Best movie deliberate mistakes of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Dunkirk picture Dunkirk mistake picture Video

Deliberate mistake: The Messerschmitts have painted yellow fronts, this wasn't done by the Germans until after Dunkirk. Christopher Nolan has admitted doing this deliberately so the audience could tell the difference between the Spitfire and the Messerschmitt during the combat scenes.

More Dunkirk deliberate mistakes
Top Gun: Maverick picture

Deliberate mistake: During the scenes where Maverick is flying the Darkstar spy plane, his helmet is lit up on the inside, so we can see his face. In reality the light would be reflecting off the plexiglass, meaning we would not be able to see his face, and he would not be able to see at all.

Movie Medic

More Top Gun: Maverick deliberate mistakes
Men in Black II picture Men in Black II mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: When MIB agents exit the lift to get into the main hall of the MIB Office, the lift opens halfway up the wall and they need to go down a little platform. But when K and J return during the lockdown and face the trashcan with guns, the lift opens at floor level, so it can be conveniently peppered with bullets. (01:02:05)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The building is in lockdown so it is no surprise that the lift is changed to a less flamboyant version. Even in the first scene, there are some doors there.

More Men in Black II deliberate mistakes
Cube picture

Deliberate mistake: Leaven spends too much time thinking about if 645 and 372 are prime numbers to be believable. But she knows the factors of 649 and the result of 26 to the power of 3 almost immediately. Plus anyone with any maths knowledge whatsoever would know that any even number (or one divisible by 5) can't be prime, so 645 and 372 could be dismissed without even thinking about it.

More Cube deliberate mistakes
Charlie's Angels picture

Deliberate mistake: When the girls all order their food at the drive through they get their food but never pay. (00:17:15)

More Charlie's Angels deliberate mistakes
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring picture

Deliberate mistake: At the beginning of the Fellowship's journey, they are resting on a hilltop (Hollin) with rocky formations. Bill the pony is tethered in the background in one shot. Then come the spying crows from Saruman and they all quickly hide. When the crows swoop in closer we see no-one, but who hid the pony and where? (01:37:45)

More The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring deliberate mistakes
Nobody picture

Deliberate mistake: After the car crashes into the light pole and flips over. The top light is still functioning even though it's nowhere near the original spot.

Movie Medic

More Nobody deliberate mistakes
Fast & Furious 8 picture

Deliberate mistake: The coordinates listed for Hobbs' soccer game (34.1381N, 118.3534W) at the beginning are not actually a wooded suburban area with a recreational field, but are in fact the longitude and latitude for the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park in Los Angeles. (00:15:20)

Vader47000

More Fast & Furious 8 deliberate mistakes
The Matrix Reloaded picture The Matrix Reloaded mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: When Morpheus is facing the twins' car, the road's not all that wide, and there are concrete barriers both sides of him. After he rolls to the side and slices their car, we see a side shot, quite far back from the road, and the barrier closest to the camera has disappeared (presumably so we get a better view). In a closer view, both barriers are back again. (01:29:25)

More The Matrix Reloaded deliberate mistakes
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial picture E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: When Elliott and ET are on the bike heading to the forest on Halloween night, ET is covered with the white sheet, but in the closeup of ET's face right before the bike flies he's covered with the white blanket (note the material), which is from the scene later in the movie.

Super Grover

More E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial deliberate mistakes
Uncharted picture

Deliberate mistake: The baddies somehow manage to place the net under the two humongous ships by simply digging with their shovels in a matter of minutes, when they would need a bulldozer and several hours instead.

Sacha

More Uncharted deliberate mistakes
Fury picture

Deliberate mistake: "Fury" director David Ayer acknowledges that he committed a deliberate error by having the German Tiger tank blast the last Sherman in the column, tank doctrine being that the lead vehicle in a column gets blasted, then the last to stall the column, leaving the vehicles in between the dead vehicles easy pickings. Ayer said if the doctrine was followed in the film, Brad Pitt's tank would have been destroyed first and thus the film would end, roll credits. (01:15:00)

Scott215

More Fury deliberate mistakes
Gladiator picture Gladiator mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: In the fight scene with the chariots Maximus takes one of the horses from a chariot and jumps on it. The horse already has a saddle complete with stirrups despite the fact it was pulling a chariot and not carrying a rider. (01:23:30)

More Gladiator deliberate mistakes
Toy Story 3 picture

Deliberate mistake: When the bear pulls Woody into the garbage bin after the other toys have crossed over, his hat is not pulled off when his body is squeezed under the lid when going down. (01:15:35)

Some_Old_Acct

More Toy Story 3 deliberate mistakes
The Island picture

Deliberate mistake: Gandu Three Echo, the clone who hits the screen showing the first lottery winner in the movie, complains that he has been around for 7 years and never won the lottery. However, McCord explains later in the movie that the last name tells how old the clones are. Lincoln Six Echo is 3 years old because he is in the Echo generation, and the Delta generation (Jordan Two Delta) is 4 years old. Going backwards, this would make Charlies 5 years old, Bravos 6 years old, and Alphas 7 years old. Gandu Three Echo should have really been Gandu Three Alpha. (00:05:55)

More The Island deliberate mistakes
Diamonds Are Forever picture Diamonds Are Forever mistake picture Video

Deliberate mistake: The famous car chase ends with Bond's car tipping up on its right wheels to fit through a pedestrian path. However, when it emerges the other side, it's tipped on its left wheels. When the car enters the alley, this was filmed in a studio. When the car exits the alley, this was filmed in Vegas. The first few times the exit was filmed, the car emerged on the correct wheels, but the shots were unusable because of the crowds in the background watching the filming. This shot was temporarily abandoned and eventually re-filmed with a different stunt driver who famously performed the stunt on the wrong wheels. Realising this, the producers filmed a somewhat clunky insert shot featuring a close-up of Sean Connery and Jill St John, which shows the car tip back onto four wheels and then up onto the opposite two wheels, even though the alleyway would be too narrow to manage this.

More Diamonds Are Forever deliberate mistakes
My Fair Lady picture

Deliberate mistake: When Eliza is about to be bathed, the mirror keeps turning around between shots to avoid reflecting the filming crew.

Sacha

More My Fair Lady deliberate mistakes
Titanic picture Titanic mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: In the scene at the start of the movie with the "authentic" piece of film, you can see a girl with a hat waving to the people at the ground. When the ship is leaving port in the film, she and others are in the same positions, only in reverse, because the first "authentic" shot is the same shot, only mirrored. (00:00:40 - 00:25:30)

More Titanic deliberate mistakes
High School Musical 3: Senior Year picture

Deliberate mistake: At graduation, after Troy is handed the diploma, in the overhead shot the graduates on the left and right stand-up from their seats, then turn and walk towards each other. All their seats simply disappear between shots. Obviously done deliberately for the dance sequence, but a mistake nonetheless.

Super Grover

More High School Musical 3: Senior Year deliberate mistakes
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban picture

Deliberate mistake: When Harry drops the Monster Book of Monsters, in the first shot facing Harry's feet as the book chomps at him, he runs backwards a few steps and he stands at the foot of the bed. However, in the shot facing the fireplace, there is actually plenty of floorspace now, much more than other shots, between the rug and bed for Harry to continue to run backwards. (00:15:15)

Super Grover

More Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban deliberate mistakes

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.