Best drama movie mistakes of 1981

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Body Heat picture

Factual error: Under US law neither Peter Lowenstein nor Oscar Grace would be allowed any level of participation in the investigation, arrest and prosecution of Ned Racine. Both have a highly visible social relationship with him, which disqualifies them from having anything to do with a criminal case against him. In fact as soon as he became a suspect in Edmund Walker's murder they would both be officially 'warned off' - told not to contact him again for any reason.

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Mommie Dearest picture

Continuity mistake: When Mommie is cutting Christina's hair it keeps on changing from long to short several times.

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On Golden Pond picture

Visible crew/equipment: When the boy takes the boat out for a ride by himself and is riding it around in circles, you can clearly see the helicopter's shadow in the center of the circle.

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Gallipoli picture

Factual error: Mel Gibson sits around the campfire at the railway camp with the lads, reading newspaper reports of the April 25, 1915 landing at Gallipoli. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade (including the 10th Light Horse Regiment from Western Australia) landed at Gallipoli on 20 May 1915. This would have given him less than 3 weeks to enlist, train, travel to Egypt by ship and land on the Peninsula. A bit of a stretch. In reality, the 10 Light Horse regiment was raised in October 1914, with the 1st-3rd reinforcements departing Fremantle February 19-22, 1915.

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Chariots of Fire picture

Factual error: Another flag gaffe: The Canadian flag in the 1920s was either the red ensign or the Union Jack. The Maple Leaf only became the national flag in 1965.

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The Fox and the Hound picture The Fox and the Hound mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Chief is tied to his kennel around the collar. But when Copper cuddles up to him for the first time, the rope tied to his collar disappears for a shot. (00:10:35)

Hamster

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Das Boot picture

Revealing mistake: In one scene just before the attack on a big Hunter the young captain (Jürgen Prochnow) is sitting with his charts. Beside him he has got a glass of beer standing. The sub lurches heavily right and left in the hard weather, but the surface of the liquid stays the same.

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Love Story picture

Continuity mistake: When Jenny arrives at Oliver's parents' home, her hair is stringy and separated, but when she walks through the front door, it is brushed.

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Excalibur picture

Visible crew/equipment: After Arthur drinks from the Grail and goes to visit Gwinevere at the convent and she gives him the sword back, he paces around her chamber- you can clearly see the film crew reflected in his armor.

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Reds picture

Continuity mistake: When John Reed is eating dinner with his wife in their cottage, in one shot he is reaching for a piece of bread. The next shot he's missing the bread and the following shot has him reaching for it again.

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The Postman Always Rings Twice picture

Continuity mistake: In the final scene of the movie, on the highway, Cora (Jessica Lange) is ejected from the car Frank (Jack Nicholson) is driving, hits the ground, dies instantly after the impact, and rolls over to the shoulder of the road. Weeping, Frank kneels by her side and holds her motionless right hand with his right hand, which, of course, has no wedding ring (They had just been married.) The next and last close-up shot shows he's holding her right hand with his LEFT HAND, the wide gold wedding ring appearing now in full sight. (01:59:33)

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Taps picture

Continuity mistake: When Cadet Major Morelan is unbuttoning his jacket he unbuttons the top 2 buttons and the bottom 2 buttons. This leaves the middle 3 buttons fastened. He then sits down and is talking to Tom Cruise, Sean Penn and 1 other Cadet. In the next shot when he stands up, the bottom 3 buttons are now unbuttoned and only 2 buttons are fastened. He had sat down with his hands on his knees and that never changed. The button could not/would not unbuttoned itself.

luchador

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Diva picture

Continuity mistake: About half way through the movie, the three main characters are in a loft. When the Asian girl grabs the postal worker's jacket, a cassette tape falls out of his pocket. As the girl bends down to pick up the tape, the camera shows here reaching with one hand, and then the camera switches to a close-up of her picking up the tape with the opposite hand.

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...All the Marbles picture

Other mistake: There's no way Harry could've smashed the cigarette vending machine at the gas station without somebody inside seeing him.

Rob245

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Pennies from Heaven picture

Continuity mistake: Set in the 1930s, Steve Martin is teaching a class of grade-schoolers in one scene. This would only be picked up by Canadians, but one of the many flags on the wall is the new (as of 1965) Canadian Flag - Red Maple Leaf with two red panels on either edge.

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Enter the Ninja picture

Visible crew/equipment: During the opening sequence Cole does a backflip to get down from a tree and lands behind some tall grass, as he pushes the grass aside and steps through you can see the stuntman who did the backflip trying to hide behind him.

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Threshold picture

Factual error: After the autopsy of "Sheila," the medical examiner tells the entomology expert that "she has no internal organs whatsoever." Yet, we're looking at "Sheila," and she has not been cut open at all, certainly not in the standard Y-shaped incision used in autopsies. Wouldn't even the worst medical examiner at least look inside before stating that internal parts were missing?

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Southern Comfort picture

Factual error: In the boat-stealing scene, when the machine gunner fires a burst of blanks out of the M60 at the Cajuns, the weapon functions perfectly. However, the muzzle is bare. When firing with blanks, weapons have to have metal pieces called blank adaptors screwed into the muzzle to keep enough gas inside the weapon to cycle the bolt. Without one, the M60 would fire one round and stop.

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The Hand picture

Visible crew/equipment: When Michael Caine leaves the Last Chance Saloon at night and is walking along a sidewalk in town, he looks inside one of the store windows to see something moving under an old cloth. As he looks closer to the window, suddenly a hand jumps out from under the cloth and crashes through the store front window from the inside and grabs Michael Caine's throat. What is so laughable is that the crew or extra who is putting his hand through the breakable glass to get at Michael Caine's throat fails to "hide" his entire arm from view and what is supposed to be a severed hand is not only the hand but the entire arm attached.

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