Continuity mistake: In the opening scene, Mort closes the door of his jeep before he goes into the hotel room. You can hear the sound of the door closing and it's visible in the rearview-mirror. As the camera moves out of the room, the jeep door is completely open. (00:02:05)
Secret Window (2004)
Directed by: David Koepp
Starring: Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Timothy Hutton
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Suggested correction: The door just didn't actually catch. I've had cars like that, especially during the winter.
Given that we see it stay closed for almost 4 seconds and hear it catch, it's a valid mistake.
If you've ever lived where it snows a lot, you'd know that door catches accumulate moisture (ice) and can open slowly, as it did in this case.
Continuity mistake: When Mort is trying to figure out what to write, he is pacing around and his hair is messed up. He walks to the chair (hair still a mess) sits down, then in the next shot there is a close up of his face and his hair is perfectly brushed.
Continuity mistake: When Mort is in Ken's office telling him about John harassing him. Ken punches the right side of the chess clock down to start it. Then Mort punches the left side, his right to stop it. Then when the camera switches back to Mort's point of view the the left side is up and the right side is down, then Ken punches down the left side to start it, when the right side should have been the one he had to press down to start it.
Trivia: One should really stay to the very end of the credits, as Johnny Depp (Mort) sings an amusing little tune.
Trivia: In a shot of Mort's coffee table, we see a book by Hunter Thompson. Johnny Depp (Mort) played Thompson in "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas" (1998).
Trivia: Chicko, the dog, was 11 years old and blind. The dog was constantly bumping into furniture so it was very hard for the film crew. They only got one take of Chicko walking through the doggie door with out bumping into the wall or a piece of furniture and that is the take that was in the movie.
Mort: I don't care. I'm just gonna smoke. I'm just gonna totally smoke. I'll finish these, go to the store and get a brand-new pack, smoke the shit out of that one.
Mort: I buried my dog, mister.
John Shooter: You strike me as the kind of guy who's on the lookout for a head he can knock off with a shovel.
Question: At the end of the credits, we hear Johnny Depp sing "mama's little baby loves shortnin' bread." Is there any reason for this, or a tie-in to the movie I missed?
Chosen answer: An additional reference to the full dominant personality takeover of Shooter, everything gravitates South Mississippi.
Question: What is the year and trim level of the jeep Cherokee Johnny Depp drives?
Answer: 1993 Jeep Cherokee Country.
Question: What is the meaning behind the Morton salt and other groceries that Mort buys at the end of the movie?
Answer: Mort Rainey buys the salt, butter, and napkins for eating the corn he grew in the garden above Ted and Amy's graves. The "Morton" brand of salt uses the advertising slogan, "when it rains, it pours." Mort Rainey's name can be translated to "raining death." The "Vanity Fair" napkins could be a refernce to Mort's personality.
The term Vanity Fair was coined (I believe first) by John Bunyan in 1678, as a place in a story called ‘The Pilgrim's Progress'. Mort is referred to as ‘Pilgrim' by a few different characters in the film, including himself, without much explanation until the serviettes. Brilliant. Vanity Fair in John Bunyan's story is a never-ending fair of frivolity, which is similar to Mort's charade of denial. Found this info when I searched the meaning of Vanity Fair on vocabulary.com.
Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress was also the inspiration for William Thackeray's 1847 novel, "Vanity Fair."
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