Best movie character mistakes of all time

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The Color Purple picture

Character mistake: In the scene where Sophia confronts Celie in the cornfield, she starts by saying, "You told Harpo to beat me". Later she tells Celie, "If you want a dead son-in-law Miss Celie, you keep on advising him like you do". Harpo is actually Celie's stepson, NOT her son-in-law.

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The Fugitive picture

Character mistake: Kimble has just finished talking on the phone with his lawyer when the cops hear the noise in the background. They figure out the sound is that of an El-Train. They then start to list the different places that have an El. One of the cities they name is Milwaukee - there has never been an El-Train there.

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Fury picture

Character mistake: On the way approaching town the camera pans to a woman's hanged body with a sign written in German around her neck. One of the crew asked Wardaddy what it said, to which he answered something like "It reads 'I am a coward who refused to fight for the German people'." That sign actually translates to "I wanted my children not to go fight" or Anglicized for better effect, "I refused to let my children to go to war." Interestingly, once into town, there appears the corpse of a hanged man with a sign written in German that does translate to what Wardaddy said of the first sign. (00:43:00)

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Pitch Perfect picture

Character mistake: When Aubrey is telling the Bellas that they will practice two hours a day, seven days a week, the board behind her states that on Sundays they have the day off. (00:35:05)

paii

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Suggested correction: Maybe she changed her mind.

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The Fast and the Furious picture

Character mistake: In the opening scenes when Brian goes back to the shop, he demands that he needs some nitrous to boost his low top speed. Well I'm sure that most tuners will agree that more horsepower doesn't equal more top speed, it only contributes IF you have a transmission that can handle it and distribute it. (00:09:53)

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Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith picture

Character mistake: During the opening space battle, Obi-Wan's ship falls under attack by buzz-droids, who proceed to cut into his fighter, disabling a number of systems and leading Anakin to try some decidedly dangerous moves to get rid of them. Both Anakin and Obi-Wan are acknowledged experts in the use of the Force and both have been shown to use the Force routinely, even for relatively mundane activities. It's also been firmly established that the Force works on droids and that the Force-user can still affect others through windows, viewscreens and so forth. Yet neither thinks to use the Force to deal with the buzz-droids. (00:05:10)

Tailkinker

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Suggested correction: There's no evidence this is a mistake. In fact, it's logically self-defeating. As you noted, both Anakin and Obi-Wan are trained Jedi Knights. If the option of knocking the droids off with the Force was indeed feasible, presumably they would have done it. There are any number of reasons why they didn't (they couldn't concentrate enough in the middle of a pitched naval battle to commit a Force attack, the droids could have been attached magnetically, etc.) but the bottom line is that if telekinesis was an option they would have done it.

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Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi picture

Character mistake: As they take Han away, watch Lando. Just before he tilts his mask down so we can see who he is, he whacks his head on the doorway. (00:16:20)

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Panic Room picture

Character mistake: The mother tells the daughter to keep warm and drink water. In fact that would lower the blood sugar faster. This method is used for high blood sugar to lower it back to normal.

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Star Trek: First Contact picture

Character mistake: When Picard is explaining the Enterprise to Lily he states that it has 24 decks. Yet earlier on, a crewman had reported to Worf that the Borg had taken over "decks 26 up to 11".

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Thunderball picture

Character mistake: When Angelo sets the Vulcan down in the sea, he blows the canopy and extends the landing gear. As the plane settles, he attempts to release his harness, then has his air line cut by Largo. He futilely beats on the harness release when all he had to do was pull the face curtain handles to trigger the ejection seat, which would not only blow him clear of the plane but would separate him from the seat itself. Having trained for two years for this specific mission, he would undoubtedly be familiar with ejection procedures.

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The Equalizer 3 picture

Character mistake: When McCall put his gun to his head and pulled the trigger, he's saddened that it didn't go off. Most handguns (including the one he was using), after the last round is fired, the slide locks to the rear. He would not have made the mistake of thinking it was loaded.

grb36peacemaker

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American Pie picture

Character mistake: When Jim gets home and finds the apple pie on the counter with a note from his mother, the note reads "you're favorite", rather than "your". (00:31:40)

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Crimson Tide picture Crimson Tide mistake picture

Character mistake: More than once the crew of the submarine salute the Captain while uncovered in the hallways of the sub. Sailors never salute without their cover on. (00:29:10)

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Ghostbusters picture

Character mistake: When Ray and Winston are driving across the bridge around midnight in the Ectomobile, Ray quotes a verse of scripture claiming to be "Revelation 7:12." What he quotes is actually Revelation 6:12. (01:03:38)

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U-571 picture

Character mistake: After accurately depth charging U-571, the German destroyer crew suddenly turns out to be almost comically and unrealistically incompetent at the end of the movie. Not only do they barely hit U-571 with their guns, but they also can't keep up with the sub. But even with both submarine diesel engines running flank speed (of which U-571 only has one badly damaged engine operational), a common WWII destroyer would easily be twice as fast as a Type VII U-boat. The destroyer could swiftly close the distance and could either ram U-571 or cross the sub's wake to bring all its weapons to bear and make it more difficult to get hit by the sub. Of course the destroyer doesn't do that but stays perfectly in U-571's wake for an easy kill shot from its stern tube. In reality, it was considered an incredible feat to sink a destroyer with a torpedo, since they were agile at full speed, could easily dodge torpedoes and had shallow draft. This destroyer crew however, seems actively trying to get killed.

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Silent Running picture

Character mistake: While he may not have figured it out the moment he found the forest dying, certainly a botanist like Freeman Lowell would know plants need light to survive.

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No Country For Old Men picture

Character mistake: When Moss is arguing with the border guard at the Eagle Pass international bridge, he claims that he is a veteran of the "12th Infantry Battalion." There has never been such a thing as the 12th Infantry Battalion in either the Army or the Marines. Rather, they are based on a structure of 3-4 battalions per numbered regiment (i.e., 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment/2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, etc). The film takes this seriously, as the guard, a veteran himself, buys Moss' story.

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Suggested correction: He might have meant 12th Infantry Regiment. From Wikipedia: "Three 12th Infantry battalions deployed to South Vietnam with the 4th Division from August through October 1966."

If he said "battalion" but meant "regiment", then it's still a valid mistake for saying it wrong and being believed.

Bishop73

Regiments have not existed as functional units in the US Army since shortly after Korea; they are simply historic names associated with various battalions. Marine battalions are not numbered higher than 4 in any regiment, and in any case do not carry an explicit designation of "infantry."

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Downsizing picture

Character mistake: When they are having the going away party for Paul, "leisure" is spelled wrong on the cake.

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