# Why do movies take months to film, leading to odd continuity errors?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-movies-take-months-to-film-leading-to-odd-continuity-errors/588442>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 9, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-movies-take-months-to-film-leading-to-odd-continuity-errors/588442 "2011-07-09T20:44:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-movies-take-months-to-film-leading-to-odd-continuity-errors/588442/41 "2011-07-13T20:12:11Z")

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> [@ITR\_champion](#):
>
> John Ford (_The Grapes of Wrath_, _How Green was my Valley_) was a director who preferred to do only one take on each scene, unless something went wrong in a major way during that take, in which case he might do a second.

That explains the shot the begins the climax of _The Quiet Man_. Victor McLaglen lands a haymaker to John Wayne’s jaw knocking off Duke’s cap _and toupee_!

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**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-movies-take-months-to-film-leading-to-odd-continuity-errors/588442/42 "2011-07-13T20:19:29Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Clint Eastwood is pretty well known for being very efficient as a Director. I just checked **Gran Torino** , and it says filming took 33 days, and was scheduled for 35 days.

And it shows!

> [@guizot](#):
>
> Those little errors you mention are definitely not unnoticed. They’re just not worth the expense of correcting, if they don’t really detract from the over-all cut–and they provide people like you with something to talk about. 🙂

Well, they certainly were unnoticed when they were filmed, or they would have been corrected then. They may have been noticed during film reviews and post production and argued against, but they slipped by at least one level they day of filming.

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**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-movies-take-months-to-film-leading-to-odd-continuity-errors/588442/44 "2015-06-25T17:44:23Z")

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In the years since this was thread was created, we have shows like House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Daredevil etc, where a whole season is released at once.

How are those shot? More like a very long film, or like episodic television?

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