Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

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

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: 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

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the three heroes arrive at the village there's not a single bit of grass around. When they leave the place the morning after there's vegetation everywhere.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: During the fight on the conveyor belt in the mine, the buckets and huge rock used to defeat the bearded giant keep changing positions all the time.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Indy's raft lands on the water, and he is ducking but rises up and rows with his hands for a couple of seconds. Then a frame later he is still ducking and rises up again.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Mola Ram is climbing the bridge, Willie and Short stand together; half a second later Mola Ram falls and Short has managed to climb up and move apart to let him pass by. Then a nano-second later, Mola Ram grabs onto a piece a wood and Short and Willie manage to stand together again. (01:41:15)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: On the bridge, an arrow suddenly appears to the right of Indy's foot seconds before any arrows are shot at him. (01:42:55)

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
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom trivia picture

Trivia: After the fight in the nightclub, when Indy and Willie make their escape, the name of the club is visible as they drive away - Club Obi Wan - a reference to Star Wars, also by George Lucas.

More trivia for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Question: Why did Spielberg make Temple of Doom a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark? I read somewhere that he didn't want to make the Nazis the villains again, but that wouldn't be a problem since the Nazis never went to India or China.

MikeH

Answer: This is conjecture, but it seems the general function of setting Temple of Doom before Raiders of the Lost Ark is that it helps set audience expectations that the two movies are self-contained episodes. For instance, Karen Allen has said she wasn't disappointed about not being asked to return because she'd already been told that the next installment was being set in the past before her character is reunited with Indy. Conversely, since we're already aware Raiders makes no mention of the events of Temple of Doom, we know we shouldn't necessarily expect any further installments to continue directly from prior movies' storylines regardless if they are set forward in time.

TonyPH

Chosen answer: It was actually George Lucas who wrote the story, made it a prequel, and has stated it was because he didn't want the Nazis to be the villains again. The idea most likely seems if it wasn't a prequel, the Nazis could still be after Jones, even in China or India. But alas, there is really no other insight as to Lucas' prequel decision.

Bishop73

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.