Best movie mistakes of 1977

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Star Wars picture Star Wars mistake picture Video

Other mistake: When the stormtroopers break into the control room, the stormtrooper on the right of the screen hits his head on the door frame. On the DVD release they've added a thump when he hits it. (01:18:55)

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Capricorn One picture

Plot hole: Further to the comments about the Lunar Lander being useless as a Mars Lander - who is going to believe that three men spent eighteen months crammed into a tiny Lunar Command Module? Not only would they go out of their minds, where would they store the tonnes of water and food they would need in that tiny capsule? How could the Service Module carry enough oxygen or have enough battery power to make the trip?

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Suggested correction: You're assuming they travelled from Earth to Mars in the lander alone. The astronauts didn't do this when they went to the moon. The Lunar Lander was attached to the command module during the 3-day journey. When the astronauts reached the moon, they detached the lander from the command module and landed on the surface. It is reasonable to believe the astronauts for Capricorn One did the same thing, except on a much bigger ship for a journey that lasted over a year. We just never saw it.

Mike Lynch

The posting did not refer to the Lunar Lander, it referred to the tiny Lunar Command Module, the only part of the Saturn V that returned to Earth. From 44:00 to 48:08 of the film we see a live broadcast, supposedly from Martian orbit, showing all three astronauts crammed into a Lunar Command Module. The posting is absolutely correct.

This is another Deus ex Machina explanation for a blatant film mistake. The astronauts launched into orbit in a standard Saturn V rocket which could not possibly carry anything like a spacecraft large enough to make the trip to Mars. There is nothing in the film to suggest that there was a "much bigger ship" involved.

They are also shown seated in the tiny Apollo command module, supposedly transmitting messages from orbit around Mars. The posting is absolutely correct.

You're assuming the astronauts were launched in a standard Saturn V rocket, but with all the resources needed for a journey to Mars that took 18 months round trip, NASA would have to send them on a larger rocket to accommodate the required oxygen, water, food, spare parts, supplies, etc. needed to bring them back safely.

Mike Lynch

Did you watch the film? From 1:54 to 2:25 we see an establishing shot of a perfectly ordinary Saturn V rocket on the launch pad. From 6:05 to 6:43 we see all three astronauts strapped into the tiny, Lunar Command Module. As has already been pointed out from 44:00 to 48:08 we see a live broadcast, supposedly from Martian orbit, showing all three astronauts crammed into a Lunar Command Module. There is absolutely no mention of a larger spacecraft and none is ever shown.

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind picture

Other mistake: One visual that has always bothered me that I could not find in your list were the scenes when the mother ship first appears. It's enormous scale appears to dwarf Devil's Tower and the whole surrounding area actually, but when it moves over to the "landing strip" area and begins to rotate 180° (right-side up?), it suddenly seems to shrink to a much smaller size and mass during the slow revolution. On its originally-seen scale above/behind the tower, one would think that either the great ship's outer prongs would have been torn off, or more likely the impromptu landing site and most of Devil's Tower would have been destroyed as the huge craft rotated itself. The visual scales just do not stay consistent throughout the film's climactic final act.

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A Bridge Too Far picture

Factual error: Most of the parachutes are PX type. These came out in the 1960s. They only used X type during the war - only a few of those are seen in the film. (00:07:00)

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Smokey and the Bandit picture

Continuity mistake: Sheriff Buford T. Justice gets out of his car and leaves the door open. A few moments later, we see a different shot of the car with the door closed. Then a truck drives by and tears the car door off which is open again.

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The Goodbye Girl picture

Continuity mistake: Richard Dreyfus comes home drunk after his horrible opening night. He stumbles around the living room knocking over furniture, including a table by the window with a typewriter on top. Next time you see the table, it is all together again.

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The Uncanny picture

Continuity mistake: In the story titled "Quebec Province 1975", child witch Lucy gets back at her bullying cousin Angela by shrinking her to the size of a mouse. Minutes later, Angela looks up, lifts her hands over her head and begs for mercy. Obviously Lucy is preparing to step on her. But we see Lucy lifting her foot off the floor several seconds after Angela starts begging.

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High Anxiety picture

Continuity mistake: There is a scene at an airport where Mel Brooks is approached by a man claiming to be a FBI agent or something like that. In the next shot inside the bathroom you can see the boom microphone from the top of the screen. (00:04:05)

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Slap Shot picture

Continuity mistake: A shot of the chiefs' bench shows Newman on the left and Ontkean on the right. Ontkean says "I can't believe my frigging eyes." Neither can I. The next 2 rapid camera cuts show Ontkean on Newman's left, then on Newman's right again.

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The Spy Who Loved Me picture

Revealing mistake: The shot of the two nuclear missiles being launched is used twice, just reversed. They seem to have changed the saturation slightly in one of them to make it look different, but there are identical clouds at the top left/top right in both shots, ruining the trick.

Jon Sandys

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Airport '77 picture

Factual error: After the plane is submerged, Jack Lemmon says, "... this plane is pressurized!" Jet aircraft are pressurized by bleeding air from the compressor sections of the engines into the cabin; in other words, the plane is only pressurized while the engines are running. Also, aircraft are only pressurized to a few psi above the outside air pressure at altitude, and never to more than the air pressure at sea level. The water pressure would be a great deal higher than the air pressure in the cabin, and since aircraft are not water tight, the water would quickly fill the aircraft. (If the aircraft was in 50 feet of water, the water pressure would be 21.7 psi, versus a maximum cabin pressure of 14.7 psi.)

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Saturday Night Fever picture

Visible crew/equipment: In the end scene when Tony comes to Stephanie's house to apologise, you can see the microphone coming down from the ceiling. (01:52:20)

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The Rescuers picture The Rescuers mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Bernard and Bianca arrive at the airport, and wait for Orville, Bianca removes her coat. Yet when we see her through the window, her coat has reappeared and it then vanishes again. (00:25:15)

Hamster

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Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger picture

Continuity mistake: When the blonde girl is persuaded to talk to the Trogladyte, in different shots, her hair is either over her shoulders, or off her shoulders.

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Rollercoaster picture

Plot hole: When the bomber is surrounded at the end he gets shot in the leg but manages to get away from all of the police that were surrounding him. They were literally an arm's length from him.

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Oh, God! picture

Continuity mistake: During the car scene, when God makes it rain, Jerry's hair goes from being dry to wet, repeatedly, depending on the camera angle.

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The Mighty Peking Man picture

Revealing mistake: At one point in the movie, dumptrucks are sent in to contain the Mighty Peking Man. You can tell that these, like most of the movie are toys.

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Orca picture

Continuity mistake: When the crew hauls the female orca aboard the boat, the harpoon line is wrapped around her entire body several times. When they cut the rope and drop her into the water, the line is wrapped only around her tail. When the male orca is pushing her at sea, the rope is again wrapped around her entire body.

wizard_of_gore

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