Okay, here's something about Indiana Jones I didn't know until last night. My daughter and I went to a DGA event. It was a tribute to Steven Spielberg. The guest speakers were JJ Abrams and Jim Cameron. (!) We got to sit in the audience and watch these three guys talk about Spielberg's career. It was awesome. They showed several movie clips. One of the clips was from Raiders. It was the intricate action scene where Indy fights the mechanic in and around the Flying Wing while Marion sneaks into the cockpit, shoots a bunch of Nazi's and accidentally hits a fuel tank and sends a river of fuel headed towards burning debris. It's this detailed, escalating series of action/fight/ events that climaxes in the gruesome death of the mechanic (by spinning propeller) as Marion and Indy race away from the plane as the fuel hits the fire and EXPLODES. Was this sequence story boarded? No. Spielberg revealed, (and this what I didn't know) he made it up as he went along. Just adding ideas as he shot until he finally got the completed sequence we see in the film.
Jim Cameron joked,: "Knowing now that you didn't story board any of that -- that you just MADE IT UP on the day of shooting -- I can't tell you how much that pisses me off!"
Steven Spielberg is a God. And Raiders remains one of the very best movies I've ever seen.
Alan