Trading Places
Trading Places mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: After Mortimer's comment that Billy Ray has probably been stealing since he could crawl, when it cuts to the two officers opening the squad doors to place Billy Ray at the back of the vehicle, the barndoor set lighting is visible over the squad car at the top right corner of the screen. (00:18:25)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: In the scene when Jamie Lee Curtis brings Dan Aykroyd home, you can visibly see she is wearing pantyhose. However, just a few second later, inside the apartment, she takes off her dress and is only wearing panties. (00:58:40)

Trading Places mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Louie is released from jail his hair is sticking up all wild, then it's flat, then it's all wild again. (00:47:25)

Factual error: When Beeks is locked in the cage with the gorilla, it reacts in an overtly aggressive and sexual manner. First, gorillas are shy and gentle creatures. The male gorilla would be scared of him, not the other way around. Second, gorillas identify each other by their smell, and the smell of a female in heat is very specific. Beeks would smell like a horsehair rug and the male gorilla wouldn't be the slightest bit interested.

Continuity mistake: At the start when Billy Ray (Murphy) is backing away from the cops after he was pretending to be a cripple, he passes the Heritage club. In front of the steps of the Club, he turns to face the other way. The camera changes angle as Billy Ray completes his 180 turn, but he is now no longer at the steps of the Heritage club, but about 10 feet beyond it, nearer to where the other cops in the patrol car come out of the alley way. (00:15:50)

Continuity mistake: When Valentine is in the limousine with Mortimer and Randolph, he has a bunch of cigars in his left hand. The position of those cigars change from shot-to-shot. One is hanging down very low when looked at from Randolph's side of the car, then immediately it is even with the others when seen from Mortimer's side. (00:28:00)

luchador

Factual error: The Amtrak Metroliner has open passenger coaches, not the European-style compartments as seen in the movie. (01:30:45)

Trading Places mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Valentine (Murphy) and Winthorpe (Aykroyd) are at Winthorpe's house at the end of the movie. Winthorpe is on the floor cleaning his gun. In the next shot Ophelia (Jamie Lee Curtis) points out Beeks on TV and Valentine and Winthorpe jump up from the couch when Winthorpe should have been and was on the floor. (01:25:30)

Ben's Mom

Continuity mistake: While Winthorpe is dressed up in the Santa outfit, his wig constantly changes from white to a silverish colour, and then back again. (01:14:15)

Scrappy

Continuity mistake: When Valentine goes into his new house and is being shown around, he puts about four things in his pockets. But when Mortimer Duke pulls these items out, he pulls only two, and they're not the same things that were actually put in. (00:30:35)

Ben's Mom

Other mistake: At the start of the movie it shows the house at front view and the sky is very very grey, it looks like it's about to rain, then after a short scene inside the house it goes back outside and the sky is clearly blue with not a cloud in sight. (00:12:00)

Continuity mistake: When the cops are dealing with Eddie, the positions change. In one frame they are standing closer together, in another frame their arms change. (00:14:15)

Bonita Kilpatrick

Trading Places mistake picture

Other mistake: After Winthorpe exits the bus and is wearing his Santa outfit, a dog urinates on his leg. Not only is there no "stream" of urine from the dog, but there also is no evidence of urine on the ground after the dog finishes his business and trots along. (01:21:25)

Daniel Garner

Continuity mistake: When Dan Aykroyd tries to strangle Eddie Murphy and the shot changes to a close-up of Dan, you can see that he is not holding on to Eddie's throat but just holds them in the air. (01:24:05)

Trading Places mistake picture

Continuity mistake: A woman is seen dancing next to a portrait on the wall, and is immediately afterwards sitting on a couch next to Billy Ray. (00:41:40)

Continuity mistake: While Billy Ray is outside the heritage club "Stealing" the briefcase, his trainers change colour from black to white. (00:16:10)

Scrappy

Continuity mistake: During the final trading scene, both Dan and Eddie (along with most of the other traders) have green badges. As the medics are wheeling out one of the Dukes after his heart attack, Dan and Eddie's name badges change to grey. And in no way is that due to lighting or camera angle.

kbt

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

Suggested correction: It's not a continuity mistake since everyone else's badges have also taken on a grey appearance. At best it is a film processing error since it probably is a result of color correction in post-production.

jimba

Wouldn't this still qualify as a mistake since it's still an error? Cartoon mistakes, and movies/shows that use CGI, are constantly submitted when the color changes for a few frames. I know there use to be a feature to "change mistake type" if you think it's a revealing mistake, etc.

Bishop73

Yep, still a mistake - the type is a bit debatable, but I'd stick with continuity, because regardless of the reason behind it, fundamentally it's still a change between shots.

Jon Sandys

Continuity mistake: When Coleman is showing Valentine the Jacuzzi, in one of the close up shots the bubble jets are activated, in the next long shot there are not any active bubble jets working. (00:29:55)

Floyd1977

Continuity mistake: In the scene at which Dan Aykroyd first joins his employers at the gentleman's club, Don Ameche is shown mirror image. This same scene is repeated at the very end during Ameche's credit. (00:12:00)

Continuity mistake: Louis Winthorp tries to kill Billy Ray Valentine, who says, "IT WAS THE DUKES! IT WAS THE DUKES!" When Louis is strangling Valentine, his arms are moving back and forth, but during Winthorp's close-up shot, his shoulders and forearms are shaking.

Bunny Boi

Policeman: Strip, you little shit, before I tear you a new asshole!

More quotes from Trading Places

Trivia: The owner of the pawn shop, who offers Louis $50 for his $6000 watch, is blues legend Bo Diddley.

More trivia for Trading Places

Question: How much did Louis and Valentine make after they scored at the commodity exchange?

Answer: Without knowing precisely how many stocks Winthorp and Valentine sold at the beginning, there is no way to get an exact figure. But we can make some educated guesses. Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice is sold in contracts, with each contract containing 15,000 pounds. By the end of the day, Winthorp and Valentine were making at least an 84 cent profit on each pound, and $12,600 on each contract. If they sold 20,000 contracts, their profit would be $252 million. Considering the Duke's lost $394 million, that estimate seems to fit (and is likely even a little low).

More questions & answers from Trading Places

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