Continuity mistake: Motorcycles used by traffic officers throughout the movie are Moto Guzzi V7 850. In the scene on the docks, two officers arrive on Moto Guzzis, but the moment they ride up the narrow ramp, they suddenly ride Triumph Bonnevilles. The two Triumphs are slightly different. Trained eyes can tell that the traffic cop and Callahan use them interchangeably, switching back and forth a few times. (01:45:45 - 01:52:55)
Continuity mistake: When the guy with the snake is shot, Baron Samedi reappears and you can distinctly see the bloke holding the snake again.
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)
Continuity mistake: During the fight scene with Oharra, Bruce Lee was actually cut quite badly on the hand. In later scenes in the film he can actually be seen with a bandage round the injured hand.
Continuity mistake: When Lt. Snyder breaks the phone booth window with his gun and points it at Hooker, Hooker's hat falls off. Yet in the next shot over Lt. Snyder's shoulder you can see that Hooker's hat is back on his head.
Continuity mistake: In the final scenes where Sheriff Pusser drives a police car to the Lucky Spot, just before he arrives, in the long shot of him driving down the highway, the patrol car has red lights on it's roof. When he arrives and drives the car through the bar, the car has blue lights.
Continuity mistake: Near the end when Howie is in the cage and praying, one shot shifts to the line of watching islanders. Summerisle walks towards them, turns and signals with his left arm. Cut back to Howie in the cage, then back to the islanders. The same sequence of Summerisle walking and signalling is then shown again.
Continuity mistake: As the blue sedan turns onto the street where the children are playing, the street is entirely in shade. But after the children begin reacting, the car approaches in full sunlight. (00:56:20)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where the inmate is being beheaded in the courtyard, as they change shots for the special effect you can now see that the sun has moved and is glaring into the camera lens and the executioner is now visible standing next to the guillotine.
Continuity mistake: When Serpico finds three black men raping a girl in the park, one of them cuts the girls face slightly and the cut is very visible. The camera then cuts away then back and the cut and blood is gone. (00:10:25)
Continuity mistake: There is a scene which is supposed to take place either on or about the day Kennedy was assassinated, where a boy is delivering newspapers. The newspapers have the infamous "Wanted for Treason" handbill wrapped around them. The handbill was distributed on the streets of Dallas and not as part of any newspaper.
Continuity mistake: Towards the end of the film when "Molly" is chasing Varrick's aircraft, the front fenders of his car have miraculously repaired themselves having been stoved in earlier when he crashed into various other cars in the scrapyard as he first went for the kill.
Continuity mistake: During one of the pool scenes, balls disappear and change position between cuts.
Continuity mistake: Victor Pivert is in full road rage mode as he is waiting at a road stop after skipping most of the line speeding through the emergency lane. As he bickers with his French compatriot, he hammers his horn initially with the right hand, then after a pause he starts hitting it with his left hand in a side view, which turns instantly into his right hand at the cut. (00:08:30)
Continuity mistake: Some scenes show the actresses in their yellow prison dresses getting dirty, yet a minute or so after this, they're clean again.
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.
Continuity mistake: As Shaft is stick fighting in the stable, the Emir's attendant makes a comment about his penis (no, seriously, he does!). The man is leaning against the door with his hand positioned 3 different ways in 3 different shots. (00:13:00)
Continuity mistake: When Rizzo and the sailor wrestle atop the building, in the views from outside the building Rizzo has the lead pipe pressed against his ursine neck, while in the shots from the terrace it's further away. (00:05:40)