Some nerds at Nightline did a segment on Jon Sandys’ “Movie Mistakes” blog and even threw a few inconsistencies of their own into the clip! See them, and the video, here. Sometimes Dorothy wasn’t wearing her magical red shoes, and other horrors!
I kept waiting for the segment to mention Girls Just Want to Have Fun among other classic films and was shocked that it didn’t. I don’t know if I would call this a “mistake” per se, but I used to get so peeved when Janey Glenn (Sarah Jessica Parker)’s hair suddenly went from city bus-frazzled to perfectly curled and camera-ready moments before the DTV dance contest. Look at this!
That would totally take half a day in real life.
Like I said, it’s not a mistake. I get how films, and the ’80s, work. It’s just jarring. And frankly those poor people on the bus shouldn’t have had to sit through the Before picture.
Which inconsistencies in important cinematic works have stuck with you? Bonus points if they involve hair. It’s DTV time!
Annie on Twitter: @EWAnnieBarrett
And speaking of mistakes, it’s “throw,” not “through.” Please fix.
Actually, reading it back, it should be “threw.” Still needs to be fixed, though.
That really through me for a loop! Thanks!
Ha! Annie, I love you.
Haha! Touche! Thanks Annie!
“and even threw a few inconsistencies” as in tossed in, past tense of throw…so “threw” is correct. Through is for like” I threw the ball though a window.” D*mn there are some dumb people here.
You’re wrong – it is ‘through’…the word is “used as a function word to indicate a period of time”
Actually I was right, it is “threw,” to indicate something that was added in, tossed in, etc. Grammar is all well and good, but reading without comprehension is pretty much worthless.
amylovesnewwave…
This seems like a pointless conversation but I can’t help myself… you are completely wrong. The right word is through. Nothing was added or tossed into that sentence… she was speaking of time not action. Threw expresses an action… You do get that right?
Relax, you’re all right. The sentence about throwing in their own examples needs “threw” and the sentence about sitting through SJP’s hair needs “through.”
Since I was talking not about “sit through” but “threw a few,” I was right. Maybe I should have been more clear.
Annie’s original sentence said “and even through a few…” It was, per EW’s usual MO, proofread and corrected after publication.
Amy….you are totally wrong! Learn some proper English please. Just accept the fact that through is the right term. Threw is like “I threw the ball”, while through ” I can’t believe I have to sit through this movie”. For the love of god, please tell me that you are not a teacher!!!
Haha, this is ridiculous! Why do people have to be such jerks? Amy was right in her correction, and the article is now correct. Let’s move on.
Meg, you are completely wrong! Amy had it right.
Who threw what? Did whatever they threw go through her big hair?
SPOILER ALERT ABOUT INCEPTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m not sure if it was a mistake or not, but I found it a little odd when they showed that Mal and Cobb had grown old in their dream world….because when they laid down on the tracks they were young. I mean, it is a dream, so maybe that doesn’t count.
That’s not so much an inconsistency as an artistic choice.
Biggest killer is when you can see the boom-man (sound dude) in the window in the scene after you see Leo spinning his top for the first time, after Joseph enters the room. Clear as day, on the right side of frame.
Boom mikes are not a mistake of the filmmaker, but of the movie theater. When you see boom mikes, it means the projectionist has the movie framed incorrectly. Complain to the theater.
Um, it’s not the movie theatre’s fault that the boom-man was filmed, and not edited out of the movie. You do realize that there are no boom men in movie theatres, only on movie sets, right?
Ellen Ripley is correct. The boom mikes appear when the movie is framed incorrectly. Not a fault of the movie, but of the theatre.
Are you kidding me? What kind of movie expert are you? If you blame the movie theater for a boom mike in the scene then have no idea what you are talking about.
Any boom mikes that appear in a scene are the fault of the onset crew and there are many people who are there to prevent this. The cinematographer and the camera man should have been aware of the scene and made sure to keep it out of the shot especially if it is in a window as described here, no “theater framing” involved. Secondly, the boom operator is given a clear level as to which their mike can not fall below to prevent it from enterring the shot, if it does so then it is their fault. Also the director watches the monitor as the scene is filmed and this shows both the framed shot and the out of frame area so they can prevent this from happening. Lastly when the dailies are viewed it should have been seen and if not then the editor should have caught it in post and never used the shot in the film.
No theater is provided a film for them to “frame correctly” in order to prevent errors like boom mikes from entering the shot, especially if it is seen thru a window.
Someone explained it to me like this: Once Mal and Cobb realized they were in a dream, they reverted back to how *they saw themselves* (in other words, young). But the old hands were there to let us, the audience, know that Cobb and Mal were in fact old. I can personally see that explanation, but I’m sure it’s open to lots of interpretations.
I was just about to say that, Jenn. They never show Mal and Tom’s face as being old, but if you look at their hands as they lay on the tracks, they are old and wrinkled…proving that they had indeed spent the 50 years there.
Perhaps they were young in their dream world and Dom revealed to Mal that they grew old together in order to fulfill his promise to her and finally let go of the guilt he felt about her suicide. Like Fischer, Dom was redeemed as well and free to move on with his life.
I think it just represented the age of their minds, but I thought that too at first.
Oh, and as Family Guy’s spoof pointed out to me, there’s a scene in Empire Strikes Back where Lando is wearing Han’s clothes.
Totally on purpose.
That wasn’t a mistake. I think it was supposed to signify Lando’s taking charge of the Falcon. But it turned out just like Family Guy said, creepy.
I never had a problem with Lando in Han’s clothes. Remember, Lando was the original owner of the Falcon; the clothes he put on might have been some of his that he left behind. Regardless, he left kinda in a hurry with no time to pack, so it was either keep wearing the same clothes or borrow some from Solo.
This wasn’t a mistake; bothe men are Corellians, and that’s the “uniform”.
I’m such a stickler for continuity, you don’t want to get me into it. I’m the person who would have ruined fight club for myself (if I hadn’t guessed already) because Edward Norton got out of the wrong side of the car after the crash.
Norton got out on that side because it was a hint that he was Tyler Durden
I think Josie knows it was a hint. That’s why she said “I…would have ruined fight club for myself (if I hadn’t guessed already)”
I don’t know why this bothers me so much, b/c I have only seen the movie a few times… Boomerang w/ Eddie Murphy. He and Robin Givens were getting it on and a flash of her underwear showed (in a scene where she clearly was supposed to not be wearing panties!)
I forget which Star Wars movie it’s in, but Luke (Mark Hamill) yells “Carrie!” at Carrie Fisher instead of saying her character’s name, Leia.
It was the first one, aka “A New Hope.
Really? I want to know which one.
Disregard- That is all.
That is a well known urban myth. Watch it again. He just yells, “heyyyyuh!” Like Lucas would leave in him screaming “Carrie.”
Another one that drives me crazy! The Patriot w/ crazy Mel. It was FULL of mistakes. My favorite was during the final battle, dummies were flying everywhere.
In Moonstruck, when Olympia Dukakis goes to answer the door her hair is beauty shop styled. When she returns to the kitchen with Nick Cage, it’s “I just got up”.
How about his best picture Braveheart? In the first big battle scene he’s running toward the English and one second he has nothing, then his broadsword, then nothing, then maybe a hammer, then the sword. Very annoying, especially for an Oscar winning movie.
1951 A Christmas Carol, with the great Alistair Sim. The scene when Scrooge wakes up after spending a hellish night with the 3 spirits. He’s elated that he’s not dead after all and runs to a mirror to take a look at himself, and a crew member-clearly visible in the reflection behind him-peeks around a curtain! And does it a couple more timess!! OOFAH!!! Irritates me everytime!
And they colorized the mirrored bit in the colorized version too!
lol..didn’t know that! apropos to me getting red in the face over it!
The Goonies was full of dumb mistakes- they call Brand Josh a few times, Troy can’t tell there is not a person in the bucket, Troy is wearing underpants while going to the bathroom, they cut an octopus scene and then reference it at the end.
Full of hole, but still one of the best
In the DVD commentary, Sean Astin points that out, and Richard Donner says he never noticed. That bugs me to no end.
What’s funny is that, until I knew there was an octopus scene that was cut, I always just assumed the Goonies were exaggerating their adventures for the parents. Never bothered me as a mistake.
I only hear “Josh” once, and of course Troy was wearing underwear, it is a family movie
An old classic is Wizard of Oz where Judy Garland’s hair goes back and forth between short and long because of reshoots.
I love Girls Just Want to Have Fun and always noticed that same mistake too! There are so many movies that if you have watched them enough, whether on tv reruns or dvd, you eventually will pick up on them.
The TV show Bewitched, the waves in Elizabeth Montgomery’s hair were always different in the close-ups than in the midrange shots. You could tell they shot her close-ups on a completely different day.
Gilmore Girls had at least one or two every episode, like once Luke’s cash register isn’t there at all. but that’s TV.
The movie mistake I always think of (besides Francis Ford Coppola casting his daughter in “Godfather III”) is in “Broken Arrow.”
Right before Travolta’s character takes a nuclear weapon in the stomach, the camera does a tight close up on his face. When it goes back to the wider shot, it’s CLEARLY a mannequin that gets hit.
Don’t even talk to me about Godfather III. Sofia is terrible, yes, but Andy Garcia’s character shouldn’t of even existed! That Lucy chick never had Sonny’s illegitimate child in the book.
Shouldn’t “HAVE” not shouldn’t “of”…please…get it right.
OH MY GOSH GRAMMAR POLICE! Seriously, get a life, this isn’t an english paper, it’s a reply on the internet.
I support you MC. Basic grammar is needed. “Have” versus “of” is a simple mistake that shouldn’t exist.
oh well i’m with gataroo. forums are here for people to discuss, not for them to be worried about grammar!
and for mistakes, i dunno if this counts, but joey from friends was on ‘days of our lives’ which is filmed in LA, but he’s always around the gang in new york.
The biggest mistake was making “Broken Arrow” at all. One of the worst movies ever!!
I never would have thought of that but you are so right. What a horrible movie — every minute of it.
If you watch the Wizard of Oz during the time the Scarecrow is introduced, Dorothy’s hair grows and shrinks many times. Her pigtails are never the same length from scene to scene.
10 Things I Hate About You – When Heath Ledger’s Patrick is singing with the Marching Band, the guy who is playing the cymbals never “crashes” them together. Drives me nuts.
“10 Things..”, Ledger’s seranade with the band…
Band not marching in step ruins it for me.
Or how about when Bianca pulls Kat’s black panties out of the middle drawer, they cut to Cameron’s reaction then when they cut back to Bianca the bottom drawer is open and she’s putting the panties in that one.
I’m going to correct myself before
someone else does: Bianca pulls the panties out of the bottom drawer, when they cut back the middle drawer is open. I reversed them.
I always hate it in films and television when muscicians in the background are cleary not playing their instruments right…this happens most often with drummers and it just annoys me…