Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade

Trivia: Hitler was played by the actor Michael Sheard, this was the third time he had played Hitler for film and TV. Ironically, Sheard's wife was half-Jewish.

Trivia: When Indy asks his father how he knew Elsa was a Nazi, Henry replies, "She talks in her sleep." Sean Connery ad-libbed this line. The cast and crew burst out laughing, which resulted in the scene being re-shot. The ad-libbed line remained in the film.

Trivia: Indiana Jones refers to a philosophy class taught down the hall by a Dr. Tyree. In real life, Dr. Tyree was Harrison Ford's college mentor as a philosophy major at Ripon College.

Trivia: As Jones and his father prepare to escape aboard the zeppelin, they walk past two men who are reading newspapers (one man on either side of the doorway). The two newspaper-reading men are George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: A German sentence which could be counted as a mistake: When Indy and company are taken by surprise and captured by the German troopers in the Grail temple, one of them shouts, 'Das ist ein Überfall' (it's the last sentence before the group is brought before Donovan and Elsa). This actually means, 'This is a robbery'. I can't tell, though, whether the script writers consulted the wrong material or if this is considered to be an inside joke for linguists.

Trivia: When young Indy is in the lion's cart, he cracks a whip that cuts him on the top of his chin, hence Indiana's chin scar. But actually Harrison Ford got that scar when he crashed his car while trying to put his seatbelt on (ironically).

Trivia: The actress who plays the cameo role of Walter Donovan's wife is Isla Blair, who in real life is married to Julian Glover (who plays the part of Walter Donovan) but in the credits at the end of the film, her name is given as Mrs Glover and not Isla Blair.

Will

Trivia: The plane Indy and his father boarded was actually a modified Stampe model. A similar modified Stampe (if not the same one) can be seen in the movie 'The Mummy.'

Trivia: While in the Zepplin Jones Sr. comments on not having his glasses on. If you look carefully the paper is upside down.

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Suggested correction: Henry Jones Sr. does not mention his glasses whatsoever in the scene. The newspaper is upside down, but likely because he wasn't paying attention to it. He was using it to hide.

jshy7979

Trivia: Not a mistake, but a translation. During the fighting scene on the tank. Indy is punched and hits the periscope while the solders inside watch. One of the solders says to the other "The Americans - they fight like women" in German and then gets hit by the periscope. Funny scene as it is, but better if you understand German.

Trivia: During the scene with Hitler in Berlin, there is one shot where some books to be burnt are shown. If you look closely, you can see that one is "Das Kapital" by Karl Marx.

Trivia: Indiana Jones does not like being called Henry by his father (his proper name) and tells his father to call him Indiana. Prof. Jones replies with, "We called the dog Indiana". George Lucas created the character of Indiana Jones and he named the character after his pet Malamute dog, Indiana.

Tallicame

Trivia: The beach scene where Indy's father frightens the seagulls into taking flight and bringing down the Messerschmitt was done with fake seagulls and real white doves. The beach was covered with fake seagulls for the wide shot, and the closeup shots were done with white doves and piles of loose feathers to further confuse things. The film crew had to use white doves because it turned out that they absolutely could not train live seagulls to do anything at all on cue.

Phil C.

Trivia: In the scene in the zeppelin where Indy talks with his father, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery both elected to shoot the scene wearing no trousers whenever possible, in close ups for example, because it was so hot and they didn't want to stop every ten seconds to wipe sweat away.

Phil C.

Trivia: When Indy elbows Marcus off of the tank, watch the centre of your screen. A few shots later, you can see Marcus between Indy and Connery. For about one second, it looks like Marcus is laying flat on his back and a second later, he raises his legs into the air. It just doesn't look right but is extremely hilarious to watch. (01:35:35)

Trivia: Indy's real name is Henry Walton Jones Jr., which is based on George Lucas' real name, George Walton Lucas Jr.

Trivia: On the zeppelin, the Nazi shows around a flyer with Dr. Jones Sr.'s picture on it. At the second table, a woman shakes her head 'no' before even looking at the picture. Possibly just the character not bothering to pay attention, as could happen in reality, but worth looking out for.

Lynette Carrington

Video

Continuity mistake: In the library scene Indy discovers the "X" high up on the balcony. The X is green with a grey background. When he breaks the tile to find the tomb the X has become a faint outline on the floor. (00:27:40 - 00:28:45)

Allanmceneaney

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: You still can see one "leg" of the X on the floor, it's only darker than viewed from above because the camera angle and illumination set used.

I think it is meant to be an optical illusion.

The "X" is first shown as a dark green "X" on a beige background. Next, we are shown the same dark green "X" that is barely visible over a green background. I think we are meant to understand that the beige square tiles were lifted away in a cut scene.

I see no reason why they would replace the floor just for the higher shot, it's the same floor throughout the scene. When they enter it's the same floor we see later as they are going into the hole. It's probably not a real marble floor, so they can use a styrofoam or plywood tile that Harrison can lift, one that matches the surrounding tiles. They don't shine as much as the rest of the floor. In the shot up high there is different lighting, so that could explain it. It just appears to be different. Of course, sudden different light can be seen as a revealing mistake.

lionhead

Suggested correction: Not a mistake, just a different viewing angle.

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Question: It seems that going after the grail diary in Berlin was just a plot point. Henry obviously knew about the trials in the cave by heart. The search for the holy grail has been a hobby of his for 40 years or so. Am I right?

Answer: Henry says, in response to Indy asking if he remembered the details of the trials: "I wrote them down in my diary so that I wouldn't have to remember." So, obviously he did NOT know them by heart. Also, as the other answer says, they didn't want the diary to either be in the Nazis' possession or be burned.

Answer: Neither Henry or Indiana would want the diary to remain in German hands. The Nazis wanted the Grail to exploit its power. As Elsa was a German scientist, she'd already gleaned enough knowledge from Henry and Indy to utilize the information contained within the diary. The diary also contained considerable data about the Grail and its history that Henry had researched over the years and would not have memorized and wanted to retain. He would also want to pass it on to Indy.

raywest

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