Field of Dreams

Continuity mistake: When Annie and Ray are laying in the newly completed ball field, and Annie is drinking a glass of wine, it is sunset. The sun has gone down and the sky is just the faintest of pink on the horizon, the rest of the sky is a strong blue tone. Yet, when the camera cuts to a long shot, same angle of Ray and Annie, the horizon is now a brilliant red-orange taking up nearly a third of the sky. (00:16:20)

OneHappyHusky

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Ray has a catch with his father, Ray's brother-in-law's Jeep can be seen parked near the light pole along the third base line. In the next shot, the Jeep isn't there. When the shot again changes and the camera pans back, the Jeep is back by the pole.

Continuity mistake: When Ray and Annie are at the PTA meeting, it is night when they go inside, but when they come out after Annie gets into the argument with the other woman, it is day (there is sunlight coming through the windows).

Continuity mistake: While Ray and Terence Mann are at the Red Sox game, they receive a message on the scoreboard - but the time and score don't reflect what Ray has written on the scorecard on his lap. Before Ray hears the voice it is 8:41, but right after it is 10:30.

Continuity mistake: When Ray and Joe Jackson first take batting practice in the field there are five bats against the backstop. To their left is the bag with the remaining bats, the bag at first has the appearance that there is the strong outline of a bat or a bat behind the bag, yet when Joe goes to retrieve another bat the bag is loose and in an entirely different shape. (00:22:00)

OneHappyHusky

Continuity mistake: The grocery bag in back of the truck shows a red and white milk carton sticking out of bag. In a following shot the grocery bag no longer has the milk carton sticking out of the top. Then upon entering the house, the same grocery bag now has a blue and white milk carton sticking out, plus other items not seen before. (00:41:15 - 00:42:35)

Continuity mistake: In the scene Costner is chopping up his corn crop with a flail hopper, the PTO that drives the machine is not rotating.

Continuity mistake: At the end of the film, when Ray is saying "Good-night" to John, the sun has set and the sky is cloudless and pink just along the horizon. In the next shot, when Ray asks, "Dad" for "a catch" the sky is much brighter and there are many clouds reflecting the now setting sun. (01:37:40)

OneHappyHusky

Continuity mistake: When Ray first comes down for breakfast and "Harvey" is on TV, the Wonder Bread is next to the TV. But in the next shot the bread is farther to the right with the milk now between the TV and the bread, although Annie was not in the vicinity to have moved them. (00:07:40)

OneHappyHusky

Continuity mistake: The sun changes constantly during the "people will come" sequence. Particularly, long shots of Shoeless Joe and Ray. The sun is overhead and deeper in the west in the space of seconds.

manthabeat

Continuity mistake: During Terrance Mann's "people will come" speech, the sun moves around quite a bit. The scenes of the baseball players have long shadows. The scene with Ray has the sun overhead. When Karen falls it is late afternoon again. When Doc leaves it is early evening. From Shoeless Joe's angle it is late morning.

manthabeat

Continuity mistake: Near the beginning, as Ray has a vision of the baseball field, look at the difference of the angle of the sun. During the beginning of this sequence it's near noon. When Ray sees the field materialize the sun is obviously further west in the sky. Then, at the end of the sequence it is noon again.

manthabeat

Continuity mistake: The sun changes considerably when Doc is leaving to walk into the corn and the previous and following shots. When it cuts to Shoeless Joe, the sun is at his back. Back to Doc leaving, the sun is setting.

manthabeat

Continuity mistake: During the first practice, the sun changes from late afternoon initially to midday and back to late afternoon throughout the sequence.

manthabeat

Visible crew/equipment: On some shots which look back at Ray when he's driving his pickup, it can be clearly seen at the bottom of the picture that the front wheels of the pickup are sitting on a trailer, which is itself being towed by the camera vehicle.

More mistakes in Field of Dreams

Terence Mann: Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... People will come Ray. People will most definitely come.

More quotes from Field of Dreams

Trivia: During the filming of the cornfield scenes where Ray first hears the voice, the filmmakers had problems with the corn growing. When they initially wanted to film the scenes the corn was too short, so they waited a couple of weeks. When they were ready to shoot, the corn was too tall. Kevin Costner had to walk on wooden planks, so he could be seen in the cornfield (Director Phil Alden Robinson discussed this in the 10th anniversary edition of the film).

More trivia for Field of Dreams

Question: How come none of the ball players can go past the first base foul line?

Answer: If they go past that line they will no longer be able to play again. The field is their only place to exist in the afterlife (their heaven if you will). That line is the end of the field and they will not be able to return if they cross it.

Scrappy

So do the players not go after foul ball fly balls/pop ups along the first base side?

Answer: Earlier in the movie, when Annie asked Shoeless Joe if he liked to go inside the house, Joe is about to before he realises that he's about to walk past the first base line so he declines. Later, when Karen falls off the bleacher, Archie runs up to the first base line and stops for a second. As soon as Archie crosses the first base line, he turns back into "Moonlight" Graham and can never play baseball again.

Answer: It's not the foul line they can't cross. It's the outer threshold of the entire field.

Answer: Actually, when Terrence Mann first gets there, Shoeless Joe walks over to him by the bleachers, across the line. So apparently there are exceptions. That's where he gives the line about Ty Cobb.

More questions & answers from Field of Dreams

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