A Christmas Story (1983) - 53 mistakes

Factual error: The movie was set in the mid-to-late 1940s, however, the red wagons shown in the display in Higbee's corner window at the beginning of the film, bear a Radio Flyer script logo which was designed in 1967.

Continuity: Near the beginning, when Ralphie runs from his house to catch up to Flick, on the way to school, notice that Flick is carrying a school book, which has a beige cover visible to the camera. In the next shot Schwartz joins the group from the very next house on the block, and within a time span of approximately two seconds, Flick's book cover has become blue in color.

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.

Continuity: In the school classroom scene, the teacher writes "Silas" in cursive on the blackboard and very emphatically dots the "i" in Silas with her chalk. The dot is visible then and even in the long shot from the back of the classroom, however, in the next, more close-up shot, as the students are filing past her desk and handing in their fake buck teeth, there is no dot above the "i".

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.

Continuity: When Scut grabs Schwartz and tries to make him say "uncle", the end of Schwartz's stocking cap is hanging loose in front of him. But in the following shot - showing Scut throwing Schwartz to the ground - the end of the stocking cap is behind Schwartz's back.

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.

Continuity: Just after the fight between Ralphie and Scut starts, there is a shot of the two from the side and already there is quite a bit of blood on Scut's face. But then in a shot from over Ralphie's shoulder, there is no blood visible on Scut's face at all.

Continuity: 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Continuity: When 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.

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.

Continuity: When 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.