Best history movie continuity mistakes of all time

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Glory picture

Continuity mistake: During the first battle in the woods, the Union Regiment levels their un-bayonetted weapons and fires a volley at the Confederates. About 3 seconds later, without the order having been given, they are in hand to hand combat with bayonets fixed.

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Three Musketeers picture

Continuity mistake: In one extended scene, Chris O'Donnell is talking with someone. Almost every time the camera comes back to him, the ties on his shirt are first crossed, then uncrossed, etc.

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Black Hawk Down picture Black Hawk Down mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Star 41 is called to the first crash site, it has mini guns and rockets, but when it gets to the site it has seats for people. (00:50:20 - 01:02:00)

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Kingdom of Heaven picture

Continuity mistake: When Balian is talking with Tiberius after denying the King's proposal, watch Balian's clothing. His chain mail is visible on both sides of his shoulders in one shot; we cut to Tiberius for one line (I believe it was, "Jerusalem has no need for a perfect knight") and when we cut back to Balian, his cloak is now covering the chain mail completely.

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300 (2006)

300 picture

Continuity mistake: When Leonidas, and presumably all the other Spartans, use their spears to clear their shields of arrows after the arrow shower from Persian archers, the tips of the arrows are still visibly left on all their shields. In the next shot, when the Spartans regroup for the Persian cavalry charge, the arrow tips are gone. (Granted, this is a highly stylized movie based on a comic book, but that does not change the fact that this is a continuity error.)

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A Bridge Too Far picture

Continuity mistake: In a scene in a town on the rooftops as the British fight the Nazis, we see that the townsfolk were truly ahead of their times as they nearly all have television antennas.

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Casino picture

Continuity mistake: When Remo Gaggi is talking to Andy Stone about Ace cussing out the Board, there's a pack of cigarettes beside Gaggi in his car. The camera angle changes to show Stone's face, who is outside the car, and when it flips back to Gaggi, there is a Zippo lighter in place of the cigarettes. The camera goes back to Stone, and when it comes back again, the Zippo is gone and the cigarettes are back. And to top it all off, not once did Remo smoke in this scene.

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Gettysburg picture

Continuity mistake: On the first day of the battle when Longstreet and Lee are talking, Longstreet's cigar is unraveling and in the next shot he has a new cigar.

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Battle of Britain picture

Continuity mistake: It is 1940. Two pilots come out of a house - one of them has just lost his wife and family in the London Blitz, the other is an RAF Squadron Leader. The door they come out of has a modern electric bell push - a post 1965 version, white rectangular box with a round button.

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Thirteen Days picture

Continuity mistake: On the Pentagon the plot shows the USS John R Pierce intercepting the two Soviet ship but the marker on the plot says DD722 (it is upside down). DD722 was the USS Barton whilst the Pierce is correctly shown in the external shots as DD753. (01:12:25)

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Seabiscuit picture

Continuity mistake: In the race for the $100,000 purse (that Rosemont wins), just after Seabiscuit takes the lead, there's a closeup of Seabiscuit's head and Pollard's right leg - Pollard is wearing the brace he made later in the movie after his leg was shattered. Obviously, the shot was taken from those filmed for the Santa Anita race later in the film. (01:17:40)

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The Alamo picture

Continuity mistake: In an early scene Travis and Dickenson are in Travis's office. Travis goes to the mantel, gets a cigar and pours himself a glass of sherry. In a later scene, when Travis meets Crockett in the cantina he refuses a drink from Crockett claiming he doesn't drink, ever.

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The Elephant Man picture

Continuity mistake: At a meeting to do with the hospital's dealings, one man, Mr Broadbeck, objects to the Elephant Man being a patient in the hospital - in the beginning he is wearing spectacles, but, a few seconds later, the spectacles are gone.

kh1616

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The Amityville Horror picture

Continuity mistake: When the stairs are first shown, there's carpet up the middle of the stairs. At the end when they flee the house it's gone.

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Chariots of Fire picture

Continuity mistake: In the 1924 Olympics, the Eric Liddell character is handed a slip of paper prior to running. As he runs in the race, the paper is not in his hand. When he crosses the finish line it magically reappears.

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The Man in the Iron Mask picture

Continuity mistake: When the Jesuit tries to kill King Louis, Louis grabs a long bladed knife and stabs the Jesuit in the chest, but when the camera pulls back, the knife is gone, and no one has made a move to pull it out of his chest. Only the blade that D'Artanian threw at him is there.

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Miracle picture Miracle mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The fan who came out onto the ice and draped a flag around Jim Craig's shoulders (a cameo by the film's director, by the way) put it on upside-down. The camera cuts away, then cuts back, and it's suddenly right-side up.

Matty Blast

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Malta Story picture

Continuity mistake: There is genuine wartime footage of Spitfires of the the right type for the period, but other scenes have later (maybe even postwar) versions flying about.

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