Watch (and listen) to the climax of Raiders of the Lost Ark carefully. When Belloq (Paul Freeman) has the ark opened at the island location of Geheimhaven base, Colonel Dietrich (Wolf Kahler) looks on, along with fearsome Gestapo agent Toht (Ronald Lacey).
Belloq is horrified to see the Ark is full of nothing but sand – presumably the long-since crumbled remains of Moses’ stone tablets – and Dietrich is disgusted, reaching in to scoop up a handful of sand to throw contemptuously. Toht starts to laugh and turns away, Belloq looks crestfallen, Indy gives a wry smile.
But then the electrical generator starts to spark and quake and lights dotted all throughout the ceremony explode. Is the sound effect familiar? Exactly – Raiders producer and co-writer George Lucas opened his vault and pulled out the sound of Star Wars blaster impacts.