Gladiator
Gladiator mistake picture Video

Visible crew/equipment: In the "Battle of Carthage" in the Colosseum, one of the chariots is turned over. Once the dust settles you can see a gas cylinder in the back of the chariot. (01:22:55)

Gladiator mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: After the battle with the Germanians, the next morning after the tavern, Maximus is walking in the army camp and he feeds a horse a piece of apple. If you look closely between him and the horse, there is a crewman wearing a pair of blue jeans. (00:21:00)

Gladiator mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: During the scene where Maximus throws the sword into the crowd and yells "are you not entertained," the camera pans around, and in the crowd, for a split second, you can see a cameraman in jeans and a shirt standing next to a camera. This is visible on the big screen, but hard to see on video, unless you see it on DVD and can zoom in. (01:04:50)

Visible crew/equipment: During the first Gladiator match in Morocco, Maximus and Juba are chained together. Once they have killed the last man, the camera takes us around the arena. You can clearly see the shadow of the camera on Maximus' chest. It happens twice. (00:55:45)

Visible crew/equipment: When Maximus enters the arena before facing Tigris, the camera pans around the crowd. At one point, you can see a young Hispanic girl wearing a "scrunchie" holding her hair in a perfect ponytail, several bracelets and a watch, a necklace, a cut-off white t-shirt, and blue jeans. Most noticeable in full screen version. (01:42:40)

furious1116

Gladiator mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: In the first battle in the Colosseum, right before the female gladiator gets chopped in half by the chariot, you can see someone in a black outfit wearing what looks like safety or hiking boots driving the chariot. (01:22:50)

Visible crew/equipment: As the firesquad release their arrows at the two prisoners the protective pads under their shirts are quite visible. (Extended version only). (01:47:10)

Mortug

Visible crew/equipment: When Commodus says "The greatness of Rome. and what is that?", as Lucilla answers "It's an idea", it cuts to her walking. As she walks, look behind Commodus' throne above the arm rest, you should be able to see a yellow cord hidden behind a monument. (01:01:00)

Mortug

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene on the DVD where Maximus' son is lunging his horse, just before he gets killed, the camera pans to show a view of the house in the background. On the right side of the house you can see two aerial power cables between the trees. You need a good resolution screen to pick it out: it's visible on my computer monitor but not on my television. (00:41:10)

Visible crew/equipment: After Maximus defeats Tigris of Gaul, there are Praetorians shown coming out of a gate on the left-hand side into the arena. In the next shot, you can see an open gate at the far end of the arena and you can see some kind of golf cart-like vehicle driving by on the outside of the Colosseum. It is very a motorized vehicle because there is no horse and it moves too smoothly. (01:43:55)

Visible crew/equipment: During the Germanian battle, when Maximus falls off his horse you can see the ramp, on which the fake horse (yes it's fake, as shown in Special Features in the Extended 3 Disc Edition), is being pushed forward on and finally ejected off. (00:10:00)

Mortug

Visible crew/equipment: When Commodus enters Rome in triumph, he descends from his chariot to mount the stairs. A group of children with flowers rise. At the extreme right, modern scaffolding is visible for a half a second. (00:57:28)

Spiny Norman

Visible crew/equipment: When Maximus has killed the tiger you can see a whip hitting it as it lies on the its back. It probably belongs to the lion tamer who tries to make the tiger wriggle. (01:42:05)

Mortug

Gladiator mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: After the battle with the Germanians, the next morning after the tavern, Maximus is walking in the army camp and he feeds a horse a piece of apple. If you look closely between him and the horse, there is a crewman wearing a pair of blue jeans. (00:21:00)

More mistakes in Gladiator

Maximus: At my signal, unleash hell.

More quotes from Gladiator

Trivia: In the beginning of the movie, where the Roman army is assembled waiting for the enemy to come into the open, the Germans in the woods are chanting menacingly. A portion of the chant they repeat sounds something like "Boom whattey. HEEYUH!" This soundbyte is cut-and-pasted from the movie Zulu, it is the battle cry the Zulu warriors make as they advance on the British outpost. They didn't just have new actors record the chant, they used the exact same soundbyte. You can even hear at intervals of every seven or eight chants they end by crying "ZULU!"

More trivia for Gladiator

Question: Was Commodus and Lucilla half brother and sister? Wondering because of Commodus' attraction for Lucilla. Was incest normal at that time?

Mortug

Chosen answer: No, they are full brother and sister. They both had the same mother and father. Incest was not exactly normal at that time, but it stretches back within the imperial families as far as Caligula and possibly earlier. There is no evidence to suggest that the real Commodus was attracted to his sister, it was probably just included in the film in order to make the character seem more disturbed, and also as another reason why he would be Maximus' enemy (Maximus and Lucilla were, after all, once lovers).

The Doctor

More questions & answers from Gladiator

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.