Raiders of the Lost Ark

Continuity mistake: When Indy and the Peruvian are entering the cave and clearing the cobwebs, you can see at least one spider on Indy's back. The next shot shows a clear, long shot of Indy's back with light reflecting on his jacket and no spiders. In the next shot, the Peruvian notices the spiders. (00:04:20)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As Indy and Satipo enter the temple, When Indy says to Satipo "stop" he is holding the whip in his right hand, yet when Indy says "stay out of the light" the whip is in his left hand. (00:05:10)

Continuity mistake: In front of the idol, Indy shows Satipo the trap on the floor. Satipo's head position is different in all 3 shots in barely 2 seconds: First he's looking downwards, then straight, then his head is turned sideways, and then back to straight. (00:08:20)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the beginning, Indy's partner takes the idol, throws down the whip, and leaves him hanging on a ledge with the ceiling closing down to the ground. While he is hanging the you can see that the ceiling barely has enough room for Indy to fit. Indy struggles to get up which during this time he would have no room to get under, yet when he finally gets up the ceiling has risen giving him plenty of room to get under. (00:08:45)

ShooterMcGavin34

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Near the beginning of the movie where Indiana is running away from the tribe of South American Indians after Belloq robs Indiana of the gold statue, in one shot you can see that the Indians are only a few meters behind Indiana, but in the next shot, they are at least 50 meters behind. (00:11:20)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: There's a shot of the plane at the beginning, taken from the front, looking down the length of the body, where there's no writing on the side. (00:11:45)

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Suggested correction: On a good quality frame the number is visible quite clear. Not visible on a poor resolution frame.

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Indy climbs onto the pontoon of the airplane from the lagoon in the opening sequence, he is obviously wet from swimming in the lagoon. However, in the next scene as he climbs further, his clothes are miraculously dry as observed by watching them blowing freely during take-off. (00:12:05)

Continuity mistake: On the blackboard, between the numbers 4 and 5, the word "and" is written. After the girl shows the "Love you", the word is replaced by a dot. (00:13:49)

Big Game

Continuity mistake: In Indy's class at the beginning, the girl that lowers her eye lids to show the phrase "Love you", is looking in a totally different direction than the people behind her. They're all supposed to be looking at him, but the girls behind her are looking to their right while she is looking straight. They can't be daydreaming because they're all smiling and look infatuated. (00:13:58)

Zorz

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the government comes to see Indy at the University he is teaching, they enter the large room, I think it's a gymnasium. He puts the huge book on the table and one of the buckles comes undone. But when he goes to open the book to show the g-men a picture of the Ark he undoes both buckles. (00:15:30 - 00:19:30)

Continuity mistake: When Indy is listening to the one Army agent he is in the process of putting his right hand into his pocket. In the next shot the hand is back on the leather case. (00:16:46)

billfarr

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: During the scene where Indy and Marcus are with the Army intelligence agents, watch the agent who is wearing the light blue suit - at the moment when Marcus refers to a secret chamber, the agent in the blue suit has his right hand resting on top the chair that he is sitting on, but in the next shot when he replies "secret chamber" his right hand is now on his face. (00:17:55)

Will

Continuity mistake: Eaton and Musgrove are sitting, waiting for Indy to open the book. When Indy opens it, suddenly Musgrove is standing. (00:19:43)

Big Game

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Indy is packing his suitcase to go to Nepal, he picks up a gun that is wrapped in a piece of cloth, he tosses the gun with his left hand into his right hand and begins to unwrap the gun from the cloth by raising his right hand, so that the gun will fall into his left hand, but the gun ends up falling into Indy's right hand instead of his left hand. (00:22:10)

Will

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the Himalayan bar scene when the sherpas leave, Marion starts to pick up the shot glasses and puts them on a tray - there's a large group left at one end of the table, one in the middle, and two by a bowl at the other end. When she returns for the rest, the two by the bowl have vanished. (00:26:20)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Before the shoot-out in Marion's bar, before the Nazis enter and ask her for the amulet, she's sitting alone at the table. She pulls the amulet out of her shirt, the chain still around her neck, and stares at it in the candlelight. The next moment the chain is not around her neck and she hangs the necklace onto the table centrepiece. (00:28:20)

Continuity mistake: After Toht enters "The Raven," in the shot when Marion says, "How about a drink for you and your men," the Nepalese is facing the bar. In the next shot, he has turned 90ยบ. (00:29:50)

Big Game

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After Toht's command, the Mongolian and the Nepalese grab Marion, then the former puts his hand on Marion's cheek. During this, the Nepalese faces Marion, whose mouth is open. In the next shot, the Nepalese is suddenly looking at Toht, Marion's mouth is suddenly closed, and the position of the Mongolian's head has changed. (00:30:28)

Big Game

Continuity mistake: When the gunfight at The Raven begins, the Ratty Nepalese crawls next to two tables (one of them has the medallion and the log). He knocks down the one without the medallion, but in the next shot, the knocked down is the one that has the log and the medallion. (00:31:10)

Big Game

Revealing mistake: While Indy and Marion are in the Well of Souls, and they encounter the snakes, Indy falls to the ground only to be confronted by a hissing Cobra rearing its head. Look carefully and you'll see the snake's reflection on the safety glass between it and Indy. Briefly you can also see the torch's reflection while he's waving it around. You can also see Marion's reflection when she falls in later on and is face to face with the cobra. [This has been corrected in the new DVD set. You can only see it if you have the original VHS. I think it's visible in the "making of" on the DVD as well.]

More mistakes in Raiders of the Lost Ark

Sallah: Indy, why does the floor move?
Indiana: Give me your torch. [He drops it in and sees why.] Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?
Sallah: Asps. Very dangerous. You go first.

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

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