History AnachronismStew / IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull

* 1957 is after the height of [=McCarthyism=], indeed three years after the Army-[=McCarthy=] Hearings and subsequent censure of UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy. Yes, red-baiting continued to be a thing after that, but it's a thing even now to some extent, and the climate of fear portrayed in the film would be more accurate for the early '50s. This is especially the case given Indy and Charles speaking as though the hysteria has only just reached academia, and Indy passes through an anti-communist protest on campus.

* 1957 is after the height of [=McCarthyism=], indeed three years after the Army-McCarthy Hearings and subsequent censure of UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy. Yes, red-baiting continued to be a thing after that, but it's a thing even now to some extent, and the climate of fear portrayed in the film would be more accurate for the early '50s. This is especially the case given Indy and Charles speaking as though the hysteria has only just reached academia, and Indy passes through an anti-communist protest on campus.

* 1957 is after the height of [=McCarthyism=], indeed three years after the censure of UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy. Yes, red-baiting continued to be a thing after that, but it's a thing even now to some extent, and the climate of fear portrayed in the film would be more accurate for the early '50s. This is especially the case given Indy and Charles speaking as though the hysteria has only just reached academia.

* Considering the movie is supposed to be a pastiche of 1950s sci-fi, it's weird that it's built on alien tropes that basically originated from the 1970s UFO craze, such as AncientAstronauts,[[note]]Popularized by Erich von Däniken's ''Chariots of the Gods'' in 1968[[/note]] [[RoswellThatEndsWell Roswell]],[[note]]While the actual incident happened in 1947, it didn't enter UFO lore until 1978[[/note]] {{Crystal Skull}}s,[[note]]Started being linked to aliens as part of the New Age movement in the '70s[[/note]] and TheGreys.[[note]]Spielberg himself helped popularize them with ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind''. In the actual '50s, aliens were usually represented as LittleGreenMen.[[/note]] The conspiracy theories surrounding Area51 are even newer than that, dating from 1989.[[note]]Moreover, Area 51 was mostly known only to UFO buffs prior to ''Film/IndependenceDay'', a movie released just twelve years before ''Kingdom of the Crystal Skull''[[/note]] Granted, this comes with the in-universe excuse that if the UFO mythology were true, it would be true before it entered pop culture. Still, the FlyingSaucer at the end is probably the only bit of alien iconography that actually matches with how aliens were represented in the real 1950s.

* Considering the movie is supposed to be a pastiche of 1950s sci-fi, it's weird that it's built on alien tropes that basically originated from the 1970s UFO craze, such as Area51, [[RoswellThatEndsWell Roswell]], {{Crystal Skull}}s being linked to AncientAstronauts, and TheGreys. Granted, this comes with the in-universe excuse that if the UFO mythology were true, it would be true before it entered pop culture. Still, the FlyingSaucer at the end is probably the only bit of alien iconography that actually matches with how aliens were represented in the real 1950s.

* Considering the movie is supposed to be a pastiche of 1950s sci-fi, it's weird that it's built on alien tropes that basically originated from the 1970s UFO craze, such as Area51, [[RoswellThatEndsWell Roswell]], {{Crystal Skull}}s, AncientAstronauts, and TheGreys. Granted, this comes with the in-universe excuse that if the UFO mythology were true, it would be true before it entered pop culture. Still, the FlyingSaucer at the end is probably the only bit of alien iconography that actually matches with how aliens were represented in the real 1950s.

* 1957 is after the height of [=McCarthyism=], indeed three years after the censure of UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy. Yes, red-baiting continued to be a thing after that, but it's a thing even now to some extent, and the climate of fear portrayed in the film would be more accurate for the early '50s.

* Mutt's Harley Davidson is a 2007 FXSTS Softail Springer, with a hydraulic master cylinder for the front disc brake (neither were avaible until 1972), twin-cam V-twin first introduced in 1998, a fake kick-starter (not used by Harley since c. 1968), a belt-final drive instead of a chain, a non-stock fuel tank, and a steel plate covering the rear disc brake.

* Mutt's Harley Davidson is a 2007 FXSTS Softail Springer, with a hydraulic master cylinder for the front disc brake (neither were avaible until 1972), twincam V-twin first introduced in 1999, a fake kickstarter (not used by Harley since c. 1968), a belt-final drive instead of a chain, a non-stock fuel tank, and a steel plate covering the rear disc brake.
** It is possible for the film crew to go full {{Retraux}} on the bike, as aftermarket parts suppliers do produce reproduction parts for late-model bikes to look like their vintage counterparts. Or they could just get away with building or renting an old Panhead bike anyway.

* The Soviet light truck used in the jungle is a 1961 GAZ 69.

* The pistol Mac pulls on Indy and Mutt is a Browning Hi-Power, but has an external extractor not introduced until 1963. It also has the high profile adjustable "beer can" rear sight introduced in 1971.

* The pistols used by Soviet soldiers, KGB agents and Col. Dr. Spalko are Norinco Type 54, Chinese copy of the Tokarev TT-33. They have large grip mounted safeties (mandated by the ATF on imports in 1990, resulting in many Soviet-era TT-33s being drilled and retrofitted with safeties) and have distinct Norinco grips (no CCCP around the star). Soviet troops never used Chinese weaponry, for the simple reason that they could supply their own.

* The map showing the trip to Peru has Belize instead of British Honduras. Belize was adopted in 1973.

* The pistol Mac pulls on Indy and Mutt is a Browning Hi-Power, but has an external extractor not introduced until 1963. It also has the higher profile adjustable "beer can" sights.

''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrustalSkull'' is set in 1957.

* A Slip and Slide is set up at the nuclear test site. Whamo first introduced Slip and Slide in 1963.

* The pistol Mac pulls on Indy and Mutt is a Browning Hi-Power, but has an external extractor no tintroduced until 1963. It also has the higher profile adjustable "beer can" sights.

* Mutt's Harley Davidson is a 2007 FXSTS Softail Springer, with a hydraulic master cylinder for the front disc brake (neither were avaible until 1972), twincam V-twin first introduced in 1999, a fake kickstarter (not used by Harley since c. 1968), a belt-final drive instead of a chain, a non-stock fuel tank, and a steel plate covering the rear disc brake.

* The Soviet light truck used in the jungle is a 1961 GAZ 69.

* Mutt's Harley Davidson is a 2007 FXSTS Softail Springer, with a hydraulic master cylinder for the front disc brake (neither were avaible until 1972), twincam V-twin first introduced in 1999, a fake kickstarter (not used by Harley since c. 1968), a belt-final drive instead of a chain, a non-stock fuel tank, and a steel plate covering the rear disc brake.