Best movie mistakes of 1987

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Blind Date picture

Other mistake: Nadia appealing for a lawyer to act on behalf of Mrs Yakamoto in her divorce is pointless. An American lawyer would be of no value to her: her divorce (should she decide to go through with it) would be heard in front of a Japanese court, and they are extremely stingy with women who divorce their husbands. Nadia may not know that, but Mr and Mrs Yakamoto are Japanese nationals - she is wearing traditional dress! The American lawyers would know perfectly well that the divorce would be handled by a Japanese court - the US would have no jurisdiction at all.

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Roxanne picture

Factual error: It is not possible to be "allergic to all known anaesthetics". Amongst the amide local anesthetics lidocaine, prilocaine, bupivicaine, mepivacaine and dibucaine are naturally occurring substances and if administered without a preservative they cannot trigger an allergic reaction. If Bales is allergic to them, he'd be allergic to the metabolic processes of his own body. They are all powerful local anaesthetics and could easily be used for a radical rhinoplasty such as that required by Bales.

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Broadcast News picture

Other mistake: How could Jane not be aware that Tom had only used one camera for the date rape interview, recording his fake tears later? That's the way things are done on television news shows and as an experienced, hard-bitten television producer she could not possibly be unaware of that. The reporter always records his or her reaction shots (called 'noddies') after the interviewee has left. Shooting with two cameras would involve two crews, two lighting rigs, a vision switcher and so on and so on and a straightforward interview simply would not justify such a complex and expensive set up.

PEDAUNT

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The Living Daylights picture

Plot hole: Necros had absolutely no way of knowing that Bond and Saunders had arranged to meet at the café when they did and wouldn't have had anywhere near enough time to track them down and set up his elaborate booby trap. Saunders only suggested the meeting place and time a few hours earlier, and it was kept strictly between him and Bond. The scene in Tangier, where Whittaker tells Necros to kill another British agent, takes place on the same day Bond arrived in Vienna; meaning that Necros got from Tangier to Vienna (a 5-hour plus flight), tracked down Saunders, acquired the materials to booby trap the café doors (or had planned this ahead of time - unlikely), and set the trap up well in advance of him and Bond getting to the fairground. There was nowhere near enough time for all of that to happen without Necros having psychic knowledge of Saunders' movements.

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Planes, Trains & Automobiles picture

Continuity mistake: When Del comes out of the passenger side of the dairy truck, he is with a black eye, for no reason. The next scene, it is not there. It is there again when he admits to being homeless. (Steve Martin punched Del in a deleted scene.)

Ryanpowell

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The Chipmunk Adventure picture

Continuity mistake: There is a scene where the Chipmunks and Chipettes are singing the song "Girls of Rock and Roll." In that scene, it shows the boys walking up the stairs together and from left to right the order is: Simon, Alvin & Theodore. The shot goes to the girls then back to the guys. The order of the guys has switched: (left to right) Theodore, Alvin & Simon.

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Robocop picture

Continuity mistake: Dick Jones brags (admits?) to Robocop, "I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake. Now, it's time to erase that mistake" while Robocop is crouched on the ground, not only looking away from him from across the room, but also Robocop's eyes are in a vertical position. In the playback, Jones is facing the camera as though it were videotaped or filmed in a studio. (01:10:50 - 01:35:10)

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Jaws 4 picture

Factual error: At the end when the shark is attacking the boat and the electronic device is used you can hear the shark roar. Sharks cannot produce this sound since they have no vocal cords.

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The Fourth Protocol picture

Plot hole: Explosions are very predicable and leave very clear traces after detonation, and the precise epicentre of a small nuclear explosion could be established within a few meters. Experts from the United States military could show that the nuclear explosion originated outside the airbase, and the evidence they could show (aerial photographs, etc) would be irrefutable. They could even invite their counterparts in the Russian military to see for themselves. The only way Petrofsky's plan could have worked would be if he could somehow get the bomb inside the perimeter of the airbase - not a terribly likely proposition.

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

Suggested correction: The plan was to claim that a USAF fighter bomber carrying an unstable nuclear warhead had crashed while on approach to the airbase, causing the explosion.

What plan? This plot twist is not mentioned anywhere in the film or the book. The posting is absolutely correct.

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The Untouchables picture

Continuity mistake: When Eliot Ness is at Jim Malone's house for the first time, Malone's collar is opened, then buttoned, then open again.

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No Way Out picture

Factual error: The Pentagon is the largest office building in the world. It has seven floors, 28 kilometers of corridors and 620,000 square metres of office floor space. The idea that the entire building could be searched in one afternoon by six people is beyond absurd. If those six people could search an average of one office every five minutes and they worked twenty four hours a day, seven days a week they'd get through the whole building in 89 days and 15 hours. I don't think the punter they are looking for has a lot to worry about.

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Lethal Weapon picture Lethal Weapon mistake picture

Revealing mistake: Riggs handcuffs himself to the depressed businessman. They jump off the building but they're not handcuffed to each other anymore. They used plastic cuffs which could separate during the stunt in case anything went wrong. They break just as they jump, so they grab each other's hands to stay in contact. After they land the cuffs are attached again. (00:31:00)

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Wall Street picture

Factual error: The opening shot (of the New York Stock Exchange's trading floor) has the subtitle "1985," which might lead one to expect that at least the action in the first few scenes takes place in the year 1985. However, when Charlie Sheen is talking to his Nimrod broker buddy the Nimrod jokes that the day the Challenger exploded, Gekko was on the phone "selling NASA stock short." The Challenger exploded in January, 1986, not 1985. [An explanation for this: Wall Street, as conceived and filmed, was supposed to be set in 1987. However, near the end of 1986, The Ivan Boesky insider-trading scandal hit, many rules were changed, and acknowledging those events would have undone much of the plotting of the movie. So the movie was shifted back in time to 1985 (before the scandals, and also before the Challenger disaster), thus creating this major goof].

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The Princess Bride picture The Princess Bride mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: After Wesley sets the ROUS on fire, as the ROUS is writhing on the ground, you can see a crew member (fire safety?) walk into view beneath one of the roots of the trees on the right-hand side. (00:47:35)

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Flowers in the Attic picture

Continuity mistake: When Corrine takes off her blouse, she shows her children seventeen scars on her back that she got from being whipped by the grandmother. Later in the movie, when Corrine is dancing at a party, she is wearing a strapless dress and there are no scars or any signs that she was struck with a whip.

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Beverly Hills Cop II picture Beverly Hills Cop II mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When the trio are driving to the City Deposit/Federal Reserve Bank, in the shot just before hitting the white/red booth, the extended crane arm with the second camera and seated cameraman are visible behind the booth (for filming from opposite angle). (01:03:25)

Super Grover

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Escape From Sobibor picture

Continuity mistake: When the Nazi SS guard puts a pistol to Rutger Hauer's head, it's a Luger, but when the guard turns around, he's holding a Walther P38.

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The Lost Boys picture

Other mistake: Max says that Michael is the "Man of the house" and won't come in until he's invited, which Michael sarcastically does, except Michael isn't the man of the house - its actually his grandfather who owns it.

Joey221995

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Withnail & I picture

Continuity mistake: When Monty drives Withnail & I into Penrith the radish is on his left lapel. When they arrive in Penrith a few minutes later, the radish has mysteriously moved to his right lapel.

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Hellraiser picture

Visible crew/equipment: When Ashley is running down the corridors before escaping back into her medical room, you can see the dolly that The Engineer chasing her is being pushed on. (01:04:50)

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