Continuity mistake: When the family moves into the new house, the father rips the former owners' name sign off the front of the house. A few shots later, it's back.
Continuity mistake: As the boys are running through the sewer tunnel, both of them fall several times, and they are covered with dirt and sewage. When they come out and face the bullies, their clothes are clean.
Continuity mistake: At the end when Mike receives the first postcard from Bobby, the flag on the mailbox is up, meaning there is mail to be picked up by the postman. Then when he takes the mail out and runs towards the house, the flag is down without him touching it.
Continuity mistake: In the first scene with Bobby's first postcard, he writes his name as "doddy" as a young child might, reversing the Bs. Later, when you see the postcard hanging by a string, it is written "bobby" instead. (01:44:55)
Answer: The script's ending was ultimately changed by director Richard Donner from what writer David Evans had originally written. In the original ending, it was made clear that the Radio Flyer had actually worked and it was seen hanging (actually floating) next to the Wright Brother's plane in the Smithsonian. Donner instead wanted the ending to be a "Rorschach Test", meaning the viewer sees the ending as he or she wants. So if you perceive it as working and Bobby being free or you see it as Bobby committing suicide, etc, it's meant as a reflection on you. However, Evans has said that he never intended the ending to be, or allude to, suicide, but because of the script changes, he understands how people could make that conclusion.
Bishop73