Cliffhanger

Cliffhanger (1993)

36 mistakes

(11 votes)

Audio problem: Just before the crashed jet skids to a stop, you can hear the jet engines despite them being ripped off with the tail fin quite a way back, so you shouldn't be able to hear them.

GalahadFairlight

Factual error: How is it that when Sly comes out of the freezing, icy water, his hair and clothes are bone dry? I don't know too much about hypothermia, but I would imagine that his fairly thin sweater isn't wind proof. I'm sure by the time the movie ended, he would be suffering from more symptoms of hypothermia other than chattering teeth.

Continuity mistake: When the jet crashes, we see a shot from below showing a large portion of it poking out over the cliff. We then cut to the parachutists, and when we cut back to the jet, we see that very nearly all of it is safely on rock.

Continuity mistake: When Stallone is told to climb up and retrieve the first suitcase of money, we see him reach a rather open landing with plenty of room to kneel and break open the suitcase. Once his partner (still below with the terrorists) screams "They're gonna kill you," and the terrorists start shooting up at him, the camera pans up to show him standing with his back to the rocks on a tiny ledge with barely enough space to stand.

Plot hole: This happens after Gabe has killed the guy in the cavern and is reaching for the radio. We hear Frank trying to reach them, so they must be on the same frequency. Then, Hal finds out that a bomb has been planted, grabs a radio from the bad guys and starts yelling for Gabe to get out of the cavern because of the bomb. Why didn't Frank hear any of this on his headset?

Revealing mistake: During the "grand finale" fight scene, which takes place on the underside of an overturned helicopter hanging from a cliff, a few frames show the rigging that is holding the helicopter in place.

Continuity mistake: Shortly after Frank is shot, Caroline Goodall's character checks the fuel gauge of the helicopter, and puts the kybosh on any ideas about flying around looking for the third case, as the helicopter only has enough fuel to get them down from the mountain. Later, John Lithgow, having kidnapped Janine Turner, flies around for ages, and the helicopter stays in the air for a surprisingly long time.

Continuity mistake: When the Government plane explodes, the cable that linked both planes is no longer visible anywhere in the shot where it shows both planes.

GalahadFairlight

Audio problem: After the two treasury agents restrain FBI Agent Mathison, Agent Travers draws his weapon and we hear the sound of him cocking the hammer, however, his thumb stays on the grips.

Mister Ed

Continuity mistake: When Gabe climbes for the first suitcase, his type of shoes changes during the scene. At first when the rope is getting attached, he is wearing climbing shoes, and later he is wearing leather boots.

Continuity mistake: The white plane firstly has 3 stripes down the side, later in the film there are about 6 stripes down the side of the plane.

Visible crew/equipment: When Rex Linn is looking at his tracking monitor before he shoots at the rabbit, we see a shot of the screen, with a reflection of the camera lens in it.

Continuity mistake: At the start when Sly drops the girl, as she travels down, her jacket top changes colour a phenomenal amount of times.

Continuity mistake: Just before the female helicopter pilot is shot, you can see she is wearing a brown coloured top, but when she is shot, her top changes to black- with a sort of scarf, then back to brown again.

Visible crew/equipment: When Hal and the bad guys come across the two goofy base jumpers at the top of the mountain, you can see the whole camera crew's reflection in the sunglasses of one of the jumpers.

Other mistake: When Gabe and the bad guy are fighting on the helicopter on the side of the cliff look carefully at the rotor shaft - you can clearly see that it has changed. Earlier when it was on the ground you see the shaft and the scissors on it. When it is upside down the scissors have vanished and the rotor shaft has a different look to it.

Audio problem: When Gabe is yelling at Qualen to drop Jesse off on the mountain at the end, he yells "over there" and points to his right. however, he points to the right with the hand holding the walkie talkies as he is yelling over there without any trail off of his voice. his voice can be heard loud and clear as if he was talking straight into the walkie talkie.

shortdanzr

Visible crew/equipment: When Stallone is sliding down the slope with the bad guy, and the bad guy goes over the cliff into the darkness, you can see the flaps of the air bag or net flail about when he lands on it - most noticeably on the left side of the screen. (00:56:25)

William Bergquist

Plot hole: During the finale you see Stallone's character attach the helicopter to the ladder. He then runs away from the helicopter, and away from the ladder. Even if he does run round in a semi-circle, (unlikely from what we see), they show the helicopter go over his head as he jumps off the hill onto the ladder. The helicopter then pulls the ladder off the cliff face. Based on the length of the helicopter's cable it must have kept going for an awful long distance!

Continuity mistake: When Rex Linn is looking for the third case, there is another shot of the screen shown. We can see his EMPTY left hand by his side. When the camera switches to a front view, he is suddenly holding a huge machine gun.

Qualen: You want to kill me, don't you, Tucker? Well, get a number and get in line.

More quotes from Cliffhanger

Trivia: In an interview with GQ, John Lithgow revealed that he was originally supposed to be the film's secondary villain, with Christopher Walken playing the main antagonist. However, Walken exited the project, leading to Lithgow being promoted to main antagonist.

Phaneron

More trivia for Cliffhanger

Question: What was Hal's plan in the beginning? He wanted to send an harness to his girlfriend who was hanging in midair, so his girlfriend has the strength to lift herself and tie herself from that position. She was dangling in midair.

More questions & answers from Cliffhanger

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