Raiders of the Lost Ark

Continuity mistake: At the market in Cairo just after one of the guys tries to kill Indy with a sword and misses, the shadow from the wall changes between shots.

oswal13

Continuity mistake: When Indiana is fighting the bad guys at the market in Cairo, one of them kills another one with a sword instead of Indy - their position changes between shots.

oswal13

Continuity mistake: Belloq grabs the idol from below its ear. When the angle changes he is holding it by the idol's temple.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When the guy at the start who betrayed Indy is shown stabbed by many spears, in the shot when Indy says "adios", he stays with him the entire shot. However, in the next shot, he's far away from him.

MikeH

Continuity mistake: When seen from the outside the entry hole to the Map Room is quite vertical. The angle is different when seen from the inside. Further, the hole is so vertical that the sun wouldn't be high enough to shin through the hole at 9 am.

Jacob La Cour

Continuity mistake: After the door to the Well of Souls is opened, Indy and Sallah take a sneak peek at the inside, immediately after, from a new angle, Indy sneaks in again.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: The position of the dead monkey and the date next to him changes between the first and second angle.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: The morning after Indy makes out with Marion, when he goes to check why the boat engines have stopped, the position of her hands, the wrinkles on the blanket and the dress behind the bed change positions between angles.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Indy walks to the hill where the ark is, holding a shovel that keeps facing different directions depending on the camera angle. Also, Indy holds it either by its black metal part or by the wooden stick. This all changes back and forth.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the map room, Indy places his brush facing a 9 o'clock direction. A frame later it faces a 6 o'clock.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the map room, Indy brushes the sand off of a stone, leaving a clean horizontal trail. A frame later, in the close-up, the upper left part above the trail is suddenly clean.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Belloq traps Indy in the Well of Souls the sky keeps swapping between a dim yellow dawn sky, and a brilliant morning blue sky.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the bar, the Nazi plays with the fireplace and threatens Marion, who takes a cigarette to her lips. A frame later, her hand is in a totally different position.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: After the guy with the patch and the monkey greets the Nazis, Marion and Indy are seen walking through town, passing by an arched door. A frame later, from a different angle, they are passing by again and the amount of people around has increased.

Sacha

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: Just as Indy and Sallah walk near the table with the soldiers eating, on the dune in the background (near the Map Room), four crew members (not wearing German uniforms or Arabian tunics, but shirts and jeans) can be seen sitting, watching the scene. (00:54:46)

Big Game

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Already listed: https://www.moviemistakes.com/entry162690.

Sacha

This is not the same mistake as the one you listed. Yours speaks about the style of the box (that changes from vertical planks to horizontal planks). Mine speaks about the size and position of the text.

Big Game

Mine is about the box and the text "The 'Top Secret' sign is put on the crate across vertically laid planks. A shot later the sign appears slanted." Yours is a duplicate.

Sacha

Yours never mentions the size of the text or the position of it with respect to the box's side bars. Of course, your mistake is still correct, but mine is not a duplicate of it.

Big Game

Slanted is a definition of the position.

Sacha

Other mistake: The Angel of Death attacks the altar and Toht and Dietrich scream because of its revelation, but Belloq, for some reason, doesn't seem to see it. Just before the fire column rises, he's still calm. (01:47:10)

Big Game

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: If you don't know the reason, perhaps you should ask a question instead of assuming it is a mistake. Belloq studied the ark and probably better predicted what might come out of the ark. He is also looking directly into the ark and is mesmerized by what he is seeing, until eventually he does scream before his head explodes. The other two are terrified at seeing the apparitions.

lionhead

Actually, it's pretty impossible that Belloq studied the Ark. If he knew what would come out of it, he literally committed suicide by opening and watching the Ark open, which doesn't make sense. He believed during the whole movie that the Ark contained the Ten Commandments tablets, not some kind of ghastly things.

Big Game

He didn't know what would come out, but it doesn't mean that he, like Indy, expected just 2 stone tablets. He expected power, for him mostly.

lionhead

Continuity mistake: When Indy sits down in the seat of the plane look behind him, there is nobody holding a Life magazine or fitting the description of the man later shown watching him from the other seat.

jbrbbt

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: This is not true. Dennis Muren enters just before Indy and sits down. The camera focuses on Indy, giving Muren enough time to grab the magazine and cover his face.

Big Game

Sallah: Indy, why does the floor move?
Indiana: Give me your torch. [He drops it in and sees why.] Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?
Sallah: Asps. Very dangerous. You go first.

More quotes from Raiders of the Lost Ark

Trivia: When a Nazi falls from the back of the truck carrying the Ark, a "Wilhelm scream" can be heard.

More trivia for Raiders of the Lost Ark

Question: Considering how powerful and dangerous the Ark is, why would Indy hand it over to the United States government, instead of putting it back where it was found and to ensure it's never located, lie to them and say him or the Nazis never found it?

Answer: Indy and Marcus Brody believed that the Ark needed to be studied. They certainly didn't want to put it back where it was found. They believed that the U.S. government would find the best archaeologists, researchers, and scientists in the world to study the Ark. They are both upset that instead, the government has decided to simply lock the Ark away. This is why Indy says, "Fools. They don't know what they've got there," as he is leaving the building.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: To add to the previous answer, there is no way that the ark could have been secretly returned to where it was found and then conveniently forgotten. Too many people already knew of its existence and location. It would only be a matter of time before someone more sinister would retrieve it.

raywest

More questions & answers from Raiders of the Lost Ark

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.