The Aviator (2004) - 50 mistakes

Continuity: Near the beginning of the film where Howard Hughes flight tests the silver monoplane (the H-1), the close up shots show an open cockpit while the longer shots show a closed cockpit.

Continuity: In the dining scene where Howard Hughes' girlfriend has a sundae sitting in front of her, the cherry which is on top of the sundae changes positions in several different shots. First, the stem is turned towards the left, a few shots later, it is turned towards the right, then left again. It also shows up in the bottom of the dish, then in the next shot, it is back on top of the sundae.

Continuity: When Hughes and Odie are talking about mounting a camera on a biplane and removing one of the wings, the shots alternate between a back view of their heads and a front view of their faces. Odie's head position has no relationship to the one it had in the preceding angle in most of the cuts.

Continuity: While having dinner at Kate's house, Howard Hughes yells out a comment about money, and after that the roses on the table have totally changed position from before.

Audio problem: Towards the end of the scene where L.B. Mayer is dismissing Howard's request for some cameras, the audio does not match at all with the way his lips are moving.

Continuity: Hughes asks Ava Gardner "Feel like going to Paris?", then the guy behind her disappears.

Revealing: Early in the film, when Hughes and another guy are walking past one of the replica WW1 aircraft used for the "Hell's Angel" scenes, you can see the ends of the cylinders of the modern air cooled engines they used to power it. The original aircraft (SE-5A) used a water cooled V8 which wouldn't have been visible.

Continuity: Immediately after the screening of "Hell's Angels", Noah Dietrich (seated right behind Hughes) begins applauding, and others join in. In the next shot of Dietrich, he begins applauding again.

Revealing: During the filming of 'Hell's Angels' Howard gets the idea to build a single wing mono plane. He and another take an axe and smash the support holding up the upper wing. If you notice the upper wing is already broken, hinged and a very poor covering has been laid over the joint. It is very obvious and noticeable in a few shots leading up to this.

Deliberate "mistake": The fuel gauge for the speed test is grossly exaggerated for effect. They just got done telling him that there is minimal fuel for weight considerations. Just after takeoff, it reads about 40, which is half full. After the first run it's down around 30. Going into the third run it's near 10. Given the H-1's range of 2,490 miles, even pushing the engine to it's limits shouldn't drain that much fuel that quickly nor should the engine stall at 10.

Continuity: In the final scene of the movie, as Hughes walks forward with Gardner, they stop walking in the head on shot. When the shot changes to a side profile, they are still walking forward.

Factual error: When Hughes flies the open cockpit H-1 at over 350mph he isn't wearing goggles. There isn't a sign of any wind at all in the cockpit. Even with a windscreen, the wind would cause your eyes to water well before 350mph.

Continuity: Inside the projection room, Hughes hand the photo of an actress with a sketch of the Hercules behind. The sketch is sideways as we can see when the guy is flipping the photo. But when the angle changes finishing his movement, the sketch is seen straight.

Continuity: When Hughes is dining with Domergue and Juan Trippe is leaving the place, the spoon on the sundae keeps moving around.

Continuity: When HH's plane is rampaging the houses, a couple of white mugs in a kitchen fall down twice.

Continuity: When Howard asks L.B. Mayer to loan two cameras, we first see Mayer and his associates from Howard's viewpoint as he is approaching them, and Mayer is standing with the bar on his left. In the next shot Howard greets him, and the men in the group have changed places, with Mayer now facing the other direction and now the bar is on his right.

Continuity: Hughes leaves Ava and goes, hat in hand, to talk with his two pals. Suddenly he is seen with his hat on. Less than half a second to put on a hat without moving your arm IS fast.

Continuity: During lunch with the Senator, the vegetables and potatoes on Hughes' fish change between the first and second shot.

Continuity: Before Flynn is thrown the paper ball, a couple passes behind him and disappears in the next shot.

Factual error: Aircraft speeds in the film are frequently given in miles per hour. Airspeed is always measured in knots, and the aviators would certainly use the correct units when talking to one another.

Continuity: When Hughes is asking Ava about going to Paris, 2 guys with blue suits pass behind three times.

Continuity: When a model Hercules is shown in the party, the plane passes by two ladies in red twice.

Continuity: When Howard Hughes is asking Mr. Mayer for two cameras, the people passing behind don't match between shots.

Continuity: When Howard Hughes starts to shout "Oklahoma," the shadow of the tower behind him and Dietrich changes.

Continuity: After Howard Hughes says "Those sons a b**ches in Houston," the people in the background disappear.

Continuity: When Hughes is burning his clothes, his fringe appears in the close ups and disappears in the wide shots.

Factual error: While in the air shooting scenes for Hell's Angels, a camera mounted on a wing breaks and film flies out. The film is brown in color, the hue of undeveloped color film, and Hell's Angels was obviously filmed in black and white. The film should've been grey or blue as this is the color of undeveloped black and white film.

Visible crew/equipment: Lighting screens are reflected in Hepburn's glasses while she's in the car heading to the set.

Continuity: When Ava Gardner smacks Hughes he falls down, knocking some flowers down to the floor, covering part of the first brick of the fireplace. When the shot changes, the brick is immaculate and the flowers are nowhere to be seen.

Continuity: Errol Flynn is standing tall, then extends his hand to greet Hepburn and when he is almost touching her hand, the shot changes and now he is far away, hands out of reach and kneeling down.

Continuity: After Noah Dietrich introduces himself for the first time, the shot changes and everything to the right disappears.

Continuity: When Howard Hughes cries out "Oklahoma," he passes behind Dietrich and then in the wide shot he is behind him again, repeating the movement.

Deliberate "mistake": During the flight Hughes takes with Katherine Hepburn, they talk to each other in normal, conversational voices. A twin-piston-engined aircraft of that vintage (or any vintage for that matter) is LOUD. We should be able to hear roaring engines, and the two should have to shout at each other to be heard.

Continuity: When Howard Hughes is having a shave with Katharine Hepburn, he has shaving foam left on his chin from the shave. In the next shot when Hughes goes to wash his face, all the foam has disappeared.

Factual error: Some of the glasses in the film are too thin and modern to belong to the time period, such as the ones that Robert Gross wears. As well, his lenses, as well as those of Senator Brewster, reflect light with the distinctive iridescent green/purple of non-reflective coating, which was not available back then.

Continuity: When Hughes is about to fly (and burn) in the plane, the plane is standing on a very long and straight runway. The shot cuts to Hughes inside the cockpit, and the runway behind him is a curve turning left.

Continuity: During the presentation, the position of the Hercules doesn't match in the close and wide shots.

Continuity: After the plane crash, when Hughes is lying on the floor we see his left trouser is undamaged, but a second later it's in rags and the part going from the knee to the foot is missing.

Continuity: When Hughes takes off to fly (and crash), a huge zebra crossing magically appears on the concrete.

Continuity: Before Flynn is hit by the ball, he is holding a drink and cigarette. After the hit, they swap hands in less than half a second.

Visible crew/equipment: When Hughes is flying the new and faster airplane, you can see the filming crew reflected in the side of the plane. You can see it at full speed but you can see it better if you slow playback down a bit.

Continuity: In the scene when Howard Hughes and his young girlfriend Faith Domergue are in the Coconut Grove meeting with Juan Trippe, Faith is seen with a sundae in front of her. In one shot, she's eating the sundae, and in the very next shot her hands are suddenly in her lap.

Continuity: The amount of fog during the Hercules presentation changes abruptly in barely half a second.

Continuity: When the Hercules first flies, the boats on the water below suddenly disappear.

Continuity: When the mother is washing young Hughes, she places her left hand close to his neck and pulls it back, leaving just the tip of her fingers touching, but from a different angle all of her hand is still on his neck.

Continuity: After Ava Gardner shaves Howard, she instructs him to wash off his face. He looks at the sink and all of the water drains out. Then there is a shot over the sink as he is about to rinse off his face with a lot of water in the sink. It should still be empty.

Continuity: At the end of the scene in the Coconut Grove, with Howard Hughes and his young girlfriend, Faith, eating a sundae, Howard's arm switches between shots from being over Faith's shoulder, to in front of him. He is seen in one shot removing his arm from her shoulder and wiping his hand because he shook Juan Trippe's hand. In the next shot his arm is over Faith's shoulder again, and in the shot after that, he is wiping his hand again.

Factual error: In the 1940ish Connecticut scenes of the Hepburn family, one member was taking movies with a Bolex reflex movie camera not manufactured until the late 1950s.

Continuity: A drop of soap on the lower right side of the sink when Hughes cuts himself appears and disappears depending on the shot.

Revealing: When Leonardo DiCaprio is wiping blood off his hands in the bathroom scene, you can tell the blood doesn't really come from cuts. It's just fake blood they put on his hands for that scene.