Chinatown (1974) - 17 major mistakes

Continuity: At 1972 Canyon Drive, the shadows on the left stairway wall change radically between shots as Jake walks in.

Continuity: Jake takes Lieutenant Escobar to Curley's house, and the flower pot on the ledge and the shades in the window move between shots after he walks up to it.

Continuity: At 1972 Canyon Drive, Evelyn Mulwray says to Jake after he walks threw the door, "Have you slept?". The pearl necklace she's fiddling with is over her collar in one shot and under it in the next.

Continuity: After Mr. Palmer walks over and tries to pick up Claude Mulvihill's gun (which Jack kicks away) we see Jack's hat on his left. In the next shot as Jake picks it up it's now on his right.

Continuity: Jake takes Lieutenant Escobar to Curley's house and as they drive up, he takes his right hand off of the backseat of the car. In the next shot both of his arms are leaning over the backseat.

Continuity: At 1972 Canyon Drive, Jake speaks to Evelyn Mulwray and there's a dress lying on the open suitcase behind her as she sits on the couch. In previous shots, it's not in the suitcase, and no one went near it.

Continuity: At 1972 Canyon Drive, Jake sits down and says to Evelyn Mulwray, "Do you know any good criminal lawyers?". If you look closely the dress on the chair to his left has been rearranged between shots.

Continuity: At 1972 Canyon Drive before Jake meets Katherine Cross, the dried flowers in the vase behind the sofa have been rearranged since we saw them at the beginning of the scene.

Continuity: After Jake walks threw the door at 1972 Canyon Drive the mirrored makeup case in front of the staircase moves between shots. At first the top is angled slightly, then when we see it again it's opened fully and straight up in the air.

Continuity: Throughout the scene at 1972 Canyon Drive, the handle on the hat box to the left of the sofa changes in relation to the hat sitting on top of it.

Continuity: At 1972 Canyon Drive as he talks to Evelyn Mulwray, the curtain above Jake's head extends almost halfway to the center of the rod. Earlier when we first saw it, it was pushed all the way to the left side.

Continuity: At Hollis Mulwray's office, the shadows on the pictures to the left of Russ Yelburton's door fall to the right of the pictures as Mulwray's Secretary walks in to see him. Two shots later, as she walks out of the office, the lighting has been changed and the shadows fall behind the pictures. Later the first shadows return.

Continuity: After his altercation with the farmer, Evelyn Mulwray drives Jake home and he pulls out a piece of paper with Jasper Lamar Crabb's obit on it. This scrap of paper is not the same one that he tore out of the newspaper in the restaurant before he met with Evelyn Mulwray. The side of this scrap of paper is even, but if you watch as he rips the newspaper in the restaurant, the tear moves to the left as it goes up the sheet.

Continuity: After Jake slaps Evelyn Mulwray, the vase on the table on the right of the sofa disappears between shots.

Continuity: At Ida Sessions' house, Lieutenant Escobar shows Jake the photos that he took at Echo Park earlier in the movie. If you look closely though, Katherine Cross never holds her hat in front of the bridge as we see in the third photo. The other photos also have problems.

Continuity: Jake goes back to Evelyn Mulwray's house only to find the gardener working in the back yard. As he walks over to talk to him the shadow on the circular brick walkway goes from half shaded to totally shaded between shots.

Factual error: In Jake's office, Evelyn Mulwray stands by the window and a mid twentieth century modern building is outside it to the right.