Plot hole: Sergeant Howie is expected to report back to the mainland on the same day he left, and since he took a valuable aircraft with him on his trip it is inconceivable that his superior officers would not come looking for him if he didn't show up. First they would try contacting him on his radio and not receiving a reply they'd send out a search party, and they would do so within twenty four hours. Missing police officers are taken very, very seriously indeed.
The Wicker Man (1973)
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Directed by: Robin Hardy
Starring: Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Edward Woodward
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More mistakes in The Wicker Man
Lord Summerisle: Do sit down, Sergeant. Shocks are so much better absorbed with the knees bent.
Trivia: Lindsay Kemp plays Alder MacGreagor, the father of Willow (Britt Ekland). In real life, Kemp was only four years older than Ekland.
Question: At the finale of The Wicker Man Howie/Edward Woodward is placed in a wooden cage high above the ground. The cage is set alight. When the cage began to burn and disintegrate, wouldn't he have fallen out of it onto the ground? As the cage burns, the wood must become brittle, so why can't he just force his way out? (Yes, he is surrounded by the islanders, but if anybody was being burnt alive, and they could get out of the flames, wouldn't the self-preservation instinct kick in?).
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Answer: He would likely die from the heat or smoke inhalation long before the wood would deteriorate enough for him to fall out. The film also makes a point to show that Howie has given up trying to fight the villagers and has accepted his fate, so even if he could have forced his way out he no longer had the will to do so.
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