Movie Mess-Ups

Alright, let's keep a list: have you noticed any mistakes in a movie?

I was watching "Silence of the Lambs" just last night...there's one shot of a car from the front while they're driving with Clarice in the backseat, and they have no rear-view mirror, to make sure the view of Clarice isn't obstructed!

Another one to watch out for that I've seen in a couple of films is the reflection of the camera and crew in a shiny surface (not necessarily a mirror). This rarely happens, but I've noticed it a couple of times. Something to watch out for?

Did you hear about how in Braveheart they had to shoot a couple of scenes over because extras were seen wearing things like watches and jewelry?

I get a kick out of that.

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In Pulp Fiction the when the guy comes out of the bathroom and starts shooting, bullet holes appear in the wall before the shots are fired.

I noticed something this morning, in Frequency, they never press down the button on the reciever to talk.

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Hmm, didn't notice that in Pulp Fiction (but I will look out for it), but surely that is expected as bullets travel faster than sound (if the difference is marginal).

Funny thing Ollie, I noticed the same thing in Frequency as well! It's like they talk on a full duplex thingy where in fact (from what I know at least about CB radios) you have to press and hold the thing to talk, then release to let the other guy talk

In Psycho, there's a scene where the camera crew's shadows can be seen on the bed, during the stabbing scene in the shower...I know of some others, just can't remember 'em now!

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The missing rear view mirror is a common phenomenon in movies. You'll catch it quite often, once you start looking.

Another mistake in "Silence of the Lambs" is this: Much of the film was made right here in Pennsylvania. Yet, many of the cars have license plates from other states, to match up with where the characters are from.

YET...these cars have Pennsylvania inspection stickers in the driver's side of the windshields. Oops! (You can see this most clearly in the scene with Clarice jacking up the garage door to the self-storage facility. The cars in that scene have Pa. inspection stickers; yet the cars aren't from Pa.)

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i was told this, but not sure if it is right, apparantly in Sense and Senseability in one scene a packet of Malteasers is visable.

In Resivour Dogs when Mr Pink is fleeing from the robbery he runs past one shop twice.

i do have loads more in a magizine somewhere, i'll post them if i find it

this totally bugged me in Hannibal -

1. On the telephone when Pazzi calls the first #, he gets a call back from a person who directs him to call a lawyer, and gives him a number. He calls the number, and at first it sounds like a person; he starts talking. It talks back in ENGLISH and it's apparent that it's a machine message - which directs him on what to do, then asks, - in ENGLISH for those wishing to hear the same message in French, Italian, etc., to press whatever #'s. Now, if someone who speaks French hears this message in English, how are they gonna know? Anyway, then Pazzi hangs up - he's gotten the instructions, which say a fingerprint is necessary, yet he never hears any further details in that phone message on WHO to contact or where to meet them. He then later meets up with the necessary people with no problem.

2. At the end, Clarice is upstairs drugged and picks up a phone and finds the line dead - it's been disconnected. These are old fashioned hotel-style multi line phones. Movie cuts to Hannibal downstairs preparing dinner and looking at the phone - which is BLINKING as if someone's using the other line. Which is impossible cause he disconnected the lines, so he should not be able to see when anyone else is using a DISconnected phone line...

I think that in Full Metal Jacket, at the beginning when Gunnery Sergeant Hartman is doing his speech, people by the beds switch position. As he's walking around for the first part of his spiel, Joker and Cowboy aren't the people at the end. However when Joker does his "Is that you? Is this me?" and Hartman goes mental all of a sudden they are.

I'm not sure about this though...

Interesting observation Laurie!

There was one scene in "Golden Child" with Eddie Murphy when he's walking through the park looking down on the ground with the Chinese woman...For one brief instant, probably about 5 frames / 24 frames (in one second) he looks up at the camera and then looks back down on the ground! My friend's father picked it up while we were watching the movie, I couldn't see it at all, but it was only visible when the tape was slowed down to the slowest rate possible!! Talk about good eye sight!

Well, on the first one I think we're supposed to assume that he should call back, and say "I have the fingerprint" instead of "I have information on Hannibal Lecter" - something like that.

As for the second: she connected the phone again, which is why she was able to call the police.


Actually it was Miriam.

yeah, I saw that Laurie post and was really confused. I was like, but Laurie didn't post ...

but, back to the first phone thing -

He can't call back and say anything different cause it's a machine message, not a person he's talking to. See, he calls the first number, and the person calls him back. But he can't dial their number only the false one. Is that what you mean? That he calls the first number to say he has the print?

The thing is, he calls the first person - who calls back and says, call this LAWYER, you should deal with them, as if the first number doesn't want to deal with anybody, is just forwarding him to who the real deal is. So he calls, but the real deal is not a lawyer, it's a machine message. Then the language thing I was talking about. It's just weird, it's like, so if he gets the fingerprint, isn't he supposed to deal with the lawyer #, which he can't really cause it's a machine message?

And #2 - i have a really weird drugged memory of it (cause that's how they filmed it) but I could have sworn Clarice got up, went out to the hall, and found the phone disconnected on the hall table and slumped to the ground. cut to hannibal and the blinking phone line. then cut back to clarice - and i'm not sure, but I thought she was at ANOTHER location, with a different phone or something. and the police are talking and she drops it and moves away. it didn't look like the same place. but this could just be me, hannibal seems to have drugged me too.

Actually, I think the idea is that the first person cannot so easily blurt out the details of this illegal activity - so he says something disguised as legitimate ("Call this guy before doing anything illegal..."), which is really just a hint as to the next step in this process.

So yes, he would call back, and would say that he had the print, rather than "I have information on Hannibal Lecter" - it's a bit sloppy, but I think that's what we're supposed to assume.

Hopefully Peter (OG-) will speak up - he's read the book, which I'll bet goes into some more detail.

You might be right - what I remember, however, is that Clarice gets up, went out to the hall, found the phone disconnected, slumped to the ground, and reached for the phone line to plug it back in - we then later see Hannibal and the blinking light.

well of course it'll make sense in the book, cause it's there on paper, it's easier to catch! i think this is just a mistake in terms of how the film handles it, unclear things like that irk me. i am totally going to buy the book now though cause I really wanted more of Hannibal and I just didn't get enough. i'm gonna start with the first in the series and enjoy it all.

as for Clarice ... now I know she couldn't just plug in the phone line, which was why I was confused when you said she "fixed" it earlier, cause the phone line was mighty hard to fix. the scene didn't linger terribly long on it, but lingered long enough to show that it had been mangled - the outer plastic casing stripped off, the little clear plug end that connects into to the wall jack entirely missing. the multicolored wires were splayed everywhere, which was why I was like --- oops, no phone calls for you.

the phone scene where the operator is talking to her and she leaves them talking, the phone is on top of a dresser or something, at her height - and it looks like she's standing, and i can't really be exact but i think it was a newer type of phone ...

but whatever ... i'm gonna buy this bad boy, if only to enjoy the madness of hannibal.

LOL sorry gals, didn't mean to mix you up, I had two or three windows open, and one of them had something Laurie had posted which I was thinking about...

In the book, as I remember because its been about 16 months since I read it, but what happens is he is gets the number, calls it and he speeks to Cordell who tells him to call the lawyer and then call back once he has a fingerprint. Or maybe Cordell tells him to call the number. I don't really remember. But why is it such a big deal. The basic jist was, untill you have an actual fingerprint, we arn't going to talk to you personally.

it's not a big deal OG, my point is small "off" things in a movie like that irritate me; I mentioned it and then we got into a discussion on whether it actually happened as I remember it - cause Chris didn't see it as being "off" but I did.