The Desert Chase

Indiana Jones: "I'm going after that truck."

Sallah: "How?"

Indiana Jones: "I don't know. I'm making this up as I go."

―Indiana Jones and Sallah^[src]

The Desert Chase occurred in 1936 when Indiana Jones attempted to recover the Ark of the Covenant from the Nazis as they were moving it from the Tanis dig site to Cairo, in order to fly it to Berlin. It ended with Jones reclaiming the Ark, and the deaths of several Nazi soldiers and officers.

Event chronology

After the destruction of the Flying Wing, Colonel Dietrich decided that moving the Ark to Cairo by truck was the next safest option. A convoy was assembled, and the Ark was loaded onto the cargo truck outside of Dietrich's command tent. The Arab diggers were displeased with the Ark being loaded up, and Nazi soldiers had to fire in the air to prevent the diggers from storming the convoy. Jones, Sallah, and Marion Ravenwood watched the convoy depart from a nearby mound.

Jones instructed Sallah and Ravenwood to meet him in Cairo at Omar's Garage, and get transport to England arranged, while he went after the Ark. Jones acquired an Arabian stallion from the camp and head out after the Nazi convoy, riding past the Arab workers. Cutting across the gullies, he soon caught up with the convoy, and riding down a steep hill, pulled along side the cargo truck.

Jones' Arabian stallion closes in on the truck.

The gunner in the troop car opened fire, until Jones pulled ahead to the safety of beside the truck. The gunner stopped when his bullets got dangerously close to the soldiers guarding the Ark in the back of the truck. René Belloq, in the lead staff car, watched in shock as Jones leapt from his horse to the side of the truck. Opening the passenger door, Jones reached in and threw out the Nazi soldier sitting on the passenger side, and then tackled the driver. The two men grappled with each while also trying to control the vehicle. A hit on the brakes and the truck decelerated quickly, sliding the Ark forward in the cargo area, and causing Major Gobler's vehicle to rear end the truck. The driver hit the accelerator, pushing the Ark back into its proper place, but knocking a soldier out of the back, and through the windshield of Gobler's car. Working together to maintain control, the truck veered away from a building under construction, but plowed through much of the scaffolding and ladders, knocking down several Arab construction workers, one of whom landed briefly on the hood of the truck and caught a glimpse of the two men struggling for the steering wheel. After the worker fell off, the driver and Jones shared a laugh of relief before Jones punched him and threw him out the driver's door.

Gobler's car jockeys for position.

Now in control of the truck by himself, Jones rammed it into the front staff car, carrying Dietrich, Belloq, Toht and their Blond Driver. The car was forced off the road, and under a makeshift aqueduct, but quickly recovered and pulled ahead of Jones, who smashed into the aqueduct supports, spilling water over the front of the truck. Heading into a grove of palm trees, Gobler tried to pull along the right side the truck and let his gunner open fire, but Jones saw the car in his mirror and knocked it off course. Gobler's car went off road, but kept driving. The motorcycle at the tail of the convoy tried to pass the truck on the left, but Jones was ready for it, and nudged it into a pool. Both soldiers in the motorcycle got out and watched as Gobler's car pulled back behind Jones. Gobler pulled alongside again, and his gunner tried to shoot Indy, but the archaeologist knocked the troop car off of a large cliff, where Gobler, his gunner, and another officer tumbled to their deaths.

In the back of the cargo truck, a Tough Sergeant ordered four of his men to kill Jones and take control of the truck by climbing along the sides of the truck. Jones saw the men climbing over the side of the truck in his rear-view mirrors and ran through the trees, which knocked off the two men on each side. When the last soldier fell off, he ripped open a hole in the cover of the cargo area. One of the remaining soldiers crawled through the hole and moved up toward the cab, drawing his pistol. Before Jones could kick the door open, the soldier shot the archaeologist in the shoulder before Jones could successfully kick him off the side, with the passenger door.

The sergeant, being the last one in the back, took charge. This time, he climbed over the truck and made it to the front, sliding through the driver's window. He punched Jones' bullet wound several times and threw him through the windshield. Jones managed to grab on hood ornament, and after that broke, onto the truck's grill. Dietrich ordered the sergeant to speed up so that they can ram into each other and squish Jones. Indy climbed under the truck, avoiding a deadly sandwich, and used his whip to allow himself to be dragged behind the truck. Climbing back along the whip, Jones eventually climbed back aboard the truck and reached the cab. Belloq desperately tried to warn the sergeant of Jones' return but it was no use. Indy beats up the sergeant and threw him out the front. The sergeant, now in Jones' former position, tried to hang onto the front grill, but it came loose, and he lost his grip and the truck ran him over. Jones then caught up to the staff car, and knocked it off the road and into the dirt. The driver reversed to get back on the road, but Jones had gotten a sizable headstart.

Reaching Cairo, Jones drove the truck to Omar's Garage, where he was expected. Quickly, Omar and his friends disguised the garage entrance as a fruit market stall, hiding the truck. Dietrich's staff car arrived in the plaza, and looped around the traffic circle, having lost sight of the truck. Two Arabs approached the car and offered to sell melons, and Dietrich, in a rage at losing the Ark, smashed one of the fruits.

Chase participants

• Staff Car
  • Blond Driver
  • Arnold Ernst Toht
  • Colonel Dietrich
  • René Belloq
• Cargo truck
  • Cargo truck driver
  • Cargo truck passenger
  • Ark Guards (7) in back of the truck, with Ark of the Covenant:
    • Tough Sergeant
• Troop car
  • Major Gobler
  • Lieutenant
  • Machine gunner
• Motorcycle with side car
  • Motorcycle driver
  • Motorcycle passenger
• Indiana Jones, on an Arabian stallion
• Arab construction workers
• Omar
• Arab melon vendors

Behind the scenes

Nazi car model
From Star Wars To Indiana Jones

• The truck chase is depicted differently in different sources:
  • In the novel, script, and comic book the Lieutenant did not appear. Instead Toht rode in his place.
  • The sergeant was killed in early versions of the script by 'Shliemman' (the character that would later become Dietrich) who is afraid that if the sergeant kills Jones, then the truck will crash and damage the Ark. The shooting of the sergeant by Dietrich is depicted in the storybook adaptation.
  • In the comic book adaptation, there were no soldiers in the back of the truck. Only the driver and the passenger.
  • In the film after Indy jumps off the horse and throws the passenger out, the horse disappears.
  • In LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures Indy and Sallah are on top of various trucks fighting soldiers. Indy didn't go horseback, Gobler, his truck, the motorcycle, and the sergeant did not appear.
• The LEGO set Race for the Stolen Treasure replaced the Ark with a treasure chest and replaced Gobler with a nameless solider.
• The scene in which Gobler's car drives off a cliff was an ILM effects shot using a matte painting as the backdrop, and composite shots of a vehicle model and puppets.
• Recent airings of Raiders of the Lost Ark on USA and the Sci-Fi Channel appear to have redone the shot of Gobler's car falling down the chasm in CGI. This was not done for the 2008 DVD release however, and there is no official comment from LucasFilm on the matter as of the moment.

Apppearances

• Raiders of the Lost Ark novel (First appearance)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Raiders of the Lost Ark comic
• Raiders of the Lost Ark storybook
• LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (Non-canonical appearance)

Sources

• From Star Wars To Indiana Jones - The Best of the Lucasfilm Archives
• Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide
• Indiana Jones: The Official Magazine 4