Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Sallah and Indy are peering into the well of souls. Sallah is to the right of Indy. Indy then drops the torch into the well, and when the camera comes back up, Sallah is on the left of Indy. (01:00:00 - 01:00:45)

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

Suggested correction: Indy and Sallah spent several seconds off-camera, enough to move around the hole and switch places.

Big Game

Audio problem: When Marion and Belloq are getting ready to have a drink, as Belloq pours the wine you can hear the sound of the wine hitting ice, making a crackling sound, but there is no ice in the glasses. (01:04:40)

Continuity mistake: When Toht frees Marion's arm, Dietrich enters the tent, and a few seconds later, Gobler enters. In the next shot, Gobler enters first, with Dietrich second. (01:07:52)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Belloq is talking to Indy and Marion in the Well of Souls, he's shown holding his hat with his right hand. But in the only over-the-shoulder shot (looking into the Well of Souls) the hat is laying on the ground and Belloq tosses a stone down with his right hand. Then the hat is back. (01:10:35)

Visible crew/equipment: In a shot of Belloq speaking to Indy in the Well of Souls, in some shots of the Desert Chase (such as when Belloq shouts Allah va!) and when the three villains enter the submarine with Marion, Wolf Kahler's double is seen, who has black hair. (01:10:43 - 01:24:42)

Big Game

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Dietrich and Gobler walk forward to stand next to Belloq while he's saying, "Once again, Jones..." In the next shot, Gobler has disappeared (this can be spotted by the distance between Belloq and Gobler's foot in the first shot). (01:10:57)

Big Game

Revealing mistake: When Indy and Marion are being sealed up in the Well of Souls, You can plainly see Marion counting down (she is mouthing the numbers) to the cue for her to scream as the Well is sealed. (01:12:20)

Continuity mistake: After Indy rips a big strip of Marion's dress in the Well of Souls, it continues to change until she finally gets rid of it on the boat. At some points (eg. running from the plane before it explodes, and other shots) it seems quite straight across, more like a shorter dress than a torn one. A few moments later, when they are crouching behind an earth bank and Sallah tells Indy the Germans are putting the Ark on to a truck, the dress is badly ripped in various places across her back. Not long afterwards, it is in one piece again but back to the bottom edge being ripped. (01:13:00 - 01:21:35)

Eliza

Continuity mistake: When Indiana is climbing the statue to escape from the Well of Souls, the snake he encounters makes a rattling sound. However, the snake has no rattle and rattlesnakes are indigenous to the Americas. (01:13:40)

Revealing mistake: Watch the shadow of the stone Indy pushes out to escape from the Well Of Souls - it bounces down the sand dune, exactly the way a large rock shouldn't. (01:15:30)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The stone block Indy pushes out to create an opening which allows him and Marion to escape the Well Of Souls apparently rolls down the hill outside. We see it, in a following scene, laying about 15 feet away from the Well. But when Indy is fighting the big German guard near the airplane, one scene clearly shows the Well in the background and the dislodged stone is now laying on the hill only a few feet from the opening. (01:15:45 - 01:18:10)

Character mistake: When Gobler informs Dietrich about the preparation of the Flying Wing, the former calls the Colonel "Herr Major." (01:16:25)

Big Game

Factual error: When Indiana Jones is fighting the big German by the airplane, the German punches Indiana Jones on his right cheek. Indy's face and body are both knocked down to the right, in the direction of the punch. When you watch this, you can see it's impossible to be knocked down in such a way. (01:17:55)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: As soon as Marion gets locked in the cockpit of the Nazi plane, you can see a crew, a blue van, a ladder, and a crew member with a white sleeveless shirt and a big brimmed hat, all in the reflection of the glass. (01:18:20)

Continuity mistake: When Indiana is fighting the Big German mechanic by the plane, the plane goes around in circles and the wing tip of the plane punctures a hole in a petrol tanker that is parked near by. This causes the petrol to gush out of the tanker and you can see that ground underneath the plane gets totally drenched with petrol. But in the later shots, the ground under the plane is dry. There is also a shot where you can see the tanker in the background not pouring petrol any more and all you can see is a little wet spot around the tanker. (01:18:45)

Revealing mistake: When Indy is fighting the big German at the plane, if you look at the wheels when the plane is turning around, you can see a chain and sprocket assembly that is driving the wheel to actually turn the plane. (01:18:55)

Continuity mistake: When Dietrich, Gobler, and Belloq arrive next to the destroyed Flying Wing, Gobler is on the left of Dietrich and Belloq on the right. In the next shot, they have switched places. (01:20:58)

Continuity mistake: When the Nazis are loading the Ark in the truck, you can spot Toht next to the left side of the truck, watching the scene. A few seconds later, he walks out of scene, apparently going to the car. However, when Belloq and Dietrich walk to the car and Belloq shouts "Let's go!", Toht has disappeared. (01:21:45)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: As the bad guys are leaving the dig site for Cairo, there is a shot of the black vehicle (lead car) looking right at the driver. On the bottom of the shot is a shadow of film equipment that shouldn't be there. The shot lingers, so the shadow is very visible. (01:22:50)

manthabeat

Visible crew/equipment: When Indiana is chasing the Nazis in the truck, look closely at the convertible, you can see the camera on the windshield. (01:23:25)

Marion: You're not the man I knew ten years ago.
Indiana: It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.

More quotes from Raiders of the Lost Ark

Trivia: When a Nazi falls from the back of the truck carrying the Ark, a "Wilhelm scream" can be heard.

More trivia for Raiders of the Lost Ark

Question: Considering how powerful and dangerous the Ark is, why would Indy hand it over to the United States government, instead of putting it back where it was found and to ensure it's never located, lie to them and say him or the Nazis never found it?

Answer: Indy and Marcus Brody believed that the Ark needed to be studied. They certainly didn't want to put it back where it was found. They believed that the U.S. government would find the best archaeologists, researchers, and scientists in the world to study the Ark. They are both upset that instead, the government has decided to simply lock the Ark away. This is why Indy says, "Fools. They don't know what they've got there," as he is leaving the building.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: To add to the previous answer, there is no way that the ark could have been secretly returned to where it was found and then conveniently forgotten. Too many people already knew of its existence and location. It would only be a matter of time before someone more sinister would retrieve it.

raywest

More questions & answers from Raiders of the Lost Ark

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.