Best drama movie character mistakes of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Midway picture

Character mistake: When the Japanese attack is imminent, a soldier loads the 50 caliber machine gun rounds into the box backwards, with the rounds facing the gunner.

Robert F Baptista

More Midway character mistakes
Dismissed picture

Character mistake: It is highly unlikely that the recipient of Mr. Butler's application for the professorship position would not only call him so soon, but ask him to come to her office right away (where she would humiliate him for the things he wrote in his essay on "qualities that make me a good teacher"). Moreover, her failure to listen to Mr. Butler and give due consideration to his assertion that someone else actually wrote those offensive things showed poor judgment, especially since she knew the person who referred Mr. Butler and spoke highly of him. Someone tampering with his application would make more sense than believing that Mr. Butler actually wrote those things that criticized the very college he was applying to and boasted so much about himself. That Mr. Butler was not able to say more to make his point believable is also problematic. He is an English teacher, so should have the vocabulary and mastering of techniques to make a convincing argument, but he failed to defend himself.

KeyZOid

More Dismissed character mistakes
The Two Popes picture

Character mistake: After the smoking seminarians joke, Bergoglio replies to Pope Benedict 's phrase about being alone "Isaiah 41, chapter 10." It's not chapter 10, but rather verse 10, of chapter 41. (00:52:50)

Sammo

More The Two Popes character mistakes
The Abyss picture

Character mistake: When they're reviving Lindsey, Bud screams "fight" and slaps her. watch as she closes her eyes on the second slap while she is supposed to be dead.

korporal kool

More The Abyss character mistakes
Watchmen picture

Character mistake: While he is describing his origin, Dr. Manhattan mentions a circulatory system appearing at a military base. However, what is actually shown is a nervous system, as it depicts a brain and spinal cord.

wizard_of_gore

More Watchmen character mistakes
Unknown picture

Character mistake: When the EMTs are resuscitating Dr. Harris, they use a defibrillator despite their being on a wet metal dock. Not only is this highly dangerous to absolutely everyone present, it would be completely ineffective at restarting his heart as the water and the metal would dissipate the electric current too much for it to do any good. At the very least, they would have stabilized his spine then moved him to a dry surface before beginning defibrillation. (00:08:30 - 00:09:10)

Phixius

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: External defibrillators are self grounded and so can be safely used on wet or metal surfaces. https://danboater.org/travel-health-and-safety/are-aeds-safe-to-use-in-wet-environments.html.

AEDs are indeed safe to use in wet areas - but in the film, it is not an AED that is used. AEDs are automated, and not operated by humans, so as to reduce risk. Your link explicitly states the rescuer must not have direct contact with the body: they just apply the pads, then move back. In the film, it is shown in detail that the medic applies the paddles and then operates them while still in contact with the body. The mistake stands: it's a traditional defibrillator, thus incorrectly used.

swordfish

More Unknown character mistakes
Barry Lyndon picture

Character mistake: When Barry Lyndon is talking to his mother privately, while standing on the bridge overlooking the water, Barry's mother refers to Barry's son Brian as being "at the mercy of his stepbrother", meaning Lord Bullingdon. They have the same mother. Lord Bullingdon and Brian would be half brothers, not step brothers.

More Barry Lyndon character mistakes
In the Cut picture

Character mistake: When Malloy first visits Frannie in her apartment, he says the girl was killed on the 15th, but when Frannie is in the cop car for the first time, Malloy's partner says it was the 11th.

Ral0618

More In the Cut character mistakes
More The Imitation Game character mistakes
Iron Man picture Iron Man mistake picture

Character mistake: There is a misspelling on the cover of the issue of Forbes magazine shown in the presentation about Stark's life. It reads "Tony Stark takes reigns at 21". The correct spelling of the word is "reins". Stark may "reign" at Stark Industries but he would take over the "reins" of the company.

More Iron Man character mistakes
Too Young to Die? picture

Character mistake: Amanda's lawyer says several times she'll go to the gas chamber if found guilty - once to her, once to the prosecutor and once to the jury. Oklahoma doesn't use, and never has used, the gas chamber for executions. (00:15:00 - 01:16:00)

jle

More Too Young to Die? character mistakes
Pretty Woman picture

Character mistake: When Vivian is in the tub singing "KISS" by Prince, she sings the verses in the wrong order. Not a big mistake, but a noticeable one for a Prince fan.

More Pretty Woman character mistakes
American History X picture

Character mistake: Near the end, just before Derek and Danny depart at Danny's high school, Derek says to his brother "I saw a car cruising by the house last night when I pulled out of there with Seth." The car that was shown driving by their house the previous night was in a brief scene right after Derek and Danny took down all of their nazi posters, and before Derek took a shower. He had not just 'pulled out of there with Seth.' The last time he had seen Seth at this point in the movie was at Cameron's party where Seth had almost shot him.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Just because Derek says to Danny that he saw a car driving by their house when he left with Seth and a black car drove by later in the movie doesn't mean that this is the car Derek was referring to. There are many possibilities to explain what Derek was referring to (perhaps he was paranoid and saw an ordinary car driving by that he thought was scoping their apartment out) but it doesn't mean that the black car is the one he was referring to when he warned Danny.

More American History X character mistakes
Gran Torino picture

Character mistake: The information on Walter's "patient information sheet" lists his address as 5962 Delco St but numerous shots indicate his house number is 238. (01:03:25)

More Gran Torino character mistakes
Close Encounters of the Third Kind picture

Character mistake: When Ronnie is cutting the article about Roy's encounter out of the newspaper, the title of the article begins with "UFO's...", the apostrophe making it possessive. It correctly should have been "UFOs...", with no apostrophe making it plural as intended.

Kit Sullivan

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: You are incorrect. The article is actually correct. It is used as a contraction, not a possessive. http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/apostrophe.html.

It's not a contraction. A plural acronym is simply "s" added to the acronym. An apostrophe never indicates plurality.

Charles Austin Miller

Suggested correction: There is no standard on how to pluralize initialisms or acronyms and either way is acceptable, depending on a person's preference. An apostrophe does not automatically make something possessive, such as using apostrophes in contractions to replace missing letters.

Bishop73

Nope. In contractions joining two words, apostrophes only replace vowels (typically the letter "o," such as in "hasn't" or "wouldn't" or "isn't," and most obviously with "it's" replacing the letter "i" in "it is"). In this case, the acronym "UFOs" stands for "Unidentified Flying Objects," and there is no vowel to replace between the "t" and the "s" (in fact, an apostrophe wouldn't replace any letter at all). So, the contraction argument is invalid. Using an apostrophe for "UFO's" makes the acronym singular possessive (such as in "The UFO's movements were erratic").

Charles Austin Miller

It seems you missed the point of my comment. What you're stating is an opinion on how to pluralize initialisms and acronyms. While many lean towards just adding an "s", many real life publications back in the 70's did in fact use and "apostrophe s" for initialisms and acronyms. (Notice how 70's isn't possessive or a contraction. But many prefer using "70s.").

Bishop73

"Many publications" were wrong (especially in the late 1970s) and followed poor literary and journalistic standards. No, it's not a "matter of opinion"; throwing in apostrophes where they are not appropriate is a matter of poor education in the English language.

Charles Austin Miller

The question is not whether using the apostrophe is "correct" or "appropriate." It's whether it was used by publications in the '70s. It was, therefore it is not a mistake.

You should be more educated when stating opinions then, because it wasn't about being wrong. It was about no set standard. For example "The Chicago Manual of Style" would recommend UFOs while "The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage" would recommend UFO's. Of course, both would recommend using the apostrophe when making single letters plural "A's" or p's and q's."

Bishop73

The New York Times manual of style is predictably bogus. I'm a professor of Journalism (Southwest Texas State University 1979 to 1987). I know what is proper.

Charles Austin Miller

More Close Encounters of the Third Kind character mistakes
Arthur Christmas picture

Character mistake: When they deliver Xmas presents to Denmark it's already too late - Denmark has the presents on the 24th, early in the evening.

More Arthur Christmas character mistakes
Unstoppable picture

Character mistake: Engine #1206 is instructed to take the nearest siding upon hearing the news of the oncoming train. Frank does the maths and determines that they will not fit into that siding. He states the siding being 4011 feet between signals, with about 2500 of actual usable space. Engine #1206 with 25 cars would only equal 1580 feet, giving them more than enough room to clear in the first available siding.The average length of a railroad car is 60 feet. Even if the cars were considered "long", total 25 cars would have fit into that siding.

More Unstoppable character mistakes
Red Dragon picture

Character mistake: At the very beginning of the film, when Hannibal Lecter is serving dinner to his guests, one diner asks "what is this divine looking amuse-bouche" when she and the other guests have a full plate of food. An amuse-bouche is a single bite of food meant to be served at the beginning of a meal, not a plate full of food. Lecter's guests would be better educated.

steven_frankel

More Red Dragon character mistakes
Lord of War picture

Character mistake: Nic Cage says "At 4 and a half months, the human fetus has a reptile's tail". This is totally incorrect. A human fetus has a tail-like structure between 4 and 7 weeks, not months, and it is little more than a mass of flesh which helps the muscular structure of the backbone develop before being absorbed for use in the formation of the legs and hips. (01:28:50)

More Lord of War character mistakes
Field of Dreams picture

Character mistake: Chick Gandil mispronounces Eddie Cicotte's name, calling him "Si-coty" instead of "See-cot."

More Field of Dreams character mistakes

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.