Visible crew/equipment: When Axel first pulls up to the country club to talk to Victor, he gives the valet his keys and requests his car be "parked in a good spot" as last time it was damaged. As valet drives off you can see the reflection of the camera, stage light and a crew member on the rolled up window. Easier to see on the VHS version. (01:02:30)
Continuity mistake: When Axel approaches Victor and Zack at the Harrow Club, Victor is holding a menu. When the shot cuts, the menu is lying flat on the table. (01:04:05)
Continuity mistake: When Axel visits Victor at the club he throws Victor's henchman across the buffet table. When the henchman gets up he has a strawberry smashed into his hair at the top middle-right portion of his forehead. Later on the strawberry is gone but there are green leaves that now are on the middle-left side of his forehead. This is evident as the camera regains focus although the colors can be seen when the the view of him is blurry. (01:04:30)
Continuity mistake: The hands on Axel's wristwatch change position frequently when he's being questioned by Bogomil about his fixation with Victor. (01:07:00 - 01:08:00)
Continuity mistake: At the end shoot out in the house, Foley and Taggart bump into each other and a henchman shoots the grass near them with a submachine gun, ripping up the grass. Billy shoots the assailant and they come out from behind the wall - the grass that was shot up is in pristine condition, with no bullet holes or damage whatsoever. (01:28:15)
Continuity mistake: During the machine gun fire at Victor's house Rosewood holds up his badge and says "Police, you are all under arrest". The bad guys then shoot at Rosewood and Taggart. They shoot up a sculpture/planter above Taggart. A piece falls onto Taggart with part of it leaning against the planter and the top part leaning against Taggart's shoulder. The next shot the piece is shown standing on the ground leaning up against Taggart's head. It did not have time to relocate to the position it ended up in. (01:29:50)
Continuity mistake: Right before Axel shoots Zack at the mansion, there is a large vase behind Axel. When he shoots Zack however, the vase disappears. There are bullet holes in the wall where the vase was, implying Zack fired his gun at Axel. But Zack never fires his gun, so the vase simply vanishes from the scene. (01:32:00)
Continuity mistake: When the police arrive at Victor's house the two guards in the security room decide to run. At this time the one with the long sleeved shirt is wearing his gun in a shoulder-holster. In the next shot, when those two guards are running out the door and down the stairs, the long sleeved guy's shoulder-holster has vanished, but as they run toward the van, the shoulder-holster reappears again. (01:32:50)
Continuity mistake: When Axel is asking Lt. Bogomil to straighten things out with Inspector Todd during the conversation we get numerous shots from behind Foley's head. When he says "I guess I'm just out of a job. It's cool though" there is nothing in his afro. The camera then goes to Lt. Bogomil. After Foley tells him he is going to "start his own investigation company. How does that sound?" we get another shot of the back of his head. There is now a white piece of fuzz on the back left side of Axel's afro. (01:38:00)
Continuity mistake: When Axel is checking out of the hotel the position of his shirt collar and his sling varies from shot to shot. There is no visible movement of his arm that would make this change. It just changes. (01:38:35)
Revealing mistake: In the scene where Axel throws the art dealer's henchman onto the buffet table, if you watch carefully (or use slow-mo) you can see the stunt double pulling off that manoeuvre. There is also a stunt double being thrown over the table.
Continuity mistake: When Eddie Murphy is getting the bananas from the waiter in the hotel, the bananas he gets are straight. When he places the bananas in the tailpipe of the detectives' car, they are curved.
Revealing mistake: As Maitland's goons open fire on the main trio, a close-up of Taggart lying across the ground shows pre-cut holes in the grass to simulate where the next barrage of bullets will hit. This error has been fixed on Blu-ray.
Continuity mistake: In the last scene (Victor Maitland's house) Taggart, Rosewood and Foley are hiding behind a small wall. After Rosewood says 'I hate machine guns', all three of them shoot back at the gangster, who is trying to gun them down. Foley shoots first, one shot and his gun is empty. One second later he shoots back once more (with the empty gun), and he reloads only after this.
Continuity mistake: As Taggart is apologizing to Axel for punching him, you see Taggart's gun on his belt, but when the camera angle changes the gun is no longer visible.
Continuity mistake: When Axel is thrown through the window you see his arm covering his face as he lands on the ground, but when the camera angle changes his arm is now to his side.
Audio problem: When Axel is first arrested you hear Axel talking to the police officers as they pull up to the station and you hear the police officer talking back to him as he gets out of the car but none of their lips are moving.
Continuity mistake: When Axel goes to see Victor at the club as he's walking up to the table you see Zack with his hand on the table but when the camera angle changes he is now wiping his mouth with his napkin.
Continuity mistake: When Victor catches Axel and Jenny at the warehouse one of Victor's henchmen is holding a gun to Axel's head and his other hand has Axel's sweatshirt in his grasp. Watch the hand holding the sweatshirt, it keeps changing positions as the camera angle changes throughout the scene.
Continuity mistake: The blood smears on the floor when Axel has gotten shot changes between shots. In the first clip there is just one spot and he moves a bit away from that. In the next clip there are two long smears.
Chosen answer: Much of Axel Foley's lines were improvised, including this scene, according to the commentary. But many other actors improvised their lines too, most notably Bronson Pinchot. The script was originally written with the intent of Sylvester Stallone playing Axel and as such, the issue of his race wasn't scripted and the director tried to avoid mentioning race in the film. It was Eddie Murphy that would bring it up in improvised lines.
Bishop73