Visible crew/equipment: Just as Jack says, "On deck, you scabrous dogs," to the very left edge of the screen over Jack's shoulder is a grip crew member with a tan cowboy hat, white short sleeve tee shirt and sunglasses, just standing there looking out to sea. (02:12:35)
Continuity mistake: Either the first shot has a gratuitous view of the fort or the composite people neglected to add the fort in the second shot. Norrington says, "...this is the day that Capt. Jack Sparrow almost escaped. Take him away." The night shot that follows, shows the bridge archway, and beyond it the pier, Interceptor, the fort and its parapet. After Will breaks Jack out of prison, they approach the same archway and beyond it is the pier and Interceptor, but in this shot we don't see the fort and its parapet, nor the line that Jack slid down the day before. The camera angle is exactly the same. (00:27:15 - 00:44:30)
Visible crew/equipment: When the Interceptor is totally blasted by the explosion of the gun powder deck and after Pintel says, "Any of you so much as thinks the word 'parley', I'll have your guts for garters," just when Elizabeth goes under the rope, one can see a man with headphones on his head and a megaphone in his hand in the lower left corner of the screen - it looks like Gore Verbinski, the director (this is only visible on the video fullscreen version).
Visible crew/equipment: At the blacksmith shop, Jack and Will start to duel and Jack asks, "But how's your footwork?" In the next close-up shot of their feet, the imprint of a modern, flat bottom trainer/sneaker sole can be seen on the dirt floor at the bottom right of the screen. It is not the imprint of a heel and sole of the time period. As a point of interest, on the video version of this film there are multiple imprints visible. (00:23:25)
Revealing mistake: When the Black Pearl swings alongside the Interceptor for the battle, Elizabeth shouts, "Fire all!" The next shot is from behind the lit cannon which is aimed at the Pearl and the following shot faces the Interceptor's cannon, as it goes off. In the shot facing the Interceptor, the raw wood scaffolding type beams are perfectly visible at the entire lower part of the screen, where the painted planks (below the gun ports, above the bilges) of the hull should be. (This is only visible on the video version.)
Visible crew/equipment: When the dock master tells Jack, "Hold up there you. It's a shilling...," seen in the background on the left of the screen is a thatched roof enclosure. An orange aluminum ladder is sitting under the thatch. Many of the crew's orange aluminum ladders of various heights can be seen on DVD 2. (00:10:10)
Continuity mistake: When Jack sails toward Port Royal, he passes the skeletal remains of hanged pirates, to whom he pays a respectful bow. First, there are two wideshots of the skeletons, then in the close-up they are actually wearing more clothing, particularly the strapping middle guy, whose head position differs, and his straw hat is larger as well. (00:09:15)
Visible crew/equipment: When Jack and Barbossa duel in the cave, Barbossa hits Jack in the face. Barbossa yells, "Aaaah," and Jack takes off running with his arms waving wildly in the air. In this shot, as Jack waves his arms, at the bottom right corner of the screen, the wood scaffolding that was built for the cave set can be seen near the rocks in the water. The cave set scaffolding can be seen being built on Disc 2 of the DVD. (01:57:20)
Visible crew/equipment: Jack is in one of the boats with Norrington and his men, at Isla de Muerta. Norrington looks through the telescope, saying that he doesn't care for the situation and in the wide shot, when Jack says, "Not if you're the one doing the ambushing," in the water, to the right of the boat, a crew member's green flipper can be seen coming up out of the water. The divers kept the boats steady while filming. (01:43:05)
Continuity mistake: When Barbossa takes the sword out of his own chest, he then stabs Jack with that sword, and he stabs Jack right under the strap and buckle. As Jack walks backwards, into the moonlight, the skeletal Jack appears and now he has the sword over the strap and buckle, in his chest. The length of the sword between the guard and his chest differs greatly, as does the amount of sword that protrudes from his back. (01:55:15)
Continuity mistake: When Jack jumps down from the mast yard arm on the Jolly Mon to bail water, in the far wide shot, the mast pennant lies still, yet blows wildly in the previous shots and the bottom left of the sail is caught up on line from the rigging, but in the following shots, it's not. Also, in the wide shot he starts to walk to the middle of the boat, and he puts his arms out as he's starting to pass to the right of the mast. In the next close-up of Jack, he's passing the mast on the other side. (00:09:10)
Visible crew/equipment: Before being marooned on the 'spit of land,' Elizabeth stands on the Pearl's gangplank. In her close-ups, with the island in the distance, the long 'metal pipe' guardrails are visible behind her in three shots where she is still wearing the dress. The pipes are also visible behind Johnny Depp (Jack) in three shots, including when Barbossa says, "That be the same little island we made you governor of..." In all other shots of the gangplank there are NO guardrails surrounding the actual gangplank while it's extended over the water. (This is only visible on VHS, but can also be seen on DVD 2 and DVD 3 - 'The Lost Disc'.)
Visible crew/equipment: As Will and Jack duel up top in Brown's shop, in two close-up shots a large plank is visible at their feet with two long black marks along each side detailing where the beams are supposed to be, so that Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp know where to land as they supposedly leap from beam to beam and feign keeping their balance. (This is ONLY visible on the video version.)
Visible crew/equipment: On the dock, when Jack grabs the rope, flies up and escapes, the cannon comes crashing down onto the dock. When the wood planks break (pre-cut wood), two Marines fall into the hole. Seen hanging under two of the remaining fixed wood planks are strips of tape that was used to help secure the pre-cut wood together with the fixed wood. Another view of this is also seen on DVD 2. (00:19:45)
Revealing mistake: Aboard the Pearl, just as Barbossa screams, "And the rest of you, bring me that medallion," seen to the upper right of the screen is a very apparant high cliffside. There are no cliffs, high or otherwise, where they are having the battle - they're in open water. (01:27:30)
Visible crew/equipment: When Jack and Will duel, Jack says, "You need to find yourself a girl, mate," and he takes a mallet from above, Will ducks. In the next back shot of Will as he ducks, the back, left flap of his vest goes up. There is a battery power pack secured with black tape to the left side at the back of Orlando Bloom's pants' waistband. There are several shots during this scene when a small bulge under the back of his vest can be seen. (00:24:45)
Visible crew/equipment: During the cannon attack on the harbour near the beginning of the film, a spring board, used to propel one of the stuntmen dressed as a sailor into the air, is visible during an explosion near the dock. (00:30:20)
Revealing mistake: When Elizabeth first sees the skeletal pirates she stumbles backward, and when she lands on the tarp in the close-up, the flesh-covered thumb and part of a hand is visible behind her, at the top right, though the pirates are in skeletal form. (00:59:05)
Continuity mistake: When Jack first confronts Will at the blacksmith shop, seen behind Jack, hanging on the stone wall near the fireplace are iron masks and other paraphernalia. Later, when Jack sprays the soot at Will, the iron masks and paraphernalia are arranged differently on the wall. (00:23:00 - 00:26:15)
Visible crew/equipment: During Jack's escape, he swings about on the rope. As he does, in the shot immediately following Jack's first close-up, the film crew's blue flat-topped boat, as well as their speed boat with its trailing wake, are both visible at the bottom left of the screen. (This is ONLY visible on the video version.)
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.