Corrected entry: After being captured, Indy is shackled to a chair, unable to move his arms. Later, "Ox" staggers into the tent, and we see from behind as Indy reaches up and grabs his arm to steady him. Later still, Indy is again shackled to the chair.
Corrected entry: To keep the plot a secret, this film has had quite a few fake titles, including, but not limited to: Indiana Jones and the Destroyer of Worlds, Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods, Indiana Jones and the Four Corners of the Earth, Indiana Jones and the Lost City of Gold, and Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Covenant.
Correction: These were titles of previous (unsuccessful) script submissions, not to keep the plot secret. However, the DVD extras reveal that during production the film was simply titled "Genre" to keep it secret.
Corrected entry: This film had been in the works for a long time, mostly because of problems with the script and inability to settle on a McGuffin, or plot device. Several screenwriters had been commissioned to write scripts, but none were satisfactory, and in one case, the screenwriter couldn't get Lucas and Spielberg to concentrate. Writers also didn't want to approach the task, because they felt the shoes Lucas and Spielberg wanted them to fill were too big. Eventually, however, Lucas and Spielberg settled on the crystal skull as the McGuffin and also upon a screenplay which they thought was what they wanted.
Correction: General knowledge is not trivia.
Corrected entry: In the hangar at area 51, Jones says something like "drop your guns or Spalko is dead". Later when being interrogated by the FBI/CIA guys, he doesn't know who she is, he only gives a physical description of her.
Correction: Obviously he forgot the name between the warehouse and the nuclear explosion/miraculous refrigerator escape.
Corrected entry: Just as the alarm goes off at the bomb test site, you can see a man walking reflected in the window behind Indy. There is not supposed to be anybody else there.
Correction: About 20 seconds later, 3 army dudes jump in a car and speed right past Indiana Jones. So yes, there were other people there.
Corrected entry: When Mutt is trying to pull Indy out of the sand pit, Indy tells him to get a rope. Indy had his whip, all he had to do was get it off his hip and throw it to Mutt. I know it would've ruined a good joke, but Indy is known for using his whip to get him out of trouble and therefore would've thought of that, even panicked as he was.
Correction: Indy would have known that when caught in quicksand, you should stay still and not make any sudden movements. Reaching down for his whip, then reaching up and throwing an end of the whip would increase his rate of sinking.
Corrected entry: At the end of the motorcycle chase in the library, the bike lays down and Indy and Mutt slide underneath some tables. The last student who is sitting and reading (he asks Indy a question) seems to get pushed back by the bike before it finally stops. But if you look closely, nothing actually touches the student or the chair that makes him move back. (00:36:25)
Correction: He could have just slid backwards himself. Seeing Indy and Mutt sliding toward him, he may have just scooted backwards a bit to avoid a collision with them.
Corrected entry: Indy mentions to Mutt that his riding with Pancho Villa was "the fight against Victoriano Huerta". However, that referenced episode of "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" took place in 1916; Huerta had already abdicated the presidential office the year before in 1915. During Indy's time with Villa in 1916, Villa was actively engaged *against* the United States due to the US' support of the Carranza regime in Mexico. So by joining Villa at that time, Indy was fighting against his own country, not Huerta.
Correction: The Young Indiana Jones series isn't necessarily canon. In this version, Indy COULD have rode with Pancho Villa in 1915 in the fight against Huerta.
Corrected entry: In the bar fight scene, a voice yells out "get that greaser!" just before the fight breaks out. However, the term 'greaser' (used to describe a leather jacket wearing youth of the 1950's) was not used to describe this clothing style until later decades - at the time they were called "hoods". (00:31:45)
Correction: The movie is set in 1957. The term "greaser" was in use at that time. Greasers did not necessarily wear leather jackets, but did usually have their hair greased back and were generally from low-income families.
Corrected entry: When Indy opens a shotgun shell to extract its shot, these pellets are then magnetically attracted to the case which contains material from the 1947 Roswell UFO incident. Although it was correctly pointed out that the shell's hull was made of paper with a felt wad, until the 1980s, the pellets were formed from lead and thus would not be influenced by magnetism. Due to lead's toxicity, the shot types that are mandated for waterfowl hunting include steel, bismuth, and several combinations of tungsten, iron, nickel, tin, etc. Another issue with that scene is: how did the pliers produce such a precise cut around the hull? The implement itself wasn't a "multitool" with a knife blade incorporated into the handle. All he had to do was squeeze the crimped end of the shell a couple of times to open it.
Correction: That shotgun shell had buckshot it in it which would be steel and therefore magnetic. The bigger issue is that he tore off the primer end, which realistically can only be torn off with pliers, and the only thing that should have spilled out would be gunpowder. If he wanted to get the buckshot pellets out he would have torn open the crimped "business end" of the shell. As depicted in this film, that shell would not have functioned as its components were in the shell in reverse.
Correction: When the camera pulls back as Indy is holding Ox's arm, you can see the binding around his wrist showing him shackled to the chair.