Jewel of the Nile

Continuity mistake: When Jack, Joan and the Jewel are trying to jump on the moving train, Joan is wearing slip-on shoes, however once she has jumped onto the train and falls over the side her shoes have changed to buckle sandals.

Factual error: The tiny missiles on the F16 are shown as being attached to some sort of flexible metal framework which bends and shifts as the plane moves along the ground. The F16 is a supersonic fighter - any such thing would be ripped clean off the wing at speed. The missiles carried by the F16 are attached to streamlined 'hard points' under the wing, or the wingtips themselves.

Other mistake: When Joan meets The Jewel for the first time in the room where Omar is holding him prisoner, Omar enters and greets Joan. As he leaves, the shot shows Joan with her back turned to Omar and Omar is heard off-camera saying Joan looks pale. How does Omar know how Joan looks if he doesn't see her, and there is no mirror on the side of the room where they are chatting? (00:36:35)

Other mistake: When Jack shoots the plane, lots of pieces of wood fly out. Where did the wood come from? The plane is all metal.

Factual error: There is absolutely no way to fit three people in the cockpit of a single seat F16 fighter. There is no large empty space behind the pilot's seat - there is a bulkhead, and behind that a rather obtrusive jet engine. Even the two seater training version of the F16 cannot accommodate three people - there is no space behind either seat large enough for a third person, which this mockup has.

Continuity mistake: Towards the beginning of the movie (with in the first few minutes) when Joan and Jack are on the boat discussing their day, the amount of sunscreen on Joan's nose changes from a lot to not much and back to a lot again.

Revealing mistake: When Jack and Joan escape in the F16, if you look at the back wheels, you can see the car driveshafts that drive the wheels. Jet aircraft don't have driveshafts.

Plot hole: Jack says, "Our anchor was stolen and we were drifting for days." It's a sailboat, not only does it have sails but it has a motor too. They could easily maneuver the boat.

Factual error: When Mike Douglas and Danny D. are trying to get into Omar's castle, they argue with Rashid. Rashid orders the guards to ready their weapons. As the guard to Rashid's left cocks his M-16, you can see that the bolt is already open, so the rifle didn't need to be cocked. Also, you can see into the receiver and there are no cartridges in there - and you should be able to see the one at the top of the magazine.

Continuity mistake: Jack stops water skiing and places a white towel around his neck. A frame later the towel is flipped and now looks red and blue with anchors on, the previous white part being on the back side.

Sacha

Audio problem: When inside the plane, the Jewel taps Joan on the shoulder, and points to the sandstorm in front of them. You hear him say "sandstorm", but his lips don't move.

Audio problem: During the rally as things start going south, a woman's scream can be heard. Nevermind that the only woman there is Joan, but the same scream is heard repeated over and over.

manthabeat

Continuity mistake: Just before Jack throws the console out of the control room, he looks down at the scaffolding. There are two people climbing the scaffold. When he throws the console, there is only one.

manthabeat

Revealing mistake: In the scene where Jack wrestles the native for Joan's hand in marriage, the native is wearing a wedding ring.

Revealing mistake: Joan gets splashed by Jack's water skis and goes inside the boat to watch a picture of the two of them on a tropical beach. The picture is blatantly fake: Jack's legs become invisible at one point, his skin looks wiggly were it's been pasted and no shadows match at all.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When the bicycle man explains what the graffiti means, he puts a pot inside his basket next to another pot, but when the angle changes only the first pot is seen. Also, the position and number of blue woolen balls changes between shots.

Sacha

Revealing mistake: Jack is on a platform next to the burning stage. In the close-ups it's Michael Douglas, but in the wide angles it is a skinny stuntman with light hair who looks nothing like him. (01:34:10)

Sacha

Ralph: You know, I'll bet you can buy a great townhouse down here for around five or six dollars.

More quotes from Jewel of the Nile

Question: Does anyone know where the idea for the Arab flag in the movie came from? Seems to me it resembles the Louisiana flag (the bird with the babies) except with no writing. Did anyone else notice this?

More questions & answers from Jewel of the Nile

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