More ‘mis-takes’ in Hollywood movies

Thank heavens for friends like Edmund Silvestre, news editor of the New York-based The Filipino Reporter, who helps me provide a breather for Funfare readers with his interesting inputs like his never-ending list of "mis-takes" in Hollywood movies, culled from a book called Movie Mistakes by Jon Sandys (who must be such a highly observant movie addict for him to notice even the slightest "mistakes" that other not-so-keen moviegoers fail to spot).

Here are some of those "mistakes":

* BEN HUR – In the famous chariot race, keep an eye on the number of chariots. Nine are announced at the very beginning and then, in the course of the race, one crashes, then a second, then a third, two crash at a time, then one more crashes out, making six crashes in total. However, at the end of the race we see four chariots crossing the finish line – where did the spare one come from?

In the climactic moment of the chariot race, just after Ben-Hur delivers an ass-whipping to Marcellus, the wheel of the beaked chariot is pulled off and clearly disintegrates. Lo and behold, a split second later, when the same chariot is vaulted into the air, two intact wheels are clearly seen.

* ENTRAPMENT – In the scene where Catherine Zeta-Jones knocks out the crook with a vase and jumps into the car with Sean Connery, one of the bad guys jumps on to the car and sticks a knife through the roof, tearing it open. Yet when they park the car outside the hotel a few moments later the roof is in pristine condition.

* FATAL ATTRACTION – One scene, shot from profile, has Glenn Close in bed, and the sheet is down, exposing her breasts. The camera cuts to a frontal shot and the sheet is up around her neck. When it cuts back to profile, the sheet is down again.

When Michael Douglas puts on Glenn Close’s tape in the rental car, the radio is set at 97.1. When he removes the tape, it’s at 107.9.

* HOME ALONE – In the scene where Harry and Marv are in Kevin’s neighbor’s house, when Kevin’s dad calls, Harry picks up the phone to listen to the message, and the phone is on the hook. It shows him listening, then he calls out to Marv, and the camera looks at Marv, then when it returns to Harry, the phone is off the hook.

* JURASSIC PARK – Watch carefully the scene where the Raptors enter the kitchen (that angle where you can see almost the whole kitchen while the Raptors are coming in from the faraway door). As the first Raptor enters the kitchen, you can see someone grabbing its tail to hold the puppet-thing steady.

* TITANIC – In the scene where Jack enters the first-class door for the first time in his tux, if you look closely in the glass door you can see a cameraman behind him.

* PRETTY WOMAN – The morning after Julia Roberts’ first night at the hotel, room service brings breakfast. She is eating a croissant in one scene but in the next it’s a pancake, and the pancake goes from being half done to being a whole pancake again.

When they are sitting down with David and his dad in the important business meeting, they all get served ice cream in goblet-shaped dishes. The waiters take them away. When they stand up to leave, those dishes are still there.

* SPIDER-MAN 1 – When Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) first discovers he can climb up walls (while in normal clothing), he tests it out by climbing up a building in an alley. During this scene, you can see his clothes hanging out forwards, indicating that the scene was filmed with him crawling along the floor horizontally.

* WHEN HARRY MET SALLY – When they are in the museum and Harry says, "For the rest of the day, we are going to talk like this..." the last thing he says is ad libbed. "But I would be proud to partake of your pecan pie" is not in the script. You can see Meg Ryan look off-camera at the director and say, "Oh, no," but she continues speaking with him. It’s obvious that she wasn’t expecting it.

* CATCH ME IF YOU CAN – In the scene where Carl (Tom Hanks) comes to the engagement party to arrest Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio), it is so windy that, when the window to the bedroom is left open, money is flying around. However, in the shots of the party outside it is shown to be a calm night with no wind at all.

* DIRTY DANCING – When Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze leave the resort to go to practise balancing over the creek in the forest, it’s pouring rain when they’re leaving. However, when Johnny realizes that his keys are in the car, he goes over to knock the pipe out of the ground with his foot and it’s sunny over there, three feet away from the car.

* ENEMY OF THE STATE – In the scene where Gene Hackman is talking to Jon Voight, there are clear skies and it’s sunny. As soon as Gene starts running it’s raining.

* INDEPENDENCE DAY – When Will Smith is dragging the unconscious alien across the desert, the sky alternates between overcast and perfectly sunny depending on if it’s a close-up or far-off view of Will.

* THE SOUND OF MUSIC – In the opening scene, when the helicopter camera zooms in on Maria (Julie Andrews), it’s bright and sunny, but when it switches to a regular camera, the sky is suddenly cloudy.

* YOU’VE GOT MAIL – When Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are sitting at the outdoor café near the end of the movie, in a far away shot it’s windy, but up close it’s not.

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