Continuity mistake: In the Oak Room scene, as Charlie and Col. Slade are seated, the Col. folds up his cane and places it on the table, where it unfolds slightly. A few shots later, the cane is neatly banded with the wrist strap to keep it from unfolding. (00:45:20 - 00:47:20)
Continuity mistake: During the tango scene, the girl's earrings keep appearing and disappearing.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Charlie and Colonel meet, the level of whiskey in the glass held by Al Pacino goes down and then up again.
Continuity mistake: During the scene when the Colonel is "interviewing" Charlie, watch the bottle of Jack Daniel's-it keeps changing position from shot to shot.
Continuity mistake: In the same scene there is a phone on the ledge above the seats. When the shot switches from Chris to Al you can see half the phone when it's on Chris then suddenly it's not there anymore.
Continuity mistake: When Frank and Charlie crash Thanksgiving dinner at Frank's brother's house, his sister-in-law Gretchen says that she'll go set two more places at the table. However, she never leaves, and a minute later, they're all walking into the dining room with the correct amount of places set.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where the Col. is interviewing Charlie and has had enough, he presses what should be the play button on his tape player. If you look closely you will see that he actually pressed eject, but this somehow does not stop the music from playing.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Al and Chris have just left the restaurant and they are driving in the cab the scenery to the right of the screen keeps repeating.
Continuity mistake: In the Ferrari scene, the Colonel and Charlie drive by the same dark-colored VW Rabbit numerous times, just from different angles.
Continuity mistake: In the hotel bedroom as the Colonel and Charlie are talking (before they fight for the .45) Colonel Slade's loosened tie changes position several times.
Visible crew/equipment: At the start of the 'tango', our two heroes descend a few steps to the dance floor. An overhead microphone sneaks into the top of this shot.
Audio problem: In the scene where Al Pacino finishes speaking on Chris's behalf and all the students are applauding, the dean is banging the gavel, and even after he stops banging the gavel the sound continues as if he were.
Continuity mistake: Charlie and Frank arrive at W.R. Slade's house to crash Thanksgiving dinner. When the camera shows a front shot (looking out at them from inside the house) Charlie is standing behind Frank; whenever the camera switches to a rear shot (camera looking into the house) Charlie is standing next to Frank. The error is repeated three times.
Answer: He's not mentally ill. He was an arrogant, high-ranking military officer who blinded himself in a stupid accident which ended his career. He is now bitter, lonely, and sad. His outbursts are fueled by his anger, regret and the total loss of his former life and independence. He has become so emotionally despondent that he wants to end his life. I have to add, this is Al Pacino, and his acting tends to be over the top in most of his post "Godfather I and II" movies.
raywest ★