Corrected entry: Once Indy gets past the blades, he stops them and shouts that he is through, once past the "Leap of Faith", he throws sand on the bridge to make it visible. But what about the "Word of God" device? Indy does not shout what to do, and as pointed out, Donovan & Elsa didn't know what else was in the book (about the final challenge). They didn't even know that the second device was called the "Word of God". Unless she took a wild guess that they had to spell Iehovah...
Corrected entry: The gorgeous temple that is carved into the canyon of the crescent moon's cliffs has since been blown up by the Taliban. What a shame.
Correction: You are confusing with the destruction of the rock-carved Buddha that was blown up by the Taliban in 2001. The "temple" you are referring to is in Petra, Jordan.
Corrected entry: Kasim says his group has sworn for hundreds of years to keep the Holy Grail safe and yet they leave the Venice catacombs and the other part of the map undamaged for all that time instead of destroying it. Also why not have any protection inside and outside of the temple if his group was aware that the Nazis knew where the temple was?
Correction: The details of the plot explain much of this. Even with the maps and the Nazis inside the temple, the Holy Grail was still safe. And they only need to keep it safe from falling into the wrong hands, not safe from being discovered. And the eternal life it grants only occurs if you stay in the temple (which is destroyed when trying to remove the Holy Grail).
Corrected entry: The film is set in 1938, yet the Jones' fly to Europe from America on a commercial airliner and attempt to leave Germany in a Zeppelin. Pan America's first commercial transatlantic airliner didn't take off until May of 1939, and commercial Zeppelin flights were suspended after the Hindenberg's crash in May of 1937.
Correction: Pan-American airlines was offering transatlantic charter service on its M-130 flying boat in 1934. Several other carriers, American and European were offering commercial transatlantic flights by 1938 although most were charters. Indy's patron is shown to be very wealthy and could charter any plane he wished. Also, although transatlantic zeppelin service ended with the Hindenburg crash, lighter-than-air craft were used frequently for passenger transport, especially in Europe. The airship Indy and Henry board is much too small to be a Hindenburg / Graf Zeppelin class ship anyway; it is more likely a helium or helium/hydrogen dirigible for short to medium haul trips.
Corrected entry: In the scene in the castle, the weather outside is changing dramatically. When Indy enters his father's room, it is very dark and pouring rain. When in Elsa's room, the sunrise is shining brightly through the windows. When in the large hall, we can hear thunder again and see reflections of water running down the windows.
Correction: This is actually very natural. I've been in the middle of terrible storm and suddenly it stopped for a few moments and she sun shone through. Then it started up again.
Corrected entry: After the "Protectors of the Grail" set the petrol alight to kill Indy and Elsa, they must have thought that they couldn't survive it. Yet they then run out of the library fast and look around to find them, as though they expected them to escape. (00:35:30 - 00:36:45)
Correction: Perhaps their goal was not to kill them, but to flush them out of the sewers? They apparently knew the Venice system well and knew that escape was possible. It's not unlikely they knew about Jones and judged him likely to survive, at least likely enough to try to cover the exits.
Perhaps, apparently, not unlikely... While the mistake is not terribly shocking, the correction is mostly speculation.
Corrected entry: Why is there a sea of petroleum below Venice - and how can it be below the water line? (The basement is deeper than the distance from the surface of the ground to the surface of the water in the next scene).
Corrected entry: The Joneses leave Berlin in the Zeppeliner. After supposedly no more than 1-2 hours flight they escape in a biplane and crash after a few minutes. Nevertheless they have reached the Mediterrenean. That would have taken a lot longer.
Correction: We do not know how long the Zeppelin was under way when the Jones's escape with the biplane. It might actually have been four to five hours - there's no real indicator of the passed time.
Corrected entry: After the Grail protector is shot, his shirt covers up his chest, and then someone opens up his shirt to reveal the logo on his chest. Is this normal Nazi practice to check the chests of people after they've died? The Grail Protector gave no indication to the Nazis as to who he was, therefore it was illogical for the Nazis to check.
Correction: A character displaying curiosity is now a plot hole, is it? Do bear in mind that these are Nazis who are specifically looking for the Grail and have studied the legends surrounding the artifact in considerable detail, so they're likely to be aware of possible opposition groups. When they're ambushed and Kazim refers to himself as a messenger from God, it seems entirely reasonable that they would check his chest to see if he carries any identifying marks corresponding to the legends. Given the circumstances, it would really be pretty illogical for them not to check.
Corrected entry: When Indy and Marcus are in Indy's father's house, one of the letters in the mail on the desk has a three cent Texas centennial stamp on it, which was 1945, not 1938. This can easily be seen in the closeup.
Correction: The Texas Centennial was celebrated in 1936 to celebrate Texas's independence from Mexico in 1836, not its statehood in 1845, which some in the state still lament. Texas Centennial stamps could therefore have still been in circulation in 1938.
A correction to the correction. The original entry is correct. The blue Texas Centennial stamp is for the Centennial of the State of Texas in 1945. The stamp was issued by the U.S. Post Office on December 29th, 1945. Reference: Scott Stamp Catalogue, catalog #938. They should have used U.S. Scott #776, which was issued in 1936 for Texas Independence.
Corrected entry: As Donovan and Indy are looking at the tablet, Donovan's wife enters the room to say he is neglecting his guests. Donovan answers her and as she retreats from the room, she nods at Indy to acknowledge him, although in the very next shot, Indy's got his back to her. (00:19:40)
Correction: Indy did have his back to her, ignoring her, but being a good hostess, she nodded to him anyway. A lady like that would not be put off her manners by Indy's boorish behaviour, engrossed as he was with Donovan's artifacts and proposal.
Corrected entry: In the library scene Indy spots the Roman numeral X on the floor. The X is a dark green and the marble around it is a light green colour. When Indy eventually smashes through it the camera pans back to show that the X has gone and that all the marble is dark green. (00:27:50 - 00:28:45)
Correction: The X has not disappeared- it is just barely visible. Part of the challenge is that the X is only visible when looked upon at a height.
Corrected entry: In the tank scene, a German fires a bullet which hits the tank driver and he falls on to the controls, turning the tank. As almost everyone in the tank is dead/unconscious nobody would move the body so the tank should go round in circles.
Correction: Henry Jones Sr and Marcus Brody were in the tank when this happened and they weren't killed nor knocked out. It is likely that they moved the body.
Senior and Marcus are consistently depicted as totally useless in practical situations. They get out and there's no indication that they contributed anything like that off camera. The original mistake should stand?
Yes. They had no reason to move the body.
The body could just as easily have slid off.
Yeah, in THIS case I can see that happening. I've never driven a WWII tank, but car steering rights itself. (Although I still think that some of the other rebuttals for this movie's mistakes are way beyond generous.)
Corrected entry: In the scene where Indy and Dr. Shneider are looking for the Roman numerals in the library, look closely at the signs specifying where to go to find a specific category. You may need to use the Zoom button, but they are printed in English. They are in Venice: the signs should be in Italian.
Correction: Many public buildings have English signs in addition to the native language. The only airport I have ever been to that had signs only in its country's native language was in England, every other country having signs in more than one language. I've been to libraries, museums, restaurants and shopping centers in Russia with signs in both Russian and English.
Airports? Hardly relevant. I'm sure that in this century there are many places with English orientation. But an Italian library in 1938 (an extra nationalistic time, even apart from normal chauvinism)? At the very least the signs should have been bilingual.
Corrected entry: There is a problem with the following scene: The Nazi plane crashes into the tunnel, slides past Harrison Ford and Sean Connery and explodes when exiting the tunnel. The problem is that the plane shouldn't explode since its wings (filled with gas) were torn off. It couldn't have been a bomb attached to the plane either, since, as it is seen only seconds afterwards, a bomb would leave a big crater in the street and make it impossible for the car to go on. Yet, Harrison Ford has no problems at all driving through what's left of the plane.
Correction: The engine and hosing that delivers the gas to it is attached to the fuselage.
Could someone elaborate on the proposed correction please?
The engine can still explode and there could hypothetically still be fuel in the hosing connected to the engine.
But there's not a LOT of fuel left there, when the tanks fell off half a minute earlier. It's not a terribly entertaining mistake, granted, because some movies really do need explosions. But it might be technically valid in a boring way.
Corrected entry: When Indiana and Henry is escaping the castle, Indiana sets off a motorboat to trick the Nazis that they're in it. The Nazis falls for the trick, but Indiana initiates escaping with the motorbike way too early, being spotted immediately, rendering the boat bait pointless. If only Indiana would had waited for the Nazis to get enough far away, the following bike chase could have been avoided. (01:02:40)
Correction: They were inside the closed box (which is open in the back I reckon) so he couldn't tell if they fell for it already. It was too early though and I think his dad agreed, seeing his unimpressed face when they are underway. It did delay them.
There is a slight chance that the Nazis halfway would've noticed that the Jones' aren't actually in that motorboat. But Indiana Jones could've waited at least for the Nazis to be in the middle of the river, which he'd know by the sound of their motorboat gradually decreasing.
If they would. Or some would get in whilst others walk around the dock and discover them. You'd be dead then. The point is they can't see what they are doing, so he has to make a decision. Either trust they'll take the bait or get out of there before you are discovered. I'd make that second choice too.
You are correct! All the Nazis that chased the Jones' down to the dock did fall for the trick, but the Jones' wouldn't have known that for sure since they were inside the motorcycle-box and couldn't see the Nazis. The Nazis could've also decided to split up and have some of them search through the dock, while the remainders chase the boat, only for them who stayed on dock find the Jones' and stop their escape plan. I may be repeating what you have said just to show you that I've understood your correction. My entry is incorrect. I have upvoted your correction.
If you ask me, this isn't Indiana wanting better chances, but the writers/director wanting a more exciting movie. The whole thing isn't terribly logical - who boxed a working motorcycle? Like you said originally, "the bike chase could have been avoided" - at the cost of a few perfectly good scenes.
Corrected entry: When Indy has crashed into the lion's house on the train, he takes the whip in his left hand. In the next shot after seeing the lion you can see the whip is in Indy's right hand just before he hits the lion and makes his chin bleed. (00:08:25)
Correction: The switching of hands does not occur in consecutive shots. In the first shot Indy takes hold of the whip as we hear the familiar music. The second shot is a closeup of the lion roaring, and it's not until the third shot we see the whip in Indy's right hand before he uses it for the first time. There was ample time for the whip to merely change hands, while he was offscreen.
Corrected entry: When Indy and Henry are going around in the fireplace, the Germans are firing on them. They are firing tracer rounds, as we can see them spark on the fireplace. However, tracer rounds spark orange, not blue, as in the movie.
Correction: Only one in ten bullets loaded into a magazine will be a tracer round, and some marksmen can do with as few as one in twenty. All the other bullets will be regular metal jacket ball and will produce the pyrotechnics you see in the film.
Corrected entry: The two first frames of the shot when the German bike flies after Indiana obstructs the front wheel with a stick show a dummy in a motorcycle that never moves.
Correction: It has been established that if you have to use freeze frame or slow motion to see a mistake - it needs to be something such as a cameraman in the picture or something of that nature. The fact that they used a dummy that you can see for two freeze frames and is not really noticeable in real time cannot be contributed as a mistake.
Corrected entry: That camouflage bridge at the end is in fact just a rock bridge painted to blend in with the other side of the canyon. Fair enough. That doesn't alter the fact that when Indy looks down into the void there is nothing there, just blackness. Camouflage or not, the bridge should be visible when looking straight down.
Correction: The bridge is actually invisible. The special effect used when the movie was made was a real bridge cleverly painted, that's true, but the effect was made to show how the bridge is invisible until you have the courage and the faith to step out onto it. So when Jones is looking down, he is actually seeing through the stone slab, and when he manages to step into the void and hits the bridge it becomes visible to him.
Correction: After Indy climbs back up after mistakenly stepping on the J, and as he figures out he needs to step on the I, Elsa and Donovan can be seen watching him from behind, next to the blades from the first challenge. He didn't need to tell them how to get through it because they were standing right there.
Vader47000