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.
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.
Factual error: At the beginning of the movie, Indy escapes in biplane with registration OB-CPO (a Star Wars nod, as noted in trivia). However the OB registration is used by Peru, and it should be followed by four digits, not by three letters. (00:12:10)
Suggested correction: Simply not true, as with most countries with two-letter civil aircraft registrations, Peru used the XX-YYY format at this time: http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_OA-.html.
Revealing mistake: The Pan American aeroplane Indiana Jones boards in San Fransisco looks similar to (but has noticeable differences from) the Boeing 314 PanAm used for transpacific flights. This aeroplane did however not fly until 1938 and at the time of the story the company only flew transpacific with Sikorsky S-42s, an aeroplane with a completely different body than the one used in the scene.
Revealing mistake: When Indy is fighting the big German at the base of the airplane, Indy reaches down and grabs a handful of sand to throw in his face. You can see the finger marks in the sand from a previous take.
Audio problem: When Marion meets up with Indy on the steps of the building at the very end of the film, she asks what was going on in there. Her first few lines of dialogue were dubbed in after shooting. Her mouth isn't moving with the dialogue.
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: During the truck chase scene, Indiana is thrown or forced over the front of the bonnet and almost run over. There is a wide camera shot, and while holding on to the front fender, Indiana can be seen sitting on a chair which is attached to the truck. (01:27:40)
Revealing mistake: When we have the exterior shot of the ship that Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, and the Ark are aboard, specks of dirt can be seen over the view of the ship and the ocean - obviously, it was filmed through the window of another ship. (01:31:35)
Factual error: Several times during the movie, Indy is under fire from Nazis or other bad guys wielding what look like MP-38 sub machine guns. The movie is set in 1936, 2 years before the weapon was even designed. The Erma EMP-36 has wooden parts (the grip), the muzzle spike at under the barrel is more pointy and the front sight are more massive than MP-38/40, and the magazine is tilting slightly forwards towards the muzzle. The MP-38/40 is all stamped sheet metal (no wood, because it would slow down production), the muzzle spike under the barrel is more smooth (maybe so it won't get stuck?) and the front sight is more simple (basically just a ring with rumble strips) than the ERMA's, and the magazine on the MP-38/40 is vertical.
Continuity mistake: After Indy replaces the idol for a bag filled with sand, the position of the bag changes between frames.
Other mistake: During the truck scene, after the German soldier hanging onto the door falls down and another guy crawls over the roof, palm trees are reflected on the windshield, but wide shots show not a single tree around because the palm trees area was left behind a while ago.
Continuity mistake: In the map room, after Indy has discovered where to put the stick in, the sun rays lights the head and shoulder of a painted figure and the whole body of the figure to the right of it. A frame later the first figure is now completely lit. Too fast a change.
Continuity mistake: When Belloq talks to Indy in the Well of Souls the two Arabs on the left disappear in the angles from Indy's POV.
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)
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)
Audio problem: When Toht walks in with Dietrich and Gobler, watch the background, you will see Dietrich's lips moving, but you cannot hear him saying anything.
Other mistake: At the beginning of movie when Indy is about to steal the gold idol, the camera does a close-up of it. The idol has been in a decaying temple for hundreds of years. but it appears shiny and new, as though just placed there. You'd expect the idol to at least be dusty or covered in jungle debris.
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.
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.
