Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Continuity mistake: When Willie walks out of her bedroom while Indy is fighting the assassin, the left sleeve on her pyjamas changes from rolled down to rolled up between shots.

Continuity mistake: After the man is burnt in the lava pit, Indy says the word 'diamonds'. Willy comes closer and then turns her head to the right. When the shot changes she's facing straight.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Indy is stopping the mine cart with his foot Willie's hand is on top of Indy's or not depending on the shot. This swaps back and forth.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Indy falls inside the mine cart, the protruding log disappears. A shot later it reappears, but when Indy hits the railroad switch with the shovel it disappears again.

Sacha

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Indy is fighting the Chief Guard on the conveyor belt, there is nothing behind the guard before he picks up the large rock, but in a close-up there are now small rocks on the belt.

Continuity mistake: When Indy hangs the assassin on the fan, in one shot he's spinning, but in the very next shot he's not. He can't just instantly stop, he'd have to slow down.

MikeH

Continuity mistake: Before the first sacrifice victim is being lowered into the lava pit, Mola Ram is standing on the edge of the pit, but in a few shots later he moves some feet away.

oswal13

Continuity mistake: On the ladder, when Mola Ram tries to grab Indy's heart, Mola's hands and Indy's chest are very sweaty and dirty in the close-ups, but dry and quite clean in the wide angles.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: On the bridge, when Indy threatens the Thugees to drop the bag, they're a couple meters away from his back, but in the next angle they're further away.

Sacha

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Mola Ram falls off the bridge-ladder when a step breaks in two, but from the immediate wide angle it just moves slightly out of place. Furthermore, in the next angles the step is perfectly fixed.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When the thug jumps on Indy's mine cart, Indy's hat gets loose, but in the following shot it's perfectly tucked in.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: After Shorty is saved from the thugs' mine cart, a baddie jumps from an elevated cart situated on the right side, but when the angle changes he is coming from the left side. Also, Indy is looking sideways instead of upwards, as if the bad guy was parallel to him.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When the assassin's head is about to hit the fan, in the first shot of him going up, his head is very close to it, but in the next shot, it's further away.

MikeH

Continuity mistake: When the Indian guest is given a beetle to eat during the dinner sequence, he pulls off the back of the insect. When he notices that Willie is not eating, you can see that he is only holding the beetle, but when the camera angle changes in the next shot, the guest is holding the insect with the part he pulled off next to it.

Continuity mistake: When Indy throws a flaming skewer at the Chinese guy, the right side of his scarf runs down to his waist, yet in the close-up it's shorter and stops by the ribs, check out the black lettering embroidered on it.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Indy tries to grab the antidote vial from the table, in the closeup just as the vial falls off the table the camera follows the vial as it lands in the empty area to the left of Lao Che's chair where Kao Kan's chair should be, but it's not, and the rug's edge with wood floor beside Lao Che's chair though it shouldn't be. Then Indy hits Kao Kan who is again seated closely to Lao Che's left, as he should be, and when Kao Kan falls backward we see the rug edge is nowhere near Lao Che's chair, also as it should be. (00:08:20)

Super Grover

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

Suggested correction: Actually it appears the vial falls to the left of Kao Ken's chair, not Lao Che's. It appears after Indy pierces the other guy with the shishkebab, Kao Ken, off camera, takes the vial and puts on his left side. Indy jumps on the table and after missing the vial he slides further and then elbows Kao Ken who is on the right side now. The vial is still on the left side of Kao Ken's chair when it's kicked onto the wooden floor.

lionhead

You're very much mistaken. Lao Che is wearing an embroidered dinner jacket and has a pinky ring on his left pinky, and Kao Kan's left hand is bandaged in gauze. After Indy skewers Chen, in the closeup of Indy's hand just as it knocks the vial off the table, it's Lao Che's hand (note the pinky ring, etc) that we see on the table next to Nurhachi's urn, the stack of money, and the vial. That is not Kao Kan's hand/arm, remember his left hand is bandaged. And as this closeup continues to pan down it follows the vial as it lands on the floor in the empty space where Kao Kan's chair should be, but it isn't.

Super Grover

Yep, you're right I see it. There are 2 shots of Indy trying to grab the vial off the table and the second one is followed through with the vial falling off it and that one is wrong. Alright.

More mistakes in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
More quotes from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Trivia: Just like Indiana was named after George Lucas' dog, Willie was named after Steven Spielberg's dog and Short Round was named after screenwriters Bill Hyuck and Gloria Hatz's dog.

More trivia for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Question: When the man was hanged on the fan, what exactly happened? It seems like he was cut by the fan, but then there's no blood or anything. How exactly did he die? And why did the fan suddenly stop when he hit it?

MikeH

Chosen answer: His neck was snapped by the whip getting caught in the fan. There isn't always blood with a hanging. Since the fan wasn't designed to hold a man's weight, the motor in it would have stopped or given out.

Captain Defenestrator

More questions & answers from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

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.