Corrected entry: When Russell Hammond goes to William's house he spots a professional photo of William and his sister Anita. The photo shows William as a 15 year old with his sister. But Anita has been away working as a stewardess, and has not seen William since he was 11 - who was played by a younger and different actor in those scenes.
Corrected entry: In the scene when Russell comes to William's house, thinking it is Penny's, confusion ensues as he begins to question where he is. William's sister, Anita, stands there equally confused as she gazes at Russell, looking as if any random person came to the house, showing no signs (neither speechless shock nor excitement) of recognizing the now famous rock star. Her reaction is completely inconsistent with her character given her fervent love for rock 'n roll. Indeed, not only did she serve as the sole catalyst for William's passion for rock 'n roll but she left home earlier in the film because their mother forbade her listening to it. Moreover, she'd just flown home with William following William's long tour with Russell and Stillwater. Thus, there is no credible possibility that she would not recognize Russell, making her reaction wholly inconsistent with her character.
Correction: It's entirely plausible that Anita is unfamiliar with Stillwater or is only mildly aware of them. As the title implies, they are, "Almost Famous." Anita may only have followed the biggest bands of the era and was uninterested in an upcoming "mid-level" band as "Rolling Stone" magazine describes them. William may have told her about his adventures on the road with them, but that does not mean she knows what the band members look like. She's also been a flight attendant for a few years, and may not follow rock bands as when she was teenager. Stillwater was not even a notable mid-level band when Anita left home.
Corrected entry: When William and Lester are talking in the coffee shop, William is taking notes and writes "Dont make friends w/rock stars. Righteously DUMB. Industry of COOL". Lester never mentioned anything about anyone being "righteously dumb". The internet suggests a couple of lines have been cut; "'Cause they are trying to buy respectability for a form that is gloriously And righteously dumb. Now, you're smart enough to know that. And the day it ceases to be dumb is the day that it ceases to be real, right?" (00:16:10)
Correction: Despite the editors' choice to cut dialogue from the scene, William could legitimately have written a series of notes before the audience is let into the scene. The scene begins with Lester and William already well into their conversation in the diner - reinforced by the fact that Lester's plate of food is mostly gone.
Corrected entry: In the scene where they are singing "Tiny Dancer" on the bus, the next line is "Count the headlights on the highway", however, when William turns to Penny and says "I have to go home" it looks like she is about to sing "Hold me closer tiny dancer" when in fact she should have been singing "Count the headlights on the highway."
Correction: Perhaps Penny did not know the song very well and got confused on the chorus. Character mistake not film mistake.
Corrected entry: When William arrives at the concert, you can hear Black Sabbath playing. He then spends some time backstage prior to the support band going on stage. In reality, a support band would always play before the headline act.
Correction: Actually, this is just background music, similar to most of the other songs used in the movie. The actual characters can't hear it. If it were meant to be Black Sabbath performing, they would have used a live recording of "Paranoid" instead of the studio version. Plus, Black Sabbath doesn't even arrive at the concert until about fifteen minutes later.
Corrected entry: When they are walking through the airport in silence after the scare on the plane the first shot shows William from the front with everyone passing on his right, but in the very next shot showing his back, Leslie walks around the other side of him.
Correction: William is near the back on the left until he stops to throw up, he then runs to catch up the group and moves in behind Dick and Jeff over on the right hand side - you can see Leslie is now on his left a little way behind. As they all pass William, the people on the right of the corridor pass on the right and Leslie passes to his left. There is no mistake.
Corrected entry: In the scene when they are on the plane and almost crash and everyone is confessing, Leslie is sitting next to Russell, however, when the camera goes to Jeffrey you can see Leslie's sleeve and wine glass sitting behind Russell and across from Jeffrey. When they show Russell, another band member is sitting in front of Jeffrey. This goes back and forth like this for the whole scene.
Correction: The passangers are always in the same place, as follows... Front to back, on the left, Ed (drums), Dick, Lesley and Jeff. On the right, Dennis Hope, Larry (bass), Russell and William. Shots down the plane are taken from both ends (some shots have the cockpit door in the background, some have a shirt hanging)and it can be confusing with all the movements, but they never switch seats.
Corrected entry: When Russell is about to jump off of the party house's roof into the pool, shots are taken of the crowd cheering at what he says. You may notice that many of them are holding modern bright blue Pepsi cans which were only introduced in the mid 90's. You may remember that Pepsi had a white can with its trademark red and blue logo on the side.
Correction: The bright blue cans are NOT Pepsi cans at all.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Penny Lane comes in and sits on the toilet while William is in the tub - she does not close the door behind her - and William gets out of the tub you can see the door is open - but the door is closed when the other Bandaids come in to "de-flower" William and they have to open it to interrupt Penny Lane & William.
Correction: When William stands up from the tub, he first walks to the door and closes it himself, then turns back to Penny and continues the conversation.
Corrected entry: In the scene where the plane is going down and everyone is confessing, one guy admits that he is "gay". This is a term that didn't come into regular usage and certainly wasn't known by the straight community until the late 70s at the earliest.
Correction: Although the word did not come into regular usage people still knew what you meant, even straight people.
Corrected entry: In the scene where William Miller meets Penny Lane for the first time and they are trying to get backstage, Saphire comes out through the door screaming "Does anybody remember laughter?". However, this line was made famous by Robert Plant in the concert movie released in the late 70's. The line is therefore way ahead of its time since the movie takes place in the early seventies.
Correction: One must keep in mind that these chicks are groupies and probably either have met Robert Plant, or at least know quite a few people who have. He probably says that all the time, which explains why she would quote him before the concert movie.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Russell comes to the Miller home, there is a picture of 'older William' and Anita on the bookshelf. Since Anita left home when William was still 'young William' and hadn't been back since, how could this picture exist?
Correction: Russell comes to visit a day or two after William returns. Given how long he's been away, it's not too much of a stretch to imagine that the first thing his mum did was rush out and get a photo done of her children.
Corrected entry: When William tries to interview Ed in front of the Topeka auditorium, we see a few kids hanging around in the background. In the closing sequence of the movie, we see a close-up shot of the very same kids bargaining over concert tickets - however, this scene allegedly occurs one year later, during the 1974 Stillwater tour.
Correction: So it's a group of friends. No reason they wouldn't still hang out a year later.
Corrected entry: In one scene, the band is taking the stage and in the audience there are a couple of people waving Cyalume (glowstix) sticks. Now if I'm mistaken, sorry, but those things didn't hit the public market till the 80's. The military had them but no one at the many concerts I attended in the 70's and 80's had them. Not until Ecstasy and raves of the late 80's and early 90's did those become popular.
Correction: One contributor said that he's 38 years old and remembered having one when he was 10 or 11. They may not have been popular, but they certainly were obtainable.
Correction: It was never said that Anita had not been home since she left at the beginning of the movie. Even though she and her mother had a strained relationship, she would likely have been back for short visits.
raywest ★