Continuity mistake: When the soldier walks up the steps to attempt the first trial with his sword drawn, in the shots from the front, he's holding the sword on his right side. In the shots from behind, he's holding it on his left side.
Factual error: At the end of the classroom scene, Indy gives Marcus the Cross of Coronado. There is a pile of books on Indy's desk that he laters picks up and takes with him. One of the books (with the whitish spine, under the red book) is "Living Egypt", written by Paul Strand and James Aldridge. This book wasn't published until 1969, over 30 years after this movie takes place (1938). (00:15:20)
Factual error: When Indy is being chased by the tank there is a type 82 Kübelwagen - they weren't produced until 1940 and the movie is set in 1938.
Deliberate mistake: While Indy is fighting the tank commander, he looks up to see them heading toward a cliff. After the tank goes over, from the time his companions look over the cliff to the time when they walk away and Indy is sitting on the ground, you can see the wind blowing in their faces. But as Indy starts to get up, the wind blows his hat toward him, which it couldn't do as his hat flew off quite a while before, and the winds would have blown it far from the cliff's edge.
Continuity mistake: When Indy shoots the three soldiers on the tank they fall sideways but not off the tank, a few seconds later all three bodies have disappeared.
Other mistake: Indy has been very careful to hide from everyone that Alexandretta is the city where the trail starts, only to give away all the essential info. He did not tell Elsa. Only Marcus (who has the rubbing of the crucial inscription) and Sallah knew. The only way that the Nazis find out is because he tells his dad, in a room which he KNOWS to be wired, i.e. bugged. (The Nazis also find the diary, but we know that the city isn't in there.) Stupidity doesn't quite cover it.
Revealing mistake: When Henry says "Faster, boy, faster!" to Indy when they are driving into the tunnel to escape the flaming aircraft, you can see the track that the flaming aircraft is sliding on.
Revealing mistake: When Indy shoots three Nazi soldiers with a single bullet during the tank chase sequence, you can see the blood packets inside their uniforms.
Audio problem: When Vogel is holding Elsa hostage in the castle, he points his gun at Elsa's neck and says "Enough, she dies." If you look at Indy's shadow on the wall, you can see Indy is mouthing the word "Wait." In the next shot, he is saying the word again, this time with audio intact.
Visible crew/equipment: After Indy's father is cured and the Nazis drop the weapons, he stands up and set lights are reflected on his glasses.
Continuity mistake: When Sallah pulls his rifle and overtakes the Nazis at the Great Seal he is in the forefront with the Nazis in front of him and Indy and his father are behind him. Within the next scene he is now in the background with his rifle resting in his arms.
Continuity mistake: When Indy is pouring the water from the Grail onto his father's wound, we see him pour all the water out. When his father takes the Grail, there's now water left inside.
Factual error: The stamps on the mail at Sr. Jones house are Texas Statehood issued in 1945. A bit late for the scene. (00:24:15)
Continuity mistake: Onboard the ship at the end of the prologue, after Indy grabs the cross before it falls over the side, the guy in the white suit climbing up the steps. He's only reaching the top as the shot changes. In the next shot, he's already a few steps away from the top of the steps, telling his men to stop Indy.
Continuity mistake: During the temple quake sequence towards the end of the film, Elsa fails to maintain her grip on the rising earth and falls onto tilted ground, sliding towards the chasm. At this point, Sallah is kneeling on the ground, but in the very next shot, he is now grabbing hold of Henry.
Continuity mistake: When the Hatay soldier is decapitated in an attempt to navigate the temple's defences, his head rolls along the ground and Elsa turns her head around and looks over her shoulder. In the next shot, she has now turned her full body around, and in the shot after that, she is looking over her shoulder again.
Continuity mistake: When Elsa's hand slips from its glove whilst Indy is holding on to her, Elsa falls and she is holding the glove in her right hand, but when she falls into the chasm, the glove has gone.
Revealing mistake: When the car is chased by a plane and enters a cave, check the rocks above the entrance and you'll notice that both the entrance and exit are the same location and the final shot has been flipped.
Factual error: When the soldier from Hatay attempts to pass through the booby trap and his head is chopped off there is no blood. Any wound to the head or neck tends to bleed profusely but the head rolls by without a drop.
Revealing mistake: At the end a shadow appears on the cliff under Indy's shoe when he steps to the edge. This would not have happened if a solid but camouflaged bridge were there. (01:47:30)
Suggested correction: Automatic refilling seems to be the least of the miracles the Grail has performed.
LorgSkyegon
There was no evidence of this, plus we never see it refill before or after. How would it be empty when they first find it if it miraculously refilled itself? This is a poor correction just to make a correction.
Bishop73