Every time I rent a movie I watch it through once and then go to IMDB to check for the “Goofs”, the list of mistakes found in the film, then try to spot them on the second viewing. Many of these mistakes are trivial (i.e. length of cigarette goes from short to long or lit/unlit throughout the scene) and would only be spotted by keen observers, but some errors are glaringly obvious. It seems that no movie, whether it be a major blockbuster or a total bomb, is immune from such errors.
What I would like to know is: which movies have the fewest errors listed (I realize newer and less popular movies are not as likely to have as many errors listed, so let’s aim for movies that have been released for some time and are fairly well-known) and which movies have the most errors listed? Are there any movies where you have spotted an error that isn’t listed on the goofs? Most of all, I have to wonder why so many movies are prone to such errors? Do movie producers and directors have people who try to catch such errors before they make it into final production, or is the art of movie-making so complex and difficult to coordinate in terms of assuring continuity that errors are going to be inevitable?
Probably both. There are continuity people whose job it is to keep track of the details, but no matter how thorough they are it’s inevitable, absent a filming scheme along the lines of Rope (shot all in a series of single takes with only enough edits to join the takes together) that the movie isn’t going to be seamless. There’s always going to be someone who doesn’t place his hand at exactly the same angle on each take, always going to be a prop that doesn’t make it back to exactly the same spot, etc.
And I see on IMDB that even Rope wasn’t immune from goofs.
According to Slipups, these are the movies with the most errors.
The Matrix - 135
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me - 98
Titanic - 95
The Wizard of Oz - 91
Jurassic Park - 88
Star Wars Episode 4 - 85
Episode 6 - 65
Gladiator - 64
I haven’t read all the errors listed so I am sure there are some duplicates but the figures are probably fairly close.
I spotted an error that’s not listed on IMDB’s page, and it bugs me every time I see the movie.
In Jaws, the two guys are on the end of the pier fishing for the shark with an Easter ham, I think. The shark takes the bait and pulls a long length of chain out to sea, then the end of the pier breaks away since the chain is tethered to it. Then they see the pier begin to turn, and speed back toward them.
The one guy is frantically trying to scramble back onto the pier as the broken portion of the pier races toward them. But considering how much chain was played out between the shark and the broken section of pier, the shark would have been way up the beach by the time the broken section of pier got that close to them.
Hmm. The only one I noticed in Gladiator was an early scene with Maximus visiting his horses, and there’s a crewmember in blue jeans in the background. And I only saw that because I’d heard about it somewhere.
Not very observant, I guess.
To add to what Otto said, movie making is a very non-linear process. What looks like a simple scene may involve three days of shooting, with every change in camera angle (like cutting between two people in a conversation) being shot on a different day. It’s possible those people never even were on the set at the same time.
Sets can also be largely digital nowadays, even parts you wouldn’t expect, because it can be cheaper to add that stuff digitally than actually build it.
There’s also the issue of reshoots, where parts of a scene may be reshot months later, due to film processing erros, changes in the script, director’s priviledge, or bad test screens. In that time, actors can lose weight/cut their hair/get a tan, or props may have been lost or destroyed. Sets might even have to be recreated.
There’s plenty of reasons why errors sneak in. Heck, it’s kinda amazing that there aren’ many more.
Generally, those are extremely popular movies with fans who watch them multiple times and scrutinize them closely, which is why such a large number of goofs are listed in IMDB.
I know there’s a goof in “Back to the Future” that isn’t listed. I just checked. Also the “Twin pines” error near the end isn’t actually an error so even the IMDb is incomplete.
Note that these aren’t necessarily the movies with the most goofs, but rather movies that are popular enough to inspire multiple viewings and have fan bases that would nitpick. Pretty Woman, Sound of Music, the Wedding Planner, etc, would not have as many people looking for these things.
You have to be pretty well-versed in Roman history to pick up on a lot of the goofs MDB for example lists for Gladiator. The casual movie-goer isn’t going to know that the subtractive convention for Roman numerals wasn’t in place in 180 AD or what battle formations they used. We’ve had threads before where people have said that sort of obsessive nit-pickery is ludicrous, and threads where people have said that failing to have that level of detail totally pulls them out of a movie.
