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Twister (1996) - 90 mistakes
Directed by Jan de Bont, starring Alan Ruck, Bill Paxton, Cary Elwes, Helen Hunt, Jami Gertz, Philip Seymour Hoffman (add more)
Continuity: Paxton and Hunt drive their truck toward the twister in a corn field, they jump out of the truck and then start running for it. Have you ever run in a corn field? You can't run in a corn field that has stalks that high, they would cut you to shreds. They would have been bleeding on the faces and hands and arms if they were wearing short sleeve shirts. If you enter a corn field, you must move with the rows - you cannot cross rows because the stalks are just like small trees and they are maybe six inches apart.
Factual error: In the last scenes when Bill and Jo are in the shed with the water pipes, the shed is torn apart by wind as well as flying debris at hundreds of miles per hour. I have watched the scene numerous times and there is not so much as a scratch on their faces. Even if they lived, they would have been battered and bloody from debris. Regardless if tornadoes do weird things, the debris ripped the shed apart, which is stronger than a human body.
Continuity: When Bill is walking over to see Jo for the first time, he passes Joey working on the hood of a truck that was previously shown in front of the blue Doppler van and next to the green tractor. Throughout this sequence, this taupe/brown pickup with camper flops back and forth between the two places. Lawrence finally drives it off.
Continuity: After the pitstop, when Jo's team and Jonas's team have the encounter, Jo's team takes off to chase another tornado. When we hear Dusty holler, "Hey you guys, woohoo," we see Jo reach for the CB and dial from channel 22 to 18. But when Bill says, "Shi_," Jo reaches down to adjust the CB and the channel showing is 39.
Revealing: Can you imagine driving a truck into a city totally demolished by a twister and actually parking in front of the house of their friend (Hunt's Aunt)? There would be wood and nails and debris galore (NOT TO MENTION LIVE POWER LINES) about the streets which, of course, results in electrocutions and flat tires. They manage to rescue the old lady out of the house, as well as her dog, and they get immediate assistance from an ambulance crew....
Continuity: When the red truck is driving to the tornado where the sensors spill, the scenery and pavement change between shots. First, they are driving down a road with trees on both sides. Then, they are driving down a large empty area where you can see the the horizon. Finally, they drive into a valley with forests on both sides. And this happens in a matter of seconds.
Continuity: When Bill and Jo are in the yellow pick-up going after the first tornado, there is a yellow raincoat with a visible metal snap hanging from a hook mounted on the rear window directly behind Jo. As the scene progresses, it moves to a position higher up and off the window when Jo says, "We're moving to intercept, guys. Get ready to set up." Then Bill gets off the road and down into the ditch, right before Bill says, "Are we having fun yet?" the raincoat is back hanging from the hook on the window behind Jo in a different position (no snap visible).
Continuity: In the opening scene, where Jo is just a baby and her dad and mom are carrying her and running from the house to enter the storm shelter, the tornado is just 60 seconds or so from destroying their house and sucking Jo's dad away. If you look at the trees behind them as they are running, you can see the trees are barely moving from any wind at all. If a real tornado was that close, the trees would be half bent over from the 60-100+ mph wind.
Factual error: When the team is attempting to intercept the second tornado, Bill floors the gas pedal in the Dodge Ram after Jo expresses disgust at how slow he's driving. The next shot shows the dashboard, where the speedometer moves from 50-70 MPH, the engine is heard accelerating in the background, but the tachometer stays around 1500 RPM. The truck is an automatic and so it would have downshifted when Bill pressed the accelerator to the floor, and therefore revved much higher.







