The Patriot (2000)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Mel catches his son trying on his old uniform jacket. The shot goes from Mel to his son then back to Mel. The candle on the wall behind him is not lit, then lit, then out again.

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Benjamin Martin is saving Gabriel from the Redcoats, he's hiding behind the trees. In the second to last shot before he runs down the hill to go hand-to-hand, you can see that the tree has red marks on it, and then in the next shot of the tree, they're gone.

Continuity mistake: When Gabriel is sitting in the snow writing a letter, we see a close up of a quill pen. Then, in the next shot, the writing implement looks more like a pencil than a quill pen. And wouldn't it be a trick to sit in the snow with a bottle of ink?

Continuity mistake: After the Green Dragoons burn the people in the church, the Militia chases them to the riverbank. Col. Tavington shoots Rev. Oliver who falls to his knees holding his rifle with the barrel to the right. Rev. Oliver throws the rifle up for Gabriel to catch, but now the barrel is pointing to the left.

Factual error: In the scene where the Martins are leaving Charlestown to go to Santee, they are actually travelling south toward the west Ashley area of south Carolina. If they were actually travelling to Santee they would be heading northwest with Charlestown directly behind them.

Continuity mistake: Another mistake in the scene for the battle of Cowpens involves Benjamin Martin charging at Colonel Tavington. As Benjamin charges, the camera shows him from the front and you see he is gripping the flag with one hand, his right. The camera then cuts to a different view to show Colonel Tavington on horse back charging towards Benjamin. Although Benjamin is slightly out of focus, you can see that he is now carrying the flag across his body with two hands (Flag towards Benjamin's left). The camera then shifts again to show Benjamin from the front and you now see him shift the flag from a one handed grip to a two handed grip.

Visible crew/equipment: At the end of the movie when the family returns to their burned down home, they find their friends rebuilding it. After they all talk, the camera moves back slowly as the family walks forward. To the right, across the field, you can see a line of cars, trailers and tents for the cast and crew, all parked either on a road or amongst some trees.

Factual error: When Benjamin is trimming bullets he makes from toy soldiers, the tool he uses to trim them has a manufacturer's stamp on the handle, not something that should be there in this time period.

Revealing mistake: Gabriel is noticeably breathing when he is supposed to be dead.

Factual error: In Gabriel's letter, he says his friend fell at Elizabethtown. The battle, which was actually the battle of Monmouth in NJ, was fought in June 1780, but when they show him getting shot it is blizzard conditions.

Steve Kozak

Factual error: Throughout the film, all the women are running around without "modesty pieces," a scarf/shawl that would cover their shoulders and tuck into the front of their dress, so their breast tops were not exposed.

Deliberate mistake: The Americans actually spoke with American accents, but these very new Americans were British in origin, and so they couldn't develop a new accent in such a short time. The Americans should still have British accents. This would have been confusing and is done for the viewer's benefit, but still a mistake.

Continuity mistake: Right after the scene where Benjamin Martin attacks the British army for the very first time to save his son, Col. William Tavington is interviewing the only survivor of the attack in a tent in a British camp. His green collar keeps popping in and out from under his leather strap over his right shoulder.

Continuity mistake: At the end when they are returning to the homestead, in one shot, Charlotte holds a baby in her left arm, followed by a shot of one of the boys. In that shot, Charlotte's left arm is hanging to her side with no baby.

Continuity mistake: When Gabriel is pulling his knife out of the dead British soldier, there is a long piece of grass on it. It shows Col. Tavington's body on the ground, then it shows Gabriel holding his knife again, and the piece of grass is gone. He is also standing in the same position as before, so it seems unlikely that he pulled the grass off the blade.

Factual error: During his preparation for the final battle Benjamin is making a bullet using a pair of Rapine bullet mold pliers. According to their records the Rapine Mold Company was not established until 1964.

Bootcamp

Visible crew/equipment: When Gabriel approaches Anne and she tells Gabriel, "You know who I am, Gabriel Martin." At the end of this shot you can see at the top of the screen a microphone moving back and forth.

Movie Mistake Man

Continuity mistake: After Benjamin and his sons ambush the British troops, a surviving British soldier is holding a knife to the left side of Gabriel's neck threatening to kill him. Benjamin throws his axe in the soldier's head, and he falls to the ground, but cuts Gabriel on the neck. As he falls, the knife drags along the left side of Gabriel's neck, but the cut is on the right side of his neck.

Continuity mistake: Tavington does a fast reload and adopts a duelist's stance, i.e. side on so as to make a smaller target. Gabriel shoots him and Tavington falls. We later see that Tavington is only creased on his left side which is strange since Gabriel could not have hit him there since it was the side farthest away from him.

Continuity mistake: After Garbriel gets married, there was a wedding party. During the party you can see a slave playing a xylophone-type instrument while a boy stands next to him. However, when Benjamin is talking to his new daughter-in-law, the slave can be seen in the background while the boy is nowhere to be found.