Continuity mistake: When Garland (Slim Pickens) finds out about the affair between Buck (Willie Nelson) and his daughter Lilly (Amy Irving). He takes a cab to the beach where Buck is hiding out. When Garland steps out of the cab, the bottle of tequila his is holding has just a little tequila in it. In the next scene when he is paying the driver the bottle is half full, and the next scene the bottle is almost completely full.
Continuity mistake: As Buddy and the kid pull away in the car for the first time, Buddy is staring out the right side of the car. The shot cuts to a different angle and he's looking more toward the left.
Continuity mistake: Throughout the whole film you can see that Rick Danko's bass playing has been completely redone. What he's playing and what you hear are completely different things.
Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the film when Natalie Wood first gets in the limo, she is waving goodbye to her mother who is on the pavement. As the limo is driving away and Wood is leaning out the window waving, there is a lamp post behind her that is so close it looks like it might hit her. When the camera moves back to her mother you cannot see the lamp post.
Continuity mistake: When Jerry goes to the plane from England to USA, the plane is white and has a TWA logo. When he arrives, the plane is silver, and the logo is one of the American Airlines.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where one of the hall monitors is folding the principal's note into a paper airplane, watch his cigarette. It goes from being in his mouth, to being in his hand and back without him moving it.
Continuity mistake: Glen Holland owns a Chevy Corvair throughout the film. The car at the beginning of the film is a 1961 model 500 (the base model with bench seats), but at the end of the film it is a 1964 Monza (the top of the line model, with bucket seats).
Continuity mistake: When Mr. Dulaine forces Rock and LaRhette to dance the waltz together, he takes off his necktie and blindfolds LaRhette with it. Throughout the scene the blindfold is different nearly every time the camera angle changes - the "tail" created by the wide end of the tie gets longer and shorter, the knot alternately loosens and tightens and moves from side to side across the back of her head, and the whole thing slides up and down her nose. It's so distracting I spent the whole scene watching to see how it was going to move next.
Continuity mistake: In the nightclub where Marci and her girlfriends do the diversity dance, Marci starts by taking a white fur that she's wearing off of her shoulders and wrapping it around her head. Then there is a cutaway to another person. When we cut back to Marci, not only is the fur on her head no longer there, but we can see an extra in the background wearing it over her shoulders.
Continuity mistake: After Elvis's first live performance, his parents are discussing how proud they are. They and the crowd are still moving in time to his song even though he's already stopped, indicating the scene was originally intended to take place during the song.
Factual error: In a scene that is twenty-eight minutes into the movie, one of the characters is seen running up to check out a new Cadillac that had been given to him by the owner of Chess Records. A 'super' appears at the bottom of the screen which reads "1952" in order to set the chronological time. Only problem is, the Cadillac is a 1956 model. Any old car buff, particularly one like myself who writes a weekly column for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, would know in a heartbeat that this car was four years ahead of the year indicated on the screen. Bruce Kunz, a.k.a. "The FIN MAN"tm www.thefinman.com. (00:28:20 - 00:29:15)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where the brothers are sitting at the bar, Cesar lights up a cigarette and is holding it in his right hand. The shot cuts as he slaps Nestor on the shoulder with his right hand and the cigarette is magically in his left hand.
Revealing mistake: In the jazz club, the saxophone player's finger movements don't match what he is playing.
Other mistake: Whenever Jackie uses a tattoo gun, particularly in the scene where she's tattooing Faith, the camera angles make it obvious that the needle isn't moving.
Continuity mistake: After Miranda sings for the hotel manager, her guitar case closes and zips itself in a split-second.
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Sean Penn is playing with the big band fronted by the female singer, there is a microphone on a boom visible top center of the frame, when the camera does a pullback to show the whole band at the song's end. (VHS version.)
Continuity mistake: When Linda Blair deliberately knocks a plate of desserts into one of her suitor's lap, the tray hits him directly in the crotch and the camera shows this. Then there is a cut to Linda Blair's face and then a cut back to the boys clothing and the scene now shows the desserts all over his suit from the shoulders down.
Continuity mistake: Sean and Emily spend the night on a boat after her first mob. The blanket lies differently in consecutive shots. (00:45:25)
Other mistake: At the beginning, Pierre's doorbell rings. He goes to answer it, only to see Pépinot walking up the driveway. How could he ring the doorbell while walking up the driveway?
Factual error: Whenever Steve Coogan is driving his old brown car during the 70s and 80s, you can look out of his windows and see cars that weren't made then, even some with current registration plates on, either driving past, or parked up in driveways, or on the side of the road.