Steel Magnolias (1989) - 27 mistakes

Continuity: In the scene where Ouiser sits and lets out a belch, if you look in the mirror, you can catch her laughing.

Continuity: During the scene that Truvy is styling Shelby's hair for the wedding, we see Truvy start taking the rollers out of the left side of Shelby's hair. The camera then goes to another character and when it comes back Truvy is again taking the rollers out of the left side of Shelby's hair while the rollers on the right side are now out.

Continuity: When you see Shirley MacLaine laughing in the mirror after she belches at Truvy's, you can also see that her hat is back on her head, after she's taken it off and laid it on the chair.

Continuity: At the wedding, Darryl Hanna's glass of coke is full when it's poured, but the level's lower when it's handed to her.

Continuity: In the scene where the women are putting the Easter eggs into the trunk, the first shot shows Annelle placing cartons into an almost full trunk. It is also shown that there are many more on the hood of the car. When Ouiser shows up, Annelle continues to place them in the trunk. There was no more possible room in the trunk to hold all of the cartons that were on the hood.

Continuity: When Shelby gets out the bath and is talking to Jackson you can see her neck and face is wet, but in the next shot, as she turns around she's perfectly dry.

Visible crew/equipment: As Ousier's dog's leash snaps and the dog runs off, a wire can briefly be seen attached to the dog's collar.

Continuity: When Ouiser is trying to tie up her dog and hold it back, between shots her handbag repeatedly goes from hanging on her arm to laying on the floor.

Continuity: When walking by Truvy's beauty spot, Annelle has a tissue in her hand. In a wide shot she folds it up with both hands, but in the next closeup, it's unfolded in her left hand.

Continuity: When we see Truvy styling Shelby's hair for the wedding, her hair changes dramatically as the camera cuts between Shelby and the people she's conversing with.

Continuity: In the scene at Truvy's before Shelby's wedding, Shirley MacLaine shows up with her dog, which she ties to the tree in a standard single knot (like that's going to hold a St. Bernard). When Drum shoots the firecrackers into the trees at the birds, you see the dog become agitated and break the leash, which is no longer tied, but secured around the tree by slipping the length of leash through the handle part.

Continuity: When the boys put an ice cube down Mama's back, you can see the ice cube fall out of her shirt. She then still pretends there's ice down her back, asking Shelby to get it out.

Revealing: In the scene where Shelby goes into kidney failure and is passed out on the stairs of her home, Jackson runs over to her and grabs her up. Looking closely, you can see Shelby hold her head up. If she were really unconscious, her head would fall back as Jackson sweeps her up into his arms.

Continuity: In the scene where the women are putting the eggs into the car and Ouiser walks over to Annelle and begins to converse with her, she is holding a carton of the eggs. The two front corners of the eggs keep changing colors as the shots keep changing from Ouiser and Annelle speaking.

Continuity: When Julia Roberts' character Shelby has a diabetic attack in Truvy's shop, she is given a glass of orange juice, and she shakes so much that she spills about half the glass. But when Daryl Hannah grabs some paper towels and goes to clean it up, there's at least 2 glasses' worth of juice on the floor.

Continuity: In the scene where Shelby is getting her hair done before her wedding, she begins to have a diabetic attack. Sally Field lifts up the hair dryer she is under...then in the next shot, you can see her lift it again.

Continuity: At Truvy's, during the diabetic attack. The juice glass that Sally Fields is trying to force down Shelby (Julia Roberts) changes levels during the different cuts, but nobody refills the glass.

Continuity: In the scene where Julia Roberts' character is getting a manicure before her kidney transplant, she sets her arm up on the table. The camera cuts away and the next shot of her shows her putting her arm on the table, again.

Continuity: In the wedding reception dance scene, you see a couple dancing amongst the guests on the dance floor. The female is wearing a seafoam green dress with a large matching bow in her hair. About 2/3 of the way through the song "On the Bayou," you see this same couple run onto the dance floor from off camera to watch the featured dance couple, as if they had never been on the dance floor at all.

Continuity: In the scene at Shelby's reception when the whole crowd of guests are dancing to "On the Bayou," at one point everyone gathers around a particular couple who are burning up the dance floor. If you look at the crowd gathered as the shots change from different angles, Dolly Parton and Olympia Dukakis, among others, are in different places each time.

Continuity: In the wedding scene, when Drum Walks Shelby down the aisle, Clarie walks across the church doorway twice, once in the long shot, and again in Drum and Shelby's close-up.

Continuity: After Shelby dies, her mother (Sally Field) goes to pick up Jack Jr. While he is running to her, in one scene he has a toy in his hand, the next he doesn't and when Sally Field picks him up, he has it again.

Continuity: In the last scene at the easter egg hunt Shirley Mclaine comes in with brown high heel shoes on. When she creeps up behind the tree to sit with Jack she has no shoes on and when she is running after the truck taking Darryl to the hospital she has tennis shoes and white ankle socks.

Revealing: During the Christmas scene at Truvy's, after Enelle has just finished decorating the outside of the house, she stands on the porch and talks to Shelby and Truvy. We see Clairee in the foreground, her lips moving and her animated, as if she is talking to someone just off camera. (This is a common practice in plays, for example, if we want the audience to hear one conversation, all the other characters will pantomime talking so the conversation can be heard.) So this would be fine - except that there is no one left for Clairee to be talking to. Everyone else has either gone into the house or is on the porch behind her, and Oiser hasn't arrived yet.

Continuity: In the scene when Shelby gets into the car after her wedding one of the balloons gets closed in the car door, so it's on the inside, but when camera returns to the car the balloon is on the outside.

Continuity: The Christmas decorations in the outside of the house change as to where they are and what they are.

Revealing: When Truvy is blow-drying Shelby's hair after she's cut it short, you can tell the blow dryer is not really turned on. The sound was obviously added in later at a lower volume so the characters could talk comfortably over it. Dolly Parton is running her fingers through Julia Roberts' hair to hide the evidence, but if you look closely, you'll see that none of the hair is actually being blown. The only hair moving at any given time is the part that Parton is actually touching.