Raiders of Lost Ark Flaws Mistakes

axelan

New member
As I'm getting older and losing interest in newer movies and TV shows I have decided to be a nerd and actually watch the classics over and over again. I don't know what's gotten into me but maybe they help me relax these days.

Anyway, I am starting to notice a lot of little things. I think it would be fun to point them out. Don't read any further if you think this might ruin the movies for you. This is only for fun. Maybe go try to find as many as you can first before reading the thread below this point. That's probably more fun!


  • When Marion and Indi come out of the cavern that they found the Ark in. Who is the dude just laying there passed out or dead and why didn't Indi look down at him? The guy is gone during the plane fight scene that takes place moments later.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PA6PdT0m7nSh0G38m18qW1ZQaM9GcmZY
open



  • Anyone ever notice all the diggers just kinda puttering around tossing dust around as they walk through the dig site?


  • So many of the snakes in the Cavern of the Ark don't move. When they are lifting the stone lid off which there is no way 2 men could lift that thing, the snakes in the background look like dead rubber things

more to come.
 
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axelan

New member
The gun that the pilot uses to shoot at Indi during the plane fight scene looked different than the one Indi picks up after the fight.
 

axelan

New member
If anyone has an ideas how to make this more fun so that I or anyone else isn't just listing spoilers and instead makes it into some sort of game to find the mistakes, please post. Maybe this thread I started could be deleted and redone.

Like maybe say "I found 3 flaws in this scene with clues" then at the bottom of the post list them. And someone can cover their screen so they know to look for them, then come back and check the answer key?

Not really a mistake but it always bothered me during the truck with the Ark fight scene when the guy was hanging off the truck on the door and being drug along the cliff. Right after he falls off in the dirt on flat ground in dry grass rather than down the cliff.

Then right after that when the last guy crawls along the roof to attack Indi they are in the desert with absolutely no greenery.
 

TheFirebird1

Active member
axelan said:
The gun that the pilot uses to shoot at Indi during the plane fight scene looked different than the one Indi picks up after the fight.
Are you referring to the Luger used by the Nazi pilot? The one Indy picks up after his fight with the mechanic is different, yes, but that's intentional. The gun he picks up is his own, a Smith and Wesson M1917, if I remember correctly.
 

axelan

New member
TheFirebird1 said:
Are you referring to the Luger used by the Nazi pilot? The one Indy picks up after his fight with the mechanic is different, yes, but that's intentional. The gun he picks up is his own, a Smith and Wesson M1917, if I remember correctly.

I will have to watch again. I thought that too but there wasn't a clear clip of Indi losing his gun in this scene that I recall.
 

TheFirebird1

Active member
axelan said:

  • So many of the snakes in the Cavern of the Ark don't move. When they are lifting the stone lid off which there is no way 2 men could lift that thing, the snakes in the background look like dead rubber things

more to come.
1. From what I've read, a majority of the snakes inside the Well were either actual snakes or legless lizards (a group that appears similar to, but are not, snakes).
2. It's actually very possible for two men to have lifted the stone tablet covering the Ark, although it may be difficult. Remember, Harrison Ford and John Rhys-Davies were at that point in peak physical condition, and therefore lifting the tablet wouldn't have been excruciatingly challenging for them. With the snakes in the background, it may be that they put in rubber props for safety reasons during that shot, but I'd have to re-watch the scene.
 

TheFirebird1

Active member
axelan said:
I will have to watch again. I thought that too but there wasn't a clear clip of Indi losing his gun in this scene that I recall.
As the mechanic is pummeling Indy, I believe it is implied that the gun flies out of his holster. It might be visible as well, but I'd have to view it again to be sure.
 

axelan

New member
TheFirebird1 said:
2. It's actually very possible for two men to have lifted the stone tablet covering the Ark, although it may be difficult. Remember, Harrison Ford and John Rhys-Davies were at that point in peak physical condition, and therefore lifting the tablet wouldn't have been excruciatingly challenging for them. With the snakes in the background, it may be that they put in rubber props for safety reasons during that shot, but I'd have to re-watch the scene.

I don't know if you have ever worked with stone much. Some stone can be unimaginably heavy. Based on the size of that lid it seems impossible for me unless it is made out of some very airy sandstone which given the location I suppose. I'd like to see some sort of myth busting on that one. :)

The average weight of a sandstone boulder is approximately 150 pounds per cubic foot. Limestone boulders and granite boulders in most cases weigh more. They average about 175 pounds per cubic foot.

http://www.delawarequarries.com/landscape/boulders/boulderwt.html

The lid looks to be about 8 cubic feet to me. Maybe a lot more.
 
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TheFirebird1

Active member
axelan said:
I don't know if you have ever worked with stone much. Some stone can be unimaginably heavy. Based on the size of that lid it seems impossible for me unless it is made out of some very airy sandstone which given the location I suppose. I'd like to see some sort of myth busting on that one. :)
Rewatching the scene just now, it's obvious that the two are having extreme difficulty lifting it up. The stone is most likely limestone (a material common in building the pyramids) which weighs roughly 150 pounds per cubic foot. It's hard to determine the exact measurements of the slab, but let's estimate that it weighs close to 1000-1200 pounds. I've seen relatively healthy individuals being able to lift close to 500 pounds, so it's safe to assume that two people could, as long as it was for a brief amount of time (notice how they toss it away very quickly in the scene.)
 

axelan

New member
TheFirebird1 said:
As the mechanic is pummeling Indy, I believe it is implied that the gun flies out of his holster. It might be visible as well, but I'd have to view it again to be sure.

The closest thing I could find was the gun supposedly comes out of his holster when he does a back roll to get out of the way of being run over by the airplane wheels. If that is the case, why didn't he use the gun sooner? There is no evidence of the gun being in his holster during the fight since the holster flap is closed and seems kinda small/empty to have a gun in it. We could say he forgot he had it when fighting and then realized once it fell out as he back rolled. Watching the gun fall out of the pilots hand could make one thing it was supposed to be that gun and then Indi just notices it on the ground when he rolled out of the way. Like I said in my first post, none of this is a big deal but just something fun to do taking a more critical look at it if you watch the movies a bunch of times.
 
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