Best movie mistakes of 1973

Plot hole: An important plot point (in the book and the film) is that Charles Calthrop - thought to be the Jackal, at that stage - played some mysterious part in the 1961 assassination of Rafael Trujillo, the dictator of The Dominican Republic, and rumours of his involvement came to the attention of MI6 and Special Branch, leading to the accidental exposure of the Jackal's false passport. In fact there is no mystery at all about the assassination of Trujillo and there were no shadowy foreigners involved. It was organised by Trujillo's own senior aides, amongst them General Juan Tomás Díaz, Antonio de la Maza, Amado Garcia Guerroro and General Antonio Imbert Barrera. The gunman was later identified as Luis Aniama Tio. All the conspirators except Tio were arrested, tortured, and shot. There was no panicked evacuation of foreigners who were involved with Trujillo's regime, and no reason for them to be concerned - the government did not fall and Trujillo's brother Hector took over as President, ruling in a brutal and totalitarian manner for a further eight years. Any rumours of a mysterious Englishman would have been dismissed out of hand and would not have made it onto even the lowest level filing system anywhere in Whitehall.

Plot hole: There is a barely credible explanation for the fact that a guest cannot be injured or killed by being shot in Westworld, but what about the vicious fistfight we see in the bar? People are injured or killed in bar brawls all the time, and this one was incredibly violent. How do they prevent guests from being injured or killed by the cutting and stabbing weapons we see in Medieval and Roman World? Guests are supposed to fight each other, not just robots - they cannot be 'programmed' to lose! Delos is going be sued into bankruptcy within a week of the first guest arriving. Quite apart from the legal position, think about the bad publicity! Who is going to pay the huge fees demanded by the parks owners when the media is constantly reporting on the guests who wound up dead or with life changing injuries?

Plot hole: A vital plot line, obviously, is that Doyle wants to kill the con men who fleeced his runner of the numbers money. He has Luther killed and turns his best men (and women) onto Johnny Hooker, almost killing him, too. What about the third conman, Kid Erie? He is an essential part of the con, as much a part of it as Luther and Hooker. During the setup - just before they fleece him - the numbers runner watches Kid Erie running away. He looks at him, Hooker and Luther in turn. Even if he couldn't identify him he would still be able to inform Doyle that there were three rather than two con men involved. Even so, Kid Erie comes and goes as he pleases. Doyle doesn't have anyone looking for him; he doesn't even mention him in conversation, and in fact consistently refers to two - not three - con men. He makes it clear that he would have to kill his best friend if he even found out about the con, yet he lets one of the central participants go scot free. It doesn't make any sense at all.

Visible crew/equipment: In the last scene where the main character escapes, he jumps into the bay and is supported by a sack which he is carrying. Actually you can clearly see that he is supported from underneath by a diver.

Visible crew/equipment: Near the beginning of the movie, the old priest is in Northern Iraq and you can see the shadow of a microphone on his hat.

Continuity mistake: During the archery constest, in one scene Prince John has a ring on his right paw with no jewel, then all of a sudden the jewel appears. a few scenes later he has three rings on that paw, and later he has no rings at all.

Visible crew/equipment: After Callahan removes the bomb from his mailbox, he looks up at a man on the nearby stairs. As a car drives by on the street, the lights from it cast the shadow of the boom operator onto the wall.

Factual error: In one scene a parked car is sitting along the street - it is a '68 Chevy, it has sidelights. Yet the film is set in 1962.

Continuity mistake: In the first scene where the truck drives along the road, if you look in the top right hand corner you can see the shadow of the helicopter that was filming the shot.

Plot hole: Swapping his dental X-ray records with his deceased partner won't convince anyone that Varrick is dead - then (as now) the patient's name appears on the X-ray.

Other mistake: During his conversation with the landlord of the pub he ends up staying in, Sergeant Howie makes it clear that he did not intend to stay on Summerisle overnight, that he had been delayed and so needed accommodation. Makes you wonder why he packed his pyjamas. He's wearing them when Britt Ecklund does her famous naked song and dance routine, and they are not new so we know he didn't buy them that day. When he arrived he didn't even think he'd be on Summerisle for more than a few hours - we don't see him with so much as an overnight bag.

Continuity mistake: In some of the locker room scenes, the overhead boom microphone is visible, and clearly shaking.

Continuity mistake: At one point D'Artagnan reaches the Duke of Buckingham, who is on a hunt. He has just killed a stag and his hands are covered in blood. D'Artagnan rides up and offers him a note from Queen Anne. He wipes his palms with a cloth before he takes the note, but his hands are still covered with blood up to and above the wrists. When he reads the note, he and D'Artagnan take off on foot for his castle where they go into a private room behind the walls. Suddenly it is apparent that his hands are perfectly clean right down to his scrubbed fingernails and, without explanation, the plot-heavy sequence continues.

Continuity mistake: The swords of the animated statue of Kali are different from the swords used in the close-up fight scenes.

Visible crew/equipment: When 007 takes the taxi outside the Oh Voodoo Cult Shop, you can see the reflection of the crew on the window of the car.

Other mistake: In the intense outdoor battle scene at the end, when Bruce kicks a guy in the face three times in a row, one of the extras in the background cracks up laughing.

Revealing mistake: When the Grand Ville turns onto the street where the children are playing, it clips a parked car as it makes the turn. This is the same car that later gets its driver's door ripped off by the Grand Ville just before the police give chase. It was repainted red for the second scene, but note the same dent in the right fender as before.

Factual error: On the night of 19 October 1933 the railroad workers begin betting whether A-One will make it to Portland on the 19. A quick closeup of the money changing hands reveals the $1's to have the Great Seal reverse (introduced in 1935) plus the motto IN GOD WE TRUST (introduced in 1957). Also, the green-seal Federal Reserve Notes and the red-seal United States $2 notes are of the types first introduced in 1934.

Continuity mistake: When Wilbur is meeting Charlotte's three daughters in the barn entrance, the medal that the farmer hung there keeps appearing and disappearing between shots, though the duration of the scene.

Continuity mistake: Right at the start of the movie, the dogs go though the bank's front door, which can only be opened from the outside, which means someone had to have opened the door for the dogs.