Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade mistake picture

Other mistake: After Young Indy runs out of the cave with the Cross of Coronado, when he whistles for his horse and jumps down, note the horse's facial marking and leg marking. When Indy mounts the horse it's a different horse, note its markings, and as he rides toward the circus train the horse has changed again. (00:04:55)

Super Grover

Other mistake: When they go under the coffin you see the flame of the torch in the background. How could the flame go under the petroleum with them without either setting light to the petroleum or being extinguished itself? (00:35:55)

Other mistake: When Indiana Jones first enters the castle and speaks with the Nazi officer he is mouthing the Nazi's dialogue as the Nazi is speaking. (00:45:55)

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

Suggested correction: I watched this part five times, and Indy is not mouthing his father's lines. You can see slight movement in Indy's mouth when Henry is saying "when you were..," but that's not indicative of Indy mouthing the lines.

Phaneron

Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade mistake picture

Other mistake: At one point, Indy rolls off of the side of a tank, and somehow gets a strap around one of the guns pointing out from the sides. The end of the barrel has already been blown open by the rock he shoved in earlier. How did the strap get around that big cluster of metal, and then back again so he could climb back on the tank? (01:34:15 - 01:35:05)

Other mistake: When Marcus is knocked out at the library, look at his legs when he is dragged away - they are purposely crossed in a way which couldn't have happened naturally for a body being dragged - the actor did it to keep himself comfortable.

Life700

Other mistake: In the catacombs, Indy flips over the casket with the skeleton and dives underneath together with Elsa. If you watch closely, the skeleton gets trapped inside the casket, however Indy and Elsa are alone inside the casket. If the skeleton had sunken, there wasn't enough time, nor did Elsa or Indy bump into it when they dove underneath.

Sacha

Other mistake: When Indy and Kazim are fighting on the the boat as it is being chewed up by the giant propeller, the propeller is more than half way out of the water; if the ship was in dry-dock the smaller boats wouldn't be able to go up to the larger ship, on the other hand if it had run aground it would not be running its engines.

Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade mistake picture

Other mistake: While Indy and Henry are aboard the zeppelin Indy tosses Vogel out the lounge window, and when Vogel shouts up to the departing airship, in the next exterior shot we see the zeppelin airborne against a scenic view. Later, when Indy realises the zeppelin is turning around it cuts to another exterior shot of the airship, and the scenic view is identical to the earlier shot, only it's been flipped. The images of the zeppelin facing two different directions were composited onto the same scenic background.

Super Grover

Other mistake: Indy has been very careful to hide from everyone that Alexandretta is the city where the trail starts, only to give away all the essential info. He did not tell Elsa. Only Marcus (who has the rubbing of the crucial inscription) and Sallah knew. The only way that the Nazis find out is because he tells his dad, in a room which he KNOWS to be wired, i.e. bugged. (The Nazis also find the diary, but we know that the city isn't in there.) Stupidity doesn't quite cover it.

Spiny Norman

Other mistake: In the scene with the tanks, Indy rides up beside one with a rock. Watch the gun closely. The end of the one that he is supposed to shove the rock into is wobbling inconsistantly with the rest of the gun, or the tank for that matter.

Other mistake: In the motorbike chase scene there is a lot of flying road dust even in front of the bike in the lead. Probably from the camera vehicle.

Other mistake: After getting on aboard the dirigible, Henry is holding a German newspaper when addressing Indy. But he'd have a hard time reading it as it's upside down. Even if he's just trying to hide, holding an upside-down newspaper would draw the attention of suspicious guards.

Movie Nut

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

Suggested correction: Henry Jones Sr. doesn't have his glasses in this scene. He can't really see anything on the newspaper, that's why he is holding it upside down.

Big Game

I'd say that, more than anything, a hasty attempt to blend in would be more likely the culprit. Even without the spectacles, Henry, being the fastidious person he is, would have righted the paper, with or without eyewear.

Movie Nut

But since he couldn't see the letters, how would he have righted the newspaper (or even noticed it was upside down)?

Big Game

Ipon! (Japanese for "point.") I can see your point; however, I would ask that the following be considered: that there is usually more than just letters and words in newsprint. Even if not viewed, pictures are good indicators of the newspaper's orientation.

Movie Nut

Other mistake: During the airplane chase Indy is seen firing his revolver at the German planes, after he crash-lands he pulls his revolver and breaks open the action to check if he's got any ammo left. He doesn't, but the issue is that a revolver doesn't eject spent shell casings, and there aren't any empty casings in his revolver, despite him firing his gun earlier and having no chance to empty the casings since.

Other mistake: When Indy is atop the tank with his father, he is facing his father. Suddenly, they show a close-up of Indy's face, head-on, with the Nazi leader behind him swinging a shovel towards Indy's head in the background. Indy gasps, and ducks. How did Indy see the shovel being swung at his head if it was completely behind him?"

Video

Continuity mistake: In the library scene Indy discovers the "X" high up on the balcony. The X is green with a grey background. When he breaks the tile to find the tomb the X has become a faint outline on the floor. (00:27:40 - 00:28:45)

Allanmceneaney

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

Suggested correction: You still can see one "leg" of the X on the floor, it's only darker than viewed from above because the camera angle and illumination set used.

I think it is meant to be an optical illusion.

The "X" is first shown as a dark green "X" on a beige background. Next, we are shown the same dark green "X" that is barely visible over a green background. I think we are meant to understand that the beige square tiles were lifted away in a cut scene.

I see no reason why they would replace the floor just for the higher shot, it's the same floor throughout the scene. When they enter it's the same floor we see later as they are going into the hole. It's probably not a real marble floor, so they can use a styrofoam or plywood tile that Harrison can lift, one that matches the surrounding tiles. They don't shine as much as the rest of the floor. In the shot up high there is different lighting, so that could explain it. It just appears to be different. Of course, sudden different light can be seen as a revealing mistake.

lionhead

Suggested correction: Not a mistake, just a different viewing angle.

More mistakes in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade

[Henry has activated a secret lever which rotates him and Indiana from a room on fire to a room full of German soldiers.]
Henry Jones: Our situation has not improved.

More quotes from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade

Trivia: Hitler was played by the actor Michael Sheard, this was the third time he had played Hitler for film and TV. Ironically, Sheard's wife was half-Jewish.

More trivia for Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade

Question: It seems that going after the grail diary in Berlin was just a plot point. Henry obviously knew about the trials in the cave by heart. The search for the holy grail has been a hobby of his for 40 years or so. Am I right?

Answer: Henry says, in response to Indy asking if he remembered the details of the trials: "I wrote them down in my diary so that I wouldn't have to remember." So, obviously he did NOT know them by heart. Also, as the other answer says, they didn't want the diary to either be in the Nazis' possession or be burned.

Answer: Neither Henry or Indiana would want the diary to remain in German hands. The Nazis wanted the Grail to exploit its power. As Elsa was a German scientist, she'd already gleaned enough knowledge from Henry and Indy to utilize the information contained within the diary. The diary also contained considerable data about the Grail and its history that Henry had researched over the years and would not have memorized and wanted to retain. He would also want to pass it on to Indy.

raywest

More questions & answers from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade

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.