UHF (1989) - 14 mistakes

Continuity: In the beginning during the Indiana Jones parody one of the men pulls a gun on Weird Al with his left hand. Then Al lashes his whip, slicing his arm clean off. Then we see a RIGHT arm fall to the ground, gripping the gun in its hand. [Explanation: The live scene was shot one morning, and the actor who had his arm whipped off was cleared and went home. After lunch the prosthetic arm was delivered, and it was the wrong arm. They were on such a tight budget that they couldn't delay the shot, and flipping the negative (so right becomes left and vice versa) wasn't an option because the scene with the small pond had already been shot, and couldn't now be shown in reverse. This is from Weird Al's website, www.weirdal.com.]

Continuity: As Philo sets up his camera in Fletcher's office, he has a pencil in his mouth. In a subsequent shot, the pencil is gone. He did not remove the pencil as he was working on the camera the entire time. (This is even mentioned in the DVD commentary.).

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where George and Stanley first meet, a microphone can be seen overhead as Stanley relays his woes to George (in an older video version).

Revealing: When Raul is demonstrating the ability of the turtle to stick to the ceiling, if you watch the turtle, you can tell when Raul switches the real turtle for a fake one. He even looks down at his hand when he does it.

Visible crew/equipment: Just after our two heroes have been fired from Big Edna's, a black Porsche crosses the screen treating us to a perfect reflection of the sound man, complete with boom and Sennheiser microphone. Really, it's that clear.

Continuity: In the scene where Fletcher tells Teri he cares about the people in the town as much as a 'a festering bowl of dog snot' Philo is recording the whole thing. Later on Philo broadcasts the whole scene and you can notice that this is a different recording. Fletcher's voice and expressions are completely different from the scene with Teri.

Factual error: George comes up with the idea to raise money via a public share issue in Channel 62 around mid-morning, and promptly announces the telethon on the air and by midnight of the same day they have the money they need. One problem. Even if George had access to a compliant attorney and Channel 62 was already a company authorised to issue shares, a public issue would take at least ten days to organise. There are all sorts of notice periods and filing dates to which the share issuer must adhere. I know - I've done it.

Continuity: When Terri visits R.J. in his office to tell him about U62, the door to R.J's office says "General Manager." However, when Stanley goes in there a few minutes later in the film, the door says "R.J. Fletcher." Both are definitely going into the same office.

Continuity: Al Yankovic had some moles on his face removed during the filming of UHF. In some scenes he has moles on his face and others he does not.

Revealing: In an older video version, the 'Hollywood' George blows up in his Rambo dream was revealed as a prop screen: the upper edge was visible.

Plot hole: Throughout the telethon we see volunteers taking pledges over the telephone. As with all telethons the vast majority of pledges will be paid by cheque. Instant bank transfers were unknown in the days the film was set and the telethon ends at midnight, at which time American banks are most certainly shut! How does George manage to have $75,000 in CASH for Big Louie on site that very night? Not every single pledge would (or could) go out to the remote site to pay in cash - not at that time of the night, anyway - and he couldn't raise more than the required sum as this was a share offer and an oversell would reduce the value of individual shareholder's equity.

Continuity: When Philo realizes that Stanley is Fletcher's office, we see the head thug and Stanley walking over to the desk. The camera then cuts to inside of the office, where everybody is around the desk. When George and Philo rush in moments later, the same video of the thug and Stanley walking over to the desk is playing again.

Continuity: While Uncle Harvey is in the pool, there are several items lined up behind him. Notice that the sandals are on the extreme left. After Harvey falls in the pool, the sandals hop over to the extreme right, next to the radio.

Continuity: When George and Joe go to the bar, Joe's beer mug rotates between a close-up of the two, and the crowd shot while watching the first appearance of Stanley on U-62.