Continuity mistake: In the beginning when Neal's boss is looking at his work there is a wide shot showing the man sitting in front of Neal writing on his paper. When it cuts to facing the man he isn't writing anymore. (00:01:10)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning when Neal's boss is done looking at Neal's work and is about to state his opinion, we see him holding his glasses in his hand while stretching it out. When it cuts from behind him the glasses are no longer in his hand but he has them hanging from his mouth. (00:01:30)
Visible crew/equipment: When Steve Martin and Kevin Bacon start racing towards the cab, as Bacon starts running, watch carefully as he passes the second window. You can see the camera man sitting on some moving trolley reflected in the window. (00:03:10)
Continuity mistake: At the beginning, when Neil is racing Kevin Bacon for the taxi, he trips over the trunk and falls into the street, nearly being run over by a BMW. The car honks and pulls away. When the shot switches to show Kevin Bacon getting in the taxi, the car that almost hit Neil is now an Oldsmobile. (00:03:50)
Continuity mistake: During Neal's family eating dinner, the kid who says "I prefer noogies" is holding a fork in his hand. When it cuts, the fork is suddenly on the table. (00:06:30)
Continuity mistake: When Del pulls out his wallet and shows his shower curtain rings to Neal, we can see Del's sleeve is pulled up exposing his watch and most of his wrist. When it cuts, the sleeve covers his watch and wrist. (00:09:50)
Factual error: If they are really in the Wichita, Kansas airport, listen carefully to the airport announcements (real faintly in the background). When they say for "Mary Ellen" to meet her party upstairs, there's a slight problem with that. There is no upstairs in the Wichita airport. (00:12:53)
Suggested correction: There is an upstairs. You enter the terminal on the ground floor and go up for security and the gates.
Continuity mistake: In the driving scene from St. Louis to Chicago, Del is having a hard time taking off his parka in the car. After he spins out of control his parka is half off when Neal says "It's getting hot in here, you should take your parka off." The next shot you see them driving away and Del's parka is on again. (00:33:15)
Continuity mistake: When Owen arrives at the hotel to meet Neal and Del to drive them to the train station, Owen is wearing gloves on both hands. As he introduces himself and shakes their hands, Owen's right hand is now bare even though there wasn't enough time to remove the glove. (00:33:55)
Continuity mistake: When John Candy is singing "The Mess Around" in the car, the car swerves, and a hubcap from the passenger side rolls off. The hubcap is back on in the next scene. (00:57:20 - 00:58:50)
Revealing mistake: When the couple is yelling to Del "you're going to kill someone" because he's driving on the wrong side of the interstate, you can see that their car's transmission is in PARK. (00:59:35 - 01:01:05)
Visible crew/equipment: When Del is trying to negotiate for a room at the El Rancho motel, part of the boom mic pole enters in the upper right corner of the frame (matted widescreen version of the film, not just the open matte 4:3 version). (01:09:05)
Continuity mistake: When Steve Martin gets off of the train in Chicago near the very end of the movie to search for John Candy in the depot, the part of his hair is on the opposite side (left) from where it normally is. There is no apparent wind blowing his hair - it looks neatly parted on the "wrong" side. When he enters the depot, the part in his hair is back to the "correct" side. (01:23:30)
Factual error: At the very beginning of the film during the boardroom scene, Steve Martin checks his plane ticket. Departure time on ticket from NYC is 6:00pm. Arrival time to Chicago is 6:45pm. Travel time from NYC to Chicago is approximately 2.5 hours. Arrival time after time zone change should be approx. 7:25pm, not 6:45 pm. (01:31:25)
Suggested correction: Unsure about plane travel time in the 80s. But it currently takes 90 min to travel from DC to Chicago, and the airlines usually add a buffer. So this trip would most likely arrive at 6:30 CST, and a 15 min buffer time would still be reasonable (6:45 pm). For example, my plane tickets usually say estimated flight time of 1:45 or 2 hrs, but when the air currents are normal, it takes 90 min. DC is slightly further south than Chicago, while NYC is slightly further north.
Suggested correction: Considering from Los Angeles-Chicago is a 4-hour flight, and LA-New York is a 5-hour flight, I don't see how it could take 2.5 hours between New York and Chicago. Seems like 1-1½ hours is more accurate.
Continuity mistake: When Del comes out of the passenger side of the dairy truck, he is with a black eye, for no reason. The next scene, it is not there. It is there again when he admits to being homeless. (Steve Martin punched Del in a deleted scene.)
Continuity mistake: When John Candy and Steve Martin are travelling from Jefferson City, Missouri to St. Louis they are crossing the Mississippi River to enter downtown St. Louis. This would not have been possible unless the bus driver overshot the entire city and ended up across the river in Illinois.
Suggested correction: I agree with the original post. However, there could be several possibilities for this scenario: 1. Road closures, 2. Road construction, 3. Accidents, 4. Detours, and 5. Heavy "holiday traffic" could have contributed to the bus having to enter St. Louis from the east despite coming from Kansas in the west.
Revealing mistake: Near the end of the film, when Neal is on the final L train home, we see the train pull away from the station. When Neal returns to the station to find Del, the footage of the train leaving is played backwards - you can briefly see a man walking backwards at the top left of the screen.
Factual error: At the beginning of the movie, Steve Martin is trying to catch a cab to LaGuardia at about 5:30PM. In the movie, it's still daylight, whereas in reality, NYC is pitch black by that time of day - the sun sets at about 4:30PM in late November.
Continuity mistake: When the boss puts his hands on the table at the beginning, between shots they go from being spread apart to very close together.
Continuity mistake: When Neil is telling Del that he thinks it would be better if they traveled separately, the length of Del's cigarette changes (it loses about an inch after a two-second cutaway to Neil then back to Del).
