Continuity mistake: When they set up the lamp for the first time, you can see the mom turn away from the window and put her hands on Ralphie's shoulders from the dad's point of view, outside. Then when the camera shifts inside, she does it again.
Revealing mistake: When Ralphie is walking along after getting the C+ on his theme, he gets hit with a "snowball sandwich." if you look closely at his face and eyes, you can see that he has his eyes closed in expectation of getting hit.
Continuity mistake: When Randy shows Mommy "how the piggies eat", the shots are obviously out of sequence. There are times when the amount of mashed potatoes on the plate greatly increases from the shot before. And watch the meat loaf a couple shots just before the scene ends. Three large pieces of meat loaf lie scattered on Randy's place mat, but they instantly disappear in the next wide shot.
Continuity mistake: In Ralph's dream sequence of being blind by "soap poisoning", the lenses of his shades go from opaque with a reflective finish, to a matte finish and back.
Factual error: This film takes place in the mid-to-late 40s. The doorknobs throughout Ralphie's house are too modern for the type of doorknobs used in homes built in that era. This is especially obvious in the kitchen scene when the furnace is smoking and you see the cellar door and in the bathroom scene, when Ralphie is decoding the "secret" message from Pierre Andre. No bathroom door of that era would have a doorknob like the one shown in the film.
Continuity mistake: When Ralphie and the boys first meet Scut Farkas and Grover Dill, Grover Dill's zipper jacket is up all the way and then, it's halfway down. It keeps changing from up to down.
Audio problem: When Ralphie's father opens the crate containing the leg lamp, he says, "Well, it could be anything." Then his mother says, "Maybe they forgot" without moving her lips. Obviously dubbed in later.
Continuity mistake: When the delivery men are wheeling the "major award" into the doorway, it has a rope tied around it. As the camera angle moves inside the house, the rope is gone.
Continuity mistake: On Christmas morning when they open presents, the sleeves on the mother's robe move back and forth between rolled up and rolled down.
Continuity mistake: During the first breakfast scene, Ralphie's bacon is on his left on the plate, he takes one bite of it and now the camera angle changes to show the bacon on his right and a large empty space on the left, where the bacon was moments before.
Continuity mistake: As Ms. Shields lectures the children on what happened to Flick, the phrase "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is written on the blackboard behind her. But when she is done lecturing them, she turns around to reveal "A Theme: What I Want for Christmas" written there instead.
Other mistake: In the end credits, Santa's name in the song title "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" is misspelled as "Clause."
Continuity mistake: In the Chinese restaurant scene, the opening shot through the window shows the worker directing the music with Ralphie to his right and he is facing the singers. In the next shot, the same worker is behind Ralphie and the singers are to his right.
Continuity mistake: When Ralphie is re-reading his theme to himself, there is a closeup shot of the notebook and his handwriting. In that shot Ralphie has his left hand flat but in the following shot Ralphie has his left hand in a fist.
Continuity mistake: When the dogs steal the turkey and wreck the kitchen, there's a scene of the table broken and no pot holder is on the table. In the next scene, there is a pot holder sitting on the broken table.
Continuity mistake: When Randy is getting dressed for school, his mittens keep appearing and disappearing from his hands.
Continuity mistake: When Ralphie's dad comes in after finding his Oldsmobile has frozen overnight, he tosses his hat onto the dining room table. It tumbles onto a chair next to the table. The next time you see the table, the hat has made its way to the table top.
Continuity mistake: In the second kitchen scene after Ralphie sits, the camera looks at the cellar door, where you hear the old man cussing up a "cloud of profanity that still hangs over Lake Michigan." The damper controls are sitting top to the left, bottom to the right. After the "accident" with the lamp, dad comes upstairs. The controls are now reversed, top to the right, bottom to the left.
Revealing mistake: One shot of the family opening the Christmas presents is from above; if you look quickly near the top of the screen you can see the ceiling cut away and even shadows moving on this area - obviously a set piece.
Continuity mistake: In the living room scenes, on the mantel in front of the clock, lighted candles appear and disappear during the movie.
Answer: Because it's a funny look at real life. It's common for parents to cuss around their children, then be shocked when the kids start using the language themselves.
Exactly right. My parents cussed quite a bit when I was a child, but the first time I ever swore in front of my mother, she thought I learned it from watching The Real World with my sister.
immortal eskimo
True. I'd forgotten I learned how to cuss from my folks.
Rob245