Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

The opening temple raid, with the idol, the boulder and the getaway plane, is the best argument ever made that movies can be pure fun. Harrison Ford plays Indiana Jones as a hero who gets hurt, improvises and visibly hates snakes, which makes him easy to root for. It's the first Indiana Jones adventure, so there's nothing to catch up on, and Steven Spielberg keeps all 115 minutes moving. It won five Oscars, mostly for its craft. One warning for the squeamish: the finale is famously gruesome for a few seconds.