An Arab Henchman was one of a group of local misfits and criminals hired off the streets of Cairo, Egypt by German intelligence agents as part of their work to waylay threats and prevent interference to the Nazi excavation of nearby Tanis to unearth the lost Ark of the Covenant.
In 1936, the henchman assisted in the kidnapping of Marion Ravenwood after she and archaeologist Indiana Jones, who were looking for the Ark, got separated following the group's ambush of the pair in a Cairo marketplace.
Biography[]
By 1936, a German Gestapo agent and two associates had infiltrated Cairo, Egypt as part of the Nazi excavation of the lost Ark of the Covenant at Tanis.[2] Positioned to prevent threats to the ongoing work at Tanis, the German agent and his partners monitored the movements of American archaeologist Indiana Jones and bar owner Marion Ravenwood when they arrived in the city chasing the location of the Ark themselves.[1]
The waiting truck.
After an initial ambush by a group of robed men in dark keffiyeh only succeeded in separating Jones and Ravenwood from each other, a smaller group led by the German agent found Ravenwood hiding in a basket, a pair of local toughs took the basket, with Marion still inside, and began a mad dash through the streets of Cairo with Jones in close pursuit.[1]
The two eventually reached a German truck and dumped their package in the back with numerous explosives then fled while another man covered the street with a machine gun and the henchman clambered into the driver's seat.[1]
The gun-wielder kept Jones at bay, before retreating into the passenger seat of the truck and leaning out of the vehicle, his weapon trained on the archaeologist's position. With the basket containing Marion secretly switched out with a decoy and a German agent in the back, the driver began to bring the truck went forwards.
The driver's foot fell on the accelerator pedal.
Jones suddenly leapt out from behind cover and shot the passenger three times in the chest who slumped out of the truck while Jones quickly put a bullet into the driver. However, the henchman's foot fell onto the accelerator pedal which sent the vehicle toppling over. The truck was consumed by the detonation of the explosives in the back and left the devastated Jones thinking that Marion had been killed until he eventually learned of her survival at Tanis.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
The Arab Henchman was portrayed by an uncredited performer in Raiders of the Lost Ark.[1]
With the exception of those individually named in the film's credits, the Cairo-based Egyptian antagonists are all collectively called Arab Henchmen in the Raiders of the Lost Ark Sourcebook and share the same gameplay stats.[2]