# Movie Goofs Thread - One Per Post **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594 "2012-12-10T13:42:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/61 "2012-12-11T14:38:26Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Diamonds are Forever, the car chase scene. The Mustang encounters a narrow alley, so the driver puts in up on two wheels with the driver’s side (left) down. > The car is then seen leaving the alley with the passenger’s (right) side down. > Oops. I have also read that it was possibly a deliberate joke. Which this can’t be. In one of the Highlander films McLeod arrives at Newark airport and you can clearly see a sign saying _Bienvenu à Montréal_ on the wall. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/62 "2012-12-11T15:41:48Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Diamonds are Forever, the car chase scene. The Mustang encounters a narrow alley, so the driver puts in up on two wheels with the driver’s side (left) down. > The car is then seen leaving the alley with the passenger’s (right) side down. > Oops. > [@Floater](#): > > I have also read that it was possibly a deliberate joke. The James Bond episode of “Top Gear” shed light on this. The exit was shot first and someone discovered that the entrance wasn’t shot until production moved to England. Guy Hamilton wasn’t available for the entrance shoot and whoever was in charge just set it up wrong. Nobody noticed until the editing was finished. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/63 "2012-12-11T16:26:19Z")
Just watched [Down in the Valley](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398027/) the other day, and Edward Norton’s facial hair probably could have been paid a little closer attention, especially toward the end of the film. Norton’s character and his “hostage” are on the lam, just had a shootout in the woods in the middle of the night, then ran off into the dark, not apparently being followed by the wounded pursuers. Norton had a handlebar moustache at this point. Next we are shown: Norton wakes up in an abandoned building the next day and is clean-shaven! ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/64 "2012-12-11T16:32:50Z")
I love in Geena Davis’s “The Long Kiss Goodnight” when they’re walking along the street in “New Jersey” and you can clearly see the very unique Honest Ed’s sign in Toronto behind them. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/65 "2012-12-11T16:41:44Z")
Am I crazy, or did anyone else notice in _Skyfall_ that Bond’s chest scar, from getting shot in the opening sequence, either moves around on his chest, or is non-existent? I think there’s a scene in the Turkish beach resort where he takes his shirt off and there’s either no scar or it’s on the wrong side of his chest. Whether the goof actually exists or not, my GF and I remember being really bugged by it in the theater. ---
**Author:** ![chargerrich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chargerrich/32/5399_2.png) [@chargerrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chargerrich)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/66 "2012-12-11T16:57:46Z")
If you watch any episode of the Brady Bunch you will notice that whenever the famous screen door to the backyard is opened it never has glass, it is just the frame! The cameras of the day would show the glare/reflection and therefore all glass had to be removed (same effect in scenes where the camera is supposed to be looking through a car window. I only know this because Grandma has my 2 year old hooked on the Bunch and I have been watching Waaaaaaay too much of that show lately! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/67 "2012-12-11T17:56:32Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’ve not seen the movie, but it’s possible he was headed to Canada for induction/flight training (assuming he was still in the continental United States, and not Hawaii), or simply to his POE for the sea voyage to Britain (or Canada). > > The US volunteers who served in the RAF prior to America’s entering the war were known as the Eagle Squadron, BTW. The British were glad to have them, along with the Czechs, Poles, French, Norwegians, etc., who also volunteered in 1939–40. And just yesterday, I took a train to the airport. (A MARTA train, to the ATL airport.) ---
**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:** [December 11, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/68 "2012-12-11T17:57:09Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Also in The Untouchables, when the camera is slowly closing in on the car that Nitti has landed on (and in), you can see the shadow and reflection of the camera crew and rig. It’s not obvious, but you can’t unsee it. In the episode of “Murder, She Wrote” set in Moscow in the dead of winter, a limo pulls up with its rear window open; after the guy in the back seat finishes conferring with his colleague in the street, the window goes up and we clearly see the reflection of the camera and crew about four feet away. It is REALLY, REALLY obvious (at first, I thought they had done it deliberately for some reason)! ---
**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:** [December 11, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/69 "2012-12-11T18:05:03Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I love in Geena Davis’s “The Long Kiss Goodnight” when they’re walking along the street in “New Jersey” and you can clearly see the very unique Honest Ed’s sign in Toronto behind them. In one of the _Naked Gun_ movies (the first, I think), they’re supposed to be in Washington, DC, and the outdoor scenes regularly show palm trees and the like; in the big shootout on the roof of the hotel, there’s a huge sign in the background that says “VAN NUYS WAREHOUSE.” Granted, _Naked Gun_ was supposed to be farcical, but still… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/70 "2012-12-11T18:16:15Z")
> [@Corcaigh](#): > > Years ago I went to the cinema to see some dreadful courtroom drama which Harrison Ford was in - I forget the name of it - anyhoos at some point there’s the customary scene where they come out of the court and a flock of journalists rush over to get a quote. One of them is holding up a tape recorder _that doesn’t have a tape in it!!!_ The film was **Presumed Innocent** (1990). I remember seeing that in the theater and it immediately jumped out at me because I owned the same model microcassette recorder. My all-time favorite is from the final fight scene in **Bad Boys** (the 1983 film with Sean Penn and Esai Morales). [Here’s a clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg-25UoekkM) (details in spoiler). The cameraman shooting the fight from the opposite angle is plainly visible in the frame. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/71 "2012-12-11T18:43:31Z")
> [@chargerrich](#): > > If you watch any episode of the Brady Bunch you will notice that whenever the famous screen door to the backyard is opened it never has glass, it is just the frame! But that’s not a goof, just “movie magic”. I can’t recall the name of the movie where I saw a boom mike appear in the top of the screen. Some big historical pic. The scene was set around a breakfast table or something, and the boom mike drops into frame. I was trying to figure out if they were having someone film them at home for some tv special or something, before I realized it wasn’t supposed to be there. Really jarring. I think the picture was slightly misframed on the theater screen, sitting a bit low. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/72 "2012-12-11T18:54:57Z")
Roger Ebert has discussed boom mikes in his column many times. The reason they appear sometimes in movie theaters is that the projectionist didn’t frame the film correctly. The overall image is larger than what’s intended to be shown and the projectionist is expected to cut off the extra. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/73 "2012-12-11T18:55:35Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > But that’s not a goof, just “movie magic”. > > I can’t recall the name of the movie where I saw a boom mike appear in the top of the screen. Some big historical pic. The scene was set around a breakfast table or something, and the boom mike drops into frame. I was trying to figure out if they were having someone film them at home for some tv special or something, before I realized it wasn’t supposed to be there. Really jarring. I think the picture was slightly misframed on the theater screen, sitting a bit low. Ebert would write about that in his Answer Man column every few months. What happens is the movie is not properly framed at the theater. There’s a space all around the screen that is not supposed to be seen by the viewer. I remember seeing this happen in the Karate Kid once and wondering how the heck that got in there and then never seeing it again on subsequent viewings. ---
**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:** [December 11, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/74 "2012-12-11T19:00:22Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I can’t recall the name of the movie where I saw a boom mike appear in the top of the screen. Some big historical pic. The scene was set around a breakfast table or something, and the boom mike drops into frame. I was trying to figure out if they were having someone film them at home for some tv special or something, before I realized it wasn’t supposed to be there. Really jarring. The same thing happened in _Silence of the Lambs_ (at the start of the elevator scene) and _Married to the Mob_ (when Michele Pfeiffer was sunbathing on her patio). I saw these in cinemas in Czechoslovakia and Russia, respectively, so it’s possible they were cheap prints cobbled together from outtakes for overseas distribution, but the effect was still (as you say) jarring! (_Were_ the prints shown in the US and elsewhere any different? To this day, I still don’t know!) EDIT: Just read the above posts; sounds like my question is answered! ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/75 "2012-12-11T19:04:57Z")
I don’t know if this counts as a goof, but _Rumble in the Bronx_ was actually filmed in Vancouver, and in several scenes you can see lovely picturesque mountains in the background. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/76 "2012-12-11T19:07:11Z")
In Jackie Chan’s “Rumble in the Bronx” - he gives the kid a Game Boy type game (I think it was Sega’s version) - the kid immediately starts playing it, but there is no game cartridge in it. ---
**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:** [December 11, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/77 "2012-12-11T19:09:38Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > In several scenes you can see lovely picturesque mountains in the background. Just like the streets of London in the first _Austin Powers_ movie! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/78 "2012-12-11T19:19:31Z")
> [@Spiff](#): > > And just yesterday, I took a train to the airport. (A MARTA train, to the ATL airport.) Not saying it can’t be done, but in a movie where a person is going from NYC to London it makes better sense to have your tearful going-away scene set on a piece of transportation that will actually get one there… ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/79 "2012-12-11T19:25:41Z")
The _Transformers_ movies can fill the universe with lists of bloopers, but my favorite involved the second movie, when Shia and Megan run into the Smithsonian Air and Space museum in downtown Washington (some argue it’s another museum in Manassas, but the problem remains the same.) They meet with another transformer, then all hell breaks loose whereupon Shia and Megan run out of the Smithsonian… … to find themselves in an airplane graveyard, over a thousand miles away. No city, just plains with mountains in the background. Truly… WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594/80 "2012-12-11T20:13:12Z")
The big battle at the start of _Gladiator_. The headless horseman is using stirrups, which were not in use at that time by Romans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-goofs-thread-one-per-post/643594.md?page=5)