Corrected entry: In the 'guns are better than swords' scene when Indy is filmed from behind as he faces the swordsman he is not wearing a holster. But after shooting the swordsman he puts the gun in the visible holster.
Corrected entry: When Indy - in the opening scene - is running across the open field, dust is rising from him. And in the next cut - more dust. But when he started running there wasn't any.
Correction: There is a gap between him running in the forest, then running in the field that is not on film; more than enough time for him to take a tumble in the dirt.
Corrected entry: When Indy meets the government agents who are trying to get him to assist their quest to find Ravenwood, one of the agents is dressed appropriately for the time period; the other one (I think the actor is Bill Hootkins) is dressed in what appears to be a late 1970's style polyester light blue leisure suit. The style of the suit just doesn't fit the 1930's period. (00:16:05)
Correction: Suits in the 30's most definitely came in light colors, including blue.
Corrected entry: When Indy is in the Well of Souls trying to climb the statue, there is a snake on it. How did it manage to get there? (01:13:40)
Correction: The same way some snakes wind up in trees: it climbed.
Corrected entry: There is an awfully fast transition between nighttime and a clear, sunny morning during the scene where Indiana and Sallah are retrieving the Ark.
Correction: This is not a mistake. It's well into night, perhaps even after midnight, when they finally open the Well of Souls. The indication is that it took some time for Indy and Sallah to clear the snakes, locate the Ark, retrieve it, box it up and prepare the harness to lift it out.
Corrected entry: 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.
Correction: 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 entry: 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.
Correction: A red hot poker will cool quickly when exposed to cold air, and darken in colour.
Corrected entry: 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.
Correction: Already been submitted.
Corrected entry: 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.
Correction: 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.
Corrected entry: 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?
Correction: 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 entry: 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.
Correction: 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 entry: 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.
Correction: Not true. There is a large domed reflector around a lamp, shown lit at 1:44:45.
Corrected entry: 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?
Correction: 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 entry: 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.
Correction: They did come out with an immense force... just as they did with Forrestal.
Corrected entry: 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?
Correction: 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 entry: 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.
Correction: 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 entry: How could Sallah have known that the monkey died from a poisoned date and react quickly enough to stop it happening to Indy.
Corrected entry: 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.
Corrected entry: 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.
Correction: 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.
Corrected entry: 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.
Correction: Character mistake.
Correction: The holster is there the whole time. You can see it while he is running just before the swordsman appears. Indy's shirt has come untucked a bit on his right side, so when he's not running around the shirt hangs directly over his holster. This is why you can't see it during this sequence until he lifts the bottom of his shirt aside, draws, and fires.
Phixius ★