Film / TV clangers

[Lennon]

What c*ck ups have you spotted in classic films, that really weren't supposed to be there!

[Hippy]

There are loads, Lennon, and there are some Web sites dedicated to this topic. However, that's not what you asked. The last one (no, two!!) were both on Network TV recently.

Independence Day has Jeff Goldblum ranting and raving in the secret government alien storage place. He gets drunk and goes on a rampage, during which he upends a large plastic dustbin. As this lands with its base to the camera we can see "Art Dept." written on the base in white paint. Of course there are many more silly things in that film, but I think most of them were intentional!

Get Carter is a gritty gangster film set in the seedy half criminal world of 1960s Newcastle upon Tyne. I'll not split hairs about some shots being in Gateshead but pretending to be Newcastle, but at he end Michael Cain meets his nemesis Iain Hendry and they have a cat and mouse chase on a coal stathe, a sort of wooden peir in the river with a railway track on the top for coal waggons to reach ships in the deep water. This stathe is on the south of the river near Swalwell, about 8 kilometres west of the centre of Newcastle. No problem so far, but they run (and run and run) to a beach at Seaham where an overhead cable car sends mining spoil into the sea. This is about 25 kilometres to the south east of Newcastle. Some distance to run, eh? It's a good story, though.

[Lennon]

I'm really bad at picking plot holes in films. Like in From Hell, the Jack the Ripper film. The first prostitute the Ripper kills is given a full uneral service, and buried with a load of mourners standing by and a priest - in 1888, if a prostitute died (or was murdered), they were thrown in a hold at best, only the rich could afford a funeral! And in Goodfellas, when Tommy kills Stacks - he shoots him 4 times, but they show it again in slow motion and he fires the gun 5 times. In the film Mermaids with Cher, there is one scene where they are sitting at the table in the kitchen, and all of a sudden a big microphone drops into view from above the table!

[sddsddean]

If you want to see loads of film ones, go to http://www.movie-mistakes.co.uk/ . However, I spotted 2 in the recent Hornblower. When hauling down a flag on board ship, it came down complete with radar reflector attached! Also, Admiral Pellew quoted from Kipling. A good trick, as Kipling wasn't born for about another 50 years!

[andjac]

I think there's a shot of a sports car in the chariot race in El Cid

[FordGranada1]

I like the clanger from 'Diamonds Are Forever' where a Ford Mustang drives up onto two wheels to go down a narrow alleyway, but emerges out the other side on the other two wheels. I also recall seeing a film called 'The Wrong Box' which I think was set in Victorian times, and some of the filming was done in front of a Royal Terrace (presumably Bath), but the rooftops were quite clearly filled with TV aerials.

[incitatus]

Lennon- you are misinformed re victorian burial practices. Paupers would be buried on the parish, which would mean a priest and a hired mourner, and a cheap coffin. Noone was thrown into a hole unless they had cholera. In point of fact the first ripper victim had a bit of a send off: Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols was buried on Thursday, 6 September, 1888. That afternoon, Polly was transported in a polished elm coffin to Mr Henry Smith, Hanbury Street undertaker. The cortege consisted of the hearse and two mourning coaches, which carried Edward Walker, William Nichols, and Edward John Nichols. Polly was buried at City of London Cemetery (Little Ilford) at Manor Park Cemetery, Sebert Road, Forest Gate, London, E12, (public) grave 210752 (on the edge of the current Memorial Garden). The funeral expenses were paid for by Edaward Walker (Polly's father), William Nichols (Polly's ex-husband), and Edward John Nichols (Polly's son).

[darth vader]

There were a shedload in Pulp Fiction but Tarantino tried to write them all off as being "intentional" - the one i spotted first time was the speech by the general to Butch as a little boy - one minute the watch says 12 noon, in the next shot it says 10 to 10 (or 20 to 4 - depends on whether it was upside down or not, i couldn't tell)

apparently there were a load in Spiderman and they WEREN'T intentional

[AllYourBase]

For more mistakes in movies I can recommend the website www.movie-mistakes.co.uk. It has a comprehensive list of old and new...

[quattro]

The most recent one I have seen was in Gangs of New York where they were plying snooker with those cheap pool cues with the white plastic tips on

[ab]

FordGranada1 Watch the film again and you will see the Mustang drop down onto all four wheels and then ride up onto the opposite set of wheels to emerge from the alley

[andy hughes]

My two faves are in the first 'Star Wars' film. The first is when a Death Star trooper is running through a corridor and bumps his head on an overhead pipe (I think) with an audible clang! The second is when Luke Skywalker lands his ship back after the battle scene, as he climbs out of his ship, he shouts to Princess Leia, but he calls "Carrie!" - the actress's real name, instead of her character's name.

[rogersaurus]

I must admit Andy, I've looked for this "Carrie" thing on Star Wars several times but can't spot it. I know the scene you and others refer to (very near the end of the film) but he just doesn't seem to say it. From movie-mistakes.com, "When Luke exits his X-Wing , just after the final battle with the Death Star, Leia rushes to greet him. However, after he's climbed out, she greets him with "Luke!", whereas he greets her with "Carrie!". This has been denied many times by George Lucas - it would have been very easy to dub over it, especially with the re-releases. He just shouts "Hey!", and it sounds a bit like "Carrie!"" (end quote) I think it's probably a myth just like all the things that were supposed to have happened in Ben-Hur but didn't.