Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
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

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)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Revealing mistake: During the chase with the carts in the mine, in some of the shots, you can see that figures who are supposed to be Indy, Willie and Short Round are dummies. Indy's arm especially belongs to a mannequin in the shot where the cart almost derails. (01:36:00)

Will

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

Revealing mistake: To escape the Obi Wan Nightclub, Indy and Willie jump out the window and fall through several awnings. When they hit the second to last awning, there is a close up on the actors. Just before they hit the awning, there are butt-shaped indents in the fabric from a previous take.

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

Revealing mistake: During the mine cart scene, after Indy notices that the track cuts out, just as the mine cart flies over the expanse there's a vertical wire at the back of the cart, leading up to the top of the screen, and a horizontal wire at the front of the cart, leading toward the right side of the screen. Additionally, when the mine cart lands on the other track keep your eye on the top edge of the screen as something dips into view, but it's pulled back up immediately, right before the shot cuts away to Mola Ram. The wires and the mysterious object can be seen when viewed on Amazon Prime, but they seem to have been edited out of the DVD (2008 version) I own.

Super Grover

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When the second band of Thuggees are in the mine cart pursuing Indy's cart, note the metal bar attached to the back of Indy's mine cart which wasn't there before, for use during the ensuing stunt. That bar then disappears and reappears.

Super Grover

Revealing mistake: During car pursuit, when the Chinese thugs drive into the food stands and two of them fall onto the tables, you can see that at least one of them is a puppet from the way his arm is rigidly sticking out when he has fallen. It should have fallen to his side. (00:11:45)

Revealing mistake: During the "Anything Goes" dance number, the shot of the dancers doing the 'splits' is simply ran in reverse to produce the illusion that they're rising up from the stage floor.

Nicki

Revealing mistake: The skull which Indiana forces under one of the wheels in the spiked room's ceiling has a very straight, clean-cut line through the cranium. It has none of the imperfections or signs of growth which would occur naturally; this is a very fake-looking skull.

redbaron2000

Revealing mistake: When leaning against the mountain, in the wide shot Short's face turns totally black, Willie becomes semi-transparent, and Indy's chest becomes greyish colour, all because of the blue-screen effects.

Sacha

Revealing mistake: When the yellow raft slides down the snow, in the close-ups it turns white because of the blue-screen effect.

Sacha

Revealing mistake: When the rickshaw crashes, neither the driver nor the girl move at all. Instead the sailor stands up by his own means and jumps, which is a really bad stunt.

Sacha

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Revealing mistake: After Indy escapes from the conveyor belt, he runs on some suspended planks while being shot at. Watch the planks: There's black masking tape where the explosives are (which disappear in later shots). Furthermore, right before he takes out his whip, he grabs a railing where the bullet has just hit, and you can see that the black tape is dangling loose after the spark.

Sacha

Revealing mistake: When the plane lands against the snowy mountain, no parts fly all over and no snow shatters at all, revealing the composite trick.

Sacha

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: After Willie spits in Indy's face it cuts to Short Round running through the mine, and just as Shorty turns his head toward the camera behind him, we can catch a glimpse of something blue which does not belong in this dark dreary environment, at the right side of the screen. There is a tall spotlight and two crew members, one is wearing a solid blue shirt and a cap, and the other a blue/white striped shirt with white pants. (01:21:25)

Super Grover

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

Suggested correction: This takes place in milliseconds and there's no way to see it unless you pause the image or play it in slo-mo. It should be under trivia.

Sacha

Right now I have it playing on Netflix, and there is no slow motion. The striped blue shirt is noticeable as it plays without any slo-mo. If something catches my eye onscreen, it is fair game to go back and rewatch what was noticed in the first place. And in order for me to confirm what I find, I do pause, and may take screenshots. By the way, I've seen this movie countless times over the years, and it was just a matter of catching that glimpse of the color blue because it popped out against the dreary surroundings. I'll leave it up to Jon whether to move it to trivia or not.

Super Grover

Fair enough :).

Sacha

More mistakes in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Short Round: I keep telling you, you listen to me more, you live longer!

More quotes from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Trivia: Just like Indiana was named after George Lucas' dog, Willie was named after Steven Spielberg's dog and Short Round was named after screenwriters Bill Hyuck and Gloria Hatz's dog.

More trivia for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Question: When the man was hanged on the fan, what exactly happened? It seems like he was cut by the fan, but then there's no blood or anything. How exactly did he die? And why did the fan suddenly stop when he hit it?

MikeH

Chosen answer: His neck was snapped by the whip getting caught in the fan. There isn't always blood with a hanging. Since the fan wasn't designed to hold a man's weight, the motor in it would have stopped or given out.

Captain Defenestrator

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

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