Trivia: To help keep Heston from hurting his feet when running, he was fitted with rubber soles molded to look like bare feet.
Nicki
18th Mar 2005
Planet of the Apes (1968)
10th Mar 2005
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Revealing mistake: During the "Anything Goes" dance number, the shot of the dancers doing the 'splits' is simply ran in reverse to produce the illusion that they're rising up from the stage floor.
10th Mar 2005
Silkwood (1983)
Factual error: There are no nuclear power plants or processing plants where sadistic 'decontamination crews' run down the halls in a panic as depicted in the movie. The high-pressure water, the torturous skin scrubbing, the screaming: it's all pure fiction, as was much of the movie.
7th Mar 2005
Dracula (1979)
Revealing mistake: Near the end of the movie just before Van Helsing drives a stake through Dracula's heart, Dracula leaps out of his coffin and impales Van Helsing with the stake. It's very clear that the person getting impaled is a stuntman with an 'Olivier' mask.
7th Mar 2005
The Jerk (1979)
Trivia: "Cat Juggling" was a bit in Steve Martin's stand-up acts in the late 70's.
5th Mar 2005
Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978)
Continuity mistake: Though Fausto Zoppi and Jean-Claude Moleno are to have contributed to the 'World's Most Fabulous Meal' for the Queen, neither of them ever shows up in the kitchen during the preparation of the dinner. They don't even appear until much later in the film.
5th Mar 2005
Blade Runner (1982)
Revealing mistake: When Leon and Deckard are fighting in the street, Leon swings at Deckard and puts a hole through a steel vessel where steam blasts out. It's clear that the spot where Leon hits has been cut out and is visible before he hits it. (01:02:15)
5th Mar 2005
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Revealing mistake: When Spock's shuttle is lining up to dock with the Enterprise, look below the shuttle and you can see the hydraulic mechanism used to maneuver it.
5th Mar 2005
Modern Problems (1981)
Continuity mistake: While Chevy's car is being covered with radioactive foam from the truck in front of him, following shots alternately show the car with and without foam.
4th Mar 2005
History of the World: Part I (1981)
Audio problem: When Comicus is announced in Caesar's court, the trumpeters play "Hooray for Hollywood". Notice that the music starts before they get their instruments to their mouths.
4th Mar 2005
History of the World: Part I (1981)
Revealing mistake: When Comicus et al are running from the Roman soldiers, Miriam pulls Comicus through a secret marble door. When it closes, you can see the glue residue revealing that it's Formica.
4th Mar 2005
Carrie (1976)
Trivia: The voice of the little boy on the bike who yells "Creepy Carrie. Creepy Carrie." is Betty Buckley's voice.
12th Feb 2005
The War of the Worlds (1953)
Continuity mistake: When Dr. Forrester whacks off the aliens' spy camera, it looks like it's virtually destroyed when he bends down to pick it up. Later in the lab when they power it up, it's in pristine condition.
10th Feb 2005
The China Syndrome (1979)
Revealing mistake: When Godell is trying to get away from the company's goons, he races to the nuclear plant gate where he'd be safe. As he pulls up to the gate, you can already see the 'donut' skid marks left in the driveway from the goons' car when it turns around. But the car turns around AFTER Godell pulls up to the gate, so the donut must be from a previous take.
3rd Feb 2005
The China Syndrome (1979)
Factual error: When Godell takes over the control room, his colleagues are out in the plant trying to shut it down. In actuality, anyone, especially a trained operator, can do this easily from virtually anywhere in the plant.
2nd Feb 2005
The China Syndrome (1979)
Factual error: After the turbine trip, Godell says that the reactor water level was "almost up to the steam lines." The fictional Ventana nuclear plant is described as being a pressurized reactor plant and could not possibly have such a problem.
2nd Feb 2005
The Shootist (1976)
Visible crew/equipment: When Books places a gun in the writer's mouth and says "Make like that's a nipple" you can see the shadow of Bond (Lauren Bacall) waiting on the stairs to come down into the scene.
1st Feb 2005
The Odd Couple (1968)
Plot hole: During the first poker game of the film, Vinny (John Fiedler) picks up one of his poker hands and straightens the cards in such a way that everyone else at the table can see them. Since the other guys gripe about how much Vinny is winning, neither Fiedler nor director Gene Saks must've known that his cards were visible.
Continuity mistake: At the rebel base on Hoth, the Falcon is being repaired in a hollowed-out snow cave. When Han blasts off out of the cave, none of the debris on the floor or in the cave moves at all, nor is there any effect from the Falcon's exhaust.
1st Feb 2005
High Anxiety (1977)
Revealing mistake: Mel jumps over a step that he senses to be weak. The step he actually jumps onto (and collapses) has been pre-cut in a zig-zag pattern. (01:26:50)
26th Jan 2005
Red Dragon (2002)
Character mistake: During the opening credits, one of the newspaper headlines reads "FBI Agent in Extremely Critical Condition". The story under the headline says that "local police found Dr. Hannibal Lecter fatally wounded in his Chandler Square residence", and that "the call was made by Special Agent Will Graham of the FBI". Neither was true since Lecter lived and Graham went unconscious after the stabbing.
26th Jan 2005
The Aviator (2004)
Continuity mistake: Immediately after the screening of "Hell's Angels", Noah Dietrich (seated right behind Hughes) begins applauding, and others join in. In the next shot of Dietrich, he begins applauding again.
21st Jan 2005
Goldfinger (1964)
Trivia: At the beginning of the movie, Bond is in 'Miami' at the Fountainbleu Hotel, then is later in 'Kentucky' at Fort Knox and the Goldfinger estate. Despite all this, Sean Connery never filmed any scenes of "Goldfinger" in America.
15th Jan 2005
The Temptations (1998)
Revealing mistake: As a very young Otis Williams listens to The Cadillacs on stage in Detroit, the joint is rockin' with the music, but most of The Cadillacs have no microphones.
15th Jan 2005
Total Recall (1990)
Factual error: When Quade drills through the hydraulic hose on Benny's mining machine, the pressure indicator on the console drops rapidly and is scaled in "Inches of Mercury Absolute". That scale is normally used only for vacuum, not high pressure hydraulics.
15th Jan 2005
Total Recall (1990)
Deliberate mistake: While Cohagen is on Mars, he calls Richter and chides him for trying to kill Quade. Richter is in a car on Earth, yet they're having a real-time conversation, which is impossible because of the distance. [While this is true, a movie with 4 to 21 minute pauses between lines would take rather a long time].
15th Jan 2005
Total Recall (1990)
Revealing mistake: When Quade shoots Dr. Edgemar, Lori yells "Now you've DONE IT.", and the wall explodes, which is plainly made of foam. Many of the pieces of 'wall' tumble lightly across the floor. (01:05:40)
14th Jan 2005
Total Recall (1990)
Revealing mistake: Right before Quade jumps on the train to get away from Richter, he uses a gun to break one of the train windows. His gun barely (if at all) touches the window and it shatters. (00:31:40)
14th Jan 2005
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Revealing mistake: After Rhett tells Scarlett that he doesn't give a damn, she's just inside the front door and places her hand on leading edge of the door, which moves when she touches it to support herself.
13th Jan 2005
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Revealing mistake: When the killer satellite rocket reaches orbit, you can see it 'bouncing' up and down as the pieces separate.
4th Jan 2005
The Abyss (1989)
Other mistake: During the submarine interior scene, there are several dead seamen shown floating about. One of them is pretty close to the camera and floating with his eyes open. He blinks before the shot ends.
4th Jan 2005
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Factual error: The opening credits incorrectly list Alec's last name as "Guiness." It's "Guinness." [This is only in certain prints of the film. In other prints, his name is spelled correctly.]
28th Dec 2004
The Cheap Detective (1978)
Trivia: As a diminutive reference to the large gay population in San Francisco, Abe Vigoda's character refers to a particular street corner as "Third and Bulldike".
28th Dec 2004
Apollo 13 (1995)
Factual error: The remaining smoke plume after the Saturn V liftoff is about 80 miles too low. It's apparent that an aircraft flew over the space center to leave a feeble 'movie' plume. Also, when the Apollo 13 crew blasts out of Earth orbit, the ship is pointed straight at the Moon, meaning that once they travelled the 240,000 miles to the Moon's orbit path, the Moon would be several thousand miles to their left.
28th Dec 2004
The Firm (1993)
28th Dec 2004
2010 (1984)
Trivia: While it's well-known the voice of HAL in "2001: A Space Odyssey" is Canadian actor Douglas Rain, who returned to reprise his role in this film, it's less known that the voice of SAL is credited to "Olga Mallsnerd" which is a false name used by none other than Candice Bergen. (00:14:05)
28th Dec 2004
Boogie Nights (1997)
Trivia: A neat coincidence. The actor Robert Ridgely (The Colonel) who finances all of Jack Horner's porno films, also plays a restroom pervert who propositions Mel Brooks in 'High Anxiety', some 20 years ago.
28th Dec 2004
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
28th Dec 2004
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)
Continuity mistake: The Beatles are at the Ed Sullivan Theater rehearsing, yet Nancy Allen is "fondling" Paul's bass and the other instruments back at the hotel. Maybe they're rehearsing a capella.
27th Dec 2004
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
Trivia: All the outdoor scenes at Camp's party and the asylum were filmed at the Vizcaya estate in Miami. Watch 'Any Given Sunday' and you'll see much of the same estate.
25th Dec 2004
The War of the Worlds (1953)
Trivia: The reporter speaking into the tape recorder just before the atom bomb is used is Paul Frees. Even today (though he passed away years ago) Frees is still the voice of the 'ghost host' in the Haunted Mansion rides at the Disney parks, as well as Ludwig Von Drake and many other cartoon characters.
24th Dec 2004
Sudden Impact (1983)
Revealing mistake: As Harry approaches the Acorn Cafe (which he is about to shoot up), you can see that the two window panes just right of the door are candy glass. This is confirmed when one of the 'heavies' goes flying through them after Harry gives him the .44 Magnum treatment.
22nd Dec 2004
North Dallas Forty (1979)
Plot hole: Though there's supposed to be a championship football game taking place near the end of the movie, the stadium is strangely devoid of fans. A meager effort was made to fill some seats, but most of the shots show empty ones. It also looks as if the production crew tried to save money by using only half the stadium lights.
22nd Dec 2004
The Cheap Detective (1978)
Other mistake: As the police lift the body of the 'dead' hotel clerk from behind the desk, you can see his eyes look around a bit.
22nd Dec 2004
The Cheap Detective (1978)
Trivia: Though Phil Silvers is shown prominently in the credits, he has only about 2-3 seconds of screen time at the end of the movie. Silvers suffered a stroke in the early 70's; "The Cheap Detective" was made in 1978. His speech had become slurred and likely affected his performance abilities.
22nd Dec 2004
The Abyss (1989)
Factual error: During the flooding of the drill rig, Bud's wedding ring saves the day by preventing the barrier door from closing. Even titanium couldn't stop a moving hydraulic barrier, in ring form. It's very hard in terms of resisting scratches, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't deform or crack.
22nd Dec 2004
The War of the Worlds (1953)
Visible crew/equipment: When the radio reporter is broadcasting before the first attack, he is speaking into a microphone connected to the radio truck. After the Martians begin shooting, he dives into a small ravine. You can see his microphone cord being manipulated off camera to the right where it is being cut by a crew member.
21st Dec 2004
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)
Trivia: Paul Frees is the apparent "spokesperson" for the aliens. His voice is heard throughout the movie. He's also the voice visitors hear in "The Haunted Mansion" rides at the Disney parks.
20th Dec 2004
Octopussy (1983)
Other mistake: When Bond runs out of fuel in his mini-jet, his landing was obviously filmed on an airport runway, given the heavy black landing marks on it.
20th Dec 2004
The Boys from Brazil (1978)
Revealing mistake: When the neo-nazis burst into Kohler's apartment, they stab him and he slides down with his back against the wall. While Mengele picks up the phone, you can see the 'dead' Kohler blink in the background.
20th Dec 2004
The Mask (1994)
Revealing mistake: In the alley, The Mask tells one of the street thugs that he's going to pull his underwear over his head. Here you can see that The Mask's rubber 'skin' is peeling up on the back of his neck.
19th Dec 2004
History of the World: Part I (1981)
Visible crew/equipment: When Comicus and his entourage are on the road to Judea, the tire tracks of the vehicle carrying the camera are blatantly clear in the lower part of the picture.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.