Continuity mistake: Matthews and Clonsky are in the agents' hotel surveillance room. In the shots facing the monitors, the equipment near the small monitor sits higher than that monitor and there is no equipment on the TV. In the shots facing the agents, the equipment near the small monitor sits lower and closer to that monitor and there is electronic equipment on top of the TV. (00:57:00)
Continuity mistake: Gracie Lou enters the dressing room prior to the bathing suit competition, we see her peeking around a rack of clothing with only her head visible, with a towel wrapped around her. The agents in the surveillance room see the other contestants on the monitor, yet the flag cam, which is pinned onto the top of the sash just above the 'N' in New Jersey, is very clearly covered with the towel that she has wrapped around herself, until she walks over to the mirror. (01:01:35)
Continuity mistake: In the dressing room as Vic and Gracie are talking before Gracie is pushed on stage for the swimsuit preliminary, Gracie is wearing the flag minicam on her New Jersey sash. While on stage during the swimsuit prelim., the flag minicam is NOT on her Jersey sash. She did NOT take it off. (01:02:15 - 01:04:20)
Continuity mistake: Stan announces, "Swimsuit Preliminary accounts for 15%..." and the contestants are seen on stage. Miss NY to the left of the screen and Miss California and Miss Texas to the right of the screen, are walking towards center stage where Miss West Virginia is. Yet in the next shot backstage in the dressing room all four of those contestants are seen backstage with Gracie. (01:03:15)
Continuity mistake: Backstage Vic pulls off Gracie's towel and pushes her onstage. In the next wide shot we see a boat riding past the stage, and the boat's operator is wearing a blue shirt. In the next close-up of that boat operator, his shirt is white. (01:03:35)
Continuity mistake: At the swimsuit preliminaries, they show the row with Gracie in it, in the back on the left. In the wide shot right before they all step forward, they show her walk forward a bit without anyone else, and Miss Indiana turns to her right ands starts to walk off. In the close-up Gracie is in step with the rest of the row and Miss Indiana is closer to Miss Vermont. (01:03:40)
Continuity mistake: During the swimsuit preliminaries, there is a sequence where we see several contestants on a small stand in the foreground and the next contestant to come up to the stand in the background. Well after we see Cheryl, Miss Rhode Island on the stand, there's someone else behind her ready to come up right away because she's next in line, but instead the next contestant is Gracie. (01:04:10)
Continuity mistake: In the preliminary interview Gracie is on the left hand side of Stan Fields and then when she finishes her questions and hands the microphone back to him she is on his right side. (01:04:50)
Continuity mistake: Stan asks Cheryl, "Describe your perfect date," and on stage to Cheryl's left are Miss Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana and Illinois. Yet after Gracie turns away, in the wide shot there are another two contestants with the original four to Gracie's left. Also in this wide shot, behind Stan and Cheryl there are contestants lined up in front of the shrubbery, but in the previous close-up as she answers the question, there are no contestants behind them. All are idle onstage during the interviewing. (01:05:40)
Continuity mistake: The paint splatters change several times between the shots of Gracie eating pizza and the ones back at the hotel. (01:08:20 - 01:12:10)
Continuity mistake: When they are having pizza and beer at the club, Miss California puts her slice down on the silver pie platter on the table as Gracie and Cheryl take a seat. In the shot from behind Miss Texas the pie platter is seen again and the arrangement of the slices is different on the platter. Also when Hart says, "We'll stay here", and in this front shot she takes a bite of her slice and Cheryl picks up a new slice and takes a bite out of hers. In the back shot, Cheryl picks up a new slice and takes a bite again. (01:08:40)
Continuity mistake: While having pizza and beer at the club, Gracie says, "Don't worry about that, we all sucked." In every front shot, Gracie's hair is hanging down the sides of her face, but in the next five side shots, her hair's tucked behind her left ear. Then in the rest of the shots her hair is tucked behind her left hair in all shots. (01:09:10)
Continuity mistake: In the scene in the bar when Gracie is talking 'girl talk' with Cheryl, the Rhode Island contestant, you can see Cheryl's hair hanging down over her right eye. As they switch camera angles, you can clearly see that her hair is now high up on her forehead. The camera angles repeatedly switch back and forth, with the hair differences easy to spot. (01:09:10)
Continuity mistake: When Kathy puts on the crown, the letters she just finished writing are a bit scattered and also her glasses are lying on the bottom sheet. Before she picks up the letters to point them out to Frank, they are in a neat stack. The glasses seem to be gone, since she isn't too careful when picking up the papers and there is no sound of the glasses falling or sliding onto the table. (01:13:10)
Continuity mistake: In the scene towards the end of the film, just before Gracie goes on stage for the finale. Kathy Morningside is trying to open a bottle of pills backstage. She can't open the bottle so shouts for Frank. However instead of calling Frank, she shouts 'Ste..' and then corrects it to 'Frank'. I would imagine this is because Frank Tobin's real name is Steve Monroe. (01:17:05)
Continuity mistake: When Vic is packing to leave the hotel, Gracie rummages through the make-up scattered on the table, yet in the following close-up the make-up is arranged differently and the upright lipstick suddenly appears. Also, when Vic walks out of the bathroom, in the close-up he's already way past the doorway, yet in the wide shot he's just coming out of the doorway. (01:17:55)
Continuity mistake: Gracie rushes into the dressing room saying, "I overslept my beauty sleep," and Cheryl's bangs/fringe are wide and poofy having just come out of the roller. Yet in the mirror's reflection shots, Cheryl's bangs/fringe are narrow and flat and Miss Hawaii and Miss California differ in their positions too. (01:19:25)
Continuity mistake: During the 'One in a Million' opening performance of the pageant, while the contestants are dancing, in the shots behind the ladies the steadycam operator is seen at the front runway. Yet in the front shot, in between the back shots, the entire runway is seen, including the luminous edge bulbs, and the steadycam operator is not there. (01:22:35)
Continuity mistake: At the airport, in the shot from inside the car, Vic, Matthews and Clonsky take their luggage out of the back. One button is closed on Vic's blazer, Matthews has the black duffel in his right hand and the suitcase in his left hand and Clonsky has the blue duffel in his left hand and two other pieces of luggage in his right hand. Yet in the next shot from outside the car, there are now two buttons closed on Vic's blazer, Matthews' luggage switched hands and Clonsky's blue duffel is now in his right hand with one of the pieces of luggage. (01:25:10)
Continuity mistake: In the wide shot as Victor is boarding the airplane, he answers Matthews' question and the suitcase Vic holds in his left hand has a flap with two straps and buckles on the side facing out. In the subsequent close-up the suitcase is reversed, the flap with two straps and buckles are now facing his leg. (01:25:40)
Answer: It is an image Victor Melling conjures in an effort to elicit a calm, zen-like state for Grace. He is trying to assist her to focus on the competition, rather than her fear of walking the stage in a two piece swimsuit.
Michael Albert