Continuity mistake: When Archie gets into the barrel, you see a large amount of the waste oil spill out and the top level drops about 2-3 inches below the rim. The camera angle changes and the top level is now all the way up to the rim and overflowing. (01:40:36)
Continuity mistake: When Otto forces Archie into the oil barrel, you see in the distance Ken driving the steam roller. In the next camera angle, you see a closeup of Ken running over a wheelbarrel which is next to a cargo unit. The problem is that the wheelbarrel was nowhere to be seen in the previous scene and neither was the cargo unit. (01:40:40)
Continuity mistake: When Otto is about to shoot Archie, Archie tells him to turn around and look behind him. When Otto turns around to see Ken on the steam roller, you can see footprints in the cement that were not there in the previous camera angle. (01:41:36)
Continuity mistake: Near the end, when Otto has Archie in a barrel and Ken approaches on a cement roller note the pattern in the wet cement. When the camera zooms to Otto's feet stuck in the cement you can see pattern in cement where the cement roller has passed previously, stopping a few feet behind Otto. There is a visible line and the cement appears rougher beyond it. (01:42:00)
Continuity mistake: When the steamroller is going over Otto, you can plainly see that the cement is still very wet and loose, but only moments ago Otto's feet were stuck in the cement because it was hard and thick. (01:43:01)
Continuity mistake: Right after Ken runs over Otto in the steamroller, Archie starts running away and in the background you see the steamroller being put into reverse. The camera angle changes to a closeup of Ken and the steamroller is going forward. (01:43:09)
Continuity mistake: As the plane is taking off, Otto is trying to hang on but the wind pushes him off. The camera angle changes to a wide shot of the plane taking off, and Otto is not seen anywhere but you still hear him screaming. (01:44:30)
Continuity mistake: After Ken reverses the steamroller after running Otto over with it, you can see a red patch signifying his splattered body in front of the roller. However, a few scenes later, Otto is seen alive. (Otto was originally meant to die, until test audience feedback influenced a change of mind on the part of the filmmakers.)
Continuity mistake: Otto stabs a knife into the baby seal poster. Several shots later, the poster is undamaged.
Continuity mistake: Ken is trying to kill the witness and crashes his car against a garbage container. The garbage swaps from being on the center of the hood to on the left side depending on the angle.
Continuity mistake: When Wanda arrives at Archie's office, there are piles of papers/books on the mantel beside the door, stacks of papers/books, a lamp and draperies behind Archie. During Wanda's visit, things behind Archie change, disappear, then reappear, the lamp changes the direction it points, the draperies change, and part of the piles on the mantel change entirely.
Answer: John Cleese was reciting the poem "Molitva" by Mikhail Lermontov. He learned and memorized it phonetically and has admitted that he had no idea what the words actually meant.
Angela Brown