Best adventure movie mistakes of 1983

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

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi picture

Revealing mistake: When Luke is being fed to the Rancor, in Jabba the Hutt's dungeon, there are black outlines around the beast's legs, from the composite's blue screen special effect. This was edited out in the special edition rerelease.

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

Suggested correction: This was not a "mistake". The outlines showing around the beast's leg were due to the limited CGI technology at the time the film was made. With advances in special effects in the following decades, the filmmakers were able to enhance the CGI quality in later releases.

raywest

But it is a mistake to show that the Rancor is not real, and the outlines show that. It's certainly not intentional.

lionhead

Not sure what you mean that the rancor is not real. Of course it's not real. The issue is, at that time, it was not technically possible to show the beastie without the lines showing. I classify a mistake as something that was not intentional. In this case, it was, due to the limitations of CGI in the 1980s.

raywest

More Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi mistakes
Octopussy picture

Factual error: In the balloon scene, it seems like Q can circle around and land on a spot where he flew past previously. A balloon can only fly in the direction of the wind.

Jacob La Cour

More Octopussy mistakes
Superman III picture

Other mistake: Towards the end of the movie, when Superman drops Gus off at the coal mine, Gus begins talking with the coal miners about him and Superman. He then rips open his shirt (as if he had a Superman costume on underneath). How did Gus know that Clark Kent tore his shirt like that in order to change into Superman, or keeps his suit under his clothes at all? The only people who know this fact are the ones who have seen the transformation from Clark to Superman, i.e. the audience.

More Superman III mistakes
National Lampoon's Vacation picture

Revealing mistake: In the early part of the film, Beverly D'Angelo and Chevy Chase check into the hotel/motel. She goes in to take a shower but he barges in. If you look real closely, she is wearing underpants and is not nude although she is taking a shower.

More National Lampoon's Vacation mistakes
High Road to China picture

Continuity mistake: When Tom Selleck rolls his plane upside down to dump the Afghan at several thousand feet altitude, you plainly see stationary tree tops at the bottom of the frame.

More High Road to China mistakes
The Right Stuff picture

Factual error: Chuck Yeager's sidekick, Jack Ridley, appears in many key events which occurred after 1957, including the climactic 1963 test flight of the NF-104 plane that Yeager ejects from and is picked up by Ridley. Jack Ridley actually died in 1957, when the aircraft he was co-piloting crashed into a mountain in Japan.

More The Right Stuff mistakes
Never Say Never Again picture Never Say Never Again mistake picture

Factual error: When we first see Fatima Blush, she is waterskiing. She is doing several stunts, which are only possible with one ski, the most notable being skiing backwards with one foot in the air. However, when she releases the tow rope and skis up the ramp into James Bond's arms, she is on two skis. (00:45:55)

More Never Say Never Again mistakes
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone picture

Visible crew/equipment: Right at the start of the film as the alien spacecraft is landing on the planet, you can see the scaffolding of the studio at the top of the screen.

More Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone mistakes
Krull picture

Continuity mistake: At the wedding ceremony, Prince Colwyn extinguishes his flame inside the basin of water. However in the next shot his baton is aflame again even though he only just put the fire out.

Hamster

More Krull mistakes
Yellowbeard picture

Factual error: The caption says "twenty years later" before the main part of the movie starts. Now judging by the dates we've seen on-screen so far that would be in the reign of William and Mary, not Queen Anne.

More Yellowbeard mistakes
BMX Bandits picture BMX Bandits mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When Nicole's bike jumps over the kids lying on the ground there's a ramp beside them disguised as part of the road to allow for the stunt.

Sacha

More BMX Bandits mistakes
More Space Raiders 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.