Fact-Checking Indy (SPOILERS)

EW points us to this Asylum piece that takes issue with some of the things that don’t make sense in Indy 4. For my money, the three waterfalls part was where I scratched my head, not just because they never could have survived the third one but because it lacked dramatic tension. They could have done more with it. What they lost with that, though, they made up for with the great red ant sequence, the best thing about the movie, imo.

Believable: Archaeologists Can Be Total Horndogs
Sure, as a professor, Indy wears a bowtie and acts mild-mannered, but if you’re looking for a lifetime of monogamy, don’t marry someone who spends months on end at remote sites with a gaggle of worshipful students. Marion shoulda known.

Unbelievable: Being Caught Without a Pencil
OK, the scene where Indy tore into a mummy with his bare hands raised an eyebrow, but I almost fell out of my seat when he turned to his sidekick Mutt and asked to borrow a knife. Not even completely incompetent archaeologists go anywhere without a multi-purpose knife and a pen and paper (and maybe even a measuring tape) to at least make a basic record of what they find. It got even worse in a later scene when the archaeologist had to borrow a freakin’ pencil. What’s Indy carrying in his shoulder bag — a change of undies and some trail mix?