Best movie deliberate mistakes of all time

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Lucky Number Slevin picture

Deliberate mistake: In the parking lot at the horse track, the old cars are so huge, they don't fit properly in the tiny modern spaces. They are hanging over the backs of the spaces so badly that the drivers would only have about two feet to try and get their enormous cars out of the spaces.

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The Maze Runner picture

Deliberate mistake: Despite taking place for at least three years (prior to the arrival of Thomas) in an isolated post-apocalyptic setting, the boys in the Glade have professional looking hairstyles, not the least of which are Minho and Gally, who both have short hairstyles that look evenly cut and professionally maintained.

Phaneron

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Galaxy Quest picture

Deliberate mistake: When Commander Taggert and Lt. Madison are about to press the blue button to stop the ship exploding, Lt. Madison's tunic is mostly zipped up. A few seconds later it is suddenly mostly unzipped. Those of you who have access to the DVD of the film can see that there was a deleted scene which was originally intended to go in here where she unzips her tunic to distract the aliens.

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The Phantom of the Opera picture The Phantom of the Opera mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: As Christine approaches the Phantom in his lair (just after he has abducted her), we see that she is wearing very dark black eye-shadow. Back in the dressing room after coming off stage, as she talks to Raoul, we saw her face in close up and she was not wearing any eye-shadow at all, even though the Phantom leads her through the mirror just after she has managed to slip on a robe over her undergarments and she has not yet changed to go out to supper (Raoul says she is to be ready in 2 minutes). Her hair becomes 'bigger' and wilder, too. The change in her appearance is a reference to her descending (voluntarily, I might add - he didn't drag her through that mirror) into the Phantom's dark existence and to her sexual awakening. (00:28:45 - 00:37:10)

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Reservoir Dogs picture

Deliberate mistake: In the torture scene, Mr Blonde turns the radio on and listens to "Stuck in the Middle with You" as he proceeds to torture the cop. Mr Orange shoots him before Mr Blonde turns the radio off, but somehow the radio is never heard again in the film.

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Shutter Island picture

Deliberate mistake: During the interrogation scene, a patient asks for a glass of water. When she receives a the glass of water, she lifts her right hand to her mouth and makes a drinking motion, but is not holding a glass. A moment later she sets down an empty glass with her left hand. When the camera angle changes, the glass has become half full. This implies the patient's mental instability and adds to the surreal feel of the film.

AtomicSkunk

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Beneath the Planet of the Apes picture

Deliberate mistake: There are no lights ever to be found in the underground world and the ceiling is literally the surface's ground, but there is still a perfect level of lighting regardless.

Casual Person

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On Her Majesty's Secret Service picture

Deliberate mistake: Blofeld doesn't recognize James Bond in this film, even though they met face-to-face in the previous movie, "You Only Live Twice." There is a production-related reason for this. Ian Fleming wrote "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" in 1963 (in which Bond and Blofeld met for the first time), and he wrote "You Only Live Twice" in 1964. However, "You Only Live Twice" was adapted for film first (in 1967), and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was adapted afterward (in 1969). Because the 1969 film was so faithful to its source material, Blofeld and Bond are basically meeting for the first time... again. The producers were aware of this continuity problem and intended to have James Bond undergo plastic surgery for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (which would conveniently explain Blofeld not recognizing him, as well as the fact that Sean Connery had been replaced by George Lazenby in the lead role). But the plastic surgery idea was discarded in faithfulness to the novel, resulting in a glaring continuity problem between the 1967 and 1969 films.

Charles Austin Miller

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Ghostbusters: Afterlife picture

Deliberate mistake: When the kids are about to jump start the trap Phoebe hides behind the school bus door. Half a second later, when the trap opens, she's nowhere to be seen, not even jumping or stepping inside the bus. Then half a second later she has managed to get inside, turn around and protect her head while the bus windows burst. It all happens in real time for their hairs are still fluttering. It sure paces up the scene, but it's really awkward.

Sacha

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Elf (2003)

Elf picture

Deliberate mistake: In the orphanage scene, Santa's bag drops dead center in the fireplace. The noise of the impact gets baby Buddy's attention in a quick shot, and the camera shifts back to the fireplace. Now, the bag has shifted to the viewer's left when Santa's boots are coming down. The shift of the bag is presumably to make room for the boots coming down the chimney.

Scott215

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Beverly Hills Cop III picture

Deliberate mistake: Twice in this film Axel is shot at by multiple gunmen using automatic weapons at close range - and they all miss. In the Earthquake theme ride the bullets ricochet of the rails at Axel's feet. Why are they all aiming low? Why don't they raise their aim? In the park outside he hides behind a perfectly ordinary park bench and the bullets hit the wooden slats. Not one goes through the open spaces between them? I know bad guys can't shoot straight in the movies, but this is ridiculous ...

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House on Haunted Hill picture

Deliberate mistake: When Eddie and "Jennifer" are walking around the house alone, she is trying to tell Eddie that she's really Sara. But by the time she is explaining that, Eddie has disappeared. She doesn't find him until later. But from the moment she finds him (and he is talking to her) he calls her Sara, despite never actually hearing her say that. Also, after they all get back together, a few of the other people start calling her Sara as well, but no one actually heard that either.

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Psycho picture

Deliberate mistake: When Norman picks up Marion's supposedly naked body to carry it to his trunk, a bra is visible through the shower curtain. Gus Van Sant included this goof in his 1998 remake.

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Who Am I? picture

Deliberate mistake: At the end of the movie when everyone is on the bridge, the one female cop roundhouses the bad guy, who is clearly a white male in his 50's, but his stunt double is an Asian man (with different colored hair). They use the same stunt man a few other times for people he doesn't even look like.

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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl picture

Deliberate mistake: Not only is the angle of the moonlight that shines through Jack's prison cell window intentionally exaggerated to enhance the shots with Jack, doggy, Koehler and Twigg, but in relevant shots, the moonlight is not seen coming through the window or the broken wall. Nor is it reflected on the floor outside the cells or in the cell next to Jack, particularly in the shots from the dog's POV looking up the corridor towards Jack. (00:36:00)

Super Grover

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The Martian picture

Deliberate mistake: The atmosphere on Mars is only 1% as dense of that as Earth, so 175kph windstorms would feel like a light breeze. They would have very little effect on the astronauts or MAV. The writers of the book and the film were aware of this, it was a small cheat to let the rest of the story unfold.

Grumpy Scot

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Ace Ventura: Pet Detective picture Ace Ventura: Pet Detective mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: In the scene in which Ace is in the asylum, he breaks into a storage closet to view Finkle's belongings that were left behind when he escaped. At first the doorframe is such that the door closes against about an inch of wood, meaning the lock would be behind this wood, so Ace couldn't pry it open. In the closeup, the door's flush against the frame so Ace can use the sign to get between the door and the frame. In the wide shot it's back to how it was. (00:58:55)

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Moulin Rouge picture Moulin Rouge mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: During the finale, the backround looks like a sunset and there is a big door in the back. Watch closely and all of a sudden from one camera angle to the next (it's right after the big puff of smoke), the background changes to an elaborate background of layers of hearts, the door is gone, and there are about 60 more extras onstage. During the DVD Baz explains that they filmed the scene with both backgrounds and it just so happened that the beginning was better with one and the end was better with the other, so they put the puff of smoke in there to distract the audience so that they wouldn't see the change.

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Mission: Impossible 3 picture Mission: Impossible 3 mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: Bare shoulders are forbidden in the Vatican premises, so the sexy dresses in the party would not be allowed.

Sacha

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X-Men 2 picture X-Men 2 mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: Almost trivia, but not quite. When Mystique's looking through the guard files to find a suitable candidate, lots of photos flash up very quickly before she finds the guy she uses. Of note is that Bryan Singer pops up in guard uniform (with his own name), and so does someone called "Donner, L". This is most likely referring to Lauren Shuler Donner, one of the producers, and sex is specified as "F", but the photo is of a stubble-coated man. (00:23:10)

Jon Sandys

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