Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Continuity mistake: When Lao Che's goons toss Indy onto the cart at Club Obi Wan, note the soles of Indy's shoes are entirely tan with black heels, but when the cart crashes into the bandstand we see the arches of Indy's soles are black and the heels are tan.

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: After Indy and Willie have jumped out the window at Club Obi Wan, when they land on the lower awnings and roll off we can see Willie's high-heels have become flats.

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: Right when Indy cuts the bridge and it dangles loose towards the rocky wall, notice that Willie is above Shorty, both in an X position (very likely replaced with dolls). In the close-up of the real actors, both are very close parallel to each other.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: During the mine race, the cart behind Indy's flips over and is launched far away from the tracks, yet a frame later it's laying down right on the track for a second cart to crash against it.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: The beginning of the bridge scene is really chaotic: Short walks several meters ahead, the wide angle shows he's alone, then a frame later he's several meters back plus with Willie next to him, then it cuts to him and again he's alone.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: While hanging from the bridge, when the Thuggee flies down, Indy is sometimes in a higher or lower place, depending on the shot.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the village, the three are surrounded by a huge crowd, yet when Short goes for a walk, half a second later, there's barely a dozen people in front of Indy and Willie. Then it cuts back to the previous wide angle and the huge crowd reappears.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Indy uses his whip to swing into the mine cart that Willie and Shorty are in, the way that he is holding the whip changes from shot to shot. Frontal shots show Indy holding the whip with his hands above his head. In shots from behind, Indy is holding the whip with his hands at his chest.

Continuity mistake: The dancers pick up some red handkerchiefs creating a narrow tunnel for Willie to walk through. A frame later they are spread 15 meters apart and just two dancers are parallel to each other holding the fabric.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: The side of the mountain with the bridge is irregular with rough edges when seen in the wide angles, but smooth in the close-ups.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Before the water tank falls, there's a shot on Mola Ram and his people next to it. Then there's a wide shot of the tank about to burst and the people running away from the area. Then the previous shot of Mola Ram standing calmly with his men by the tank is repeated, which makes no sense.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: During the mine cart scene, Indy is sometimes seated on the back, others on the front, with no logic whatsoever, and sometimes between one frame and another.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When the rickshaw crashes, the sailor jumps out. One second later, from a different angle, he is inside the rickshaw jumping out again.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Indy is in agony surrounded by candles, the three next to his feet change positions between shots.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When the three are leaning on the mountain with the jet of water, Short's arms are spread apart in the wide angle, but close to his body in the immediate close-up, a frame later.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Indy tries to grab the antidote vial from the table, in the closeup just as the vial falls off the table the camera follows the vial as it lands in the empty area to the left of Lao Che's chair where Kao Kan's chair should be, but it's not, and the rug's edge with wood floor beside Lao Che's chair though it shouldn't be. Then Indy hits Kao Kan who is again seated closely to Lao Che's left, as he should be, and when Kao Kan falls backward we see the rug edge is nowhere near Lao Che's chair, also as it should be. (00:08:20)

Super Grover

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

Suggested correction: Actually it appears the vial falls to the left of Kao Ken's chair, not Lao Che's. It appears after Indy pierces the other guy with the shishkebab, Kao Ken, off camera, takes the vial and puts on his left side. Indy jumps on the table and after missing the vial he slides further and then elbows Kao Ken who is on the right side now. The vial is still on the left side of Kao Ken's chair when it's kicked onto the wooden floor.

lionhead

You're very much mistaken. Lao Che is wearing an embroidered dinner jacket and has a pinky ring on his left pinky, and Kao Kan's left hand is bandaged in gauze. After Indy skewers Chen, in the closeup of Indy's hand just as it knocks the vial off the table, it's Lao Che's hand (note the pinky ring, etc) that we see on the table next to Nurhachi's urn, the stack of money, and the vial. That is not Kao Kan's hand/arm, remember his left hand is bandaged. And as this closeup continues to pan down it follows the vial as it lands on the floor in the empty space where Kao Kan's chair should be, but it isn't.

Super Grover

Yep, you're right I see it. There are 2 shots of Indy trying to grab the vial off the table and the second one is followed through with the vial falling off it and that one is wrong. Alright.

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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.

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Question: Why did Spielberg make Temple of Doom a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark? I read somewhere that he didn't want to make the Nazis the villains again, but that wouldn't be a problem since the Nazis never went to India or China.

MikeH

Answer: This is conjecture, but it seems the general function of setting Temple of Doom before Raiders of the Lost Ark is that it helps set audience expectations that the two movies are self-contained episodes. For instance, Karen Allen has said she wasn't disappointed about not being asked to return because she'd already been told that the next installment was being set in the past before her character is reunited with Indy. Conversely, since we're already aware Raiders makes no mention of the events of Temple of Doom, we know we shouldn't necessarily expect any further installments to continue directly from prior movies' storylines regardless if they are set forward in time.

TonyPH

Chosen answer: It was actually George Lucas who wrote the story, made it a prequel, and has stated it was because he didn't want the Nazis to be the villains again. The idea most likely seems if it wasn't a prequel, the Nazis could still be after Jones, even in China or India. But alas, there is really no other insight as to Lucas' prequel decision.

Bishop73

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