Weird And Wonderful Movie Mistakes That Made The Films Better Than Their Scripts

Food and drink are notoriously tricky to deal with when it comes to film continuity. This explains why a full wine glass will often turn into a near-empty one on screen, or why a half-eaten sandwich will return to its original state in the blink of an eye. But it’s rare for a foodstuff to change completely. That’s what happens in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts is seen enjoying a croissant that somehow becomes a pancake in a matter of seconds.

The early 2000s Ocean’s Eleven remake sees the gang pull off one of Hollywood’s most entertaining heists. But just as impressive is the crockery-based magic trick that Brad Pitt’s Rusty conjures up. At first, the character is seen tucking into one of the Bellagio’s shrimp cocktails from a glass. When the angle changes, however, Rusty’s picking up his shrimps from a plate instead. Nice sleight of hand!

Seems like The Gotham Times is in serious need of a new copy editor. In the final part of Christopher Nolan’s Caped Crusader trilogy The Dark Knight Rises, Batman reads a newspaper with a front-page story about a havoc-wreaking cat burglar. But the accompanying headline somehow misspells the word “heist.” We like to think that the superhero powered up the Batmobile and traveled to the newspaper’s offices to have a stern word.

You’d have to be a bit of a petrolhead to recognize this anachronistic error from Oscar favorite Dallas Buyers Club. Behind Ron Woodroof’s desk, there’s a poster of a Lamborghini Aventador – a supercar that only went into production in 2011. The hard-hitting AIDS drama is, of course, set in the 1980s.

The extra responsible for this movie mishap probably shouldn’t include sweeping on his list of talents. In the offending Quantum of Solace footage, Daniel Craig’s James Bond sits on a motorcycle in front of some maintenance workers brushing the dockyard. But one of these orange-panted men never actually touches the ground with his bristles. Perhaps he’s just pretending to look busy in front of his boss.

Forrest Gump does everything from inspiring Elvis Presley to exposing the scandal known as Watergate in Robert Zemeckis’ crowd-pleaser. But the lovable hero’s most spectacular feat is undoubtedly investing in a company that didn’t even exist. In one particular scene set in 1975, Forrest gets a letter about his shares in Apple. The tech giant was only founded a year later, however, and it didn’t even float on the stock exchange until 1980.

Remember Tim and Lex being chased through the kitchen by velociraptors in Jurassic Park? We didn’t fancy their chances to begin with... And as if the kids aren’t already on the back foot, the dinosaurs have a little human help. One of the prehistoric creatures is seen being propped up by a crew member’s hand as it bursts through the entrance.

The history of the iPhone doesn’t appear to be a specialist subject for director Richard Linklater. Or maybe he just doesn’t care about being period-accurate. In any case, in Linklater’s 2007 black comedy Bernie, several characters are spotted using iPhones. What’s the problem with that? Well, the film is set in the mid-1990s – so, a full decade before Steve Jobs unleashed Apple’s masterpiece on an unsuspecting world.

You could be forgiven for thinking that you’d briefly blacked out while watching The Goonies. That’d explain the adventure classic’s puzzling closing scene, anyway. When asked by a journalist about the scariest part of the boys’ treasure hunt, Data replies, “The octopus.” What octopus? Not one that appears in the final movie – only in a few moments that didn’t make the final cut.

The golden rule for film crew members is to remain out of shot at all times. Unfortunately, the folks working on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest didn’t appear to be particularly good at hiding. In the basketball scene where Martini and McMurphy trade verbal insults, you can quite clearly see several behind-the-scenes men standing on the other side of the court’s fence.

After discovering that he has superpowers early on in Spider-Man, Peter Parker begins testing these bizarre new abilities out in his bedroom. And, apparently, fixing lamps now appears to be in his wheelhouse. After the fledgling superhero breaks a light, Peter’s aunt comes to see what caused such a racket. By the time she opens the door, though, the lamp is miraculously fully intact.

Quentin Tarantino made a catalog of period mistakes with his unashamed love letter to Tinseltown. You see, while Once Upon a Time in Hollywood takes place at the end of the 1960s, it still features a Starbucks – which didn’t get its start until the 1970s. Even more unforgivable is the sight of a numbered exit ramp that didn’t exist until 2002.

Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick Commando isn’t set in the future. But you could be forgiven for believing otherwise, as self-repairing cars appear to be a thing in its macho world. Having been severely damaged after a particularly thrilling car chase, Arnie’s yellow Porsche is shown in the following scene looking as good as new. Where do we get one!?

While ranting about the state of the planet in apocalyptic blockbuster Independence Day, Jeff Goldblum’s character David knocks a trash can over in a drunken stupor. Not unrealistic in itself – a lot of us have been there – but in doing so, David accidentally breaks the fourth wall. How? Well, eagle-eyed viewers may well have spotted that the trash can in question is stamped with the term ‘Art Dept.’

Either Clarence is wrong in It’s A Wonderful Life, or the film’s props team can’t quite add up. In the festive classic, Henry Travers’ character tells George that his sibling, Harry, tragically passed away aged just nine. On Harry’s gravestone, though, we see that the boy was born in 1911 and died in 1919 – making him eight at the oldest. Oh dear.

It’s unlikely that one extra’s thirst was quenched during her scene in Legally Blonde. While the woman in question can be seen “drinking” from the water fountain in front of Reese Witherspoon’s character Elle, nothing is actually coming out of the nozzle. She’s essentially just breathing with her mouth open, which is not a good look.

They say it’s easy to play dead on camera, but tell that to the poor man used as a makeshift human shield by Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall. Every time a pretend round of ammunition hits the supposed corpse to simulate a bullet strike, the unfortunate extra can’t help but grimace in pain.

We’d quite like to buy the kind of popcorn that Damian and Janis snack on in classic teen comedy Mean Girls. Although the pair end up spilling their corn all over the place when they are accidentally spooked by Cady, their bowl is once again full in the very next shot. Bottomless snacks? Sign us up!

The red van being driven by Bill Paxton’s storm chaser in Twister proves to be far more hurricane-proof than anyone could imagine. At one moment, the vehicle’s windshield is quite clearly smashed by some flying debris. Yet in the next shot, it’s somehow in one piece. If only this happened in real life...

The Hurt Locker may have broken ground as the first Best Picture Oscar winner to be directed by a woman, but it certainly isn’t without its glaring errors. In one particular scene, for example, two soldiers mention the video clip that an Iraqi is about to upload to YouTube. Impressive, as the video-sharing platform was only created in 2005 – a year after the war drama takes place.

The old saying goes that you should never work with animals or children, and Alfred Hitchcock discovered that to his cost while filming 1959’s North by Northwest. Just before a gunshot is fired in the cafeteria scene at Mount Rushmore, a young extra can be seen holding his hands over his ears. The theory is that the boy did so after having suffered through the loud sound in previous takes. In the film, though, it just looks as if he can somehow predict the future.

The imposing hedge maze that proves to be Jack’s downfall is an all-too-important part of The Shining. And as we see in several scenes throughout the movie, that maze should be found only a few footsteps away from the entrance of the spooky Overlook Hotel. Well, maybe it magically appeared out of the blue. During the swooping exterior shots at the start of Stanley Kubrick’s classic, those hedges are initially nowhere to be seen.

The whole point of the bad guys in The Mummy is that they’ve come back from the dead, right? And when you’re dead, it’s not very likely you’d have a pulse. Yet when Imhotep tries to resurrect his dead love, viewers can clearly see that Patricia Velasquez’s Anck-Su-Namun has a strong pulse in her neck. Perhaps she’s been faking for 2,000 years?

The poor extra who quite visibly hits his head while dressed up as a stormtrooper in A New Hope has gone down in Star Wars infamy. In fact, the incident is even referenced in a later chapter of the franchise when Jango Fett does the same in 2002’s Attack of the Clones. And George Lucas has suggested that this particular type of clumsiness is a natural stormtrooper trait. Even so, we’re not sure we’d like our very visible mishap to be remembered more than 40 years on...

Historical movies probably give continuity workers more headaches than any other genre. Get just one prop a year out of date, and Twitter will come out in force to tell you. But there are some anachronistic items you would think would be easy to spot – like a gas canister, for example. Well, the folks behind the scenes on Gladiator – which, remember, is set in 180 A.D. – didn’t see that very modern item toppling out of a fallen chariot. And, naturally, the internet is here to let them know about their mistake.

The 2004 epic Troy is set even further back in time than Gladiator – in the late 12th century B.C., to be precise. And its anachronistic error is even more glaring. During one particular shot with Brad Pitt’s leading man, an entirely out-of-place object can be seen hovering above in the clear blue sky behind him. Is it a bird? No. Is it a plane? Much to the embarrassment of the movie’s makers, yes.

It’s not quite clear why a cowboy hat can be seen in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’s closing scene. Not only does the headwear seem hopelessly out of place in such a seafaring adventure, but it also seems an odd choice of attire for the crew member who presumably walked into the shot by mistake. Sadly, the blooper has yet to inspire a Pirates vs. Cowboys spin-off, although we’d definitely give that a watch.

Not to be confused with the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence vehicle from the mid-1990s, Bad Boys is only really notable for two things. One is the first leading role for future Oscar winner Sean Penn. The second is perhaps one of cinema’s all-time greatest blunders. During one particular fight scene in the 1983 coming-of-age flick, the camera pans round to the baying audience. Unfortunately, this crowd just happens to include another guy filming from the other side – and he’s pretty visible, too, as he’s right in the front row.

The harsher critics among us may argue that some of Robert De Niro’s latter-day performances could just as well have come from a mannequin. But in Martin Scorsese’s Casino, viewers see the star literally replaced by one of those dummies. Although we witness De Niro’s character Ace get into a car, it’s crystal clear that the figure sitting in the driving seat just a second before it explodes isn’t of the human variety.

“It looked like something from Alien,” Sienna Miller once joked about the plastic baby that briefly turns American Sniper into an unintentional comedy. According to screenwriter Jason Hall, the cast and crew were forced to improvise the offending scene with a doll when the intended real human baby came down with a fever. But neither Bradley Cooper, who was holding the toy, nor the camera crew could hide this fact, and it raises a chuckle in a movie that’s understandably lacking in laughs.

Grease may be best known for its impossibly infectious songs, leather jackets and blatantly adult cast posing as high-school teens. But it’s also responsible for a blooper that suggests the local soda shop waitress possesses magic powers. As the lady in question walks down the stairs with her hands full, she attempts to switch off the lights with her elbow. And despite missing her target by a good six inches, she’s still miraculously able to dim the room. That’s even better than installing a Clapper.

There are also some magical goings-on in one of the most famous scenes from the much-loved Clueless. During Cher’s disastrous driving test, the high school socialite sends her side-view mirror flying off when she bumps into a stationary vehicle. When we see her still causing chaos on the roads in the next scene, though, said mirror has miraculously reappeared.

Either Kirk Baltz’s Marvin Nash is some kind of aspiring escapologist, or Quentin Tarantino failed to spot this glaring error in his directorial debut. In one particular Reservoir Dogs scene, the kidnapped policeman lies on the ground after having been handcuffed from the back. But when Mr. Blonde gets Nash ready for the film’s famously gruesome torture scene by moving him onto a chair, those handcuffs are mysteriously to the cop’s front.

Quentin Tarantino’s iconic follow-up to Reservoir Dogs also features a famous blooper during one of its most violent scenes. After delivering his biblical speech in Pulp Fiction, Samuel L. Jackson’s Jules is shot at along with his partner-in-crime, John Travolta’s Vincent. And, miraculously, the surprise assailant misses his targets, leaving the two hitmen to gun the guy down. Jules then talks of “divine intervention” as he inspects the wall that the bullets flew through. But those holes were already in place before any shots were fired. Perhaps the dead dude just got super lucky?

Drew Barrymore obviously found it difficult to separate character from actor while filming 2000 box office hit Charlie’s Angels. In one of the film’s more action-packed sequences, Barrymore’s Dylan and Lucy Liu’s Alex go up against Crispin Glover’s creepy villain. But when the former child actress attempts to swing her co-star around to pull off a cool move, she is obviously shouting “Lucy” rather than “Alex.”

Turns out that Johnny Castle’s skills extend beyond performing in the 1980s classic Dirty Dancing. As well as sweeping Jennifer Grey’s Baby off her feet in the retro romance, Patrick Swayze’s leading man can also defy the mechanics of driving. Yes, in one particular scene, Johnny can be seen hitting the road in his 1957 Chevy even though the vehicle’s gearshift is clearly in the park position. And we thought that we couldn’t possibly love him any more...

The Ace Ventura sequel was rush-released into theaters just a year after the original, and that perhaps explains one particular bit of sloppy continuity. The terrible blooper occurs in the scene where Jim Carrey’s pet detective begins exposing the man who hired him. At that moment, Simon Callow’s villainous Vincent Cadby sits in front of a fully equipped chessboard. But the chess pieces go on to disappear completely and return just as quickly from one cut to the next. What a blunder.

Taylor Vaughan appears to have been conned by her tattoo artist in She’s All That. Jodi Lyn O’Keefe’s narcissistic high schooler, who dumps Freddie Prinze Jr.’s jock in the popular teen movie, can clearly be seen getting a heart inked on her shoulder in one scene. But when she attends the prom in her backless dress, the tattoo is nowhere to be found. Maybe it was just a super-quick laser removal job?

She’s All That isn’t the only 1999 teen movie to feature a very basic continuity mistake. In 10 Things I Hate About You, a student is seen running in the background to get help when the school’s gym teacher accidentally gets shot by an arrow. But she doesn’t make it very far. Once the extra thinks she’s out of shot, she simply stops dead in her tracks and looks directly toward the lens.

It’s cruel to laugh at a child getting accidentally hit in the face – in theory, anyway. But it’s hard not to raise at least a smile after watching a poor little girl bravely take a blow in Willy Wonka. The youngster is struck during the “Candy Man” song when sweet shop owner Bill lifts the counter. Ever the pro, though, the girl barely flinches and continues with the scene.

Hitch’s almighty allergic reaction to seafood is one of the moments you’ll most certainly remember from the 2005 rom-com. If you’ve never seen the flick, all you need to know is that the main character sees the entire right side of his face dramatically swell up during a date with Eva Mendes’ gossip columnist. But as it turns out, this is no ordinary medical condition. You see, later on that same night, the puffiness has magically switched to the opposite side. Can any doctors in the house explain this?

Jennifer Lopez has referred to Anaconda as “sooo campy” – but others have called it simply, well, bad. (And that’s putting it nicely!) But however you feel about the movie, you can’t deny that J.Lo’s tank top is something special. Take a closer look at the scene where Lopez’s character tries to save a guy from a snake attack. Even though J.Lo has just got out of the ocean, her tank top is only wet on the front. Pretty incredible, right?