A Christmas Story

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Ralphie's mom asks him what he wants for Christmas and he blurts out "a red rider BB gun" there's a spoon that moves from the table next to the plate, to on the plate in the next shot. (00:05:00 - 00:10:00)

dabears51907

Continuity mistake: Near the beginning, when Ralphie runs from his house to catch up to Flick, on the way to school, notice that Flick is carrying a school book, which has a beige cover visible to the camera. In the next shot Schwartz joins the group from the very next house on the block, and within a time span of approximately two seconds, Flick's book cover has become blue in color. (00:13:50)

Continuity mistake: In the school classroom scene, the teacher writes "Silas" in cursive on the blackboard and very emphatically dots the "i" in Silas with her chalk. The dot is visible then and even in the long shot from the back of the classroom, however, in the next, more close-up shot, as the students are filing past her desk and handing in their fake buck teeth, there is no dot above the "i". (00:15:20)

Continuity mistake: Looking out the classroom window, in the scene where the teacher has gone out to help free Flick's tongue from the flagpole, we see the fire truck has arrived and that a police car has just pulled in from the left and has stopped. The shot changes to show Ralphie saying "Oh no," and then another closer shot from outside, during which the police car is again pulling up at the very same spot. (00:19:05)

Continuity mistake: When Farkus grabs Schwartz and tries to make him say "uncle", the end of Schwartz's stocking cap is hanging loose in front of him. But in the following shot - showing Farkus throwing Schwartz to the ground - the end of the stocking cap is behind Schwartz's back. (00:23:00)

Jeff Swanson

Continuity mistake: After Melinda Dillon breaks the leg lamp, she holds the broken leg in her arms in a pile of three separate pieces. After Darren McGavin asks "What broke?", the 'leg' magically heals itself into one single, straight, yet loosely-knit piece. (00:52:20)

Continuity mistake: Just after the fight between Ralphie and Farkus starts, there is a shot of the two from the side and already there is quite a bit of blood on Farkus's face. But then in a shot from over Ralphie's shoulder, there is no blood visible on Farkus's face at all. (00:57:35)

Jeff Swanson

Continuity mistake: When the father is reading the paper on Christmas morning, the dogs run by him coming from the front door, but in the previous scene the only door open for the dogs to come in through was the backdoor. (01:25:25)

Continuity mistake: When Melinda Dillon breaks the lamp, it is broken into many pieces, but when Darren McGavin is gluing it back together it is now in much fewer and bigger broken pieces. Obviously different broken lamps were used.

Continuity mistake: When Ralphie's father is sitting in the chair reading the funnies (before the dogs ruin the turkey), there is a small gold lampshade sitting on the table next to him. In the first shot, there is a Christmas bow on it. In the following shot, the bow has disappeared.

Continuity mistake: When Raphie's mother is working on the turkey on Christmas morning, there is a jar of pickles on the table next to the turkey. In the next scene the mother is coming up from the basement carrying a jar of pickles and places them on the table in the same place.

Continuity mistake: When the "old man" first puts the lamp on the edge of the box there is no light fixture on which to place the shade. He then returns the lamp to the box and when he brings it out, there is a place to put the shade. Also as he hands it to the mother and then takes it back to put it on the table, there is no electrical cord visible. However, just before he sets it down on the table you can see a cord in his left hand.

Continuity mistake: When the father comes in for hot water for the car, the furnace goes haywire and black smoke comes out of the register. The father goes to the basement to fix the furnace and yells upstairs for somebody to open the damper. The mother goes over and begins to move the bottom lever and then changes her mind and moves the top lever all the way to the left. In the next shot the top lever is all the way to the right while the bottom lever has miraculously moved all the way to the left.

Continuity mistake: When Ralphie's dad is going through the wooden box to see his prize there is a lot of excelsior in it to keep it protectively packaged. When he's bent down digging through it, he has a lot of it on his back. In the next shot when he is standing up, he's perfectly clean.

Continuity mistake: In the kitchen scene, as Ralphie's father comes in for hot water to thaw the car, and then turns his attention to the furnace, there is a white funnel on the shelf beneath the clock. The camera follows him to the basement steps and the smoke coming from the register. In the next shot, showing the anxious family, Ralphie's mother moves forward and the funnel has moved to the sink behind Ralphie's head.

Continuity mistake: When Ralphie fights Scut Farcus, he starts out with snow on his hat and jacket, from the snowball Scut threw at him. Then in the next frame, there's no snow on him. It goes back and forth like that throughout the whole fight scene.

Continuity mistake: Early in the movie when Ralphie catches up with Flick on the way to school, Ralphie is holding a book or folder that has the top left corner folded over. In the next shot when Schwartz joins them, the fold is now on the bottom left side. Ralphie's arm covers the top corner of the book most of the time so look closely during the last few seconds of the scene.

Continuity mistake: In the playground scene when Flick first sticks his tongue to the flagpole, the street in the background has been snowplowed. The kids all go back in to the classroom without Flick. When the teacher asks "Where's Flick?", and looks out the window and sees him at the pole, the same street in the back ground has not been plowed.

Continuity mistake: During dinner Randy has been eating like a "piggie" and his face is covered with food, when the doorbell rings. As he gets up to answer the door he looks to left and his face is clean but then as they go to the door there are mashed potatoes on his face again.

Other mistake: When Ralphie and Flick are walking to school for the first time, they meet up with Schwartz, coming down the steps of his house which appears to be two houses down from Ralphie's. Later, when Ralphie is lying in bed after the soap in the mouth scene, the narrator (older Ralphie), states how "Three blocks away, Schwartz was getting his."

Rob Meears

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Trivia: Melinda Dillon was given the wrong script on purpose when they filmed the Chinese restaurant scene. She had no idea that when they brought the duck out it would have its head still attached. All of her reactions, including when she first sees the duck and when the server cuts the head off, were completely genuine.

dewinela

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Question: I apologize for my original question, that is currently listed on MM, I was mistaken as to where in the film my question refers to, so please delete that question. That said, can someone answer this, please. Right before the lamp breaks, and right after Ralphie's mom fills her watering can in the sink, it really sounds like the "old man" yells, "You platypus nut-grabber". Is that what he's saying? I realize most of his "swearing" is actually nonsensical words and rants.

Answer: You are quite right about this. At one point, he does say "platypus nut-grabber." If you listen closely, you can hear it amongst all the ranting and raving.

wizard_of_gore

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