Continuity mistake: In the scene where Forrest goes and visits Jenny (and is introduced to his son), there is an iron on the ironing board in the background. It stands up, then down, then up. The child's artwork in the background also disappears. (01:56:25)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Jenny is adjusting Forrest's tie before their wedding, a man wearing a brown jacket can be seen on the porch behind them. Then in the next shot when Forrest sees Lt. Dan approaching, the man is gone. (02:00:20)
Factual error: When Forrest is talking to Jenny at her grave, he says "You died on a Saturday morning." But 22 March 1982 (the date on the grave) was a Monday. (02:04:05)
Factual error: In the scene where Jenny is snorting coke, "Get Down Tonight" was playing, which came out in 1975. Then we cut to Hurricane Carmen, which hit in 1974. (02:25:00)
Factual error: During the 1972 New Year's Eve celebration, Forrest drinks a Dr. Pepper with a logo that wasn't devised until around the mid 80s.
Revealing mistake: In the scene where Lt. Dan chases the hookers out of his apartment, if you look closely at how he's carrying himself you can see Sinise use his real leg (which was then hidden by the special effects people) to push himself back into his wheelchair.
Factual error: Jenny shows Forrest a clipping of him in U.S.A Today (first published in September 1982), but on Jenny's grave it says she died on March 22 1982, before the paper even existed.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the movie, before meeting Jenny, Forrest is sitting on a bus bench wearing the Nike shoes he received from Jenny and ran across the country in. When he arrives at Jenny's and crouches down to meet little Forrest, he's wearing brown loafers.
Suggested correction: It's certainly possible that he brought a nicer pair of shoes in his suitcase to change into when he arrived to her place.
Except nothing in the film suggest he had a chance to change shoes. He was so excited to see her and when he found out he's only 5 or 6 blocks away, he runs all the way to her apartment. It wouldn't be in his character to then stop and change shoes before knocking on her door.
If we look closely, those are just dirty shoes. Same ones Jenny gifted him.
Of course it would be in his "character." Forrest Gump was always a tuck in your shirt and straighten your tie kind of guy.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Forrest is getting on the school bus for his first day at school, he is standing at the door talking to Dorothy Harris, the bus driver. The shot from behind Forrest shows Dorothy's right hand on the gear shift knob. In the next shot, from inside the bus looking down at Forrest, her right hand is on the door-open lever. This shot changes several times, and each time her right hand is in those two different positions.
Continuity mistake: During Forrest's first football game, he is standing staring off into space when they receive the kickoff, his teammate runs over to him, hands him the ball, and tells him to run. Forrest says, "Okay". The camera cuts to the coach on the sideline who is yelling for him to "run!, run!", while at the same time his head is turning as if he is watching Forrest run past him. The next camera shot shows Forrest running, but he has not yet gotten to the point on the sideline where the coach and the team are standing.
Continuity mistake: When Jenny comes to see Forrest when he's mowing the lawn they hug. Jenny's left arm is down on Forrest's back in one shot, but up around his neck in the reverse shot.
Factual error: We've already seen George Wallace on the school steps in one of the scenes where Forest is inserted into the footage, and this happened in June of 1963. Then it shows an All-American team meeting with JFK but that was created in December. But there was no way JFK would have been there as he was assassinated the previous month.
Audio problem: During the football match when Forrest runs and bumps into the band players, we hear what sounds like cymbals crashing/dropping to the ground. But if you look at the band players he knocks over, there are no cymbals anywhere near them.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Lt. Dan is waiting on Forrest at the dock, and Forrest jumps overboard off his boat to swim over to meet him, Forrest's hair and face are mysteriously dry for him to have just come out of the water, as if he towelled off his head before climbing the steps up to the platform.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Forrest is attacked by boys who are throwing stones he is hit underneath his right eye. In the next shot you can see Forrest bleeding from a wound on his forehead.
Continuity mistake: Young Forrest's foot gets trapped in a sewer with a bunch of leaves around. When the angle changes the leaves are gone.
Revealing mistake: While Forrest is playing the Chinese ping pong player, the camera shows him returning powerful volleys with ease. During one of these returns, his hand and arm bend at an unnatural angle due to the CGI graphics changing a forehand shot to a backhand shot.
Deliberate mistake: In the scene where Forrest is describing his heritage, the clip of KKK on horses is taken from The Birth of a Nation. In this clip, you can see tire tracks on the dirt road well before automobiles were supposed to be in existence. Robert Zemeckis decided to leave this mistake in to perfectly match the clip to the original movie.
Continuity mistake: When Forrest sees Lt. Dan again after buying the shrimp boat, he dives off the boat and you see the boat going to the right, but after chatting for a short while they see the boat going in the opposite direction and crash into the pier. Even if it somehow turned itself around, it would would take longer than that.
Continuity mistake: When Forrest lifts Lt. Dan to carry him out of the jungle, there is a pack slung over Lt. Dan's left shoulder. When the shot changes to Forrest carrying him over his shoulder the pack has disappeared, without time for it to have fallen off. Notice, this pack is separate from Lt. Dan's large field pack, which Forrest does unbuckle before he lifts him onto his shoulder.
