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]
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. The two eventually reached a German truck and dumped their package in the back with numerous explosives then fled while an Arab henchman covered the street with a machine gun.[1]
The henchman firing his gun at Indiana Jones.
The man kept Jones at bay with gunfire, before retreating into the passenger seat of the truck and leaning out of the vehicle, gun 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 forwards. Jones suddenly leapt out from behind cover and shot the henchman three times in the chest. The passenger slumped out of the truck, before the vehicle itself toppled over and was eaten by the detonation of the explosives in the back after Jones put a bullet in its driver.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
The Arab Henchman was portrayed by an uncredited Paul Weston in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Weston also played several other Arabs, as well as one of the Nazi soldiers aboard the cargo truck and one of the soldiers aboard a troop carrier shot down by Marion Ravenwood.
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]