig) smells a fortune to be made and embarks on a treasure hunt to locate more. Joining with scuba driver Logan (John Ashley), adventurer Vic (Patrick Wayne, The Duke’s son) and Dr. Kathy Vernon (Lenore Stevens) they head to the island. Upon arrival they are met by a tribe of half fish/half humans led by Neraus (George Nader) and his beautiful daughter Syrene (Leigh Christian) who only seems to possess a skimpy bikini. The gang are looking for loot, but Syrene is looking for a chance to propagate for the good of the tribe! A real piece of Roquefort Cheese!!
Sidekicks are so strong in both Sahara and National Treasure. But then again I always liked those types of characters more.
Sahara always makes me laugh because when I saw it in theaters about five minutes in my now husband turned to me and said “I bet this this this and this happens” and he correctly guessed the entire movie. lol
Hahahaha well then that’s a greta memory to have with a movie!! 😀
Great picks and I almost went with National Treasure which is so much fun..both films. Same with Sahara which is very predictable and dumb but engaging. In both cases the hero’s sidekick steals the film, in my opinion. Raiders is the classic treasure hunt films but I was never enamoured with them, my favourite is the Last Crusade.
SIDEKICK love is strong with these ones indeed!
I’ve watched and liked all those movies, so kudos to you haha I like treasure hunt movies in general, but somehow only a limited amount of good movies comes to mind.
I feel like treasure hunt is such a hard genre to do too in a way. But you’re right not many come to mind right away.
Indiana Jones is the perfect pick – I wish I would have thought of that!
Still haven’t seen National Treasure…I think it’s because in the 2000s Cage did a lot of bad cheesy movies, and I had the impression this was another one of them