Braveheart (1995) - 63 mistakes

Visible crew/equipment: At the funeral of William Wallace's wife, Murron, a white van can be seen. He bends down to kiss her and as he stands back up, if you look over his left shoulder through the trees you can see the van going past. It's very quick, small, and blurred, but it's there.

Continuity: In one of the major battles, Wallace is charging down a hill with a large sword in his hand. During the charging it changes to being a small pick axe type tool. Then around the middle of the charge there is a quick shot change and almost from the same angle the pick axe has disappeared. It then changes back to a large sword, a quick change back to the pick axe, then back to the large sword.

Continuity: In the first large battle with England at Falkirk the same scenes are used when the English fire the arrows. The first time the arrows are fired, a blonde young man is hit in the foot, they then moon the English so they fire again and the same man is seen getting hit in the same foot. A man in the same battle is shot in the hip - when he grabs the wound you can see the shape of the cushioned bulb that the arrow is attached to. If you watch during all the battle scenes you can detect men who are supposed to be on opposite sides standing and talking, also you can see the choreographed moves being played out in almost slow motion - their swords aren't even striking.

Continuity: When Wallace first meets Princess Isabelle and is left alone with her in the tent, the wimple she is wearing appears to have a life of its own - first it's on her chin, then over her chin, and then under her chin.

Revealing: At the end, Wallace's friend is charging in slow motion, and if you look closely you will see his battle axe flopping around like it's made of rubber.

Other: When Robert the Bruce returns to the battlefield at Falkirk, there are 2 children supposedly crying over a loved one. If you look at the blonde girl she is actually laughing.

Continuity: At the end when Wallace is being led to be executed, he is pelted with food. Much of it sticks to his face and hair. A few moments later when they are standing him up he is completely clean.

Continuity: In a major fight scene two soldiers on opposite sides are jumping and spinning and tapping each other on the head with their swords.

Continuity: In another major battle scene William Wallace is running into battle with a bloody claymore in his hand. In the next shot of him it is back in its sheath. Then in another scene he has it in his grasp again, but this time it is clean.

Continuity: After Wallace kills the Scottish noble in bed, he jumps out of the castle window into a river on a horse. As he is falling, you can see that the horse is a model and when they fall into the water one can see the paper-mache (or whatever) horse bobbing around.

Revealing: When Wallace walks up to the man who killed Murron and faces him. Look at the man behind Wallace and the man. You can actually see a car passing behind his head in the distance.

Continuity: At Stirling an English archer is hit by the nobles on horseback causing his helmet to fall off. He's then hit again and somehow his helmet falls off again. Then when he lands he is still wearing his helmet despite it having fallen off (twice).

Continuity: When the English spy tries to kill Wallace, and you realize the crazy Irishman is a friend, you see the spy drop his sword, as soon as he is hit by the Irishman's weapon, but as soon as he hits the ground dead, the sword is back in his hand.

Continuity: When Wallace tries to escape from the English with his wife, not knowing that she has been captured and executed, he is seen running through the woods screaming her name... As he's running he has a sword in his right hand. During the course of three or four camera shots, the sword he is holding magically disappears and reappears as different cameras shoot him. Then it reappears and he digs it into the ground as he takes off the English soldier's uniform that he stole.

Continuity: When Wallace, Hamish and Stephen burn the hut with the English soldiers inside watch for a fourth man who appears for one shot only then disappears. He also has a torch despite Stephen only lighting three.

Visible crew/equipment: In the execution scene at the end, right as Wallace is being quartered, you can clearly see (on widescreen) a plastic spray bottle on the upper left part of the screen, presumably filled with fake blood.

Factual error: The reason why it is called the Battle of Stirling is because it was fought on Stirling Bridge, in mud.  The English had to file down into small ranks so they could cross the bridge, while William Wallace came in with full plate armour, not kilts, and butchered them with the rest of the Scots. [An amusing addition off the DVD to add to this mistake. Mel Gibson originally planned to film the battle of Stirling Bridge at the actual site. He had to scrap that idea because the bridge kept getting in the way. When he mentioned this to one of the Scottish history advisors on the film, the man's reply was "Aye, that's what the English found." ]

Factual error: Malcolm Wallace had three sons: John, William, and Malcolm. He was not killed in a minor scuffle with the English. He, in fact, fought for several years with the English in order to free John de Baliol from the tower of London. At the time, Baliol was the rightful heir to the Scottish crown, and that was actually William's reason for fighting the English. Robert the Bruce was the one who actually liberated Scotland, right?

Factual error: The voice-over at the beginning of the film tells us that Malcolm Wallace was a commoner with his own lands and constant references are made through-out the film to William being a commoner. However this is a common historical myth. Malcolm Wallace was in fact born as a minor noble and became a knight, as was William. They were poor as noble families went but were still infinitely more privileged than the commoners of the day.

Visible crew/equipment: When Wallace throws one of the archers down from the tower, as he falls on the roof below him. Look down to the left of the screen. You should be able to see a man in a dark blue shirt standing beside a camera.

Factual error: Princess Isabella was a 13-year-old girl living in France when William Wallace was executed in 1305. She didn't marry Prince Edward until 1308, and the marriage took place in Boulogne, not London.

Continuity: The number of scars on Wallace's chest during the execution scene changes from two to four between shots.

Revealing: When the Scott gets shot in the buttocks during Stirling, there's a lot of blood already on his leg as soon as the arrow hits him.

Factual error: Scots did not wear the kilt until the 17th century. They wore the saffron shirt prior to that (in Braveheart's time).

Revealing: As the funeral of young William's father and brother is over, a man lifts a shovelful of dirt and empties it onto the open grave of one of the men. As he does this you can see the fake body that is wrapped up bounce pretty hard, revealing that it is not in fact a real person but something made out of lightweight material.

Factual error: In the opening scene of the film a caption at the bottom of the screen tells us it is Scotland 1280 AD and the voice-over tells us the King of Scotland had died without an heir etc. But Alexander III of Scotland did not die until 1286 AD.

Factual error: At the battle of Falkirk, the Irish soldiers fighting for Edward change sides at the last moment and go over to fight with the Scots. In reality, there were no Irish troops present at the battle. The only troublemakers amongst the English army were the contingent of Welsh bowmen who showed a reluctance to fight Wallace but this was more out of fear rather than sympathy for the Scots.

Visible crew/equipment: At the end of the wedding party scene, when the Scott shrugs off the English soldier who is taking his wife, you can see a spotlight covered with a blue tarp, behind his head.

Revealing: William Wallace's footwear (as seen at the end of the movie) has metal eyelets. Either he was ahead of his time or wardrobe wasn't paying attention to detail.

Continuity: Just before Wallace picks up the archer to throw him over the ledge, you can the archer has a tin looking hat around his head with part of his suit covering his head below the hat. In the shot from in front of the ledge when Wallace is throwing him off the cap has now disappeared before he has been thrown. The following shot as he is falling its a bit hard to see his cap but you see it come off.

Visible crew/equipment: At Stirling right before Wallace drops his sword and picks up an axe you can see some black duct tape on his sword. A man then swings his sword at the exact position of the duct tape. This is an obvious test take where they rehearse the scene, and was not meant to end up on screen.

Revealing: At the end of the battle of Stirling we see a Scotsman stab something with his sword and we can hear "Ouch.". However there is no one on the ground where he stabs. He just rams the sword into the ground. Then he does it again and we hear "Ouch.". Quite fun to watch.

Continuity: When Wallace was first seen approaching the deer, he already had the bow and arrow ready, he would just need to draw back and shoot. But in a close up shot of Wallace, he was just taking out an arrow to get it ready.

Factual error: The title of the Duke of York did not yet exist in the 13th century - it was instituted only later and was normally used only by a younger son of the King.

Continuity: At the end, when the main executioner bends down, his cloak shifts and you can see he is wearing brown shoes with red rubber soles. These rubber soled shoes are worn today and had not been invented yet.

Continuity: In the prison cell scene, after Princess Isabelle enters the cell and the jailor leaves, the jailor leaves the cell door half closed. The camera moves to William again then back to Princess Isabelle and the door is now fully open.

Other: At the end of the movie when Wallace is being executed and the crowd starts chanting "Mercy," one girl towards the front left looks directly at the camera with her eyes twice in two different shots.

Continuity: When William comes to take Murron on a horse ride in the rain, he talks to Murron's parents. The camera cuts to Murron a couple of times, ducking under the shelter, and her hair is completely dry. But when she rushes out and jumps onto William's horse, her hair is soaked. Obviously this scene took several takes, and they didn't take the time to dry the actress's hair between each take.

Continuity: Right before Campbell gets his hand chopped off you can see him fall over and land on a dead man. When it cuts, the way he lies beside the man has changed.

Continuity: At Sterling right after the first arrow attack by the English men, you can see Wallace getting up with his shield in front of him. We can see one arrow attached to his shield, however when it cuts he has two arrows attached to the shield.

Continuity: When Morrison bumps into an English soldier, he falls to the ground. At the same time he swings his sword from his right. When it cuts, he is on his legs swinging his sword from his left.

Continuity: In the first battle scene (the first one with Wallace and the blue paint), when Wallace is charging the English you see him grabbing for his sword. In the next scene his arms are at his side. In the scene after that, he is grabbing for his sword again.

Continuity: When Wallace throws the first archer over the wall, he comes up to him from the archer's right and picks him up, but in the following shot Wallace is on his left.

Continuity: When the spy was trying to kill Wallace, he was seen swinging his sword forward. The shot cut to Stephen throwing his knife. When the shot cut back to the spy being hit by Stephen's knife, he was pulling back his sword to get ready for a forward swing. What? Did he miss on his first attempt and had to try again?

Continuity: During a scene showing Wallace and Murron hurrying up a low slope, a funny red light, possibly from a camera, briefly flashes far back in the trees behind them. Watch really carefully to spot it.

Continuity: At Falkirk the order in which Longshanks, Robert the Bruce and the English soldier are standing changes from shot to shot. In some shots Bruce is between the soldier and Longshanks and in other shots the soldier is between Longshanks and Bruce without the actors ever moving.

Visible crew/equipment: When Wallace captures the fort of the noble who killed his wife, he pushes said noble down a hill before putting him to the post and slitting his throat. If you watch when the noble is pushed, he rolls over and the cape uncovers the back of his costume. You can see blue pants that look like jeans under his costume.

Continuity: Right after Wallace has been riding with Murron when MacClannough and some other men gets to Wallace's, as MacClannough says "You want to stay out of the trouble?". You can see Wallace standing with his arms to his waist. When it cuts his arms are down.

Continuity: When Wallace arrives at the home of Murron to invite her for a ride in the rain, the mother's head covering changes several times between shots. Sometimes it has the yellow fringe close to her face and other times it does not have the fringe at all.

Audio problem: When the Scots are applying a battering ram to the city gates, you can plainly hear someone shout "Stop, drop and roll", after the English set fire to the battering ram.

Continuity: At the wedding scene near the beginning of the film, Wallace challenges Hamish to throw a large rock at him. He throws the rock, and in slow motion the rock is clearly on Wallace's left side; he even leans a little to his right as the rock starts to pass by on his left. But in the next angle the rock is very clearly on his right.

Visible crew/equipment: In the rock throwing scene, after the rock passes Wallace's head, a crew member in a blue baseball cap walks on screen to the bottom left.

Continuity: At Stirling when the Scottish attack on horse, there is a scene where an Englishman is being sliced by a sword and is quite bloody. Then it cuts to him being run over by two horses and you can see that it is not the same man nor are there any traces of blood on him. Then it cuts to him falling to the ground and he is again quite bloody.

Continuity: During the funeral scene for Wallace's wife we see the leader of the group of Scots that show up later in the film (after the attack on the local fort).  Nobody seemed to know him but he was at the funeral with all of them...

Factual error: In the night scene after Malcolm Wallace's funeral we see the silhouette of a man playing bag pipes. Argyle tells William that they are outlawed tunes played on outlawed pipes. However, the bagpipes have only ever been banned twice in Scotland: in 1560 after the Reformation and again in 1746 after the Battle of Culloden. In the late 13th Century the bagpipe was much more popular in England and it certainly wasn't viewed as a Scottish instrument of any importance until much later.

Continuity: When Wallace is saved by Steven, right after he meets him, watch Steven as he is about to throw the small sword. When he comes out of the brush and starts running, he gets past the two trees in front of him, then it cuts to Wallace aiming his bow at him, then it cuts back to Steven and he is back behind the trees.

Factual error: In the movie the Scots sack the English city of York. Actually they sacked the city of Carlisle.

Continuity: Near the end of the battle of Stirling (the first big one), an English officer on a horse comes at Wallace. Wallace swings his sword at the feet of the horse, knocking it and the officer down. As the officer falls his sword goes from one hand to the other several times.

Continuity: Near the beginning when the boy is waiting for the men to return and he has the bucket of water, you hear the water slosh but the scrawny boy runs so effortlessly with it and you never hear it slosh again.  Then when he is at the fence with his back to them, you see the bottom of the bucket is wet, but there's no water in it.

Continuity: When Hamish and Wallace are throwing stones, Hamish gets hit on the head. When he falls to the floor his head is bleeding, but in the next shot there is no blood and a very faint cut.

Other: After the fight at Falkirk where Robert The Bruce is walking through the field, there is a woman walking checking the bodies. All these people clearly are supposed to be dead. The woman lifts the head of a man and then puts it down. After she lets go of the head, the boy picks up his head and looks to his side.

Continuity: In the first battle where Wallace is attacking the palisades and he is riding slowly, pretending to be unarmed and later draws a morning star/flail from behind his hair, the morning star/flail obviously isn't there until he needs it.

Continuity: At the end of the movie the executioner bends down to bind William's feet. The scene shows the rope starting around his feet and then a second later William is yanked into the air with a complicated noose-like knot holding his lower body to the ground. How did they make that knot so fast?