Raiders of the Lost Ark

Other mistake: The Angel of Death attacks the altar and Toht and Dietrich scream because of its revelation, but Belloq, for some reason, doesn't seem to see it. Just before the fire column rises, he's still calm. (01:47:10)

Big Game

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Suggested correction: If you don't know the reason, perhaps you should ask a question instead of assuming it is a mistake. Belloq studied the ark and probably better predicted what might come out of the ark. He is also looking directly into the ark and is mesmerized by what he is seeing, until eventually he does scream before his head explodes. The other two are terrified at seeing the apparitions.

lionhead

Actually, it's pretty impossible that Belloq studied the Ark. If he knew what would come out of it, he literally committed suicide by opening and watching the Ark open, which doesn't make sense. He believed during the whole movie that the Ark contained the Ten Commandments tablets, not some kind of ghastly things.

Big Game

He didn't know what would come out, but it doesn't mean that he, like Indy, expected just 2 stone tablets. He expected power, for him mostly.

lionhead

Trivia: The German submarine is the same sub that would later be used for Wolfgang Petersen's "Das Boot".

Phil C.

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Suggested correction: The sub wasn't later just used in 'Das Boot', the full-size prop was actually built specifically for its production. Steven Spielberg only rented it for 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', apparently much to the surprise of the German film crew, who one day found their boat 'missing' as it was on loan to Spielberg.

Deadmarsh28

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Sallah and Indy are peering into the well of souls. Sallah is to the right of Indy. Indy then drops the torch into the well, and when the camera comes back up, Sallah is on the left of Indy. (01:00:00 - 01:00:45)

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Suggested correction: Indy and Sallah spent several seconds off-camera, enough to move around the hole and switch places.

Big Game

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: There's a shot of the plane at the beginning, taken from the front, looking down the length of the body, where there's no writing on the side. (00:11:45)

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Suggested correction: On a good quality frame the number is visible quite clear. Not visible on a poor resolution frame.

Trivia: The German U-boat in this movie is actually a mock-up built for Spielberg's earlier movie, 1941. It's only the front half of the sub, so you never see past the conning tower in close-ups. When you see the sub in its entirety, it's a model, which was also built for 1941.

Mark Bernhard

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Suggested correction: This entry conflicts with the entry stating that the U-Boat used in "Raiders" was the prop used in "Das Boot" that Spielberg had loaned.

Raiders of the Lost Ark mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the temple collapses, Satipo is crouching looking at the chaos. Indy starts to run and there's a wide angle of the passage ahead but Satipo is nowhere around. He couldn't have managed to run that distance in half a second.

Sacha

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Suggested correction: He had a couple of seconds to run away from that spot.

It's a straight passage so he should be seen somewhere along it and he isn't.

Sacha

Other mistake: In the bar shootout, a man is shot in the head. The bullet hits him in his hat right in the middle of his forehead, and then his hat falls off. But we then see a close-up of his face, and there's no bullet wound in his forehead or anywhere else.

MikeH

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Suggested correction: Wound easily could be on a hairy part of the head.

Even in a close up a bullet wound would still be visible due to the size of the wound.

Ssiscool

Continuity mistake: Arnold holds a hot stick of metal to Marion's face in her bar, threatening her. In the opposite angle, the metal is nowhere to be seen when it should be right next to her face. Cut back to the other angle and we see it again.

manthabeat

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Suggested correction: This entry is incorrect; the poker is always on screen, it never disappears.

Big Game

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)

More mistakes in Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indy: There's a big snake in the plane!
Jack: Oh, that's just my pet snake Reggie.
Indy: I hate snakes, Jack! I HATE 'EM!
Jack: Oh, come on! Show a little backbone, will ya?

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.

More questions & answers from Raiders of the Lost Ark

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