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A Christmas Story (1983) - 45 mistakes

Directed by Bob Clark, starring Darren McGavin (add more)

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Mistake Visible crew/equipment: Towards the beginning of the movie when Ralphie's dad is in the basement fixing the furnace and the entire family is staring at the door, you need to keep on eye on the left side of the screen. There is a crewmember in the family room, who is on the screen by mistake. You don't see the person right away, but it is in that sequence when you see the mom in the shot, then you can see the leg of the person very quickly in the background.

Mistake Continuity: When Raphie's mother is working on the turkey on Christmas morning, there is a jar of pickles on the table next to the turkey. In the next scene the mother is coming up from the basement carrying a jar of pickles and places them on the table in the same place.

Mistake Continuity: When Ralphie's dad is going through the wooden box to see his prize there is a lot of straw or whatever in it to keep it packaged. When he's bent down digging through it, he has a lot of it on his back. In the next shot when he is standing up, he's perfectly clean.

Mistake Continuity: When the "old man" first puts the lamp on the edge of the box there is no light fixture on which to place the shade. He then returns the lamp to the box and when he brings it out, there is a place to put the shade. Also as he hands it to the mother and then takes it back to put it on the table, there is no electrical cord visible. However, just before he sets it down on the table you can see a cord in his left hand.

Mistake Visible crew/equipment: In the scene after Ralphie beats up Farcus in which Melinda Dillon finds Randie in the cupboard, you can see a shadow moving continuously on the chair pushed under the table on the right hand side of the shot.

Mistake Continuity: In the kitchen scene, as Ralphie's father comes in for hot water to thaw the car, and then turns his attention to the furnace, there is a white funnel on the shelf beneath the clock. The camera follows him to the basement steps and the smoke coming from the register. In the next shot, showing the anxious family, Ralphie's mother moves forward and the funnel is not there in this shot.

Mistake Other: Melinda Dillon's name is misspelled "Dillion" in the end credits.

Mistake Continuity: In the scene where Ralphie fights Scut Farcus, he starts out with snow on his hat and jacket from the snowball Scut threw at him. Then in the next frame, there's no snow on him. It goes back and forth like that throughout the whole fight scene.

Mistake Continuity: In the scene when the father is reading the paper on Christmas morning, the dogs run by him coming from the front door, but in the previous scene the only door open for the dogs to come in through was the backdoor.

Mistake Revealing: In the scene on Christmas morning when the Bumpus' dogs run in and eat the turkey, during the shot of the dad sitting in the chair reading the comics, one of the dogs bumps the camera and jostles it a little bit.

Mistake Other: Near the beginning of the movie, there is no cabinet under the sink. Later, Randy is hiding in a cabinet under the sink, afraid that Daddy is going to kill Ralphie because of the fight he had.

Mistake Visible crew/equipment: On Christmas morning when Ralphie opens up the bunny suit, you can see stage lights in his glasses.

Mistake Continuity: In the scene where the father comes in for hot water for the car, the furnace goes haywire and black smoke comes out of the register. The father goes to the basement to fix the furnace and yells upstairs for somebody to open the damper. The mother goes over and begins to move the bottom lever and then changes her mind and moves the top lever all the way to the left. In the next shot the top lever is all the way to the right while the bottom lever has miraculously moved all the way to the left.

Mistake Continuity: After Melinda Dillon breaks the leg lamp, she holds the broken leg in her arms in a pile of three separate pieces. After Darren McGavin asks "What broke?", the 'leg' magically heals itself into one single, straight, yet loosely-knit piece.

Mistake Continuity: In the breakfast scene, after Ralphie's father hopes for a new furnace for Christmas, you see Ralphie and Randy laughing at this notion. Notice Randy's milk glass has fallen over; in the next shot it is upright, and there seems to be more milk in it.

Mistake Continuity: In the scene where Ralphie beats up the neighborhood bully there is snow all over the ground, but only in the immediate yard. Right over the fence the ground is clean. In a later shot when Mom is pulling Ralphie off the bully there is snow in all the yards.

Mistake Continuity: In the playground scene when Flick first sticks his tongue to the flagpole, the street in the background has been snowplowed. The kids all go back in to the classroom without Flick. When the teacher asks "Where's Flick?", and looks out the window and sees him at the pole, the same street in the back ground has not been plowed.

Mistake Continuity: Looking out the classroom window, in the scene where the teacher has gone out to help free Flick's tongue from the flagpole, we see the fire truck has arrived and that a police car has just pulled in from the left and has stopped. The shot changes to show Ralphie saying "Oh no," and then another closer shot from outside, during which the police car is again pulling up at the very same spot.

Mistake Continuity: When the teacher is trying to make the kids feel bad for Flick, look at the blackboard. The garland is covering something written that is underlined: all that is seen is a G to the right. As she tells them of the theme, the garland is no longer covering the writing.

Mistake Visible crew/equipment: As the buck teeth are being handed out at the beginning of the classroom scene, the camera pans to follow Miss Shields and you can very briefly see the shadow of the boom microphone on the wall at the top of the screen.

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