Best crime movie plot holes of 1988

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A Fish Called Wanda picture

Plot hole: Shortly after the robbery, Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis get together in a little flat and Kline calls the police from a landline to tell them who committed the robbery. In England this would immediately lead the police to the flat from which the call was made, and the person reporting the robbery would be the first person the police would want to find and speak to. Otto has handed it to them on a plate. (00:12:29)

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Midnight Run picture

Plot hole: At the end of the film Mardukas reveals that he has been wearing a body belt packed with cash - "in the neighbourhood of three hundred thousand dollars" - ever since Jack detained him in New York. Are we to assume that Jack Walsh, an experienced, hard-bitten ex-police officer, now a bounty hunter who routinely chases down violent and armed bail absconders who would kill him without a second thought, didn't even perform a perfunctory search of Mardukas when he detained him? This man used to work for the Mafia! What if he was carrying a weapon? A body belt with three hundred one thousand dollar bills in it would be uncovered by even the most casual pat down.

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Suggested correction: He was using $1000 bills. That's 300 bills in the belt which spread evenly absolutely could have been missed near his waist as part of his clothing.

Rubbish. I specified $1,000 bills as that would be the smallest package he could have secreted about his person, and it would still be instantly detectable. If he used $100 bills the package would be ten times larger, and he would have to carry a rucksack under his shirt.

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The Naked Gun picture

Plot hole: Frank is given 24 hours to clear Nordburg. This is never referenced again, even after 24 hours have passed. (00:28:25 - 00:31:05)

logan crews

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License to Drive picture

Plot hole: Les comes home and tells his parents he passed his test. A scene later, his mom is going through the laundry and takes the test out of his jeans pocket. How did it get there when Les is still wearing the same outfit he wore to the DMV?

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Frantic picture

Plot hole: While Harrison Ford is taking a shower shortly after arriving at the hotel, the 'bad guys' kidnap his wife from the hotel room. How did they know she was the one who had picked up the wrong suitcase (which contains what they are after) at the airport? They could only have assumed that. And the suitcase they were after was in the room so why didn't they just take it?

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Suggested correction: Ford himself explains how they know she picked up the wrong suitcase. Emmanuelle Seigneur grabs Ford's wife's suitcase by mistake, and puts it in the locker to be collected by the bad guys. The bad guys then go to the locker and get the suitcase - only to discover it's the wrong one. Ford specifically mentions her name and address tag is on her bag, so they see that, and immediately know who to look for.

swordfish

But, why did they have to kidnap her? They could just take the suitcase and leave her alone. They came all the way to her room but not looking for the suitcase?

Good point, but that still doesn't explain why they simply didn't take the case from the hotel room instead of kidnapping Mrs Walker and holding her ransom for it. Suggested answer - they wouldn't have been able to make a movie out of it.

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Heathers picture

Plot hole: Three gunshots were fired for Kurt and Ram's "double suicide" and almost two minutes pass between shots 2 and 3. Doubtful two police officers could think they shot each other.

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Suggested correction: An officer could think that one boy shot the other twice, killing him with the second bullet, before that boy was successful in killing him. The remaining boy would then kill himself. "Shot each other" might be a sloppy description, but basically, Kurt and Ram are both dead. There is a letter - forged by Veronica - which "reveals" that they were a couple. No signs of anyone else being involved. The police consider it a "double suicide" because they believe the letter.

Interesting theory, but I respectfully disagree with your correction. Three gunshots to two dead bodies, each with one bullet wound, would arouse suspicion despite what a letter found at the scene says. If one of the boys killed himself, there would be some evidence to support that such as powder burns around the wound or powder residue on his hands. In fact, a forensic scientist would have performed a GSR test on the hands of the shooters to confirm they did in fact fire the weapons.

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Appointment With Death picture

Plot hole: The movie at best is being dishonest with the ending of the chase scene; to keep Dr. King as a possible suspect, the gunshot happens so shortly after she went out of frame (with no cuts) that (since she is -NOT - the killer) there is no possible way that the gun could have ended in her hand. There's also no possible way for the culprit to escape, to find Hassan in the crowd and be there at the perfect moment, etc. (01:16:35)

Sammo

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Maniac Cop picture

Plot hole: It is explained that due to the severe beating/stabbing Cordell received in prison, he has no "higher brain function." How does this make him impervious to gunshots?

mr. mirage

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Amsterdamned picture

Plot hole: Somehow, the killer, with a scuba tank on his back which weighs a ton, can quietly sneak in and out of a poultry shop in the split second the butchers have their backs turned, to steal a knife.

Rob245

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Ladykillers picture

Plot hole: It's impossible for Morganna to have killed the stripper, leave, then get back quickly as herself.

Rob245

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