The Naked Gun (1988) - 38 mistakes

Factual error: At the onset of the baseball game, take a look at the Angel's catcher as Mariner Jay Johnstone steps up to bat. You will see he is wearing just a standard baseball hat under his catcher's helmet. MLB rules requires some form of certified (protective inside and out) plastic helmet for catchers, and thus this would not be allowed.

Continuity: When Frank is fishing the pen out of the fish tank and the fish gets attached to his nose, there is visible blood. When the camera cuts back to Frank, the blood is gone.

Visible crew/equipment: In the opening sequence, the camera's shadow on which the car roof and siren are mounted is visible as it enters the house.

Continuity: When Frank is at the party when the queen arrives, before the horns blow in his ears he's about 1 foot away from them, but the close up of him shows his ears even with the end of the horns.

Continuity: As Frank and Jane head back to her apartment, a woman passes them by with her dog. When the camera cuts to Frank several times in the scene, you'll notice that the woman and the dog are in several different places and end up turning the corner twice.

Other: Pay attention to one of the early innings of the baseball game as one of the Angels players hits a home run. Though probaby intentionally set up this way as to avoid any problems of "logo patents" and such with the real life MLB California Angels team, he is wearing a helmet without the team logo on it.

Visible crew/equipment: At the end of the film when the guy in the wheelchair is rolling down the stairs you can see a burst of gas (presumably from a CO2 cylinder) fire the man up.

Continuity: When Nordberg is in the hospital for the first time, Frank comes. Before he walks in, Nordberg's hand is on his side, and when Frank finally walks in, his hand is on his stomach.

Plot hole: Frank is given 24 hours to clear Nordburg. This is never referenced again, even after 24 hours have passed.

Continuity: When Frank has his speech and says "No matter how silly the idea of having a queen..." you see the mayor turning her head to the right. When it cuts she is looking to her left with a rather shocked face.

Continuity: While Frank Drebbin is saying the words "dew glistening on the grass" you can clearly see a woman in the audience at the bottom of the screen repeating every word he says.

Continuity: When cutting into the cake with the queen's portrait on it, the waiter slices across the inner corner of the queen's right eye. However, the two pieces of cake served to Jane and Frank both have complete and uncut eyes.

Audio problem: Right at the scene where Reggie Jackson points the gun at the Queen, Drebin fires a shot off at him from his watch. It goes astray, hitting some fat lady, and we hear him saying "whoops!" but his lips don't move.

Continuity: When Frank is in his apartment and when Jane leaves Frank is facing toward the fridge but the next shot of him his back is facing the fridge.

Continuity: When Frank sets Lugwig's place on fire and goes out the window, you see him about five or six windows away from the corner. Although in the next shot of him, he's going around the corner.

Continuity: When Drebbin is riding in the back seat of the "driver's ed." car, the gear shift stays in the same position even when the car is reversing.

Revealing: During the car chase, the doc's (already busted) car collides with a missile transporter. The explosion occurs just before the car impacts with the vehicle, and looks more like the burst of a flame thrower than a real explosion.

Continuity: When Nordberg is at the I Luv You, the "u" in "You" is partially faded. When Nordberg's wife hands Frank the photo of the ship, the letter is fully visible.

Continuity: When Ludwig demonstrates the hypnosis effect with his secretary, she drops her revolver near the door. When Ludwig picks it up, it's several feet away, near his desk.

Continuity: When the "I LUV YOU" picture is viewed in Nordberg's hospital room, the photo has a vertical/portrait orientation. When Frank shows the picture to Jane, the photo has a horizontal/landscape orientation.

Continuity: In Ludwig's office, the position of the tissue papers changes between shots.

Continuity: When Nordberg stumbles out the door on the ship and about to fall over the rail you see him going out the cabin crouching with his head first. When it cuts to a wider shot from outside you see him walking calmly against the rail before falling over.

Continuity: In the beginning of the movie when the guy with the long beard starts to talk you see Frank standing disguised by the table. When it cuts Frank is moving towards the table.

Continuity: When Frank drives to the pier he hits a fisherman into the water with his car but in the next shot the fisherman is back on the pier.

Continuity: When Jane is sucking on Frank's finger, you see Jane holding his finger. When it cuts, she isn't holding his finger.

Continuity: In Ludwig's office, when Papshmir is with him, you see a wide shot of Ludwig's desk and you can see a small remote control. When it cuts to Ludwig picking up the remote, another item appears beside the remote.

Continuity: When Frank sits down on Nordberg's hospital bed and the bed breaks up you see three tubes on Nordberg's chest. When it cuts an extra tube appears on Nordberg's shoulders.

Visible crew/equipment: When Drebin chases the doctor out of the hospital, the doctor gets a car, while in the background, Drebin falls from the ladder. Dreblin then emerges from under the car. The doctor drives off, and Drebin enters the foreground. Look in the windscreen of the car Drebin emerged from. The top of a man's head with grey hair appears at the end of the shot, thinking it's over. It is spotted most easily when viewed in slow motion. This is the stunt double that dropped from the ladder.

Visible crew/equipment: During the scene when the stadium usher has spoken with Enrico Palazzo and Frank Drebbin enters his dressing room, if you look to the end of the corridor you can see the shadows of two people talking even though no-one should be there.

Factual error: Frank hits some garbage cans with his car and the air bags deploy. He gets out of the car and another air bag deploys underneath the steering column and pushes up on the automatic gear shifter, which presumably makes the car start rolling. If the engine is off, a car will roll with the shifter in any position except park. Therefore, the shifter had to be in park when he got out, so pushing up on the shifter would not make it roll.

Continuity: When Frank does his speech at the end, his chest protecter goes from being wrinkled and squished in one shot, to perfect condition in another, and then back to wrinkled again in the next.

Continuity: In the beginning of the movie, during the big fight, Frank grabs Mikhail Gorbachev and smashes his head through the wall. The guy stays there but at the end of the fight, when Frank is about to jump out of the window, it shows him again. The hole now is bigger and not only consumes his head but all the way to his waist.

Revealing: When the window slams on Nordberg's hand it is that the window stops right above his hand. When he pulls his hand out the window doesn't go all the way down and a wooden cube is visible on the edge of the window stopping it from closing.

Visible crew/equipment: The crew is reflected on the side of the Taurus, when it tries to stop before hitting the petrol tanker.

Continuity: When Ludwig picks up his gold box you see him holding the box in different ways between the shots.

Revealing: When the Queen throws the first ball at the baseball game, if you look closely you can see the string which made the ball do its loops.

Visible crew/equipment: When Frank Drebbin opens the car door, it is blocked by a big pile of peanut shells. You can see two large rectangular stage lights in the reflection of the car door.

Factual error: In the scene where Frank is in the car, and the Doctor shoots at them, the windshield breaks right out and pieces fly all over Stephanie (the driver). This could only happen with a window made of something like plate glass. All windshields since before the 1940's have been made of a glass that will not break as a plate glass window does, so the bullet should go through the glass and just leave a little hole with cracks all around it.