Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Shorty falls through the bridge, a large hole is made. Later on, the hole disappears. (01:41:55 - 01:42:50)

Other mistake: When fighting the sword wielding guards before getting on the bridge, Indy uses his bullwhip to disarm one of them. As the sword flies out of his hand it kind of hangs in the air as it falls. It is obviously a prop made of a very light material. (01:42:35)

Continuity mistake: On the bridge, an arrow suddenly appears to the right of Indy's foot seconds before any arrows are shot at him. (01:42:55)

Sacha

Factual error: In the scene at the end of the movie on the bridge, the fear of heights is increased by the shots of hungry reptiles waiting below. The reptiles shown are alligators. This is wrong: crocodiles are the animals that live in India, not alligators. (01:45:35)

Revealing mistake: Indy's bridge breaks and he is hanging by it with the natives shooting arrows at him. If you look closely you can see two arrows bounce off his back. All the other clatter noisily onto the cliff-face or stick in the bridge, so it's not like they've lost much force due to the range. (01:48:40)

Revealing mistake: At the end, the elephant that the kid is riding sprays Indiana and Willie with water. If you watch very carefully, Harrison winces in anticipation right before the water hits them. (01:52:30)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After Wu Han is shot there's a closeup of the gun in Chen's hand, and as the camera slowly pans up to Chen's face note the carnation is on Chen's right lapel, though in the previous and following shots Chen's boutonnière is on his left lapel. The closeup is a flipped shot.

Super Grover

Factual error: In the area with the lava Willie is put in a cage and lowered over the lava. She keeps dropping down until she is stopped what looks like a few feet above the lava. In reality she would have been incinerated by the heat.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The mine cart Willie pushes and then climbs into does not have an actual braking mechanism at the bottom of the braking pole, but after Indy joins Willie and Shorty in the mine cart there's a sudden appearance of a metal braking mechanism, which is attached to the pole and base of the cart, for use during the chase.

Super Grover

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: During Lao Che's car chase, when Short Round pulls up behind the rickshaw and slams on the accelerator, in the next shot just as the car speeds up, we can see the metal bar at the bottom front of the car leading to underneath the rickshaw, for the stunt. Then when the rickshaw crashes we can see the small third wheel at the base of the rickshaw's seat, allowing it to lean all the way back and roll on the ground for the stunt.

Super Grover

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When Indy and Willie jump out the window at Club Obi Wan, just as they crash through the glass note the white stunt leggings/knee-pads on Willie's legs above her shins. Willie's legs are bare when she lands on the lower awnings.

Super Grover

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: While clinging to the hanging bridge, just as Indy tries to grab Mola Ram's foot in the closeup we can see Indy's red harness and the wire cable protruding from his shirt. Then after Mola Ram orders his archers to shoot, when Short Round and Willie are shouting at Indy we can see a bit of Shorty's safety cable protruding from his shirt, and it's seen again after Mola Ram falls onto Indy, when Willie and Shorty are shouting once more.

Super Grover

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Continuity mistake: During the mine cart scene, right after Indy strikes the overhead metal bin, the next wideshot of the Thuggee goons is a flipped shot, note the stripe direction on their turbans and their cart's brake has switched sides. Then another shot with a view facing the front of Indy's cart looking back towards the Thuggee cart, note the brake at the front of Indy's cart has switched sides.

Super Grover

Plot hole: Mola Ram has his men knock over a vat of water in a last ditch effort to kill our heroes. First of all the vat can't be that big if it can be knocked down with a few sledgehammers. Secondly, for the amount of water that chases Indy and co. down the vat would have to be big enough to fill the room it's in, which obviously it's not. Third, Indy and co. travel through several large caverns during the mine cart chase, caverns that could easily swallow up any of the water flowing through the tunnels so there shouldn't be any water left to catch up to Indy by the time they stop.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Continuity mistake: All during the fight in the sacrifice temple, the strap across Indy's chest hangs from his left shoulder to his right side. When he hugs Shorty, the strap is reversed. Also, the blood on his mouth occasionally switches sides, as does the parting of his hair. They obviously flipped the negative. Fixed in some DVD versions.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When Indy and Willie jump out of the Obi Wan Nightclub, they fall through several awnings, the idea being that they will break the characters' fall. All well and good. But, if you look very carefully, you can see small taped-up cut marks which the crew made so the stunt men (and women) could effortlessly glide though the awnings.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Indy, Shorty and Willie are looking at the ritual from the "balcony" in the cave, they take a look at the big skull on the wall. The artifact stones aren't placed in the skull. In the next shot the stones are there. After a few seconds the camera turns and the stones aren't there again. Some minutes later some of the bad guys bring them and put them in the skull.

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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom trivia picture

Trivia: After the fight in the nightclub, when Indy and Willie make their escape, the name of the club is visible as they drive away - Club Obi Wan - a reference to Star Wars, also by George Lucas.

More trivia for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Question: Does anyone have a translation as to what the Mullaram says during the human sacrifice scenes? He chants something like 'Cully-ma, Cully-ma, Cully-ma sha-ti-day.' Also, what does the human sacrifice say? It sounds like 'Oh num-shi-vye.'

Answer: He says "kali ma, shakti day". This is hindi and means (literally) "black mother, give me power/strength". "Ohm nama Shivaya" means "I bow to Shiva." Both are Hindi.

More questions & answers from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

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