Question: Why does Dovchenko salute and address Spalko as if she were a superior officer if both have the same rank and are part of the same military company (in which Dovchenko would have more authority, being an army officer, while Spalko is simply a doctor)? A similar case to compare would be Jürgen Voller in Dial of Destiny's prologue, who seems to have almost no authority over soldiers with lower military ranks.
Question: Why did the nuke fridge scene cause so much controversy?
Answer: Another problem is that people couldn't articulate what they didn't like about the film, and point to the "Nuke the Fridge" scene as a quick example of what they think is bad about it. In the realm of Indy, it's really no more outlandish than jumping out of a plane in an inflatable raft like in Temple of Doom.
It's considerably more outlandish. The raft scene was recreated/reviewed by Mythbusters, and they found that the raft floated down at a mere 22 mph. It would be hard/impossible in real life to stay on the raft, sure, but if you buy that bit of movie cheekiness, it would definitely slow their descent enough to survive, especially since they land a) on a slope and b) on soft snow. The fridge scene, however, has no such saving grace... it's completely ridiculous and unrealistic in every detail.
Question: Does anyone know for sure if Harrison Ford wears the same hat in each movie or are there multiple copies. I'd like to know for sure, not speculation or guesses.
Chosen answer: Not only does he wear a different hat in each movie, he wears several different hats within the same movie. After Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harrison Ford was given the original hat, which he personally helped the costume designer give its old and worn but well-loved appearance, to keep for his own.
Answer: There were not only multiple Indy hats used in each movie, but multiple styles and sizes of Indy hats used for various scenes. In "Raiders," for example, Herbert Johnson hatters in London produced 45 copies of the hat for use in that movie alone. Those hats were used by Harrison Ford himself, his stand-ins and stuntmen. In dark scenes, where lighting was critical, Ford wore a version of the hat with a modified brim to accommodate facial lighting; and, in the daylight "Basket Chase" scene in Cairo, the style of hat is noticeably different with a slightly wider brim. The hats vary greatly from movie-to-movie, as well, with variations in brim, crown and felt color. By the last movie, "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," the hat is distinctly different from the original used in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
Question: What did Dovchenko shout in Russian when he was being dragged into the nest, just before getting devoured alive? Did he yell "Help me!" or "Somebody help!"?
Answer: He's screaming "Help me!"
Question: At the beginning of the film, the Russians steal the body of the alien from the warehouse. Later in the film, after Indiana Jones gets the skull from the body of the conquistador, he gets captured by the Russians. Spalko pulls the skull out of the alien body and sets it on the table to do the whole "look into the eyes" scene. After that scene, and they escape the camp, the group is carrying around the skull from the conquistador in order to return it to the temple. So, what happened to the skull they pulled from the alien's body? Did they steal the body to get the skull for the sole purpose of having someone stare into it to experience the mental stimulation? Did they just ditch it afterwards?
Answer: There is no definite answer in the movie, but it probably ended up in a remote research facility in Siberia. Or perhaps Hruschevs' private collection. They stole the skull from the warehouse because they thought it was important in finding the alien vessel.
Question: Perhaps I've forgotten some details from The Last Crusade in the years since I've seen it, but shouldn't Henry Sr. not be dead in this movie, because he drank from the Holy Grail which gives immortality?
Answer: Yep, you've forgotten some details. The Knight specifically states that the immortality bestowed by the Grail is limited to those who remain within the shrine. Jones Snr left the cave, ergo, no immortality.
Question: In the United States, why was the film released on a Thursday instead of a Wednesday or Friday?
Chosen answer: Because the film had a global release date, and premiered the same day in every country in the world. Obviously, the studio felt this was the best day to do it.
Question: In the ant-attack scene, why did the Russians decide to back their truck up to the edge of the cliff and then use ropes to escape over the cliff to an uncertain fate? This defies logic. They still had at least one working vehicle (the truck) that had just engaged in a high-speed chase - they could have easily jumped aboard the truck and quickly driven out of the danger zone.
Answer: The Ants could crawl over anything and everything at rapid speed. They knew it would be a long shot to drive past them without getting consumed.
Question: Was the Ark the same prop used in Raiders of the Lost Ark?
Answer: Yes. It was retrieved from the Lucasfilm Archives specifically for use in the film. It also appeared alongside George Lucas in a promotional photoshoot for the film.
Question: In the military warehouse scene at the beginning of the film, the huge sliding doors are designated "51" in numbers 30 feet tall, on the inside of the warehouse doors. If you were already on the premises of a top-secret government base, and already inside a top-secret government warehouse, why would you need a 30-foot-tall numerical designation inside the building?
Question: When Irina speaks to the Russians, is she really speaking in Russian? And could anybody translate anything for me, like in the warehouse scene?
Chosen answer: Ok i found out thread on the indy forum with the translations: http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=15558&highlight=russian+translation.
Question: On different websites I have found tonnes of information about Irina, like where she was born and what she did in her life. Where do people find this information? I know it's not in the film.
Chosen answer: It is common for information about characters and plotlines to exist outside a movie. Oftentimes the screenwriters have created a back story about the characters that does not appear in the movie. This information may be disseminated to fans through the movie studio's official web site, in interviews, through DVD commentary, and so on. Also, with popular series like Star Wars, Star Trek, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc., the accompanying novels provide additional information about the characters and plot that does not appear in the movies. Of course, fans also create their own backstories and myths about favorite characters which often gets passed around on various web sites and other sources as verified fact.
Question: What happened to the Russian camp after Irina Spalko was killed?
Question: In what town or city were the scenes where Indy is supposed to live and work actually filmed?
Chosen answer: They were filmed in New Haven, CT and Yale University.
Question: At the beginning of the film, when Indy's first shown, he says "Russians" upon seeing the Soviets. Weren't the Soviets just called Soviets and not Russians (since the Soviet Union still existed)?
Answer: While "Soviets" would probably be considered the official term, "Russians" was still widely used as a descriptive term, as Russia was by far the largest and most dominant state in the Union. The two terms were effectively interchangeable during that period.
Question: The Soviets are led to the temple by a trail of dropped "bleepers". Is this a reference to the trail of M&Ms that Elliot leaves for ET in "ET"?
Answer: Doubtful. Dropping breadcrumbs was in in Hansel & Gretel. The breadcrumbs here are just fancier.
Question: When they are in the Soviet jungle camp, Indy is shown an alien whose skull is crystal on an 'operating table.' But I thought the last crystal skull was in the bag the Soviets were holding onto. If that's the case, then they had two crystal skulls, not one, right?
Answer: They had at least one skull (and body) from the spaceship crash in Roswell, but they needed a specific skull - the one from one of the original alien visitors.
Question: I'm aware of Indy's ophidiophobia, but how much will snakes play into the film? Sharing the same phobia, I don't want to spend the whole film trying to avoid watching snake-related scenes.
Chosen answer: Based on what little we've seen, namely what's in the trailers, there seems to be very little on the snake front. There will undoubtedly be at least one moment somewhere in the film, but there's no indication that snakes will be a major focus of the storyline.
Answer: People felt it was ridiculous and cartoonish, even by Indiana Jones standards. Even if it was possible to survive a nuclear blast via the lead lining of a fridge (it's not), or that the fridge would simply be thrown away rather than be melted/torn apart like everything else in the vicinity (it wouldn't), the impact of being flung what appears to be a mile or so through the air, then violently crashing into and rolling over the ground, would certainly kill anything inside. The controversy arose because usually, in "classic" Indy films, the fantastical elements were exactly that: fantastic, magical, and/or supernatural. This was presented as taking place in our reality, with no "power of God" or magic spells, and for many, that was just too much disbelief to suspend.