Continuity mistake: During the pirate attack on Port Royal, Will opens the door of the blacksmith shop, just as Jacoby runs past chasing a woman, and to Will's right, three men run up the stairs into the alcove as Will takes out his axe to start after Jacoby. In the very next wide shot of Will and the alcove, those three men aren't seen at all, but as soon as Will lifts the axe over his head to throw, one of those men from the previous shot is seen running up some stairs, past a shop. (00:31:10)
Continuity mistake: On the island, after regaining consciousness, when Jack puts his hands up to his face and desperately asks, "But why is the rum gone?" his fingernails are totally clean. However, in the earlier shots while getting drunk, his fingernails are very dirty, before passing out. (01:39:15)
Revealing mistake: Jack did not rip Elizabeth's corset, as the sound effects suggest: the bustier's hooks were all already undone, and he just pulled the different pieces aside. (00:16:15)
Continuity mistake: Jack walks down to the dock where Interceptor's moored, Murtogg is sitting on a sack that lies on a crate, his feet are up on a small barrel and behind him to his left are two large barrels, one on top of another. Once Jack's confronted, now the two large barrels are closer to the beam, and the small barrel is up right against the crate. This has nothing to do with the angle of the camera. (00:11:40)
Continuity mistake: Jack chases after the monkey on the broken mast leading across to the Black Pearl. When he gets there, Barbossa says, "Why thank you, Jack." Barbossa's left arm is up and he's holding the rope. In that first shot, much of his white sleeve is out. In the next shot of Barbossa, the white sleeve is mostly covered. Then in his next shot, much of the white sleeve is out again. (01:29:50)
Continuity mistake: When skeletal Pintel and skeletal Ragetti are in the rowboat their appearance and parasols differ between shots, and later, when Pintel attacks Ragetti in the wide shot, the two oars are each hanging off its own side of the boat. However, in the close-up one oar is now lying across the two sides of the boat. (01:51:10)
Continuity mistake: When Jack and Elizabeth are on the island Jack lifts the hatch to the underground cache of rum. In the first shot from below, the top stair is visible at the opening above. In the next shot from above the design/shape of the top stair is very different. Bramble disappears between shots as well. (01:36:00)
Continuity mistake: When Elizabeth asks, "Well, then can't we lose them amongst those shoals?" in the front shot, her hair is in front of her shoulders and in the side shot, her hair is behind her shoulder, on her back. This occurs many times throughout the film with Elizabeth's loose, long hair - wet and dry, such as on the dock, after Jack rescues her in Port Royal, and after Will rescues her when they board the Interceptor. (01:21:40)
Continuity mistake: When Elizabeth and Jack are on the island drinking rum, the amount of rum in Jack's bottle changes between shots.
Continuity mistake: At the end when Norrington is talking to Will about it being a good sword, he holds the sword vertical. Camera cuts and it's now angled at Will. (02:07:00)
Continuity mistake: When Will is hanging from the mast while Jack is talking to him, the clouds in the background behind Jack changes more than normal during the shots. (00:48:00)
Revealing mistake: When the Interceptor's clubhauling and it shows the stern out of the water, it's obviously a model (although there was a real ship, they used a model for riskier scenes).
Continuity mistake: Murtogg and Mullroy rush over to help lift Elizabeth onto the pier. Murtogg drops his gun behind the two posts and Mullroy drops his gun in front of the two right corner posts. In the wide shot, Jack's holding the medallion and Norrington rushes in. Mullroy's gun isn't behind him, at the posts, and Murtogg's gun isn't positioned the same way he dropped it. When Norrington grabs Jack, Mullroy's gun is lying in front of the posts again. Also, the ropes' position changes in these shots too. (00:16:30)
Revealing mistake: When saying, Welcome to the Caribbean, love," Jack, who is beside Elizabeth, starts to walk past her and his right hand nudges her left arm, to move her away. In the next close-up, taken later as a studio pickup, it shows him instead handing the bottle of rum to Elizabeth. In the close-up it's not Depp's hand on the rum bottle - the fingers are short and stocky, whereas Depp's are long and slim. Other differences between the outdoor and studio shots include, Jack's red string tied to his braid, Elizabeth's hair is not as messy and windblown, etc. (The original scene is shown in the deleted scenes.) (01:36:30)
Continuity mistake: When Governor Swann is leaning on the desk next to the drawer with the severed hand, his right hand is behind his back. In the close-up shot when he opens the drawer, his right hand is on his stomach, but in the wide shot his right hand is behind him again. (02:02:10)
Continuity mistake: Pintel yells out, "How do we tell?" and his jacket is covering a reasonable amount of the white shirt underneath. In the next shot of him when he's shot by Barbossa, more of the white shirt is visible, so the bullet hole can be seen. (01:12:50)
Continuity mistake: When the Black Pearl and the Interceptor fire their cannons, a fork's prongs dig into the iris of Ragetti's wooden eye. Pintel then removes the fork with the wooden eye, but the fork's prongs are now lodged just beside the iris of the eye - not to be confused with swirls in that eye; and his grip of the fork differs between shots. (01:25:30)
Factual error: Elizabeth would not have slept undercovers, nor would she have needed a bed warmer in Jamaica in an un-air conditioned room.
Revealing mistake: After skewering the three skeletal pirates, Will places the lit bomb inside of Jacoby. In the close-up Will places the bomb through Jacoby's ribs, right under his beard and Jacoby's leather strap and buckle are not seen. Yet in the next shot as Will removes his hand, the strap and buckle are slung across Jacoby's ribs near his beard. It should have been seen in the close-up. (02:00:30)
Continuity mistake: When Jack first walks into the blacksmith shop, standing at the doorway he looks around. The grindstone is seen in the distance and there is NO sword leaning on it. Then Will says, "You threatened Miss Swann," and in the following few shots there IS a sword leaning on the grindstone. After Jack says, "You need to find yourself a girl mate," he reaches overhead, pulls out a mallet and Will ducks. The grindstone is seen and again there is NO sword leaning on the grindstone. Neither Jack nor Will touched the grindstone. (00:23:05 - 00:24:50)
Chosen answer: Because they'd have to find it. The gold may "call to them", but it obviously doesn't function as a millimetre perfect homing beacon or they'd never have missed the medallion years earlier when they attacked the ship carrying the young Will. Elizabeth drops it into the sea and they're going to have to spend what could be months trying to locate it - currents could take it well away from the dropping point. They've found the final missing piece; they're potentially just hours away from finally being cured. The last thing they want is to see it thrown into the sea.
Tailkinker ★
Well, if the crew was anxious to get the medallion then why did they act like they weren't interested in it before Elizabeth pretended to drop it?
Reverse psychology.
Ssiscool ★
What do you mean by reverse psychology?
By showing they are not interested in the medallion they are hoping Elizabeth will just drop it on the floor or chuck it to them as it's of no real value. However when she releases a bit of chain and the medallion drops, and the pirates lurch forward revealing that they really want the medallion and as such Elizabeth now has the upper hand in negotiations.
Ssiscool ★
I'm guessing Elizabeth wasn't fooled when the pirates showed disinterest in the medallion.
That's not called reverse psychology, which is used to encourage someone to change his or her mind. Doesn't work with a threat. They are feigning indifference to hide the importance of the object.
lionhead
They didn't want to give her an advantage over them. Pretending to not care about the coin would make Elizabeth think that the coin is worthless and cannot use it to barter a deal.