Continuity mistake: When Tom Cruise first encounters Gene Hackman, Gene is nonchalantly leaning in a doorway with both hands in his pockets. In the next shot, Gene is holding a briefcase that wasn't there before. It's a good thing the briefcase arrived, since Gene makes mention of it immediately after. (00:17:00)
Continuity mistake: Mitch and Abby are on a rooftop overlooking the Memphis skyline. The setting sun is brightly shining at the top of the screen. After only 45 seconds of dialogue, the sun is almost completely set. The sun would have needed at least 15 minutes to travel that far. (00:10:55)
Continuity mistake: As Tom Cruise is leaving Mud Island on a monorail car he passes another car with a Firm henchman in it. They see each other and the man gets out and runs across the bridge to catch Tom as his car stops. This is impossible since there are really only two cars which end up on both sides at the same time.
Continuity mistake: 3/4 of the way through, Tom's boss is talking to Tom's wife at the school through a chain-link, and every time the scene switches between the two, the position of his fingers in the fence changes.
Continuity mistake: In the scene when Abigail and Mitch part. Abigail gets into the car and starts the engine but doesn't reach for the seatbelt. The camera switches to Mitch, he says "Take care of yourself" and then it cuts back to Abigail driving away but this time wearing a seatbelt. The time between the two cuts is too short for putting the seatbelt on, especially because Abigail didn't even make a move to reach for it before the first cut.
Continuity mistake: After Mitch records Wayne Tarrance's rant at the racetrack, when the rant is played back to Tarrance over the phone, the recording doesn't match what Tarrance originally said.
Answer: I've wondered about that, too. Avery appears to have somehow overlooked it, though it was in a highly visible and in a sensitive place (the locked closet). He probably returned late that night, and by the next day, the maid could have cleaned most of it up before he noticed anything. Also, on that particular trip, Avery may have had no reason to look inside the locked closet, so he would not have seen the broken glass. The spilled liquid outside the door would have dried quickly.
raywest ★