# Mistakes kept in movies/tv shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147 "2019-03-14T20:23:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/1 "2019-03-14T20:23:30Z")
I’ve been thinking lately about subtle mistakes that are kept in scenes. Somebody might nearly (or completely) drop something that they are supposed to catch, or almost knock over a prop, or slightly flub a line and then correct it, all actions that a person easily could do but almost certainly weren’t planned parts of the shot. For instance, just now (and triggering me to write the post) I had Sanford and Son playing in the background and Sanford said “[just stand like you–just act like you](https://youtu.be/Vx0VL10_Wwo?t=317).” Obviously the line was flubbed and corrected, but they left it anyway, because it sounded sorta plausible as an in-character stumble. (Later in the same episode he says “You mean you drank that beer I gave you just gave you”, which sounds much less plausible.) There are many examples that I notice in the moment but can’t recall now, but one that does come to mind is from an episode of I Am Frankie–a waiter walks through a restaurant carrying a tray, audibly bumps against a table, and the table judders in a way that shows that the top isn’t fastened to the base (and would probably have fallen apart if jolted much harder) causing two or three of the main cast members to twitch or quickly glance around to see what was happening. It is obvious that nothing in that moment was supposed to happen, but it stayed in anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/2 "2019-03-14T20:31:35Z")
A crewmember dropped a tool during Special Agent Starling’s final face-to-face meeting with Dr. Lecter in _The Silence of the Lambs_; you can just barely hear it off-camera. Jodie Foster, in closeup, kept going, and that’s the take that ended up in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/3 "2019-03-14T20:47:28Z")
There is the infamous [stormtrooper bumping his head on the door](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBQaLuqwtl8) in _Star Wars A New Hope_ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/4 "2019-03-14T20:56:26Z")
Live TV was full of these, because – well, you couldn’t edit them out. It was _Live_. You can find lists of these online, but it wasn’t just the 1950s. One that I fondly remember is when Saturday Night Live broadcast from New Orleans in February of 1977 so they could do Mardi Gras. The Mardi Gras parade was supposed to pass by underneath the broadcast booth, but came nowhere near it because of an accident. ““Mardi Gras” is French for “no Parade,”” ad-libbed Jane Curtin. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/5 "2019-03-14T21:09:58Z")
[General Ripper tripping!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKMPeerDv-c) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/6 "2019-03-14T21:24:14Z")
Relevant TV Tropes page: [Throw It In!](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThrowItIn) ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/7 "2019-03-14T21:27:52Z")
In 30 Rocks second live show (again yes its live) they inexplicably have Jane doing Dusty Springfield with a Southern accent. During the west coast showing, Jane correctly does the English accent. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/8 "2019-03-14T21:29:02Z")
When Aragorn kicked a helmet after finding out Merry and Pippen were possibly killed the yell was real. He broke his foot. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/9 "2019-03-14T21:32:58Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Live TV was full of these, because – well, you couldn’t edit them out. It was _Live_. > > You can find lists of these online, but it wasn’t just the 1950s. > > One that I fondly remember is when Saturday Night Live broadcast from New Orleans in February of 1977 so they could do Mardi Gras. The Mardi Gras parade was supposed to pass by underneath the broadcast booth, but came nowhere near it because of an accident. > > ““Mardi Gras” is French for “no Parade,”” ad-libbed Jane Curtin. Remember when John Belushi’s Samurai character gashed Buck Henry across the forehead with his sword? An inch or two lower and Henry would have lost an eye. :eek: Henry said later that he shouldn’t have turned away from the camera instinctively: he should have walked right over to it and shown that it was really LIVE TV. Even bloodshed could happen. * * * One of my favorite podcasts, Hollywood Babble-On with Kevin Smith and Ralph Garmen, have a regular segment called “Shit That Should Not Be,” dedicated to mistakes that, in spite of the hundreds of people who review and edit films before release, make it to the big screen. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/10 "2019-03-14T21:33:25Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > A crewmember dropped a tool during Special Agent Starling’s final face-to-face meeting with Dr. Lecter in _The Silence of the Lambs_; you can just barely hear it off-camera. Jodie Foster, in closeup, kept going, and that’s the take that ended up in the movie. That reminds me of a moment from a live performance of Les Miserables (that was released on DVD.) Note what happens just at [the time I’ve cued up](https://youtu.be/ZG-gojr493E?t=2474). ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/11 "2019-03-14T21:36:33Z")
My favorite is “Killer Bob” from Twin Peaks. While editing an episode, director David Lynch realized that set decorator Frank Silva could be seen in one of the scenes. Instead of using another take, he went to Silva and asked him if he could act. And wrote a whole new (and relevant) character based on that accident. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/12 "2019-03-14T21:43:44Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Live TV was full of these, because – well, you couldn’t edit them out. It was _Live_. I’ll go with live TV also. In my flawed memory, I have seen film of this live TV moment from 1960’s/70’s British Cop Show, **Z-Cars** (description quoted from [Z Cars (TV Series 1962–1978) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0129723/)) _Goofs Whilst taping ‘moving vehicle’ shots in studio, as technology was nowhere near as advanced as it is currently, it was so much simpler to use a ‘stripped’ version of the vehicles involved. Many such were missing their entire front ends and windscreens to facilitate both filming and sound recording. Continuous film was played on the screen behind, to give the impression that the vehicle was actually on the move during recording. Immediately after one such shot, actor Brian Blessed (PC ‘Fancy’ Smith) stepped out of the Z-car, and, having left his cap on the dashboard, reached in through the vacant windscreen space to retrieve it. Blessed himself spoke of this during a talk show some years later, but apparently neither the film crew nor the director noticed._ As I said, flawed memory - maybe I imagined seeing it. I’ll see if I can find video evidence. j ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/13 "2019-03-14T22:00:14Z")
Thought of another one–in the [_Andy Griffith_ episode _The Mayberry Band_](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6dupn5), it sure looks more like the actor is trying not to laugh and not the character. (Starting around 16:45.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/14 "2019-03-14T23:06:35Z")
Leo DiCaprio in _ **Django Unchained** _ really bashed his hand during the dining room scene. Tarantino kept the camera rolling even though DiCaprio was bleeding profusely. Do continuity errors count? In _ **TOS** _’s “Charlie X,” Kirk is wearing his standard collared tunic when he and Charlie Evans get on the turbo-lift. When they arrive on the bridge seconds later, Kirk is in one of his braided wraparounds. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/15 "2019-03-15T00:20:33Z")
Here are two more in Twin Peaks. 1. The light flickering was not intended, but was left in. 2. At 26 seconds, Cooper asks the Morgue Attendant to leave. He didn’t hear him and thought his name was being asked, so he gave his real name. “Uh, Jim.” Cooper repeats the line and he hears him and leaves. All was unintentional, but felt real so it was kept. [Twin Peaks mistakes.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rIQYShuZLw) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/16 "2019-03-15T00:49:37Z")
Another famous one was the striptease scene in True Lies. It was meant to only be a sexy scene but when Jamie Lee Curtis fell and then recovered in character it became sexy, awkward and funny at the same time. Cameron left it in and it changed the entire feel of the character and the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/17 "2019-03-15T01:27:18Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > [General Ripper tripping!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKMPeerDv-c) Nitpick, George C. Scott was Gen. Buck Turgidson. However, that reminds me of something else in “Dr. Strangelove” that wasn’t intended but got left in. In the scene in Gen. Ripper’s office when Ripper is setting up his machine gun and wants Mandrake to feed him the ammo belt, Peter Sellers forgot his line and started ad-libbing the “string in my leg is gone” bit. Sterling Hayden, caught off guard, can be heard saying “The _what?_” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/18 "2019-03-15T01:47:21Z")
In _ **No Way Out** _, Kevin Costner started ad-libbing while he was undressing Sean Young in the back of their limousine, as though he was talking to the chauffeur. Not only did they keep his improvisation in the film, they shot additional footage of the chauffeur from Costner’s POV and inserted it at the appropriate moments. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/19 "2019-03-15T03:08:16Z")
In Zoolander, in a scene with Duchovny, Stiller forgot his line so repeated his last line “But why male models?” Duchovny stayed in character and just went off on him, and that take was used. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147/20 "2019-03-15T09:42:56Z")
Due to _Dark Shadows_ limited budget they were very reluctant to do retakes. My personal favorite is where Roger accidentally mispronounced ancestors as “incestors”. It actually kind of made sense since the same actors played the ancestors and the descendents.:eek: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-kept-in-movies-tv-shows/831147.md?page=2)