Pearl Harbor

Continuity mistake: When Rafe hits Danny's dad, his hands on the plank changes between shots, and the plank goes from being held away from the body, to close to the body between shots. (00:03:35)

The-Immortal

Continuity mistake: In the scene near the beginning of the movie where Rafe is being reprimanded by Maj. Doolittle for stunt flying, Rafe starts to talk about the various accomplishments that Doolittle has to his credit. The scene shifts to Doolittle and you can see in the background some of the trophies that he won in various air races and endurance tests. One of the trophies has a small model of an F-86 Sabre jet. The scene takes place in early 1941 and the F-86 didn't exist until the 1950's. In fact, jets weren't around until the end of the war and mostly in the hands of the Germans. (00:05:50)

Continuity mistake: When Rafe is talking to Danny about going to Britain, Danny's position changes from being at the side of the truck to being at the front of the truck. (00:09:00)

The-Immortal

Pearl Harbor mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Rafe is looking at the letter exam on the wall, the eye exam on the wall keeps changing between shots. (00:12:20)

The-Immortal

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The eye chart in this shot does not move, the angle of the camera shifts over by a few feet. This can be verified if you look at the edge of the beige medicine cabinet. In the top picture, you can not see the back plate. You also can not see the left side of it as well. In the second picture, from a few feet over, now both are visible.

TimHunt

Pearl Harbor mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Rafe goes to thank Evelyn, Evelyn at one point goes up to his ear and whispers, but her position at his ear keeps changing from really close to a bit further away between shots. (00:14:55)

The-Immortal

Continuity mistake: When Rafe is leaving Evelyn's cubicle near the beginning, he turns around and says, "Miss I really like you," and he is not holding onto the drip pole, but in the following shot he is. (00:15:35)

The-Immortal

Continuity mistake: When Rafe is going in for medical tests and to thank Evelyn her for not taking his wings away, when Rafe starts acting a little strange Evelyn asks "This isn't your chart?" When it cuts to Rafe he is holding onto the IV just underneath the IV bags, but in the following shot his hand is much further down the pole. (00:15:40)

The-Immortal

Continuity mistake: When Rafe meets Evelyn outside the hospital with a bottle of wine, he accidentally hits his nose with the cork and lays his head on Evelyn's lap. Her right hand is holding some ice, but her left hand is nowhere to be seen, but in the following shot her left hand has appeared on Rafe's chin and cheek. (00:17:40)

The-Immortal

Pearl Harbor mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Just after Rafe pops himself in the nose with the champagne cork, there is a bit of blood running down his right cheek. It disappears when the camera cuts back to him. (00:18:25)

Pearl Harbor mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene in front of the hotel on the night before Rafe ships out to England, Evelyn puts a scarf around his neck. There is a camera shot from his back: no scarf; then another one from his front, and he's wearing the scarf again. (00:27:10)

Continuity mistake: When Rafe first meets his commander in England, the commander is standing next to a guy looking at a plane. The commander turns around and looks at Rafe, but in the following shot the other guy is now also looking at Rafe. (00:30:25)

The-Immortal

Continuity mistake: Close to the beginning of the film when we first see the president being wheeled into the room with his staff at the table, at the beginning of this scene you can see that the wheelchair has already turned into the room, but in the following shot it's turning into the room again. (00:31:20)

The-Immortal

Pearl Harbor mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When one of the pilots of the "pride of the pacific" crew is painting a woman on the side of his airplane, he is brushing it on with his right hand, but in the following closeup, he is now brushing it on with his left, then back to his right in the wider shot. (00:33:50)

The-Immortal

Pearl Harbor mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Just after the shot of Evelyn sitting on the rocks, it cuts to Rafe in England. The first shot we see that the pint of lager on the bench is half empty, but it refills itself in the next shot. (00:36:15)

The-Immortal

Continuity mistake: In the scene where we see an Admiral getting some news from Washington to transfer another 12 destroyers to the Atlantic, one of the guys he's talking to moves from standing side by side with another officer to further away. (00:37:25)

The-Immortal

Continuity mistake: Close to the beginning when Rafe is in England and we hear sirens going off signifying they're going to attack, he runs over to his aircraft and shouts at a guy. If you look closely at his aircraft it says on the side RF T, yet in all other shots we see him in the aircraft marked RF M. (00:39:15)

The-Immortal

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Rafe is fighting for Britain his plane gets hit. As it goes down into the water, it is day. Later when they show him swimming out of the plane and to the surface, it is night. (00:41:30 - 01:10:10)

Continuity mistake: When Red and his army friend pull up next to the four nurses at the side of the road, Red asks Betty if she wants to come for a ride. Red leans forward and puts his hand on the steering wheel, but in the following shot he is leaning back with his elbow on the top of the door. (00:42:30)

The-Immortal

Pearl Harbor mistake picture

Continuity mistake: During the Battle of Britain sequence, in the scene where Rafe gets shot down he can't open his canopy to bail out so he shoots holes in it with his pistol. In the wide shots of the plane the canopy is whole. (00:43:00)

Continuity mistake: When the black cook is in a boxing ring with the big guy, the cook beats the big guy. Just before the big guy falls you can see a man over his left shoulder saying something like, "That's it, that's it", but in the following shot he is on his right (there's nobody else in the ring so it can't be someone else). (00:44:25)

The-Immortal

Factual error: For some reason, Danny believes Rafe's story that he's been officially assigned to an RAF Eagle Squadron for "combat training." While almost 7,000 Americans did volunteer to fly for England before Pearl Harbor, these were either as civilians or Americans who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. It was against the law for any citizen to fight for a belligerent power while America was neutral, so Rafe's superiors couldn't have ordered him to fight for Britain, and Danny would have known that.

More mistakes in Pearl Harbor

President Franklin D. Roosevelt: I like sub commanders. They have no time for bullshit, and neither do I.

More quotes from Pearl Harbor

Trivia: When the Japanese are heading towards Pearl Harbor, there is a shot of a pilot waving to kids playing baseball. This is a true story - the pilot was trying to wave them away before the attack started. (01:26:35)

More trivia for Pearl Harbor

Question: The IMDb lists a cameo by Matt Damon during the attack sequence. Can someone point out exactly where he appears?

Answer: He is in the scene where the smaller air-base is being attacked by the Japanese. You have to look really closely but he is the driver of one of the jeeps right before the Japanese bomb drops (the one that seems to be a dud and then explodes). Also, Matt seems to be one of the gunners on one of the first ships at Pearl Harbor to return fire (this is not verified but in slo-mo, one of the gunners seems to be him).

More questions & answers from Pearl Harbor

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