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The cry of the baby Celie gives birth to at the beginning of the film is actually that of the (then) newborn son of director Steven Spielberg. See more...

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The Color Purple (1985) - 20 mistakes

Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg (add more)

Genres: Drama

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Revealing: Oprah Winfrey's character is supposed to be knocked unconscious, but as she is lying on the ground, the wind blows her skirt up and she reaches down, pushing her dress back down.

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Other: Mister cooks Shug Avery a breakfast of grits, biscuits and ham, and takes it to her room. She throws the breakfast against the wall. The breakfast leave a bright yellow and bright red stain on the wall. There was nothing on the tray that could have left those colors on the wall.

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Continuity: Before Squeak hits Sofia she hands a tray with a bottle to Harpo. He hardly catches the bottle before it falls down, but when the camera angle changes he is holding the bottle upright.

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Continuity: Mister's tie changes from red to blue when he asks for Nettie, and back to red when he inspects Celie.

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Continuity: When Celie is combing Shug Avery's hair while she is in the tub, you see Albert creeping up the stairs looking to see what is going on. In the background you hear his father shouting at the house, wondering if anyone is home. At the time Albert is at the top of the stairs he is wearing a reddish shirt. The next shot shows him walking out the door to meet his father, but now he is wearing a green shirt.

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Plot hole: The kids and the men are decorating Easter eggs and Ceilie is stuffing a turkey. Shug gets the mail and takes Ceilie upstairs and hands her the letter. When she turns the letter over the date is July 10. But when she reads the letter she says the date is April 18,1953. So if it's July, how is it Easter?

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Continuity: When the mayor slaps Sofia her two children change positions between shots. When she knocks him out the girl disappears.

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Factual error: When Celie is leaving Albert, she is riding in the back of the car with Shug. As the car drives away down the dirt driveway you can see the telephone pole and electricity wires at the end of the driveway. Not unusual now, but in rural Georgia in the 1930's, it would have been impossible.

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Audio problem: In the scene where Albert tries to make a move on Nettie she tells him that she has to go to school. Her mouth isn't moving the whole time.

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Continuity: When Celie tries on one of Shug's dresses a record is playing. While the song is still on we see the record player again and the label has changed. Then Shug turns the record around, and now the label is the one from the beginning.

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Revealing: Right after young Celie gives birth, take a look at the baby after it is handed to her. It is obviously a stiff doll.

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Continuity: After Harpo and Sophia are married, Harpo leans in to kiss Sophia but she is whisked away by relatives and he turns away. In the next shot we get a side view of Harpo and he is still leaning in to kiss her after he had already turned away in the previous shot.

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Continuity: While Albert is throwing Nettie out of the yard, the sky changes. First, you can see the sun, then the sun is covered by a bunch of clouds, then the clouds are gone.

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Continuity: The letters that spell "sky" on the piece of waxed paper change throughout the whole movie.

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Continuity: In the scene when Celie offers Albert's father a glass of water, and she spits in it, in some shots it's ice cold, but in others it is transparent. Cold or warm? It seems we have two options.

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Continuity: In the scene where Shug and Celie start kissing Celie covers her smile with one hand in a wide shot but with both hands in close-up.

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Continuity: When Celie is shaving Albert, the "patterns" of cream on his face change from shot to shot.

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Continuity: When Celie imagines throwing chocolate dollars from the train platform they scatter around, but the imagined Nettie finds them all in one place.

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Continuity: When Sofia comes to her in-laws' house for the first time Celie offers her a glass of lemonade. She empties it completely, but when she gives it back to Celie it's almost full again.

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Deliberate "mistake": During the scarification chant, you see Adam being scarred on his right cheek. At the end of the movie when Adam meets Celie for the first time, there is no scar on the right side of his face at all.

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