The Wicker Man

The Wicker Man (1973)

47 mistakes - chronological order

(2 votes)

Continuity mistake: Howie is inside the Wicker Man and stares at the sun while lord Summerisle pronounces the line "Accept our sacrifice." Howie's right hand is touching the bar at the middle of the door, but when the camera is on Christopher Lee, the position on the cage is different.

Sammo

Revealing mistake: When Willow is dancing nude, right after Howie puts his hands on the wall, there is a shot of Willow slapping her butt, where she swings her head back and forth, and the face of the body double can be seen.

Casual Person

Continuity mistake: When Sergeant Howie is looking at what he believes to be the setting for the final sacrifice, the first torchbearer (the one wearing blue jeans) is simply standing in the wider shots, and has one knee raised in intermediate shot with a closer angle.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Lord Summerisle announces that it's time for the sacrifice to appease the gods of the earth. A horn is blown, and everyone turns towards it. In the shot from behind, everyone in front of Howie/Punch moved aside, but in the shot from the front, there's still a man with a flannel jacket and a badger mask.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Lord Summerisle is offering a tribute of ale to the god of the sea. Two villagers help him; in the close-up on them at the end of the wagon, the one on the left puts his hand on the barrel, but in the next shot his hand is on the cart.

Sammo

The Wicker Man mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Christopher Lee in drag is leading the procession towards their mini-stonehenge, look at the dolmen the villagers go through; the shadows vary significantly direction in the space of a cut.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Howie had a whiskey and went upstairs to his room at the inn. As the innkeeper and his hot daughter conspire in front of his open door, the shadows on Edward Woodward's face change in close-up.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Sergeant Howie is giving chase to the man wearing the hobbyhorse costume. The guy stops at the end of an alley to be followed. In the next shot, he's standing in a different alley, with different pavement and background.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When Willow wakes the protagonist after the famed nude dance scene, Howie in close-up is holding his pyjamas jacket together, but in the side view his hand already slipped lower.

Sammo

Audio problem: On his way to check out the school, the Sarge witnesses a group of kids involved in the Maypole song. During the song, a kid with a mouth harp is strumming it every single time he's in frame, but that included large parts when the instrument is in fact not part of the diegetic song.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When Rowan begins to run away, she has a head start on Howie, but at the first cut he's still leading her with a hand on her back like he was doing when he had just released her.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Punch is forcefully put in line for the 'game'; there are two girls in front of him, but at the cut only one remains.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Three women begin to repeatedly prod with sticks Howie dressed as Punch. In the very first shot, the one before they break out from the group to rush him, the natural light is different, as shown by the different angle of the shadows.

Sammo

Revealing mistake: Sergeant Howie spots the creepy candle and knocks it to the floor. He falls to the floor himself and extinguishes the flaming thumb, but reaches it through a visible editing job; some frames are missing.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Back at the post office/sweets shop, Howie witnesses a bizarre bit of 'traditional medicine' involving a frog. The animal is held in close-up in a different way than in the first shot - the position of the last 3 fingers changes. Moreover, despite the spoken lines overlapping between shots giving the impression of continuity, the candy jar appears out of thin air, since the woman had just barely put the frog away in the other box.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: In the former churchyard, Sergeant Howie walks past a woman breastfeeding and holding an egg. He looks at two mostly empty crates of fruit; the one on the right rotates 90° between shots as he approaches it.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When Sergeant Howard checks out the school register, he follows the line pertaining Rowan with his finger. His finger has gone quite a way towards the center of the book, but in the reverse shot the hand is at the edge.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Howie chalks up on the blackboard the name of the missing girl, Rowan Morrison. He then notices the empty desk and walks towards it. Now look at the blackboard in the background; the writing changed - the shape of the Rs in "Morrison" being the most conspicuous difference.

Sammo

Lord Summerisle: Do sit down, Sergeant. Shocks are so much better absorbed with the knees bent.

More quotes from The Wicker Man

Trivia: In the Director's Cut - Robin Hardy who directed the film, appears at the beginning of the film in a "Hitchcock-style" cameo part as the church minister. (00:02:35)

Shadow 81

More trivia for The Wicker Man

Question: Why doesn't Howie try to escape when being carried up to the wicker man?

Answer: What's the use? He's surrounded, he can't fight everyone and there's nowhere for him to run.

BaconIsMyBFF

He is also a fundametally religious man and he believes that he is going to die and go to heaven.

More questions & answers from The Wicker Man

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