FAQ for
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

1912 and 1938

At the heart-pounding hanging moment in the film where Indy is reaching for the grail, he stops because his father, for the first time in the entire movie, calls him, "Indy", instead of Junior. Indy just got caught up in the moment of wanting the grail, which he didn't really show desire or faith for before. In "Last Crusade", Indy realized at that moment when his father called him, "Indy", that his own real search in the film was not for the holy grail, but for the relationship he's always wanted with his father. It wouldn't have been worth it for Indy to have kept on striving for the grail just as the Nazis and Elsa did and failed, risking his life and his father's; the grail just revealed each person's own greed. It was right of Indy to see the real treasure he already had, so he didn't act out of character.

Simply put...no. The easiest way to think of the Holy Grail is not the cup of immortality but the fountain of youth. So one sip won't make you immortal, you have to keep drinking from it.

The grail knight does say that the grail itself can NOT pass the great seal...for that is the price of immortality.

They were immortal, for a short time. Elsa took the grail over the seal and returned Indy & Henry back into a mortal state.

So they are NOT immortal.

(Alternatively, it may be that strictly speaking they were never immortal at all. It's possible that in order to remain alive and healthy, it was necessary to drink from the Grail repeatedly -- and since the Grail couldn't pass beyond the Seal, that would have meant visiting the site every now and then. That would explain why the knights who left the cave after drinking from the Grail eventually died of extreme old age. Nothing in the film states that one becomes immortal by drinking from the Grail one time, and that were the case, it would be difficult to explain those knights' deaths.)

The likely explanation for this plot hole is that the filmmakers may have intentionally left anachronistic scenes with the ancient surviving Crusader knight speaking modern English is because the subtitled scenes with Indiana Jones (who is fluent in Latin and perhaps Old or Middle English) and the knight communicating in the knight's tongue (said to be French) is out of the question.

It is presumed the majority of the diverse audience viewing Indiana Jones films dislike having to read the subtitles. Indiana Jones franchise is intended as a homage to matinee serials that mandate visual storytelling for pure entertainment in aesthetically pleasant movie experience.

It is for this purpose George Lucas and Steven Spielberg chose to focus on visual storytelling regardless of plot holes and inverted logic that force the audience to suspend disbelief, consciously or not.

If the film were to adhere to the law of logic in the real world, it would be impossible, so compromises had to be made to clarify the story without demanding too much of the audience's attention that may prove to be irritating.

The box was part of the "magic" car on a traveling railroad circus. It had a trap door in the bottom which dropped Indy onto the tracks below the train, where you see him running away.

When Indy falls through one of the steps, you can see the floor from underneath. Some long, thin columns can be seen in the front, but contrary to what may be the initial thought, these do not support the correct tiles. Just compare: when Indy enters the room, freeze the frame. You can see the correct tile with the 'I' is actually bordering on the top-left side of the 'J' that Indy steps on. However, when he falls through, no column or support is seen anywhere close to him or underneath any tile within a 6 ft radius or so. Also, as Indy falls, he quickly grabs the ledges of the surrounding tiles. If only the correct tiles were supported, then many more tiles would have collapsed under the sudden force caused by his weight.

Instead, watch closely when Indy steps on the 'O' and crushes the tile behind it; a metal pin can be seen inside the stone along the edge of the tile. The entire floor is probably reinforced with a metal framework, which keeps the floor together but allows indidual parts of the floor to collapse. The correct tiles are made of solid material, and the 'wrong' ones are meant to break easily.

Most likely, with a high degree of certainty. You can seen Elsa becoming increasingly shocked by Donavan's acts (especially after shooting Henry Jones). Before she chooses the cup, she gives Donavan a quick forced smile, which is probably meant to give him a false sense of security that she will pick the right cup. When Donavan starts to feel sick from drinking from the wrong cup, her expression is not surprised at all, as if she thinks this is exactly what he deserves. Additionally, after Donavan's demise, Elsa tells Indy that the Grail would not be made of gold, as the cup she gave to Donavan was.

He looked right down! I get that it's camouflaged to match the other side, but he should have been able to see it when he looked down at it.

>> In any film as sweeping and rich as The Last Crusade, the most important key to enjoying the film is suspension of disbelief. As said before, the Indiana Jones series is an homage to the old matinee serials that prefer visual spectacle over credibility and authenticity.

Indiana did not see the bridge because: A) the audience did not see the bridge. B) it provided the set up for a moment of faith.

In short: because the filmmakers didn't want him to.

Another possibility is that it wasn't there at first! Perhaps it really took Indy's faith to make the bridge appear (by 'divine power').

This may sound ludicrously illogical, but so is an Ark filled with vengeful angels, if you really think about it. And ask yourself: what activated the wind and the round blades in the Breath of God trial (wonder why they call it that)?

If Indy 'conjured' the bridge by the power of his faith, perhaps the bridge remains for some time before disappearing (explaining why Donavon and Elsa were able to cross it).