Best mystery movie character mistakes of all time

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Super Troopers picture

Character mistake: When Ramathorn and Farva pullover the Plymouth Voyager, Ramathorn radios in and says they have a Plymouth Voyager, Vermont plates Alpha, God, Mustard, 1, niner, decade, china. When Farva gets out of the car to call the driver a chicken f**ker, you can see the licence plate, Vermont plate '1 9415'. Ramathorn radioed in the wrong licence plate number.

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Striking Distance picture

Character mistake: At the start of the car chase scene the dispatcher identifies the stolen car as an '89 Ford, but the Ford LTD Crown Victoria shown in the chase is a 1986 or 1987 model.

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Friday the 13th picture

Character mistake: When Annie is in the red truck, she says that she'll be cooking for ten staff. When Alice goes to the beach, she tells Bill that everyone has arrived except for Annie. Even if she had arrived, there would only be eight of them: Christie, Annie, Ned, Brenda, Jack, Marcy, Bill, and Alice. Two shy of what she told the truck driver.

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Stir of Echoes picture

Character mistake: In the scene where Maggie tells her sister she is pregnant and how far along she is in her pregnancy, her sister says the child will be a Gemini, just like Einstein. Einstein's birthdate is March 14th, making him a Pisces. Lisa also mentions that Shirley Manson from the band Garbage is also a Gemini, when in fact she is a Virgo.

Phaneron

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Identity picture

Character mistake: There's no way that using a regular needle and thread to sew up that wound would work the way it's shown. Anybody who knew what they were doing - which John Cusack is portrayed as knowing - would also know that using unsterilized materials and instruments without a sterile field from an uncleaned massive open wound is a great way to kill your patient.

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Suggested correction: The main plot of this film takes place inside the head of a murderer with dissociative identity disorder. The fact that stitching up a wound in that matter wouldn't work is irrelevant to the fact that it is how Malcolm is playing out the scenario in his head.

Phaneron

You're making a good point to invalidate a "character mistake", but couldn't the entry be reclassified as a "factual mistake" and stand as written?

KeyZOid

I would say no, as it is still assigning a mistake to something that is happening in someone's imagination. Unless Jon disagrees, I don't think those types of factual errors in this instance count as movie mistakes.

Phaneron

If it was all being imagined, I'd have to agree.

KeyZOid

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The Nice Guys picture

Character mistake: Twice over in the movie (when Healy wakes up and when March at the end of the movie drives to his place) billboards for The Comedy Store appear. The program of the evening features comedians such as Tim Allen, Richard Lewis, Robert Klein and "Elaine Boosler." So they misspelled Elayne Boosler's name. (00:10:50 - 01:48:35)

Sammo

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Appointment With Death picture

Character mistake: On the way to Jerusalem, Poirot says that "that man, Weizmann, put it rather well the other day, before Lord Peel's commission", and gives a famous quote about the world being divided in 'two places' for the Jews (those where they are not allowed to live, and those they cannot enter). The movie takes place in May 1937, and Chaim Weizmann's quote is from November of the previous year. 6 months are hardly "the other day."

Sammo

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Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte picture

Character mistake: When the sheriff confronts Charlotte after she has shot at the bulldozer operator, he tells her that her gun is unlicensed, but he will overlook it. Louisiana does not have, and never has had, any form of gun licensing or registration.

mdwalker

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The Manchurian Candidate picture

Character mistake: When Marco is trying to raise his rifle to assassinate Senator Arthur, he held it upside down with his scope below and turned over in the same scene, He is an expert marksman.

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Daphne & Velma picture

Character mistake: Daphne's mother is the one who pressed her husband to tell her the truth, but she is cheering when he says about the basketball anecdote that it was 'real', when later he corrects himself saying "real-ly me, disguised as a mascot." (00:17:25)

Sammo

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Texas Chainsaw 3D picture

Character mistake: The Sheriff calls for Drayton Sawyer to bring out his son Jed (Leather Face) in the movie's opening scene. But it's long been established that they're brothers.

Rob245

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

Suggested correction: This is meant to be a direct sequel to the original film, and ignores the other sequels. And if memory serves correctly, the first movie never made any mention of them being brothers. (I just checked and the Texas Chainsaw fandom Wiki backs this up - the original film makes no reference to them being brothers.) So therefore, it is not a mistake if this movie re-writes him as being Leatherface's father.

TedStixon

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Remember Me picture

Character mistake: Doreen/Mom told Rose she'd be back from the store "in a jiffy." Rose asked, "How long is a 'jiffy'?" and Doreen replied "in about an hour." "Jiffy" typically means VERY fast (perhaps as short as a nanosecond) and, even if people have different perceptions of how much time a "jiffy" is, an hour is excessive by general standards and does not reflect its true meaning. (00:32:50)

KeyZOid

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Thirteen at Dinner picture

Character mistake: When David Frost interviews the fictional actor Bryan Martin, he adds a last question to the interview saying "before you go" and acts as if the guest is not gonna stay (as it often happens in talk shows, when some guests, especially the more famous ones, leave after their bit is over). However Martin is staying and in fact there is a special mystery guest a bit later that makes sense only if he is in fact staying. (00:02:00)

Sammo

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The Lodge picture

Character mistake: Mia's Sea-Monkey, in a vertical position, was shown sinking to the bottom the jar. It isn't clear if the Sea-Monkey was dead or if Mia was referring to it when she said, "She's gonna freeze to death, Aiden", but Mia should have known how to properly care for her Sea-Monkey (or refer to the instructions) and, realizing the room was too cold, should have done something - such as wrapped a towel/blanket around the jar and/or moved the jar to a warmer location (e.g, near the fireplace). (01:22:33)

KeyZOid

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The Fog picture

Character mistake: When the second fog bank rolls in, the weatherman says it is coming from the south-east, and the DJ says the same thing once; the second time, however, she says the south-west.

kh1616

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Flight 7500 picture

Character mistake: During communication with ATC the co-pilot states their call sign followed by the read-back of ATC instructions. This order is incorrect. In reality a pilot or co-pilot reads back the instructions from ATC and then their call sign or tail number prior to ending their transmission.

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The Big Lebowski picture

Character mistake: When Walter brings Cynthia's dog in the carrier to the bowling alley he refers to it as a Pomeranian while it is actually a terrier. Somewhat related, when the the Nihilists confront Dude in the bathtub, the dude refers to the ferret as a marmot. Walter later refers to the ferret as an amphibious rodent. Perhaps he was thinking of a mink.

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

Suggested correction: These were purposeful taxonomic (funny!) jokes.

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Death on the Nile picture

Character mistake: Dr. Bessner tells Linnet that the Eastern statue she'll see at Abu Simbel is 'the vocal statue', which emits a sound at sunset. The statues the doctor mentions are the Colossi of Memnon, over 500 kms north of Abu Simbel, so the movie here mixes up two very different monuments. (00:49:30)

Sammo

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Hostel picture

Character mistake: When the main character follows the Dutch businessman down the stairs (the same scene the girl with the white jacket and white bag walks downstairs before we see her walking up the stairs) there is a commercial which reads "JETZT AUCH AM DVD" which is wrong and should be "JETZT AUCH AUF DVD." (01:22:45)

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