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Greater love hath no movie fans than what a trio of Mississippi teens had for Indiana Jones, and their weird journey reaches its end in the fun documentary "Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made."
It started in 1982, when 11-year-olds Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala saw "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and decided they would shoot an exact copy at home, with Chris portraying Indiana Jones, Eric acting as director and a third classmate, Jayson Lamb, handling the special effects and pyrotechnics.
The documentary weaves together the history of that fan film and how they did a lot with no budget without burning their parents' houses down, while also showing the now-adult Strompolos and Zala trying to finish the one scene they could never do as kids: the flying wing sequence, where Indy fights a muscular guy under a rolling Nazi aircraft.
Utah filmmakers Tim Skousen and Jeremy Coon also collect interviews with Hollywood types, including director Eli Roth and "Raiders" co-star John Rhys-Davies, to show how far this kids' project got out into the world. Skousen and Coon, who worked in various capacities on the no-budget "Napoleon Dynamite," have an obvious empathy for these do-it-yourself film fanatics, and that cinephilia pours out of this warm-hearted movie.
(Friday's 7 p.m. screening will be followed by a live Q&A by Skousen and Coon, then with a screening of the fan-film "adaptation" of "Raiders of the Lost Ark.")
'Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made'
Opens Friday, June 17, at the Tower Theatre; not rated, but probably PG-13 for language, some violence and drug references; 93 minutes.