Continuity mistake: In the scene where Teddy is about to blow up the car, at first you see him stuffing the necktie into the gas tank. As he talks to his wife, he remarks to her that he never liked the tie, and he holds the entire tie up to her. In the next shot the tie is once again fully stuffed into the tank.
Revealing mistake: In the very first scene, when Teddy and Chuck meet, they are standing on the bow of a ship traveling at full speed (as the Captain wants to return to the mainland before the storm hits), yet their lapels don't so much as flutter. Even at a slower speed, there would be some movement from the air as they passed across the water.
Continuity mistake: When Teddy interrupts the doctors' meeting, the coffee spoon on Dr. Cawley's saucer changes positions between the first and second angle.
Continuity mistake: When Leo has the doctor against the wall near the end with the syringe in his hand, in the angle looking at the doctor, the needle is closer to his neck, but when it switches sides to Leo, he is holding the syringe farther from his neck, within the space of seconds.
Continuity mistake: The lighthouse shown at 0:16:29 has more fences around than the same lighthouse shown at 1:20:00. The characters are also looking and pointing up to the lighthouse a long way away and lower down than they should be.
Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie, Teddy and Chuck are talking by the steps. Teddy's cigarette is in his mouth or away depending on the angle, with no continuity sense whatsoever.
Continuity mistake: When Teddy grabs his dead daughter in the lake and cries, his fringe is all wet and covering the forehead. When the angle changes, it's combed to the left.
Continuity mistake: When Teddy arrives home and sees his wife on the swing, the ducks in the lake appear or disappear depending on the angle.
Continuity mistake: While Teddy Daniels is talking to George Noyce in his cell in ward C, each time the camera angle switches the way he holds his match changes.
Continuity mistake: When Andrew first sees his dead children in the lake they are floating right next to the bricks around the lake but a few seconds later Andrew has to swim to almost the middle of the lake to get them.
Suggested correction: This is another representation of the trauma Andrew has experienced. How long do you think that 'swim' would be if you were trying to save your children?
Continuity mistake: During the dying German scene, the needle on the record player moves backwards between the first and second angle, in barely a couple seconds.
Continuity mistake: On the boat, Teddy lights up a cigarette and holds it in his mouth. A frame later it appears in between his fingers.
Continuity mistake: During Teddy's interrogation of Bridget Kearns, she takes Teddy's notebook and writes something on the page to the left. Yet, when he shows the notebook to Chuck Aule, all of Bridget's writing is on the page to the right.
Other mistake: When Teddy and Chuck are smoking under the portico roof during a downpour, they are first shown from the back and are completely in shadow, from head to toe. The shot changes to the front and their head and shoulders are lit from above. This would have been seen from the back as well as the front if it were intentional.
Continuity mistake: After Teddy takes his dead daughter's shoe off, its position changes between angles.
Continuity mistake: After Chuck gives Teddy a cigarette at the beginning of the movie, Teddy's left hand is holding the railing and has no wedding band on his ring finger. The ring is present in all other shots.
Continuity mistake: During Teddy and Chuck's interview with Peter Breene, when Teddy scribbles with the pencil in his notebook (which annoys Breene), the force of the rather large slanted scribblings tear the paper. After Teddy says, "Do you know what she was afraid of," in the close-up that tear is gone, the scribbling has changed shape and we can see that some pages have been torn out of the notebook (likely from prior takes). Then in a following shot the scribbling is smaller.
Factual error: When U.S. troops arrive at the concentration camp, they are wearing M1941 Field Packs. These were developed by the United States Marine Corps and were only used by Marines, not the Army. The standard pack systems used by the Army would've been the M1928 Haversack or M1936 "Musette" Bag.
Factual error: The movie is set in 1954, but the pinball machine named 'Seven Seas' in the staff rec area was not actually released until 1959 - even the metal legs on Gottlieb machines would not be introduced until 1957.
Visible crew/equipment: When DiCaprio is swimming towards his daughter who is floating face down in the lake there is a hand holding her foot to keep her in place, which lets go of her foot once DiCaprio is close enough.
