The Perfect Storm

Continuity mistake: When the crew pull the hook out of the man's hand, he puts a spoon in his mouth - its facing right, but when he's done it's facing left. (00:55:15)

Continuity mistake: As the Coast Guard cutter is making the second attempt to rescue the helicopter pilot and the injured para-rescuer, in one overhead shot we see the crew on the foredeck holding the cargo net. After the two men are swept off the net, another shot shows the foredeck empty, though the ship's crew is still at the cargo net attempting the rescue.

Continuity mistake: During the storm when the Andrea Gail is making its way through the numerous giant waves, we see Captain Billy Tyne and Bobby Shatford in the steering room being soaked and smashed around as the boat was basically going straight up and then straight down crashing into the water over and over again. Yet when the camera cut to the crew below, they are all sitting very calmly in their chairs or bunks with cups of coffee and other things sitting perfectly still on the table (which goes against the nailed down TV theory). It looks as if they are not even on a boat. Practically nothing in the whole room is moving. (01:45:00)

Continuity mistake: In the bar before the crew go on their fatal mission, Mark Walberg's character is drinking with his girlfriend. His goatee is thick and dark around his chin. When they are upstairs in their bedroom later that night, it is very light and slight. The next morning, when he is leaving to get on the boat and saying goodbye to her, it is thick and dark at the bottom again. (00:15:00 - 00:16:10)

Continuity mistake: When the weather forecaster is showing the woman what would happen if the storms collided, we see a third person shot of him pointing to the computer screen with just his middle finger. The next shot (which takes place at the exact same time) is a shot from the guy's perspective. Now he's using both his middle finger AND his pointer to show her the storms.

Continuity mistake: When the crew all are in the bar, Bobby Shatford gives the boy of one of his shipmates his hat before following his girlfriend upstairs. The next morning, he comes down the stairs wearing the same hat. (00:15:50 - 00:21:20)

Continuity mistake: The note from Chris to Bobby includes a section which reads "pillows I secretly bought at Penny's." In Chris's voice over, she says "pillows that I secretly bought for us at Penny's." (00:34:30)

jle

Continuity mistake: When the Sea Hawk Helicopter ditches into the sea, the pilot's night vision goggles fall off yet as the cockpit starts to fill with water they are still there and remain there for several scenes. (01:33:25)

Continuity mistake: Irene closes her umbrella twice. Once when she arrives at the Crows Nest and again after she enters.

Continuity mistake: In the scene after the helicopter goes down and the captain swims to the injured rescue diver, when the camera first shows the injured diver, he doesn't have a bloody mouth. But when the camera cuts to the captain and then cuts back to the injured rescue diver, he then has blood coming out of his mouth.

Minerva

Factual error: The movie was set in 1991, but there is a newspaper with a Kia advertisement. Kia's first U.S. cars arrived in 1994.

More mistakes in The Perfect Storm

Bobby Shatford: Last night was worth it. There's nothin like sleepin' with you... just sleepin'... lyin next to you... all warm and sweet... Me wishin' the mornin' would never come.

More quotes from The Perfect Storm

Trivia: The Crow's Nest is not on the water. It's actually about four blocks away from where it was in the movie. Also, it's a three-story building.

More trivia for The Perfect Storm

Question: Now I know this is based on a true story, but theoretically speaking: 1) Why did Bobby hold off gunning the engine until the very last second? If he'd have acted sooner then maybe the ship would have made it up the wave 2) Why not just slam her into reverse and wait for the wave to collapse? I mean, wouldn't that have been the safest bet?

Answer: Not a ship captain, but will take a shot. If a massive wave is close to cresting, as I seem to recall in this scene, the boat would have to climb a near vertical wall of water and would likely be flipped back and upside down by the advancing wave. Perhaps he was planning to gun the engine to penetrate the wall of the wave, and bob to the surface after it passed. Reversing the engine would just let the thousands of tons of water in the breaking wave smash down on the boat, crushing it.

Answer: I think you sort of answered your own question. I'd say at a guess he himself would have been wondering what the best action would be and in the end decided to go full throttle. Sadly, no-one will ever know the final moments aboard the Andrea Gail.

More questions & answers from The Perfect Storm

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