Continuity mistake: The girl dressed in a pastel pink and gold dress, the one that Benvolio likes, is behind him talking in the shot that he's looking out into the dance floor. But in the next shot, the girl comes out from another area, then again in the shot after that, behind Benvolio. (00:23:26)
Revealing mistake: When you see the first shot of the dead Mercutio, he's still breathing.
Revealing mistake: There is a high rise, modern building in the background during the opening fight.
Continuity mistake: Near the end of the Capulet's party, the revelers form a circle around a minstrel and ask him to sing. Before he begins, he peels off his mask and tosses on the floor. The next shot from a distance shows Juliet running towards the circle, and the minstrel is still wearing his mask. The following shot shows the minstrel up close again with his mask off.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Romeo is watching Juliet talk to herself on the balcony, he is behind a bush talking to himself also. Suddenly Juliet says his name as she is talking and then Romeo runs closer to her balcony. However it is the same bush he was behind that he runs to.
Continuity mistake: When Romeo jumped from the balcony after talking to Juliet, his tights were ripped, it zoomed in a bit, back out and his tights were fixed. When Juliet came back from talking to the nurse his tights were ripped again.
Audio problem: While Romeo and Juliet are kissing on the balcony, Juliet is speaking while canoodling at one point, but then she turns her head and her lips are not moving.
Continuity mistake: At Juliet's funeral ceremony, her mother lays a few roses upon her body, then they cover her entire body with a veil. But when Romeo sees her body in the cemetery, the veil still covers her entire body, where did the roses go?
Continuity mistake: When Balthasar tells Romeo of Juliet's 'death', Romeo jumps on his horse and rushes to see her himself. When he rides off, he is not wearing a cape, but in the scenes that follow, he is wearing a black cape. He would not have stopped to put it on if he was in such a hurry.
Factual error: In the opening shot of the city of Verona, it is possible to see a bicycle moving in the distance. Bicycles weren't invented at the time the film takes place.
Continuity mistake: At Juliet's funeral, a group of maidens step forward and toss roses onto her body before she is placed in the tomb. The scene changes to a more distant shot showing one maiden from the original group in a different location tossing more roses which land on Olivia Hussey's face. Did she forget to toss all her roses the first time?
Continuity mistake: Throughout the film, watch the horses as they walk and run. The hoofbeats you hear do not match the movements of the horses.
Audio problem: The choirboys sing throughout Juliet's funeral. There are also four flute players standing on a rise over her body at the tomb's entrance. However, no notes can be heard from any instrument even though they all give the appearance of playing. In a subsequent shot, one of the musicians does not even have his instrument up to his mouth while another one stops playing before the scene ends and is just standing there.
Continuity mistake: When Mercutio and Tybalt are dueling, the first shot is a close up of Tybalt, then Mercutio, who is not wearing a hat. Then when the shot exits, Mercutio is wearing a green hat. Then, when they close up on him again, he is not wearing a hat.
Continuity mistake: When Juliet stabs herself, part of her hair is in front of her shoulders. But when she falls down, all of it is on her back in order to show her full face across from Romeo's without her hair covering it.
Continuity mistake: As Juliet is telling Nurse to go tell her Mother that she has gone to Friar Lawrence's call to make confession, her hair is draped over her left shoulder as seen from the front. With an immediate cut from behind, her hair is fully over her back when she turns round to look at Nurse.
Revealing mistake: When Romeo is confronting Tybalt in the alley, the cameraman noticeably stumbles right after Romeo says "Mercutio's soul is but a little way above our heads."
Answer: Olivia Hussey was born April 17, 1951 so she was probably still 16 when the film was being made, but 17 when it was released in 1968. Leonard Whiting was born June 30, 1950 - almost a year older than Olivia.
Myridon