The Graduate

Continuity mistake: As Benjamin approaches their house, Mrs. Robinson gets into the car and threatens to tell Elaine about their affair. Benjamin gets out of his car in the pouring rain and runs to the Robinson house and if you look closely he runs out from under the rain making machine about thirty feet from the car. (01:08:50)

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Continuity mistake: The hotel desk clerk sends Benjamin over to the Singleman party and he speaks to Mr. Singleman and the other people at the door. He turns around to leave and in the next shot the people he was talking to are gone. (00:27:35)

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Continuity mistake: Benjamin pulls a cross off the window of the church and uses it to lock the people inside the church. If you look closely when we see the church from the outside the cross is not there and before he pulls it off the window there's a curtain in front of it, which disappears between shots. (01:43:15)

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Continuity mistake: Benjamin doesn't kiss anyone on the lips but in the 20 seconds it takes him to walk down from his room to the party a small smudge of lipstick appears on the left side of his lower lip as he speaks to the guests. (00:04:20)

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Continuity mistake: In the last shot of Benjamin and Elaine inside the bus he's facing forward and she's sitting slightly to the right of the center window divider on the back of the bus. In the next shot he's sitting sideways with his arm resting on the top of the back seat and she's moved about eight inches to the right. (01:44:45)

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Continuity mistake: When Benjamin is in his apartment, there is a Coors can on top of the refrigerator. When the camera comes back to the refrigerator, the can is gone.

Continuity mistake: Benjamin brings some flowers for his date with Elaine and has them on the dashboard underneath the rearview mirror. As the scene progresses the box moves to the left in relation to the steering wheel and the rear view mirror above it without being touched. (01:07:45)

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Continuity mistake: Benjamin calls Mrs. Robinson from the Taft Hotel lobby and asks her to meet him for a drink. At first he's standing in a dark phone booth then in the next shot as he walks out the area is all lit up. (00:25:10)

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Continuity mistake: After Mrs. Robinson corners him in Elaine's room, Benjamin runs down stairs and picks up his drink just before Mr. Robinson walks through the front door. When we saw the drink earlier as he put it down just before they went up to see Elaine's picture, it was half full, now it's empty with a few ice cubes in it. (00:16:40)

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Continuity mistake: Mr. Robinson sits in Benjamin's apartment waiting for him by the window as he smokes a cigar. In the first shot of this scene the cigar is lit, he never puts it out but several seconds later we see it again and it isn't. Then in the shot after that we see smoke blowing through the air as we look at Benjamin face. (01:31:30)

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Continuity mistake: When Mrs Robinson gets out of Ben's car, which doesn't have the top down, her hair is notably messy but, not soon after, her hair is fine, and it is done up in an elaborate way, so she couldn't have fixed it herself.

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Continuity mistake: Benjamin runs up the steps to his apartment to find Mr. Robinson sitting there waiting for him. Before he gets to the door the wall on his right is dark but then in the next shot as we see him entering the apartment that wall is totally lit up. (01:30:35)

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Continuity mistake: As he leaves the apartment Mr. McCleery tells Benjamin to, "get out of here". If you look closely at the light fixture over the pay phone in front of him you'll see it only has one light on it. In the next shot as he rounds the staircase we see it again and there are two lights on it. (01:33:15)

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Continuity mistake: The two large black liquor bottles that were on the left of Mrs. Robinson's bar when they walked out have been moved several feet to the right as Mr. Robinson pours Benjamin a drink. (00:12:10)

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Continuity mistake: We see Benjamin's fish tank as Mrs. Robinson barges into his room looking for the bathroom. It's rearranged between shots, with the deep-sea diver in the middle removed. (00:07:00)

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Continuity mistake: In the hotel room Mrs. Robinson makes Benjamin promise that he will never take Elaine out. If you look closely the purple chair in the middle of the room has been moved out about a foot away from the wall so that it's now blocking her line of sight and obscuring the bottom of the lamp that's in front of the window. When we saw this spot before as they were lying in bed the bottom of the lamp could easily be seen from the bed. (00:54:05)

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Continuity mistake: Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson have a rendezvous and while they're in bed he gets her to talk about where Elaine was conceived. She turns out the light and the conversation continues a while in the dark until Benjamin indicates that he might take Elaine out on a date. She turns on the light again and gets ready to rip his head off and two drinks appear where there were none before under the lamp on the left of the screen. (00:49:40)

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Continuity mistake: After Benjamin cuts his thumb on the razor he takes it and curls it under his other four fingers. In the next shot his left hand is open wide and the thumb is not bleeding. (00:45:10)

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Continuity mistake: After Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson have a fight about Elaine she sits on the side of the bed putting on her stockings as she gets ready to leave. Benjamin says, "Oh no, look I like you" and in the next shot as the camera shifts angles a chair appears in front of Mrs. Robinson that wasn't there before. (00:53:10)

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Continuity mistake: Benjamin arrives at the Robinson's for his date with Elaine and he sits on the couch next to Mrs. Robinson to try to explain. Before he sits down the lamp on the left of the couch is off, then in the next shot as he sits down the lamp is on. (00:57:00)

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Continuity mistake: When Benjamin is running up the stairs of his rooming house with a stack of presents and a big bouquet of flowers, the flowers are pointing down held by his left hand with the presents in front of him. When he rounds the corner of the stairs, the flowers are upright in front of both him and the presents.

More mistakes in The Graduate

Buck Henry: Are you here for an affair, sir?

More quotes from The Graduate
More trivia for The Graduate

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