E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Continuity mistake: While ET takes a bath, Elliot - face and hair covered in Coca-Cola - hangs up on his mom and goes back to the tub. When the angle changes his face and hair are dry.

Sacha

Visible crew/equipment: When the two government agents are about to cut off Elliott and his friends at the bottom of the hill, a film crew's vehicle is reflected on their car's passenger side. (01:40:35)

ryguy_1983

Revealing mistake: Right before the government agent car skids out at the bottom of the hill, tire tracks from a previous take can be seen on the pavement. (01:40:45)

ryguy_1983

Continuity mistake: When E.T. is in the kitchen reading comics, he glances over at the TV then takes a look at the coffee table which has, among other items scattered on top, six pack rings. A few shots later E.T. is at the coffee table working to create a communication device, but now there's one can of beer attached to the rings. (00:48:05)

ryguy_1983

Continuity mistake: When ET is walking with Elliot and his brother trick-or-treating, we see several shots from ET's point of view of people walking toward him. In all of the following shots however, none of the people that were walking toward him can now be seen behind him as they should be. It's not a montage either, these scenes are to be taken that they are occurring in real time.

GalahadFairlight

Continuity mistake: Home alone, Elliot talks to ET and says "Human. Boy. Elliot" and right then he swaps from standing one meter away from the bed to leaning against it.

Sacha

Revealing mistake: Elliot takes his dishes to the sink, opens the faucet and steam rises all over the kitchen. When the camera pulls back, one can notice that the huge cloud of steam is coming from somewhere along the window, not from the narrow stream of water from the faucet.

Sacha

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the kids and the mother go outside to see what scared Elliot, ET's footprints on the sand are smudged. When the shot changes they're neatly marked.

Sacha

Revealing mistake: During the scene in the woods with the communication machine, Elliot tells E.T. that they need to go. You see the machine still working at a regular interval because a rope is pulling it. The shot pans to the left a touch and the rope stops moving, as if the person pulling it realises it's no longer in the shot.

manthabeat

Continuity mistake: The weather during the end chase changes three times. When they first leave it is full on sunny. When they arrive at the playground it is overcast. The next scene it's sunny again.

manthabeat

Other mistake: When Elliot's mother is reading to Gertie, there is a scene looking into the closet and we see her shadow as she is reading. Why don't we see Gertie's shadow? When we see them through the closet door they're sitting next to each other. We should see both.

manthabeat

Continuity mistake: As Gertie lifts a flower pot and places it in the wagon, the overhanging green leaves near her left hand disappear as the shots change. (00:37:15)

ryguy_1983

Continuity mistake: When Mike suggests that Elliott saw an iguana instead of an alien, Mary holds a coffee mug halfway between her mouth and the tabletop. Between frames the mug changes position and is now within a couple inches of her mouth. (00:17:05)

ryguy_1983

Visible crew/equipment: When drunken ET is about to grab the comic book, watch the microwave door. Right before the angle cuts, someone's moving shadow is reflected.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When drunken ET drags a blanket filled with stuff behind the TV, the type of stuff changes when the mother arrives home.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Elliot and ET are in the bathroom and the phone rings, the chord changes positions between the wide and close-up angles.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: After the van skids into the playground, Steve's hand jumps to a different position on the bike he's holding. He starts off by gripping the handlebar, but then suddenly he's holding onto the steel frame between both handlebars instead. (01:39:00)

ryguy_1983

Continuity mistake: After the frog incident, Elliott opens Gertie's closet doors to reveal E.T. dressed in drag. He initially grabs both knobs and starts pulling, but in the following shot no hands are seen gripping the knobs and the doors open up automatically. (00:53:40)

ryguy_1983

Elliot: Okay, he's a man from outer space, and we're taking him to his spaceship.
Greg: Well, can't he just beam up?
Elliot: This is reality, Greg.

Super Grover

More quotes from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
More trivia for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Question: When Elliott, Mike and Mike's friends are escaping from the agents on their bikes, are the actors' stunt doubles adults or teenagers? Asking because I've heard of teenagers being stunt performers in movies.

Answer: The BMX stunt riders were aged between 15 and 20, so older than the kids in the film who were about 10.

Sierra1

More questions & answers from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

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