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

Continuity mistake: The position of the Top Secret sign and the whole text is put on the ark's box across vertically laid planks. A shot later the sign appears slanted across horizontally laid planks. Though it could be argued that there could be a second sign on the opposite side with horizontal planks, when the warehouse guy turns left to store the crate, we get a glimpse of the left side and it's not painted.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: While Indy is fighting the German who is driving the truck, you can see that the German has got blood on his left hand, but when he throws Indy through the windscreen his left hand is clean and there is no blood on it. (01:27:10)

Will

Continuity mistake: When Indy is in the map room, he blows sand away from a hole and a bunch of hieroglyphics, but in the next shot, there's sand scattered all over the stone he just finished clearing away. (00:52:10)

Continuity mistake: During the middle of the bar fight scene, Indy was slammed on the counter and whispered to the girl, "Whisky". In the next shot she grabbed the bottle and handed it to Jones. The very next shot she hands him the bottle again. It happens very quick. Watch carefully. (00:32:05)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the market chase scene Marion is confronted by a guy with a knife. In some shots the sharp edge is facing upwards, in others it's downwards. (00:39:10)

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)

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

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 Belloq grabs the machine gun, his left hand is on the trigger and his right hand on the gun cartridge as he turns round with his back to the camera, but in the next shot, his right hand is on the trigger and his left hand on the cartridge but in the next shot, his hands have changed position once more, this time left hand on the trigger and right hand on the cartridge. (01:42:55)

Will

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Indy is chasing after the truck on horseback, he jumps off the horse and onto the truck, as he does this the horse begins to slow down and fall behind, but as Indy throws the German soldier in the passenger seat out of the truck the horse has disappeared, it could not have been hidden from view behind the truck, because the horse's shadow would have been visible. (01:23:30)

Will

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Several times during the fight in and around the truck the bars around the top of the cab come off and are miraculously back on again. (01:24:05)

Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film, When Indy uses the whip to take the guides gun away, Satipo makes a weird face and starts to move away in amazement. The very next frame, in a wider shot, he is not finishing his movements, but on the contrary he is standing still, with a normal gesture, until a second later he starts to repeat the movement and looks from before.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Indy is fighting the Nazis on the truck, one Nazi is thrown from the truck and is rolling the opposite direction of the truck. (01:23:30)

Continuity mistake: After Satipo runs with the idol, Indy grabs a root to help him climb up the ledge. Half a second later, from a different angle, the root is meters away and he is grabbing it again, repeating the whole scene.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Just before the car carrying Marion in the wicker basket explodes in the alley, Indiana shoots a man twice in the chest. The man has blood stains on his shirt before he is shot.

Continuity mistake: As Indy and Marion are starting to run from the plane, you can see the yellow wheel chocks are back in place under the plane's tires.

TD9898

Continuity mistake: After Indy steals the idol, while he is hanging in the well, in the front angle his left leg is bent and already outside, in a quite comfortable and secure position; yet in the angles from behind both legs are inside, hanging loose.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: After hitting one thug, Indy jumps out of the way of one trying to spear him, leading to the one behind Indy getting run through. As the guy gets run through, he is in front of a hanging string of fruit, with the stacked fruit to his right. After a cut scene to Indy and Marion running away, the run through thug is now facing the fruit stand, setting up the sight gag of the blade sticking out with two fruits stuck on it.

Movie Nut

Continuity mistake: While Indy is in the Well of Souls, Belloq greets him and is standing by one of the four sides of the rectangular hole. A frame later he stands by one of the corners.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: After grabbing the idol, the cave starts to collapse, filling the place with rocks and rubble. When Indy starts to run, from the angle behind the floor is clean, rocks starting to fall for the first time.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Satipo drops the whip half a meter away from the closing gate, then runs away. However, when Indy rolls underneath the door, the whip is laying right next to it.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Indiana is hiding his face with the cloth, watch as he enters the tent that Marion is being held prisoner in - at first, Indiana has to hold it in place; in the next shot, he has it tucked into the rest of the folds. The next shot, the actual position of the cloth changes.

redbaron2000

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)

More mistakes in Raiders of the Lost Ark

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: After the scene where Indy first goes onto the German U-boat, he runs around apparently looking for something, then the scene changes to the inside of the sub where you can hear that the order has been given to dive. Was there an actual scene cut out of the film where Indy lashes himself to the periscope? (When Raiders first came out in Aus, I vividly remember seeing it with this scene.)

Answer: The scene you describe was indeed filmed. It was cut out of the US release of the film although I cannot speak for the Australian version. The scene also appears in the Marvel Comics adaptation. http://www.theraider.net/films/raiders/deleted_scenes.php has a list of this and the other deleted scenes.

Phil C.

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.