Continuity mistake: When Indy is stepping on the letters, he steps on the "O" and knocks the "P" loose. In the next shot, the "P" is intact.
Factual error: When Indy and his father are being chased by the German soldiers on motorbikes they can be easily identified as modern lightweight Japanese trailbikes (Honda XL500S from the '70s/'80s), not the big heavy bikes the German army used. Furthermore, the sidecar used by Indy, instead of being a BMW supplied to the Wermacht, is a Soviet copy (Dniper or Ural) produced in the 1980s, disguised to look like a BMW. (01:03:35)
Revealing mistake: When Indy is breaking through the wall in the catacombs, and he uses his shoulder as a battering ram. You can see his head actually bounce off a piece of the rock real hard as he is going through the wall. If the rock was real, I guess Indy would have a lot to cry about that night. (00:32:00)
Suggested correction: This rock is real but very old. That's why it was easy to break.
Continuity mistake: Inside the zeppelin when Indy and his father are talking at the table, notice the white handkerchief that moves all around the table. (01:13:50)
Revealing mistake: Indy and Henry go through a tunnel to avoid the Nazi planes, but one flies into the tunnel anyway. When it goes into the tunnel, it's covered with matte lines, and it's the wrong color.
Revealing mistake: Just a small detail. Watch the tank roll over the hill with the German officer holding onto the top. When the tank hits the ground, the turret pops off. The German soldier (a clear prop dummy) maintains its grasp on the turret and is pulled off with it. The sheer force of the crash would have easily blown a human body off the tank. (01:36:30)
Factual error: When Indy is being chased by the tank there is a type 82 Kübelwagen - they weren't produced until 1940 and the movie is set in 1938.
Visible crew/equipment: When Young Indy is trapped in the train car with the lion, he tosses up the whip to Fedora, and as he's being pulled up in the interior shot, he's wearing a stunt apparatus around his waist above his beaded belt. [The stunt double is also wearing a glove on his right hand holding what looks like skewered meat, to presumably draw the trained lion, but that's a lot harder to see without pausing]. (00:08:35)
Continuity mistake: In the speedboat scene where Dr Schneider rescues Indy and Kazim from the boat that is chopped up by the propeller of a ship, she driving the speedboat with the steering wheel on the right-hand side. Seconds later as she drives the speedboat away, the steering wheel is on the left-hand side, obviously a flipped shot. When the speedboat slows down to allow Kazim to alight at the jetty, Indy is at the wheel which is now back on the right-hand side. (00:39:55)
Visible crew/equipment: After the Venice boat chase scene, in the shot which takes place on the boat while it is being chopped up by the propeller, look at the top of the boat (opposite where Indy is holding Kazim.) You can see a series of round-shaped set lights reflecting in the boat. (00:39:30)
Continuity mistake: When Indy is trying to hold Elsa and keep her from falling and she's trying to reach the Grail, you can see her hand coming out of her glove. In the first shot of her hand coming out, it comes almost all the way out. In the next two shots, her hand is about halfway out, then it slips out and she falls. (01:57:00)
Revealing mistake: When Donovan takes a drink from the false grail, he turns toward the camera and you can see the screw holding the base to the stem of the cup. (01:52:15)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning, when Indy is fighting aboard the Coronado ship, the very first time we see Indy in this scene (before we see him get punched), he is bleeding from the right side of his mouth. Throughout the remainder of the scene, he is bleeding from the left side of his mouth. (00:11:50)
Continuity mistake: When Sean Connery drops his lighter while trying to burn the ropes, the lid is flipped to the right. When he blows on it the lid then changes position slightly relative to the pattern on the rug, then when the rug catches fire the lid's suddenly flipped completely to the left. (00:56:40)
Continuity mistake: During the boat chase/fight in Venice, the rear of Indy's boat gets shot up and starts smoking and spouting flames and the engine starts chopping. He leaps onto the pursuing boat, fights until that boat is destroyed in the rotors, then leaps with the Grail protector back onto his original boat with Elsa. The boat is now running perfectly. (00:38:50 - 00:39:55)
Continuity mistake: In the motorcycle chase scene after the escape from Brunwald castle, Indy's hair is noticeably longer than it was in the castle scenes. It returns to the shorter length when they stop at the crossroads.
Continuity mistake: After Indiana and the Protector of the Grail escape the boat being chewed up, and the Protector reveals who he is to Indiana, watch his chest area... When Indiana asks "Who are you?" he is looking down at his chest (looking at the tattoo), and when we cut to Kazim you can tell he is holding his shirt open showing Indy the tattoo. Then when we cut to Indy and back to Kazim, his shirt is closed and he then opens it to show Indy the tattoo. (00:40:15)
Factual error: As Indiana Jones opens the door to Dr. Jones' house, note the light switches just inside the front door. They are the kind developed in the late 1970s and still in use today, not consistent with the film's setting of 1938. (00:22:30)
Factual error: German Fighters shown in the film are in fact Pilatus P-2 (Swiss-made aircraft built after World War II). The appropriate fighter of the period would be the Messerschmitt 109. (01:17:00)
Revealing mistake: When Indy is looking out at the gorge in front of him after spelling out God's name, there's a shot where he looks at the lion's head above him. You can see him from down the corridor, and you can notice as he touches the wall, it moves, showing it is a fake wall. (01:47:15)
