Best drama movie mistakes of 1977

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Capricorn One picture

Plot hole: Further to the comments about the Lunar Lander being useless as a Mars Lander - who is going to believe that three men spent eighteen months crammed into a tiny Lunar Command Module? Not only would they go out of their minds, where would they store the tonnes of water and food they would need in that tiny capsule? How could the Service Module carry enough oxygen or have enough battery power to make the trip?

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Suggested correction: You're assuming they travelled from Earth to Mars in the lander alone. The astronauts didn't do this when they went to the moon. The Lunar Lander was attached to the command module during the 3-day journey. When the astronauts reached the moon, they detached the lander from the command module and landed on the surface. It is reasonable to believe the astronauts for Capricorn One did the same thing, except on a much bigger ship for a journey that lasted over a year. We just never saw it.

Mike Lynch

The posting did not refer to the Lunar Lander, it referred to the tiny Lunar Command Module, the only part of the Saturn V that returned to Earth. From 44:00 to 48:08 of the film we see a live broadcast, supposedly from Martian orbit, showing all three astronauts crammed into a Lunar Command Module. The posting is absolutely correct.

This is another Deus ex Machina explanation for a blatant film mistake. The astronauts launched into orbit in a standard Saturn V rocket which could not possibly carry anything like a spacecraft large enough to make the trip to Mars. There is nothing in the film to suggest that there was a "much bigger ship" involved.

They are also shown seated in the tiny Apollo command module, supposedly transmitting messages from orbit around Mars. The posting is absolutely correct.

You're assuming the astronauts were launched in a standard Saturn V rocket, but with all the resources needed for a journey to Mars that took 18 months round trip, NASA would have to send them on a larger rocket to accommodate the required oxygen, water, food, spare parts, supplies, etc. needed to bring them back safely.

Mike Lynch

Did you watch the film? From 1:54 to 2:25 we see an establishing shot of a perfectly ordinary Saturn V rocket on the launch pad. From 6:05 to 6:43 we see all three astronauts strapped into the tiny, Lunar Command Module. As has already been pointed out from 44:00 to 48:08 we see a live broadcast, supposedly from Martian orbit, showing all three astronauts crammed into a Lunar Command Module. There is absolutely no mention of a larger spacecraft and none is ever shown.

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind picture

Other mistake: One visual that has always bothered me that I could not find in your list were the scenes when the mother ship first appears. It's enormous scale appears to dwarf Devil's Tower and the whole surrounding area actually, but when it moves over to the "landing strip" area and begins to rotate 180° (right-side up?), it suddenly seems to shrink to a much smaller size and mass during the slow revolution. On its originally-seen scale above/behind the tower, one would think that either the great ship's outer prongs would have been torn off, or more likely the impromptu landing site and most of Devil's Tower would have been destroyed as the huge craft rotated itself. The visual scales just do not stay consistent throughout the film's climactic final act.

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A Bridge Too Far picture

Factual error: Most of the parachutes are PX type. These came out in the 1960s. They only used X type during the war - only a few of those are seen in the film. (00:07:00)

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Slap Shot picture

Continuity mistake: A shot of the chiefs' bench shows Newman on the left and Ontkean on the right. Ontkean says "I can't believe my frigging eyes." Neither can I. The next 2 rapid camera cuts show Ontkean on Newman's left, then on Newman's right again.

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Airport '77 picture

Factual error: After the plane is submerged, Jack Lemmon says, "... this plane is pressurized!" Jet aircraft are pressurized by bleeding air from the compressor sections of the engines into the cabin; in other words, the plane is only pressurized while the engines are running. Also, aircraft are only pressurized to a few psi above the outside air pressure at altitude, and never to more than the air pressure at sea level. The water pressure would be a great deal higher than the air pressure in the cabin, and since aircraft are not water tight, the water would quickly fill the aircraft. (If the aircraft was in 50 feet of water, the water pressure would be 21.7 psi, versus a maximum cabin pressure of 14.7 psi.)

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Saturday Night Fever picture

Visible crew/equipment: In the end scene when Tony comes to Stephanie's house to apologise, you can see the microphone coming down from the ceiling. (01:52:20)

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The Rescuers picture The Rescuers mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Bernard and Bianca arrive at the airport, and wait for Orville, Bianca removes her coat. Yet when we see her through the window, her coat has reappeared and it then vanishes again. (00:25:15)

Hamster

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Orca picture

Continuity mistake: When the crew hauls the female orca aboard the boat, the harpoon line is wrapped around her entire body several times. When they cut the rope and drop her into the water, the line is wrapped only around her tail. When the male orca is pushing her at sea, the rope is again wrapped around her entire body.

wizard_of_gore

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The Gauntlet picture

Factual error: After mounting armor in the bus they are approaching Phoenix on a two lane highway from the northwest. When entering the city they are shown coming around South Mountain on Interstate 10 from Tucson from the south.

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Jesus of Nazareth picture

Continuity mistake: Jesus is shown from behind on the cross with large gashes on the backs of his legs. He was flogged across the shoulders and back only at the pillar.

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MacArthur picture

Factual error: Just after the start of the Korean War, McArthur places a map of Korea on the hood of a jeep to explain to a subordinate general his plans to invade Inchon. The map shows the boundary of North and South Korea not along the 38th parallel, which was the border at the time (1950), but along today's DMZ - not established until the Korean armistice was signed in 1953.

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Rollercoaster picture

Plot hole: When the bomber is surrounded at the end he gets shot in the leg but manages to get away from all of the police that were surrounding him. They were literally an arm's length from him.

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Viva Knievel! picture

Continuity mistake: When Evel Knievel goes to the insane asylum to break his buddy Will out of the institution, he crashes through the front door with the Stratocycle, breaking off the airplane-style wings on each side of the bike in the doorway. In the next shot, as he rides down the hall, the wings are still intact.

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Julia picture

Revealing mistake: In one scene, focused only on an actress's hand holding a lit cigarette, it dawns on you that the smoke is curling back downwards and the cigarette is miraculously getting longer. This is a flipped shot, it is seen backwards.

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Cross of Iron picture

Plot hole: "The regiment headquarters calling for Corporal Steiner. Come in Steiner." The film starts with this repeating radio message. It's even heard by Steiner and his men who are on their hush-hush job behind the enemy lines: a reconnaissance mission. Calling Steiner just makes no sense, especially with the name.

S.Holmes

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Exorcist II: The Heretic picture

Visible crew/equipment: When the camera is pulling back really fast being chased by the people in Africa, its shadows can be seen multiple times on the characters and the walls.

manthabeat

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The American Friend picture

Visible crew/equipment: After Bruno Ganz shoots the man in the train station he walks out onto an open-air concourse. In the overhead shot facing him, we can see the strip of duct-tape on the ground marking the spot where he is supposed to stand.

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Black Sunday picture

Factual error: After loading the bomb, Dern and Keller hijack the blimp. As Shaw watches the blimp heading for the stadium, he spots a helicopter across the field, moving bundles of pipe. Shaw and Weaver commandeer the chopper to chase down the blimp. A major part of the security plan for the Superbowl, was that the only aircraft "trusted" to be allowed to fly within a 100 miles of the stadium are the Goodyear blimp and the Police helicopter. The other helicopter would not have been allowed to fly that day.

supercent

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Sweeney picture

Continuity mistake: When Regan and Bianca first jump on the bus to escape the hitmen you can see through the windows that there are only six people on the lower deck, but when the scene changes to inside the bus all the seats are full. (01:00:24)

eric 64

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