Continuity mistake: After he takes a shower Jake's stitches are very visible as they stick straight out of his nose. In the next shot they are different and you can hardly see them. This happens many times throughout the movie. (01:36:20)
Continuity mistake: When Evelyn Mulwray meets Jake at the restaurant, the maitre d' walks away from them. In the next shot, he's standing looking at them with the waiter by his side. (00:45:45)
Continuity mistake: As Jake takes their picture from the roof top we see Katherine Cross and Hollis Mulwray's reflection in the camera lens and her dress is a direct sunlight in the reflection but not in the previous shot. (00:16:05)
Continuity mistake: As Jake and Noah Cross sit down to eat lunch the column holding up the roof of the building is on his left. He gets up to leave only to sit down again and now the column behind him is on his right. (01:04:05)
Continuity mistake: When Evelyn Mulwray meets Jake at the restaurant, the spots on her veil change between shots after we first see her. (00:45:45)
Continuity mistake: Jake walks back into his office after getting a shave at the barber shop and sees Duffy standing by the water cooler which has a tank that is one-quarter full. Two shots later as he tells his joke about the Chinamen the water tank is half full. (00:17:50)
Continuity mistake: At the office, Jake picks up the photos of Hollis Mulwray and Noah Cross, which Lawrence Walsh gives him, with both hands. In the next shot he's holding them with his left hand. (00:13:30)
Continuity mistake: Jake Goes to the Los Angeles County Hall of Records. The coat hanging on the coat rack and the chair behind "the weasel" move between shots without being touched. (01:06:55)
Continuity mistake: Before the farmer's son hits Jake over the head with his crutch there's blood on the right side of his shirt. In the next scene as he wakes up to see Evelyn Mulwray there's less blood on his shirt. (01:12:45)
Continuity mistake: Jake opens the middle draw of Hollis Mulwray's desk and then closes it. Several shots later he opens the right draw of the desk and we see that the middle draw is still open. (00:21:10)
Continuity mistake: At Ida Sessions' house, Lieutenant Escobar shows Jake his phone number on the wall above her phone. In the close-up of the phone number there's a card stuck in between the wall and the phone and if you look closely the left edge is frayed. When Jake walked into the room it wasn't. (01:41:00)
Continuity mistake: A farmer shoots Jake's radiator, which spurts a steady stream of water and steam. In the next shot when the car crashes the radiator is not leaking. (01:10:30)
Continuity mistake: As Evelyn Mulwray stands in front of Jake at the table in the restaurant, look closely at the red chair behind them. When she first walks in, the seam is under the wood post in the center of the screen. In the next shot, it's been moved about two feet to the left. (00:45:50)
Continuity mistake: Throughout the movie, keep an eye on Jack Nicholson's tan. He goes from a toasty brown to washed out to toasty brown several times, in the same lighting sometimes he appears pale and sometimes he's tan.
Continuity mistake: Before Jake gets out of the barber's chair to yell at the banker the news paper in his hands is folded in half. In the next shot it's laying flat in his lap. (00:17:10)
Continuity mistake: At 1972 Canyon Drive, Jake walks up to the front door, which is in the shade. In the next shot, as he walks in, the door is lit up. (01:47:20)
Continuity mistake: In her bathroom Evelyn dabs Jake's nose with a piece of cotton and gets some blood on it. In the next shot it's another piece of cotton without any blood on it. Then in the shot after that the blood is back. (01:22:35)
Continuity mistake: Back from the Mar Vista rest home, Evelyn and Jake have a drink at her house and the tape on Jake's nose is flush with his nostril. In the next shot it's peeling off. (01:20:50)
Continuity mistake: At the Mar Vista rest home, Evelyn Mulwray and Jake take a look into the room where the old women are sewing. In the next shot as they walk in, the woman on the left disappears. She's sitting next to the woman that points after Jake says, "Are any of you Emma Dill?". (01:17:25)
Continuity mistake: At the Mar Vista rest home, as he smashes Claude Mulvihill's head into the front railing, Claude drops his gun to the floor and we see Jake's hat on the ground next to it. Mr. Palmer walks over and tries to pick the gun up as Jack kicks it away and we now see the hat is overturned even though Jack and Claude moved away from that spot during their fight. (01:19:30)
