Continuity mistake: Before leaving the beach party Kilgore says, " Lance, go with Mike and let him pick out a board for you." Lance goes from looking down at the ground to looking up at the Colonel between shots. (00:33:55)
Continuity mistake: As they get ready to leave the beach party Kilgore says, "bring me my Yater Spoon, the eight-six". The soldier to the right of Mike has a cigarette in his mouth that is gone in the next shot. (00:34:00)
Continuity mistake: Just before Colonel Kilgore gets into his helicopter, he says to the trumpet player, "All right, Son, let her rip!" His left hand moves from being in front of his belt to being at his side between shots. (00:34:45)
Continuity mistake: As Colonel Kilgore gets into his helicopter the trumpet player is standing right there next to it blowing charge. In the next shot as the helicopter takes off he's not there. (00:34:50)
Continuity mistake: As he blows "charge" the trumpet player's scarf turns into a collar the last time we see him as the helicopter leaves. (00:35:10)
Audio problem: After they all get into the helicopters and take off, a soldier is blowing "charge" on his trumpet. This is an obvious over-dub, as he takes a deep breath in the middle of it without missing a note. (00:35:10)
Continuity mistake: As they approach Vin Din Dop in Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore's helicopter there's a close-up of Captain Willard looking out of the helicopter. If you look closely there's no wind because the helicopter is not flying. In the next shot as Colonel Kilgore talks to Lance about surfing, it is and there's plenty of wind. (00:36:15)
Visible crew/equipment: In the helicopter after Colonel Kilgore talks to Lance he says, "My boys love it" and you can see the silhouette of the crouching cameraman in his sunglasses. (00:36:50)
Continuity mistake: As they approach Vin Din Dop, Chef asks one of the other soldiers, "How come all you guys sit on your helmets?", then puts his left hand on his rifle site. In the next shot his hand is four inches below the site. (00:37:05)
Audio problem: On there way to Vin Din Dop the music for "The Ride of the Valkyries" is an overdub as the VU meters do not move when the tape recorder is running. (00:37:25)
Revealing mistake: In the major helicopter scene when Ride of the Valkyries is played, the actual tape isn't going over the playing heads. (00:37:29)
Deliberate mistake: None of the helicopter's in the movie have the Army markings seen on Vietnam era Hueys. The most you'll see is some crooked, faint and inaccurate stencils in the wrong spots. (00:37:50 - 00:51:25)
Continuity mistake: After the music for "The Ride of the Valkyries" is turned on there are several shots of the helicopters flying in formation and no speakers or surf boards can be seen on them. (00:38:10)
Continuity mistake: In some shots of the helicopters as they approach Vin Din Dop they're above the clouds, but in successive shots they're at or near ground level. (00:38:35)
Continuity mistake: As the VC first hear the helicopters coming an old woman in a pink top with a baby runs across the schoolyard. In the next shot she disappears and most of the school children have changed positions. (00:39:05)
Continuity mistake: As the helicopters approached Vin Din Dop Colonel Kilgore said to Lance, "We'll come in low, out of the rising sun," but when the helicopters fly over the beach their shadows are directly below them. (00:39:40)
Continuity mistake: As they approached Vin Din Dop over the beach we see the bridge on the left and no sampans with red sails are there. Fifteen seconds later when they come around the other side of the bridge there are three sampans with red sails unfurled. (00:39:40)
Continuity mistake: As the helicopters first attack there's a long shot of the Vin Din Dop beach and we can see the Viet Cong huts and none of them has a flag waving in front of them. In the next shot of the same spot we see two bright red communist flags. (00:39:50)
Continuity mistake: When the helicopters first attack Vin Din Dop we see eight in formation attacking from the beach with the bridge on the left. One second later we're in a helicopter attacking from the other side of the bridge and we can see the entire beach. From this angle we should be able to see all eight helicopters, but we don't and we also don't see any smoke on the beach from the explosions in the previous shot. (00:39:55)
Continuity mistake: In one shot we see the helicopters firing on the huts along the Vin Din Dop beach and the four missiles go directly into the beach nowhere near the huts. In the next shot the middle hut blows up. (00:40:00)
Answer: It should be noted that "transmutation" is a word Coppola has used to describe the film making process. Https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LFTQcwgq4CY.
Bishop73