Just before the car carrying Marion in the wicker basket explodes in the alley, Indiana shoots a man twice in the chest. The man has blood stains on his shirt before he is shot. [This mistake was already listed.]
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Quotes
Belloq: You and I are very much alike. Archeology is our religion, yet we have both fallen from the pure faith. Our methods have not differed as much as you pretend. I am but a shadowy reflection of you. It would take only a nudge to make you like me. To push you out of the light.
Indiana: Now you're getting nasty.
Mistakes
When the village crowd separates and reveals a standoff between Indy and the black-robed swordsman, the rear shot of Indy shows his hip-bag to the rear of him, the frontal shot of Indy shows his hip-bag on the forward part of his hip. See more...
Trivia
The film was originally given an "R" rating by the MPAA because of Belloq's death (his head explodes and showers everywhere). To overcome the ratings, Spielberg had flames superimposed over the image (although it thins slightly as the head detonates). See more...
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - 66 corrections
Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Alfred Molina, Denholm Elliott, Harrison Ford, John Rhys-Davies, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman (add more)
Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. As such, any aggressive/abusive corrections (and I get quite a few) written as if they're comments I've made myself will be ignored. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click the edit icon under an entry, then choose "correct entry". Some entries have "duplicated entry" after them - these are entries which were already listed on the main page, but were submitted again. I occasionally leave these online for a while, just in case they were moved in error, so don't worry about pointing them out to me.
Just before the car carrying Marion in the wicker basket explodes in the alley, Indiana shoots a man twice in the chest. The man has blood stains on his shirt before he is shot. [This mistake was already listed.]
In the scene where Indy and Sallah are walking to the Well of Souls,in the middle of the desert, they pass a man with a running hose in his hand. [Why is this a mistake? There are any number of ways to get a running hose in the desert (connected to a pump at a well, connected to a portable water tank, etc.).]
Corrected by Guy Brigman
When Indy whips the red hot poker out of the Nazi's hand, it is glowing brightly. But when it lands next to the curtain, the color is much darker. [A red hot poker will cool quickly when exposed to cold air, and darken in colour.]
The Mark VII gas bag that Indy carries was not made until well into the second world war. They were used in the movie because the prop department found that they were cheap and plentiful. [Already been submitted.]
In the scene at the beginning of the movie where Indy is running from the large boulder, if you look at the left side of the boulder, you can see a stick or post attached to the boulder as it is rolling towards him. [This could have been put there by the people who built the place, to guide the boulder in the correct direction, for instance, instead of rolling into the pit Indy and Satipo had just swung over.]
After Indiana Jones has run the staff car containing Belloq, Toht, et al, off the road to Cairo with the truck, look at the driver of the staff car- he immediately anticipates Paul Freeman (Belloq) striking him two seconds before Freeman actually does by covering his head to protect himself from Freeman's hit. [The driver knows what kind of man Belloq is. He knows Belloq will blame him for what had just happened. It's entirely reasonable he'd brace himself for what he assumes is coming.]
Corrected by Phixius
At the very beginning of the film, Jones arrives at the temple with two companions. He leaves in a biplane, which is waiting for him on a nearby river. The biplane has only two seats. How were his companions going to get out of the area, which is swarming with hostile natives? Swim? [They are never shown arriving together, so who says they did? They just worked together. Apparently, each person arranged for their own transportation in and out of the jungle. Indy's was at the ready, the others' was not. And how were they to know that hostile natives would be so pressing a concern upon leaving?]
Corrected by Phixius
The journey to the temple at the film's start has taken some time, as evidenced by the presence of guides and pack animals, and Satipo's fear that the poisoned dart means they are being followed - yet when escaping the natives, Indiana Jones returns to his transport after only a brief run. [Wrong turns, twisting paths, perhaps even starting off in the wrong direction; all these things could mean days in the jungle when their goal turns out to be only a few hundred yards away from where they started. Just because they've been searching the jungle for a long time does not mean they actually wound up too terribly far from where they first arrived.]
Corrected by Phixius
When Indy and Marion are tied to the stake while the Nazis are opening the Ark, there are a few shots where R2D2's helmet is perched on top of the stake. [Not true. There is a large domed reflector around a lamp, shown lit at 1:44:45.]
Corrected by John W Rosa
In the scene where Indy has the bazooka like weapon pointed at the Arc of the Covenant, Beloq and Indy are talking. At one point when Beloq is talking, a fly enters his mouth and he seems to have absolutely no reaction at all. [How is this a movie mistake? I wouldn't even call this a character mistake; that sounds exactly like Beloq. Too dignified to spit, sputter, or even momentarily falter in his speech.]
Corrected by Phixius
When walking towards the temple in the opening scene, Indy finds an arrow in a tree. His helper tastes the poison and says, 'Poison's still fresh. Three days.' The other guy says, 'They are following us'. Well, if they were following them, how could they be ahead of them? And if Indy arrived by plane - and has a pilot sitting and waiting - how could a three day old arrow be a sign that the Indians were following them??? [It's just been three days since that arrow was made, meaning it hasn't been sitting in the tree for fifteen years and finding it was mere coincidence. If the poison was fresh to the day then it would likely come from natives who just happened to be in the area hunting. Since it's three days old, that tells us someone had to do some hunting while traveling a great distance with a ready-made supply of ammunition. Why else, and in that particular area at that particular time, but to keep track of our hero?]
Corrected by Phixius
When Indy leaves the temple with the gold idol, his 'helper' is found killed by spears. But he is on the same side of the room as the spears. How could they have come out of the wall - penetrating him - and still be on that side of the room. He would have had to have been walking very close to the wall - and the spears would have had to come with an immense force to penetrate him while standing. [They did come out with an immense force... just as they did with Forrestal.]
Corrected by JC Fernandez
Indy is surprised by finding Jack's pet snake in the plane. But how could he not have noticed it on the flight into the forest? [The snake presumably wasn't in Indy's part of the plane when they flew in and has simply moved while the plane was stationary and waiting for Indy to return.]
Corrected by Tailkinker
Marion changes into the red pants and embroidered white shirt once they get to Egypt. This shirt is actually a traditional Ukrainian national costume blouse, not anything likely to be purchased at a market in the Middle East. In fact, this shirt was purchased in the Ukrainian store Arka on the Lower East Side of NYC, where they display a signed picture of Karen Allen wearing it. [The Black Sea separates Ukraine from many of the countries generally considered to be part of the "Middle East". Trading over sea would have been the norm in the time this film is set. It is not impossible for that shirt to be found in Egypt, considering this. Especially not when you also consider the type of fare normally found at these markets; they've got great variety from many places. Trade for these people isn't just a business, it's a livelihood; and the only way to stay successful is to have something to sell that no one else is selling. That shirt would be a rare find in such a place, to be sure, but that doesn't make this a movie mistake.]
Corrected by Phixius
How could Sallah have known that the monkey died from a poisoned date and react quickly enough to stop it happening to Indy. [He saw a previously virile monkey suddenly dead with a pilfered date nearby. He put two and two together. Pretty straightforward.]
Corrected by Phixius
In the scene where Marion is having the drinking contest in her bar, look at her opponent's left wrist. There is a visible mark where the actor's watch strap goes. [Wristwatches existed in the 1930's.]
Corrected by Phixius
In the bar fight scene when the Cossack has the gun pointed at Indy, straight after he gets shot but just before the blood runs out of his mouth you can see him chewing on the blood capsule in his mouth. [Did you actually see the blood capsule, or are you making an assumption? After being shot, he could be just moving his mouth as if he were gritting his teeth in pain, not necessarily breaking open a blood pack.]
Indy snaps the staff in half to stop the bad guys figuring out how long it has to be to be used in the Map Room. That's not going to work. They could easily put the two pieces together again. He needs to snap it into three segments and take the centre one with him. [Character mistake.]
Corrected by Twotall
When Belloq and Dietrich are about to start interrogating Marion, Toht arrives and raises his scorched hand. He says "Hail Hitler", but it surely should be "Heil Hitler". There wouldn't be any need to speak in English, not even for the audience's benefit. [Hail and Heil sound very similar. Add Toht's accent to the confusion and there is no way to say with certainty that he is saying "Hail" and not "Heil."]
Corrected by Phixius
In the Himalayan bar scene, when Indy comes in to save Marion from The Henchmen, the gun Indy is holding changes from a revolver in one shot to a semi-automatic pistol in the next shot. [Although he's never seen using them together in the same shot, the movie implies that Indy has two guns. He's seen using his revolver during the truck chase and the fight with the german mechanic, his automatic when the Nazi's seize Katanga's ship and both at various points during the bar fight. If you watch closely during the bar fight, you can actually see Indy quickly grab at his bag at one point, the implication being, he switched guns when he ran out of bullets.]
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