Continuity mistake: Throughout the movie, keep an eye on Jack Nicholson's tan. He goes from a toasty brown to washed out to toasty brown several times, in the same lighting sometimes he appears pale and sometimes he's tan.
Continuity mistake: Before Jake gets out of the barber's chair to yell at the banker the news paper in his hands is folded in half. In the next shot it's laying flat in his lap. (00:17:10)
Deliberate mistake: Hollis Mulwray walks out to the ocean and it's obviously sunset. In the next shot we see Jake's face up close and it's obviously mid-afternoon. (00:11:05)
Continuity mistake: At 1972 Canyon Drive, Jake walks up to the front door, which is in the shade. In the next shot, as he walks in, the door is lit up. (01:47:20)
Continuity mistake: In her bathroom Evelyn dabs Jake's nose with a piece of cotton and gets some blood on it. In the next shot it's another piece of cotton without any blood on it. Then in the shot after that the blood is back. (01:22:35)
Continuity mistake: Back from the Mar Vista rest home, Evelyn and Jake have a drink at her house and the tape on Jake's nose is flush with his nostril. In the next shot it's peeling off. (01:20:50)
Continuity mistake: At the Mar Vista rest home, Evelyn Mulwray and Jake take a look into the room where the old women are sewing. In the next shot as they walk in, the woman on the left disappears. She's sitting next to the woman that points after Jake says, "Are any of you Emma Dill?". (01:17:25)
Continuity mistake: At the Mar Vista rest home, as he smashes Claude Mulvihill's head into the front railing, Claude drops his gun to the floor and we see Jake's hat on the ground next to it. Mr. Palmer walks over and tries to pick the gun up as Jack kicks it away and we now see the hat is overturned even though Jack and Claude moved away from that spot during their fight. (01:19:30)
Continuity mistake: After their visit to the Mar Vista rest home, Evelyn and Jake have a drink at her house and both glasses have more liquid in them between shots. (01:20:50)
Audio problem: Evelyn Mulwray and Jake take a look around the Mar Vista rest home and the woman playing the piano is an obvious over-dub as her hands do not move in sync with what we hear. (01:16:55)
Continuity mistake: As Jake gets chased by the farmers in the orange grove the marks on his windshield change between shots. (01:09:40)
Continuity mistake: As Evelyn Mulwray drives Jake home after his altercation with the farmer, look closely at the piece of paper he pulls out of his pocket with the landowners names on at. It doesn't have any of the paper tabs hanging off of it that we saw before as Jake stole it from the Hall of Records. (01:13:45)
Revealing mistake: As Evelyn Mulwray drives Jake home after his altercation with the farmer look closely at the side window next to Jake. The car appears to be driving down the road but the reflection in the vent window is stationary. (01:13:40)
Continuity mistake: Mulwray's Secretary and Jake have a conversation as he waits to talk to Russ Yelburton. They do an excellent job keeping things tidy on her desk between shots but the white flowers and Jake's hat move without anyone going near them. (00:53:15)
Continuity mistake: At Hollis Mulwray's office, Jake looks at the picture of Noah Cross on the wall. At first the shadow of his head falls on the picture but in the next close-up shot it's gone. (00:51:05)
Continuity mistake: Jake and Noah Cross sit down to eat and the piece of lemon on Jake's plate moves between shots in the close-up. (01:01:15)
Revealing mistake: When Jake talks with a boy on a horse at the bottom of the LA River, in the distance you can see a television antenna on top of a house. There were no television antennas in Los Angeles in 1937. (00:39:45)
Revealing mistake: When Roman Polanski cuts Jake's nose at the Oak Pass Reservoir, looking closely, his nose is fine and the blood is just on his cheek. (00:42:35)
Continuity mistake: Jake says to Evelyn Mulwray, "Whoever set your husband up, set me up" and the shadow on the house behind her moves several feet to the left as the scene progresses. (00:28:45)
Continuity mistake: Jake has tea at Evelyn Mulwray's house and she agrees to drop the charges against him. Evelyn is wearing a scarf that she unties but does not take totally off her neck. In the next shot it's off her neck. (00:28:55)
