Best action movie mistakes of 1973

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Westworld picture

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?

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Suggested correction: The explanation given in the TV show would seem to easily apply to the original film as well: guests can be injured, but not to the point that it would leave a lasting mark. The park has access to futuristic medical techniques, so they can heal most non-life-threatening injuries easily. Also the guests almost certainly sign waivers, so in the event of serious injury the park isn't liable.

Suggested correction: It's easy to nitpick the factual details of "Westworld," the screenplay of which was written on-the-fly on a fairly limited budget, even by early 1970s' standards. Author Michael Crichton (who also wrote "The Andromeda Strain," "The Terminal Man," "Congo," "Sphere," "Jurassic Park" and several other technological thrillers) himself acknowledged that Westworld was more a visual story (like a comic book) than a cerebral piece of science fiction, and he learned on this movie that suspension of disbelief outweighed technical or even factual details, if he wanted to expedite the story in an hour-and-a-half. Crichton said he was having more fun and devoting more time to shooting the film than actually writing it, comparing the experience to playing cowboys and indians as a child. So, yes, Westworld is not much more than an adult fantasy with a number of plot holes that we are supposed to gleefully overlook, rather than analyze.

Charles Austin Miller

Except for blatant continuity mistakes you just invalidated every single entry on this site.

Suggested correction: Westworld ensure that any interactions with the robots are entirely safe for the patrons of the park. They cannot prevent humans fighting amongst themselves, just as Disneyland can't prevent people fighting there. People are also injured or die all the time in horse-riding accidents, but that won't lead to people suing Westworld. Due to the nature of the park, all the guests likely sign a waiver stating that any injuries are not the fault of the park.

Utter rubbish. Guests who were completely innocent bystanders could be killed or injured by the actions of other guests, notably in the bar brawl or by the explosion used in the jailbreak. We see one guest smash a barstool against the back of another guest - not a robot - which could easily have broken his spine. There is no question whatever that the owners and managers of the park would be held liable in this and many other cases, just as amusement park owners and managers nowadays are held liable when roller coasters or other rides go awry, injuring or killing guests.

The most plausible explanation would be a waiver that visitors to the park have to sign. The waiver would explain that while the robots cannot harm humans, other humans can, and the park is not held responsible. In the event of death or serious injury, the guest who caused it would face criminal charges and possibly a civil lawsuit. But a waiver would protect the park. Also, the rules of the park may be similar to those in the HBO Westworld series, where the robots cannot cause a "permanent mark", meaning they can injure guests as long as the injury is repairable.

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Magnum Force picture

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.

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The Three Musketeers picture

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.

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The Golden Voyage of Sinbad picture

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

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Enter the Dragon picture

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.

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White Lightning picture White Lightning mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Close-up interior shots show that Gator's brown Ford has a Hurst floor-shifter and manual transmission. But when he arrives at his parent's home, he very obviously puts the column-mounted automatic shifter into 'Park'. (00:17:10)

johnrosa

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Emperor of the North Pole picture

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.

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The Seven-Ups picture

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.

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Walking Tall picture

Revealing mistake: When the bad sheriff tries to run Buford Pusser over, he drives off the road and the car explodes for no reason. It's in the air when it explodes, there's no way it could have exploded without hitting the ground.

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The Knock Out Cop picture

Continuity mistake: The protagonist is having lunch with the landlady and her son, who asks him a question. Before doing that, he puts down his fork. But in the next shot, he is holding it in his hand. (00:14:25)

Sammo

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Shaft in Africa picture

Continuity mistake: When the Colonel proudly shows the stick and with a skillful hand motion covers the knob before offering it to Shaft, Richard Roundtree's hand is by the glass at first, close to his chest after. (00:34:25)

Sammo

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The Amazons picture

Audio problem: When the king's army officers are talking, the one who criticizes his adviser's mouth doesn't match with what he's saying.

Rob245

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The Neptune Factor picture Video

Continuity mistake: The attachment to the minisub is inconsistent. It is an open hook first then as it's being lifted it becomes an enclosed shackle looking quite different. Plus a figure now appears on the roof. Ben Gazzara has just gone below. (00:57:42)

PeterNZ

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Electra Glide in Blue picture

Continuity mistake: For the infamous closing scene, a van of drug-runners fire a double-barrelled 12-gauge shotgun straight into the windscreen of Officer Wintergreen's Electra Glide motorcycle, killing him. In the full front view, the gunfire virtually explodes the windscreen, shattering it on all sides all the way to the frame. Camera cuts to a side view and we see Wintergreen topple off as the motorcycle keeps traveling down the road. In this profile shot, the windscreen is no longer exploded, but now has a neat 4-inch hole in it.

Charles Austin Miller

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Battle for the Planet of the Apes picture

Continuity mistake: As the two gorillas watch the approaching humans, one gorilla raises the telescope, then after the angle change, raises it again.

Movie Nut

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Battle of the Amazons picture

Revealing mistake: Despite them wearing masks at the end you can still see a lot of the amazons are being played by men - you can see hints of beards.

Rob245

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I Escaped from Devil's Island picture I Escaped from Devil's Island mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the prisoners in the confinement holes talk clinging from the bars at the top, Jim Brown's hands are one bar apart in the overhead shot, 2 bars in close-ups. (00:00:50)

Sammo

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