Raiders of the Lost Ark

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

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: Indy climbs on a plane's wing, and a German mechanic arrives and asks him what he's doing, raising his left arm and ordering him to approach. A shot later, the arm is down.

Sacha

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Indy and Brody meet at the University with the two government officials, a group of rolled maps or plans are placed on a podium horizontally. Halfway through the scene, they are all laying vertically.

Lynette Carrington

Continuity mistake: In the submarine dock of Geheimhaven, Captain Mohler is a man with dark hair in his mid or late thirties. But during the procession, he seems to be much older, with grey hair.

Continuity mistake: After the plane takes off in the beginning, Indy sees the snake. His hands are grabbing at it, but a second later his hands are on the rim of his cockpit.

Continuity mistake: When Indy is driving the truck with the ark, a German tries to get in on the right side. Indy kicks the door open twice, and after the second time the top hinge of the door gives easily. The guy is half way dragging on the ground, holding onto the now askew door. Then in the next closeup, the door is hung correctly with the guy on it, and Indy kicks it again. The guy goes dragging again, and then he and the door fall off.

Movie Nut

Continuity mistake: There is a shot during the truck chase scene where a Nazi falls out from the back of the truck and goes through the windshield of the car behind it. During the shot from inside the truck, we see two Nazis to the left. The one closer to the camera pushes the other one down. However, in the very next shot, we see that pushed-down Nazi immediately sitting up straight.

MooCow

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the temple collapses, Satipo is crouching looking at the chaos. Indy starts to run and there's a wide angle of the passage ahead but Satipo is nowhere around. He couldn't have managed to run that distance in half a second.

Sacha

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

Suggested correction: He had a couple of seconds to run away from that spot.

It's a straight passage so he should be seen somewhere along it and he isn't.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: From the outside, the sides of the hole to access the map room are in shadows, from the angle inside they are sunny.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: During the truck chase scene, the radiator bars Indy hangs onto keep swapping back and forth from bent outwards to slightly bent with no continuity at all.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Indy stands inside the Map Room, looking at the model of the city, the rays of the sun are to his left, and they move right and down as the sun rises. But since the entry hole is behind him, that would mean that the sun would be to the right when standing outside - but it was to his left when he entered the hole.

Jacob La Cour

Continuity mistake: When the temple collapses, Indy is holding the idol with his right hand against his chest, and the left hand free and arm extended. A frame later, both arms are extended and holding the idol.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Dietrich asks, "If we refuse?" Next to him stand four soldiers in a row, looking at Indy. In the next shot, the soldier who was holding a rifle is gone, and the two with machine guns are now giving their backs to Dietrich. (01:42:52)

Big Game

Continuity mistake: When Indy is entering Marhala Bar, Steve Hanson is right behind him, following Indy inside. In the next shot, Steve is suddenly standing next to Belloq (he seems to have arrived before Indy did). (00:43:08)

Big Game

Continuity mistake: Between the shots of Indy dressing as a Nazi and Captain Mohler reporting to Belloq and Dietrich, the Wurrfler appears to have advanced several inches forward (taking as reference the background behind the submarine, Mohler's location, and the fact that Belloq turns his head to the left to look at the Captain).

Big Game

Continuity mistake: As Dietrich, Toht, Belloq and Marion board the Wurrfler, a naval officer descends the ladder and turns, his back to the ladder. In the next shot, he is facing the ladder.

Big Game

Continuity mistake: In the Bantu Wind, the right arm of the soldier standing next to where Indy is hiding changes its position twice during Katanga's and Dietrich's speech.

Big Game

Continuity mistake: The Angel of Death, judging from the position of the lid of the Ark (the two angels can be seen below the ghost), is located just above Dietrich's head. However, Toht screams as if it were right in front of him and Dietrich as if it were in front of Belloq (judging by their looks).

Big Game

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
Raiders of the Lost Ark trivia picture

Trivia: There's a Star Wars reference to Obi-Wan and C-3PO on the plane rescuing Indy at the start - it has the registration OB-CPO.

More trivia for Raiders of the Lost Ark

Question: I first saw "Raiders" at the cinema when it was released in Australia and I distinctly remember a scene which has never appeared on video or DVD. After the end credits, there's a cut back to the crate housing the Ark in the warehouse, and the U.S Govt. stamp on the side of the crate is slowly burning off, as if a fire within the crate is scorching it. One other friend (also in Australia) also remembers. Does anyone else remember this, and can anyone shed any light on what happened to this scene?

Answer: I also remember this scene. After the ark is sealed, the camera performs a close up of the side of the crate. The stamp reads "Top Secret Army Intel 9906753 Do Not Open" This stamp is burned off just like the swastika is in the scene on the submarine, because in the eyes of God, no nation is holy or worthy enough to claim ownership of the ark. However, this final scene was cut (the burning of the stamp) from the film for a variety of unclear reasons. While it was in theaters, this scene was not included on the DVD version.

Add me to this. We saw the movie in a "pre release" version in Orlando Florida. No advance warning of the movie. We went to see another flick and at the end were "invited" to see this if we were willing to critique it afterwards. This scene was included. I also always wondered why the change.

I also remember seeing this mysterious 'burning' of the logo, most likely it was on a VHS copy of this movie. Yes, it did exist.

I saw it in former Czechoslovakia in the second half of 80's in cinema (west movies came to the east countries' cinemas years later). And I thought it was a great joke that burning out the swastika wasn't just because the Nazis are bad but because nobody is great enough to own the arc. Then after the Velvet revolution I saw the film again on TV (beginning of 90's) and said everyone around: watch it until the end, wait on the post-credit scene, there will be a surprise.

And there was a surprise. The scene was cut off! I was angry on the TV they didn't show the scene. I cannot be influenced by internet discussion or urban legend. The internet didn't exist yet.

I saw it in Portland, Oregon, and was so impressed with the message it carried, that I told friends and we went several times just to see it. Funny thing was when I mentioned it a few years ago, many people said I was a LIAR that it never happened. I could not convince anyone. It was removed because it wasn't Politically Correct. USA is a force for good, God would not burn off AMERICAN TEXT! BUT WE DID SEE IT. Thanks to our Australian eye witness, we know we did not imagine it.

Answer: I also remember that scene.

Answer: This scene never existed. Plus, the crate never has a US Govt logo stamped on it. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbr.com/movie-legends-revealed-alternate-ending-for-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/amp/.

Bishop73

Answer: I remember the side of the crate being "charred" when it was in the ship's cargo hold, in the scene when the Nazi's arrived in the submarine. It was the Nazi swastika on the side of the crate that was burned off. It also showed a rat keeling over dead from the energy it emitted. (I just watched this again on the Paramount cable channel.)

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.