A Knight's Tale (2001) - 38 mistakes

Revealing: In the joust montage sequence when William allows himself to lose repeatedly in order to prove his love: Just after the shot of the white flags going up, we see "William" get hit again but it reveals itself to be a mechanical double first in the way it folds over backwards in a sharp 90 degree angle (no human can bend that way), and it reveals that there isn't a person within because it breaks with the lower portion of the "body". Shot from another angle (the right) the front portion of the saddle blocks this from view.

Continuity: During the scene when William was learning to dance, Chaucer got punched in the nose... so he put a cloth in it to stop the bleeding. In one brief shot the cloth went from his left nostril to the right, then back again.

Continuity: On the jousting scene where William loses his helmet, he has a monstrous bruise under his right eye (in the late afternoon).  That night at the banquet, there is no trace of the bruise. So far as I know, even a black eye doesn't completely heal that quickly.

Continuity: At the end of the film, when Heath Ledger has defeated Rufus Sewell, he is seen with a puncture wound on the upper right side of his chest. In close up the wound is seen to be bleeding through a hole in his jacket but in the next shot it is shown just as a red blob on his jacket with no hole in it. And when the jacket falls open you can see there is no wound underneath. In the next close-up the hole in the jacket is back.

Continuity: During the last jousting scene against Adhemar, William has a piece of red string tied around his neck. While he is riding down to knock Adhemar off of the horse, you see the string in one shot, but not in another, then it is back again.

Continuity: In the scene where Sir William (Heath Ledger) is preparing to fight Adhemar (the "bad guy") he is talking to Geoff Chaucer.  In the background in the stands, you see a figure in a yellow dress (Jocelyn) talking to a figure in brown clothing (John Thatcher).  Jocelyn leans over to speak to John, and then they sit down.   In the next shot, when William is told that Jocelyn had arrived, he looks into the stands, where Jocelyn is again standing, leaning over to speak to John.  They then sit down again.

Factual error: In every scene where knights collide on the lyst, you see their lances in one hand and the reins to their horse in the other. When knights jousted, they would drop their reins before impact so that a severe impact would not cause them to jerk the reins or become entangled in them causing more damage to themselves or the horse.

Revealing: After William Thatcher loses agains Count Adhemar, he wins a gold jouster figure for best "sword on foot". Right after that, he cuts it in two with an axe. You can see that the figure is already cut in two, and that William almost doesn't touch the figure.

Continuity: When William is in the stocks, the Prince lifts his hood and his henchmen take their swords out of their sheaths and place them on the ground. In the next scene you see the Prince approaching William and one of the henchmen takes out his sword again and place it on the ground again.

Revealing: In the first cathedral, the Bishop raises his hand before he extends it to Jocelyn and we see the underside of his ring. It is obvious that his ring is a costume ring because it's not closed in the back. This is confirmed on the DVD commentary.

Continuity: Right before William meets the nude Chaucer, he can been seen riding his horse about 5 feet in front of the wagon carrying his equipment. The camera angle changes to a wide view and the wagon is now in front of him.

Continuity: Just prior to when Prince Edward is Knighting William (after William takes a knee), they do a wide shot to show where everyone is, and Chaucer is sitting in front of the stocks directly in the middle. After he is knighted, Chaucer is sitting to the left of Roland (as you face the stocks) and then at the end of the scene, he is back in the middle.

Continuity: When William first fights Adhemar, Adhemar picks up his lance. Then, he shuts the visor on his helmet with the hand that he held his lance in. The lance miraculously disappeared, then reappears as he rides up to fight William.

Continuity: In the scene where William is about to fight The Prince, William starts charging towards him. William is already past halfway there when The Prince sets off yet they seem to still make contact in the middle of the stadium.

Revealing: If you watch the deleted scene "Chaucer's speech" on the DVD you can see that when William is in the stocks, Chaucer makes a nice speech about him and the crowd starts chanting "William, William...". Well in the movie it is made to look like they are angry with him but if you watch their mouths, they are mouthing the name William, but all you hear is yelling.

Continuity: When Geoffrey Chaucer is teaching Sir Ulrich how to dance he gets punched in the nose by Wat Falhurst and when he makes a comment about Wat hitting like a girl Wat goes after him and Chaucer backs up with the pole he is holding to his right but when the camera pans back to a wider shot, he's now holding the pole to his left.

Continuity: In the scene where Ademar is in France with the Free Companies, it is raining fairly heavily at the beginning of the scene. In the following shots, showing just Ademar and his squire, there is no rain visible, just fog in the background. After Ademar stabs the knife through the tournament result sheets, there is another wide shot, with rain again visible.

Continuity: When Wat Falhurst is stretching out Sir Ulrich's arm after losing on purpose, every time the camera pans back to Wat from Sir Ulrich, the horse behind Wat which is covered by a striped blanket is either there, gone, or moved to a different position.

Continuity: When Sir Ulrich first battles Count Adhemar after the first hit Sir Ulrich is taking to Roland stating how hard he hits. The camera angle from the front shows his arm bent in front of him but the camera angle from the back shows his arm resting on his leg. Happens about 3 times during the entire scene.

Continuity: In the scene where Ulrich first rides to compete as Sir Ector ("We Will Rock You" is playing), there are various shots of the crowd enjoying the song. The woman seated to the right of the tournament sponsor (as you look at the screen) has a Princess Leia-type hairdo. Her buns sit high on the sides of her head in one shot, down lower in the next shot of her, and back up high in a third.

Continuity: In the scene where William gets his knighthood, it shows William from the front with his arm up holding Chaucer's hand, as he has just come out of the stocks and is about to kneel, when the shot changes it shows the prince, and William from the back with his arm down, then when the shot changes back 2 William's front, his arm is up holding Chaucer's hand, then when the shot changes back 2 the prince - arm down, and when it changes again back to William - arm is up, just letting go of Chaucer's hand.

Continuity: When William is let out of the stocks you see him take his hands out of the holes, however in the next shot you see him take his hands out of the holes again.

Continuity: In the part before the world championship, when everyone is trying to convince William to run away to avoid capture, the front edge of the large shoulder plate of his armor is in front of his breastplate in some scenes, and behind it in others. He stands virtually still during the scene, except for turning slightly.

Continuity: When William is riding through the streets of London, Roland is shown walking in front of him. Next it shows Wat, Chaucer, and Kate walking behind him closest to the wall on the left. The next shot shows people on their left. Then it switches back and forth a few times.

Factual error: Worth mentioning, because we see it written on screen: in French, Jocelyn is a man's name -- even its pronounciation is different. For it to be a woman's name, it has to be spelled Jocelyne.

Continuity: When Sir William gets off his horse after defeating Count Adhemar, the hole and blood on his right shoulder disappear and then reappear.

Continuity: Right before the final joust the camera is panning back and forth between Sir William and Count Adhemar. Each time the camera is on Adhemar you see about 4 to 5 flags waving behind him. When they start charging towards each other, you only see about 2 flags.

Continuity: When Geoffrey jumps up to give his introduction during the final joust, he runs to the stands and you can see Jocelyn and Sir William's father just sitting next to each other. The camera angle changes and you now see Jocelyn's arm wrapped around John Thatcher's.

Continuity: Right before Wat Falhurst gives Sir Ulrich the kiss from Jocelyn there is a horse behind Wat that is being tended to by three guys. Each time the camera pans back to Wat from Sir Ulrich the horse is either there, gone, or moved to a different location.

Continuity: When Sir Ulrich is showing the rest of the group how they dance in his homeland, the camera pans back and forth to him and Jocelyn a few times and everytime it pans back to her, the people behind her are either different people or they are in different positions.

Continuity: When Kate tells Sir Ulrich that his armor wasn't made for him he crosses his arms and when she continues talking he crosses his arms again as the camera angle changes to a side view of both.

Visible crew/equipment: Right after William gives Kate his armor to be repaired, the scene cuts to shot of the jousting arena and if you look at the first stand that appears from the right, you can see the camera covered by a black sheet, being pulled back by a camera man.

Continuity: When Chaucer is introducing William at the end of the movie, he stands in between the chairs of Prince Edward and the lady. When it cuts to a side view showing William's father to the Prince, Chaucer is no longer in between the chairs. Not to mention the fact that the Prince is looking at the railing (where Chaucer just was). The very next shot, he is back between the chairs.

Continuity: When Geoffrey Chaucer is first seen walking naked down the road, the dirt smears on his body change with every shot of him.

Continuity: In the Paris tournament, when William stops losing and starts winning, the 3rd knight he faces (the one whose helmet he knocks off) sets off with his lance in his left hand, but it switches to his right. Also, in the shot from behind the opponent, William moves his lance away from his adversary as they ride by.

Revealing: At the very very end of the movie when everything has faded away and the camera pans in a circle around William and Jocelyn as they kiss, you can see a zipper in the back of Jocelyn's dress.

Continuity: In the scene where everyone is trying to convince William to run away before he is arrested, Jocelyn starts to cry. At one point, the tear river runs down the middle of her cheek, and in another shot (toward the end of the scene), it runs over by her nose, and then it's back in the middle again.

Continuity: When Heath Ledger is chatting to the little girl who tells him that his father is still alive, it is pouring down with rain and Heath brushes his hair back. It then keeps moving around. Sometimes it is brushed back and others it is hanging forwards or all tousled.