Continuity mistake: In the scene where Brody drives his jeep onto the ferry he drives it to the edge. Yet in the next shot when it reaches the other side the jeep is about two feet from the edge.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film when the shark attacks the divers, you see in one shot that the shark already had a burned scarred face. The shark doesn't get set alight until later in in the film. This scene was one of the last ones to be filmed.
Continuity mistake: After explaining what they saw when Terry's mom's boat exploded Tina asks if they can leave. Brody then puts his hand on the porch column on the left side of it. When it cuts his arm is resting on the right side of it.
Continuity mistake: When the teenagers are near Cable Junction on their wrecked boats, they see Chief Brody coming towards them on the Police Boat. We then see a close-up of Brody, and from his view he is approaching Cable Junction and the teenagers from front-on, with the teenagers on the right. When we see Brody approaching them as seen from Cable Junction, he approaches them from a completely different direction. He comes from behind them as if he approached from a different side of the island.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Chief Brody comes home drunk, Deputy Hendricks comes over to express his sorrows. When he's leaving/already left, Both Ellen & Chief Brody comment on Hendricks as "Poor Jeff." In the first Jaws film, Brody calls him Lenny. Jeff is actually the first name of the actor who played Hendricks.
Suggested correction: It was a retcon from the filmmakers. Originally his name was Lenny, and then they changed it to Jeff. Same thing with The Mayor's children in the first movie. In the sequel, he only has one son; Larry Jr.
Not really a retcon, simply a mistake. Not every change, intentional or not, can be hand-waved away as a retcon.
The correction is valid. The person who submitted the mistake didn't watch the scene. They never said "poor Jeff", it was "poor Hendricks." But both Martin and Ellen call him "Jeff" in the scene and his name is said 3 times. Plus, if you read over the original script, the name "Jeff Hendricks" is mentioned 4 times.
Continuity mistake: Brodie is racing in his vehicle down the beach to investigate an incident, driving to our left. He then gets out of the car and is shown running down the beach to the left. Unfortunately, the scene was shot with Brodie running to the right. The editor simply reversed the film so Brodie would be running the right direction. You can see backwards writing for about 2 seconds.
Continuity mistake: After Chief Brody is fired from his job, he comes home drunk. No beer cans can be seen spilling out of his car or on the ground. The next day when he is taking his wife to work, there are several empty beer cans on the ground. Where'd they come from?
Continuity mistake: Chief Brody and his raft disappear from under the shark when it catches fire. Understandable, as they were burning the model shark for real, but still poorly edited.
Continuity mistake: The boat Tina's Joy is hit on the sideboard by the shark and a portion splits off. When they are rescued the boat is intact.
Continuity mistake: Brody fires six shots from his revolver after coming down from the tower. He ejects the shells on the beach. Then he squats to pick them up and there are many more than six.
Continuity mistake: When the young guy is fiercely swimming back to the sailboat, the shark yanks him under a few times as he struggles to climb back in the boat. Suddenly there is a huge pool of gushing fake blood floating all around before he's even pulled back under.
Continuity mistake: While the shark pulls the police boat the sun changes between shots.
Continuity mistake: While the shark attacks the waterski boat the sun changes between shots.
Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the movie when Terry is water skiing, the boat has a 70hp 3 cylinder Johnson. When the shark is eating the boat it's a 1977 55 horsepower motor that still has the 70hp decal on it.
Continuity mistake: When they are all sitting at breakfast, Michael says how he's going out sailing. The position of the mini Rice Crispies box on the table turns about 90 degrees between camera shots.
Continuity mistake: When Ellen Brody is talking with the Mayor and Hendricks on the docks, about her husband, her collar goes from under to over her jacket between shots.
Continuity mistake: When the two guys are trying to pull Mike back onto their boat, in the first shot they are pulling the front of his jacket. Then when the shot changes, they are pulling him up by the back of his jacket.
Continuity mistake: When Chief Brody is going into the water to get the large block of wood out, he leaves his shoes on the beach. But in the next shot when you see him about waist deep in water, his shoes are no-where to be seen on the shoreline where he left them.
