History Headscratchers / IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade

** This is the same God that made the [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk Ark of the Covenant]]. He's a bit of a drama queen.

** Indy's a scientist. He pooh-poohs the idea of "magic" and "mysticism" and the supernatural because those imply that these things cannot be explained, and that one has to just give up and accept that there's some kind of big supernatural power or force out there that can never be understood and so you might as well not bother trying. Being a scientist, however, generally comes with the mindset that ''everything'', no matter how inexplicable it might seem, has some kind of explanation that can be reached so long as you apply enough time and rational thought to studying it. Indy sees plenty of things that he cannot easily explain, and he might find some of these things humbling because they remind him that there are limits to his understanding of the world and all it's mysteries. But he's not willing to just pass them off as 'magic' because that would mean conceding that they are ultimately inexplicable, which is anathema to the way he views the world.

** Indy's a scientist. He pooh-poohs the idea of "magic" and "mysticism" and the supernatural because those imply that these things cannot be explained, and that one has to just give up and accept that there's some kind of big supernatural power or force out there that can never be understood and so you might as well not bother trying. Being a scientist, however, generally comes with the mindset that ''everything'', no matter how inexplicable it might seem, has some kind of explanation that can be reached so long as you apply enough time and rational thought to studying it. Indy sees plenty of things that he cannot easily explain, and he might find some of these things humbling, but he's not willing to just pass them off as 'magic' because that would mean that they are ultimately inexplicable, which is anathema to the way he views the world.

** Not only that, but it took me years to realize that Indy could have just slipped his arm through his bag's strap and escaped. Classic PlotInducedStupidity.

* What I want to know is, how does the knight falling over trying to lift his own sword count as being "vanquished" by Indy?

* How on earth could the strap on Indy's bag get stuck on the tank's gun barrel during the desert fight? First, said barrel was blown wide open, so he would have had trouble getting the strp there if he tried. Second, the strap is under his jacket in all the other scenes.

** Perhaps he overheard where they were taking them.

** The Grail seems to have that effect on people. A Holy IdiotBall? Divinely, rather than PlotInducedStupidity?

* This is a thing which I actually like in the Last Crusade, but it always kinda bugs me in a funny way. The movie is set in 1938, and it seems by the weather and surroundings that it is summer in Austria, when they infiltrate that castle. Austria was annexed by Germany in march of 1938. So why is there a cartoonish secret planning facility and base hidden in the castle? Who are they hiding it from and why. They could easily have an open garrison there, or have such facilities in Vienna or anywhere. Its just so funny that ThoseWackyNazis just want to have hidden lairs even if they don't have any need for them.

* This one actually comes from a book on game theory that I was assigned to read in a political science class. So, towards the film's end, Henry Sr. is at death's door and only the true Grail can save him, but a false one will kill any who drink it. Indiana thinks the wooden one is correct but can't know for sure until testing it, so he drinks from it. This book's author points out that Indiana was taking a pointless risk and should have just given it to his father -- the worst case scenario (father dies) would be identical to the result of doing nothing, whereas the worst possible outcome of Indy's plan was that they ''both'' die (and the Nazis manage to get the true Grail, etc). Why did he drink it himself? Of course, I can answer this one myself: Most people in Indy's situation would have done the same thing because they wouldn't want to be directly responsible for killing their own father, whatever a cold strategic algorithm would say. This may be the (rare?) situation where a StrawVulcan would make a better choice than an emotional human.