Great sites

Anything Hollywood

Atomic Popcorn

Banned in Hollywood

Bits & Pieces

Blockbuster Buzz

Book mistakes

CanMag

CHUD

The Daily Column

Daily Stab

Defamer

Double Viking

The Evil Beet

Film Drunk

Filmofilia

Filmspotting

Foundry Music

Game mistakes

Geek Tyrant

Gone Hollywood

Hollyscoop

Hollywood Outbreak

I Am Bored

I Love Bacon

Joblo movie news

Movie Banter

Movie Buzz

Movie spoilers

Movie timeline

Other crap

Screenjunkies

Sky movie reviews

Something Really Funny

Tengossip

Trailer Addict

Unreality Magazine

Trivia

All the ninja seen in the film were played by actual modern day practitioners of the ninjitsu arts. Allegedly this led to a running joke on set where if the ninja were rehearsing with a stunt double or an extra they would spontaneously perform a kill move (obviously stopping before actually hitting their opponent) then remind everyone they were only contracted to let Tom Cruise live through the movie. Everyone else, as far as they were concerned, was fair game. See more...

Picture

Movie Mistakes blog

Popular blog posts:

Top 15 biggest Harry Potter film mistakes

The biggest mistakes in the Harry Potter movies

10 Twilight mistakes in pictures

The 20 biggest Friends mistake pictures

10 Biggest mistakes in The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Update alerts | Exclude type?

The Last Samurai (2003) - 37 mistakes

Directed by Edward Zwick, starring Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, William Atherton (add more)

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, War

Mistakes
Trivia
Pictures
Corrections
Questions
Submit
⇑
⇓

Factual error: When we see the United States flag, it is the wrong flag. It has 43 stars, something the flag did not have until 1891.

Edit
⇑
⇓

Revealing: The road leading out of the samurai village has distinct tire tracks from vehicles.

Edit
⇑
⇓

Revealing: When all the "ninjas" are attacking the village after the big entertainment show, you see Algren sticking his sword through a ninja, so the end of it comes out on the other side of the ninja's bag. Then you see Algren drawing the sword back again, but the part on the other side doesn't move an inch.

Edit Submitted by don_corleone
⇑
⇓

Continuity: When Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays Ujio, is riding his horse and charging the howitzers, he gets shot by the gatling gun and falls down dead. In the next scene he can be seen in the upper left corner still riding, wearing his distinctive gold circle armor.

Edit Time
⇑
⇓

Revealing: Before the final battle, just after Katsumoto says that the Imperial army will not surrender, there is a cut, appearing when the Japanese army are ready to attack. You can see, at the right side of the screen, a transparent man walking in front of the troops. Actually you can only see a pair of legs walking without any body.

Edit
⇑
⇓

Continuity: When Algren is trying to prove to the Colonel that the soldiers are not ready to fight, by having the man try to shoot him, the first barrel band on the soldier's musket (the one closest to the muzzle) is detached and dangling just behind the front sight. It stays in this position for several shots and then magically resets itself after the weapon is fired.

Edit
⇑
⇓

Factual error: The scenes in the samurai village all have long grass in full seed, this can only happen in the summer not in the early spring as shown in the film.

Edit
⇑
⇓

Factual error: The Japanese soldiers are using the cap lock musket, which only yields one shot at a time. In several scenes we see the same soldier firing several shots without reloading his gun.

Edit
⇑
⇓

Revealing: In one of the large battles (the last if I recall correctly), one of the soldiers in the foreground can be seen clutching his chest before an arrow hits him. It's only an instant before the arrow hits, but noticeable.

Edit
⇑
⇓

Continuity: When Algren is saying good bye to Taka, who is ending her bath, the position of her hair changes between shots.

Edit
⇑
⇓

Continuity: When the samurai are entering the village, the geishas that the photographer was taking a picture of are seen entering a house behind him. Then the shot changes. When it returns to the photographer, you see them entering the same building again over his shoulder.

Edit
⇑
⇓

Continuity: Just before the final battle, a clip of the now well-trained Japanese army standing at "port arms" (holding their rifles in front of them, with their left hand on the upper stock and their right hand behind the trigger guard; the rifle is pointed up and to their left). This is a standard out of any military manual of arms. The scene flashes to several other snapshots of the other parties preparing for the big battle. When the camera shows another snapshot of the Japanese army, the film is in reverse. The soldiers are still at "port arms," but their rifles are pointed up and to their right.

Edit
⇑
⇓

Continuity: When Algren teaches a soldier to shoot, the soldier has a chin strap below his lip. Yet, in the next shot there is no strap.

Edit Picture Time
⇑
⇓

Continuity: When Algren is packing to leave, Colonel Bagley picks up the note that the young boy had written for Algren. In the close up, you can see the paper is light blue at the top and a light pink at the bottom. When Algren takes it from him and smooths it out, it is suddenly all light blue.

Edit Submitted by David Mercier
⇑
⇓

Continuity: During the rescue scene, the heroes cross a bridge and are followed by the Imperial Army. The first batch of Imperial soldiers rips a hole in the paper door/window/wall. In the next shot the door/window/wall is intact.

Edit
⇑
⇓

Continuity: On his way to rescue Katsumoto, Algren is confronted by four or five armed men. If you look closely, you can see the armed man in the top left corner draws his sword twice.

Edit Submitted by David Mercier
⇑
⇓

Revealing: When Algren is dressed by Katsumoto's sister in her dead husband's armour, she backs away and kneels down. Next to her knee is a blue dot, which would be her "mark" for where she was supposed to kneel.

Edit Time
⇑
⇓

Continuity: When Algren draws his sword as he assists Katsumoto in his escape, he holds the sheath in his left hand, but in the next shot when he opens the door leading out to the bridge, the sheath is gone.

Edit
⇑
⇓

Continuity: When Tom Cruise is entering the village on horse drawn carriage, he looks LEFT but the camera shows the perspective as though he is looking RIGHT. Then Tom turns his head towards the RIGHT and the camera view is pointing towards the left.

Edit
⇑
⇓

Audio problem: Every time a sword is drawn, be it fast or slow, there is the 'shiiink' sound that is made when a steel sword is drawn from a steel scabbard (a sound that a western sword would make), yet Japanese swords have a wooden scabbard so the draw should be silent.

Edit