Other mistake: During his conversation with the landlord of the pub he ends up staying in, Sergeant Howie makes it clear that he did not intend to stay on Summerisle overnight, that he had been delayed and so needed accommodation. Makes you wonder why he packed his pyjamas. He's wearing them when Britt Ecklund does her famous naked song and dance routine, and they are not new so we know he didn't buy them that day. When he arrived he didn't even think he'd be on Summerisle for more than a few hours - we don't see him with so much as an overnight bag.
The Wicker Man (1973)
Directed by: Robin Hardy
Starring: Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Edward Woodward
Visible crew/equipment: In the director's cut, there's a scene where the bar-owner is tied up to the bed. A few seconds before it cuts away, a crew member's leg can be seen on the left hand side.
Plot hole: Sergeant Howie is expected to report back to the mainland on the same day he left, and since he took a valuable aircraft with him on his trip it is inconceivable that his superior officers would not come looking for him if he didn't show up. First they would try contacting him on his radio and not receiving a reply they'd send out a search party, and they would do so within twenty four hours. Missing police officers are taken very, very seriously indeed.
Trivia: Christopher Lee did this movie for free, and considers it one of his best roles ever.
Trivia: Lindsay Kemp plays Alder MacGreagor, the father of Willow (Britt Ekland). In real life, Kemp was only four years older than Ekland.
Sergeant Howie: What religion can they possibly be learning jumping over bonfires?
Lord Summerisle: Parthenogenesis.
Sergeant Howie: What?
Lord Summerisle: Literally, as Miss Rose would doubtless say in her assiduous way, reproduction without sexual union.
Sergeant Howie: Oh, what is all this? I mean, you've got fake biology, fake religion... Sir, have these children never heard of Jesus?
Lord Summerisle: Himself the son of a virgin, impregnated, I believe, by a ghost.
Lord Summerisle: Do sit down, Sergeant. Shocks are so much better absorbed with the knees bent.
Lord Summerisle: Come. It is time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man.
Question: Why doesn't Howie try to escape when being carried up to the wicker man?
Question: If they needed a virgin for the ritual why does Britt try to seduce him? She could have spoiled everything.
Answer: He was a devout man of faith. They had to test his virtue, to tempt him to break the ten commandments or the seven deadly sins.
Question: At the finale of The Wicker Man Howie/Edward Woodward is placed in a wooden cage high above the ground. The cage is set alight. When the cage began to burn and disintegrate, wouldn't he have fallen out of it onto the ground? As the cage burns, the wood must become brittle, so why can't he just force his way out? (Yes, he is surrounded by the islanders, but if anybody was being burnt alive, and they could get out of the flames, wouldn't the self-preservation instinct kick in?).
Answer: He would likely die from the heat or smoke inhalation long before the wood would deteriorate enough for him to fall out. The film also makes a point to show that Howie has given up trying to fight the villagers and has accepted his fate, so even if he could have forced his way out he no longer had the will to do so.
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Answer: What's the use? He's surrounded, he can't fight everyone and there's nowhere for him to run.
BaconIsMyBFF
He is also a fundametally religious man and he believes that he is going to die and go to heaven.