Best movie character mistakes of 1996

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Star Trek: First Contact picture

Character mistake: When Picard is explaining the Enterprise to Lily he states that it has 24 decks. Yet earlier on, a crewman had reported to Worf that the Borg had taken over "decks 26 up to 11".

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Space Jam picture

Character mistake: When Stan inflates himself, Michael asks, "How'd he do that?", implying that he doesn't know the rules of the Looney Tunes world. Since Michael was rolled into a ball by the aliens earlier in the film, this shouldn't be too much of a surprise.

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Suggested correction: When Michael was rolled into a ball, he wasn't concerned with how that was possible and soon after he forgot about it. He was more concerned with dealing with the Monstars at the time and, in particular, helping his cartoon friends preparing for the game. When Michael witnessed Stan being flattened and inflated, it looked particularly strange and unfamiliar to him, unlike before as he couldn't watch himself experiencing being rolled into a ball. And that is what triggered his response about questioning how it was possible.

Rassdyt

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Independence Day picture

Character mistake: In the Iraqi Desert, when the British soldiers speak of the casualties and losses, one of the British soldiers mentions the loss of the Belgian contingent and possible reinforcements, then makes a reference to the "Golan Straits"; there is no such place.

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Suggested correction: "Golan Straits" is another word (albeit dated one) for the Goland Heights which is a region of Syria occupied by Israel.

The region in question has no straits, which is the point of the entry. And never would the term "Golan Strait" be used to identify a 1,800 sq km plateau. The actor, or writer, used the wrong term that a soldier in that situation wouldn't use.

Bishop73

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Scream picture

Character mistake: Sid deduces that Billy could be the killer because he could have used his phone call from jail to make the threatening call. However, the deduction has to be incorrect, since if it was really Billy, he could have never used the voice-changing device.

Sammo

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Suggested correction: This will sound pedantic (hey, it's MovieMistakes.com, we're entitled), but I don't think this is what is meant by a character mistake. Sidney isn't presenting an erroneous fact that goes uncorrected, she's explaining an idea that had crossed her mind. Billy immediately gives a plausible response and by the end of the film it's evident who'd called her. The takeaway isn't that Billy could still be the killer but that Sidney can't help but suspect him despite their reconciliation.

TonyPH

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101 Dalmatians picture

Character mistake: When Nanny is coming home from getting the collars, she calls for Roger and Anita to come downstairs. Plowright accidentally says "Roderick, " rather than "Roger."

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The Frighteners picture

Character mistake: At the Gazette office, as Ms. Rees-Jones watches, Steven scrolls up the next front page of the Gazette on his PC and under the photo of Chuck Hughes it reads, "...dead at age 37." However, when Frank gets into his car after being kicked out of the cemetery, under the current Gazette headline it reads, "30 yr. old Chuck Hughes who died of a mysterious heart ailment..." (00:03:10 - 00:05:30)

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Primal Fear picture

Character mistake: The archbishop wears a red zucco on his head at the dinner. Purple is the color of a bishop or archbishop. Red is the color of a cardinal.

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Suggested correction: Generally true, but the specifics are not straightforward. The problem lies in the interpretation of "purple." Depending on the source, the purple may actually be "amaranth red" (which is a reddish-purple, but may look more like fuschia) or "magenta" (which may appear to be a reddish-purple or a purplish-red). Magenta is an equal mixture of red and blue, so the result should look somewhere between red and purple. How these colors or blends are perceived on screen may vary with the tint setting.

KeyZOid

Also, it may be possible that the more reddish-looking zuccetto was meant to be and match the choir's red.

KeyZOid

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Down Periscope picture

Character mistake: While the engine room is flooding, Stepanik tries to put a jubilee patch on the pipe by walking towards and deflecting the water. While it looks cool for the movie, it is definitely not the correct way to apply this type of patch.

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A Time to Kill picture

Character mistake: The sheriff has his service weapon on him in the cellblock. Whenever law enforcement enters a jail or prison, they disarm.

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The Mirror Has Two Faces picture

Character mistake: When Greg and Rose are playing backgammon, Rose counts the middle of the board as a place to count when moving a piece, but the middle of the board isn't a place to count.

kh1616

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The Night of the Twisters picture

Character mistake: The final scene in which the Hatches leave the overpass that they take shelter under in the final tornado has the family walking off as the sun has risen. Jack states in his narration that the tornadoes occurred over the span of three hours, thus creating an incorrect timeline as the events leading up to the tornadoes hitting Blainsworth take place in the evening; the Grand Island outbreak does take place over three hours, however all seven tornadoes touch down between 8:45 and 10:45 p.m.

davinp

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The Rock picture

Character mistake: When Captains Fry and Darrow are advising General Hummel to launch the rocket, Captain Fry says "Let's be all we can be." This was the slogan for the United States Army, but repeatedly throughout the film the men are called Marines which are the United States Navy. A Marine would still never use the Army's slogan.

jayse10024

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Suggested correction: He's just making a statement. He's not saying he's in the Army.

Greg Dwyer

A Marine would still never use the Army's slogan.

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Black Sheep picture

Character mistake: At Governor Tracy's acceptance speech, she thanks her husband, Dennis, and two children, Andrew and Patrick. However, she has a son and daughter, not two sons. Additionally, her husband is credited as "Donald" not Dennis, who was played by Patrick Pankhurst.

Bishop73

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City Hall picture

Character mistake: At the funeral the Greek mayor makes the sign of the cross in the Roman Catholic way, not the Orthodox way. His hand should have gone from the right to left side of the body.

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Fargo picture

Character mistake: When Jerry and Scotty are talking in Scotty's bedroom, after his Mom's kidnapping, there is a poster behind Scotty's door. The poster says "Accordian King" but should have been spelled, "Accordion King."

CARAMENTE22

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My Fellow Americans picture

Character mistake: When discussing the potential fallout of ousting the new president, Douglas says that because there's no vice president that according to the 25th Amendment the Speaker of the House is next in line. Not true. The Amendment itself is silent on the order of succession after the Vice President. The Constitution leaves the order of succession after that up to Congress, and the Speaker of the House is listed according to the Succession Act of 1947, not the 25th Amendment.

Vader47000

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The Great White Hype picture

Character mistake: Reverend Sultan stated James Roper lost to Terry Conklin 10 years ago. Later at the press conference Roper stated he was 17 at the time. During promotional videos for the fight, the "tale of the tape" listed Roper as being 30 years old, not 27. (00:21:29 - 00:33:37)

dpderr

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Striptease picture

Character mistake: At the boat when the two bodyguards frisk Shag, he fakes a gay yelp and then walks away with Erin. You can see the one guard on the right, try not to break (crack up) as they walk away.

pgsgrad16

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Matilda picture

Character mistake: When Harry takes the kids to his business, he's showing them how he "restores" cars. After putting the bumper on, Harry says, "Transmission. The sawdust quietens the gears and let's the engine run as sweet as a nut." Putting sawdust into the transmission would not change how the engine runs as they are two separate components. It may make the transmission quieter but would have zero effect on the engine.

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