Raiders of the Lost Ark

Continuity mistake: When the camera shows the back of the truck, there are two soldiers on each side of the truck, plus the sergeant inside it. Following that, there were seven soldiers and one of them fell off the truck – there's a missing soldier in the scene. (01:25:50)

Big Game

Continuity mistake: In the submarine dock of Geheimhaven, Captain Mohler is a man with dark hair in his mid or late thirties. But during the procession, he seems to be much older, with grey hair.

Continuity mistake: When the Nazis are aboard the Bantu Wind, in the full scene of the ship deck, Toht stands behind Belloq. But, after Marion tries to hit Dietrich, the camera focuses on Belloq, then on Dietrich again. Toht is not seen anymore on the deck.

Continuity mistake: When the Nazis are loading the Ark in the truck, you can spot Toht next to the left side of the truck, watching the scene. A few seconds later, he walks out of scene, apparently going to the car. However, when Belloq and Dietrich walk to the car and Belloq shouts "Let's go!", Toht has disappeared. (01:21:45)

Continuity mistake: When Dietrich, Gobler, and Belloq arrive next to the destroyed Flying Wing, Gobler is on the left of Dietrich and Belloq on the right. In the next shot, they have changed places. (01:20:58)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Indy goes to save Marion in the tent he removes the handkerchief gag. But when he decides to leave her there, he puts the gag back on and some of her hair gets caught underneath the gag on one close up shot from the left. But when the camera goes to the back of Indy, her hair is no longer caught underneath the gag. (00:56:00)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Near the beginning of the movie where Indiana is running away from the tribe of South American Indians after Belloq robs Indiana of the gold statue, in one shot you can see that the Indians are only a few meters behind Indiana, but in the next shot, they are at least 50 meters behind. (00:11:20)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Before the shoot-out in Marion's bar, before the Nazis enter and ask her for the amulet, she's sitting alone at the table. She pulls the amulet out of her shirt, the chain still around her neck, and stares at it in the candlelight. The next moment the chain is not around her neck and she hangs the necklace onto the table centrepiece. (00:28:20)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Indy is distracted by the young girl and her eyelid message, the girl changes from a window seat to another row when the bell rings to end class.

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the Himalayan bar scene when the sherpas leave, Marion starts to pick up the shot glasses and puts them on a tray - there's a large group left at one end of the table, one in the middle, and two by a bowl at the other end. When she returns for the rest, the two by the bowl have vanished. (00:26:20)

Continuity mistake: When the village crowd separates and reveals a standoff between Indy and the black-robed swordsman, the rear shot of Indy shows his hip-bag to the rear of him, the frontal shot of Indy shows his hip-bag on the forward part of his hip.

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Belloq is talking to Indy and Marion in the Well of Souls, he's shown holding his hat with his right hand. But in the only over-the-shoulder shot (looking into the Well of Souls) the hat is laying on the ground and Belloq tosses a stone down with his right hand. Then the hat is back. (01:10:35)

Continuity mistake: Marion's bar in Nepal is built with thick stone walls, but after the fire, all you see is the burned-out shell of a wood-frame building.

raywest

Continuity mistake: When Indy and the Indian are entering the cave and clearing the cobwebs, you can see at least one spider on Indy's back. The next shot shows a clear, long shot of Indy's back with light reflecting on his jacket and no spiders. The next shot, the Indian notices the spiders. (00:04:20)

Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film, Indiana Jones uses his whip to disarm a man with a handgun. The scene showing this action includes several quick shots, but as a result of the use of these multiple shots it can be seen that the whip descends twice. (Slow motion helps, but isn't required.)

Continuity mistake: In the beginning, Indy's partner takes the idol, throws down the whip, and leaves him hanging on a ledge with the ceiling closing down to the ground. While he is hanging the you can see that the ceiling barely has enough room for Indy to fit. Indy struggles to get up which during this time he would have no room to get under, yet when he finally gets up the ceiling has risen giving him plenty of room to get under. (00:08:45)

ShooterMcGavin34

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Indy is telling about the Staff of Ra, the background color of the blackboard changes between shots. It looks like there are some chalk residues (after the blackboard has been washed) in one of the shots, but not in the other.

Jacob La Cour

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The stone block Indy pushes out to create an opening which allows him and Marion to escape the Well Of Souls apparently rolls down the hill outside. We see it, in a following scene, laying about 15 feet away from the Well. But when Indy is fighting the big German guard near the airplane, one scene clearly shows the Well in the background and the dislodged stone is now laying on the hill only a few feet from the opening. (01:15:45 - 01:18:10)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the government comes to see Indy at the University he is teaching, they enter the large room, I think it's a gymnasium. He puts the huge book on the table and one of the buckles comes undone. But when he goes to open the book to show the g-men a picture of the Ark he undoes both buckles. (00:15:30 - 00:19:30)

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Indy is being lowered into the map room, the exterior shot of the opening does not match the interior. From the outside, the wall around the opening is a lot thicker. The angle is also different. (00:50:55)

Revealing mistake: While Indy and Marion are in the Well of Souls, and they encounter the snakes, Indy falls to the ground only to be confronted by a hissing Cobra rearing its head. Look carefully and you'll see the snake's reflection on the safety glass between it and Indy. Briefly you can also see the torch's reflection while he's waving it around. You can also see Marion's reflection when she falls in later on and is face to face with the cobra. [This has been corrected in the new DVD set. You can only see it if you have the original VHS. I think it's visible in the "making of" on the DVD as well.]

More mistakes in Raiders of the Lost Ark

Marion: You're not the man I knew ten years ago.
Indiana: It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.

More quotes from Raiders of the Lost Ark

Trivia: When a Nazi falls from the back of the truck carrying the Ark, a "Wilhelm scream" can be heard.

More trivia for Raiders of the Lost Ark

Question: After the scene where Indy first goes onto the German U-boat, he runs around apparently looking for something, then the scene changes to the inside of the sub where you can hear that the order has been given to dive. Was there an actual scene cut out of the film where Indy lashes himself to the periscope? (When Raiders first came out in Aus, I vividly remember seeing it with this scene.)

Answer: The scene you describe was indeed filmed. It was cut out of the US release of the film although I cannot speak for the Australian version. The scene also appears in the Marvel Comics adaptation. http://www.theraider.net/films/raiders/deleted_scenes.php has a list of this and the other deleted scenes.

Phil C.

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