Continuity mistake: When John Travolta is showing the young boy how to tighten the air filter top, he makes sure the boy gives the wing nut an extra twist. Next he notices a car coming up the road and he leaves. When the FBI agent comes over and looks inside the hood of the truck, the air filter top is again off, the air filter is out and the carburetor is exposed.
Phenomenon (1996)
Directed by: Jon Turteltaub
Starring: Robert Duvall, John Travolta, Forest Whitaker, Kyra Sedgwick, Brent Spiner
Other mistake: After John T's passing, the screen caption reads "1 year later" and they are celebrating his birthday. The light flash happened on his birthday and took three months to be diagnosed and die. The caption should actually say 9 months later.
Continuity mistake: When Robert Duvall crosses the street to enter the hospital, torrential rain is drenching everything. After Duvall enters the hospital, the interior shot shows him and his raincoat completely dry.
Trivia: Nate Pope (Forest Whitaker) is an Amateur Radio operator with the call sign WB6QLF. QLF is amateur shorthand for "I am sending with my left foot", a reference to someone whose Morse Code sending skill is very bad. This is normally sent as a question "QLF?" meaning "Are you sending with your left foot?" to an operator who is very difficult to understand in Morse.
Bonnie: George Malley! You learned the Portuguese language in 20 minutes?
George Malley: Not all of it.
George Malley: Everything is on its way to somewhere.
George Malley: This is good, Lace. I think you're a good cook.
Lace Pennamin: No, I'm not. I only make two things pretty well: pork chops and, um, turkey.
George Malley: Hm. Which is this?
Question: Why didn't he use his crazy super intelligence, or his telekinesis, to either find a cure for his tumor or at the very least slide the tumor out of his own brain?
Answer: George saw the alien light flash twice. The implication was that the first alien light flash actually created the "tumor" in George's brain, and it was the tumor that gave him his superhuman abilities. There's no way George could telekinetically remove the tumor or send it into remission because it was the source of his powers. If he started tampering with it, he would instantly lose his powers.
Ah yes.
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Answer: 1. After losing consciousness a second time, George wakes up in the hospital and is told by Dr. Brunder that instead of the tumor destroying brain function, it has been stimulating it not only making George hallucinate seeing a bright light, but, was also responsible for giving him his abilities. Unfortunately, by the time the tumor was detected, it had grown out of control meaning that George had only a short time to live making a search for a cure impossible, especially since he was told there was a very slim chance of survival if he had it removed. 2. If George had tried to use telekinesis to remove the tumor, he would probably have ended up killing himself in the process.