Mistakes in Film & TV

[The Hallucinating Goose]

A thread for any of those things you've noticed in film and television that just shouldn't be there! 

Edited December 9, 2022 by The Hallucinating Goose

[The Hallucinating Goose]

I'll start off with one that always annoys me in Pirates of the Caribbean. 

In the first film, Captain Norrington is bestowed the rank of Commodore. In the Royal Navy, certainly at the time of the film's setting, Commodore was a ceremonial rank rather than an official one and was held by a captain who commanded a fleet of ships. 

While Commodore Norrington is in Port Royal this is fine as there are a couple of warships in the harbour there but what I always notice is after Jack Sparrow escapes and Norrington pursues him, he is still referred to as Commodore throughout the film and indeed in subsequent films as well. At no point after leaving Port Royal does Norrington command more than a single ship again and so should automatically revert back to his official rank of Captain. 

Just irks me as a history nerd. 

[jacksy]

Doesn't bother me but possibly the most famous blooper is the Stormtrooper head smash in SW.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

5 hours ago, jacksy said:

Doesn't bother me but possibly the most famous blooper is the Stormtrooper head smash in SW.

Another one I know from Star Wars (not sure which installment) is there is a scene where you see Chewbacca running and as he lifts his big hairy feet you can see the soles of trainers. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Another historical inaccuracy I know of is from The Great Escape.

The bike Steve McQueen rides to jump the fence is not a 1940s BMW as it should be but a 1962 Triumph TR6. Obviously this bike is British and not even manufactured until almost 20 years after the end of the Second World War. 

I believe the reason for this was because McQueen himself requested that the bike be a Triumph as he was a big motorcycle enthusiast and felt the British bike would perform better. The filmmakers also felt that a bike from the 40s would have real trouble actually achieving the famous jump. 

[Futtocks]

42 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Another one I know from Star Wars (not sure which installment) is there is a scene where you see Chewbacca running and as he lifts his big hairy feet you can see the soles of trainers. 

And in the original movie (I'm sure Lucas has digitally corrected it), Mark Hamill yells "Carrie!" instead of "Leia!" when he climbs down from his X-Wing after returning from the big mission.

[Futtocks]

From one of Miles O'Keeffe's "Ator" movies, check out the vehicles clearly visible in the background of this sword'n'sorcery flick based in the days of yore.

Edited December 8, 2022 by Futtocks

[The Hallucinating Goose]

One of the many historical inaccuracies of Braveheart of course is that they wear kilts. Kilts were first worn in Scotland in the 16th century not the 13th. 

A slightly less clear one is bagpipes. Although there are claims pipes existed in Scotland in the 14th century, they can only be proven to the 15th century and so again, a bit later than this film is set. 

I suppose though they have to get all the Scottish stereotypes in for the international audience. 

[Exiled Townie]

4 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

One of the many historical inaccuracies of Braveheart of course is that they wear kilts. Kilts were first worn in Scotland in the 16th century not the 13th. 

I like my history and I can forgive most 'historical bloopers' but when it comes to Braveheart, don't get me started ..... well, ok then, here's just a few -

Battle of Stirling Bridge,  one of Wallace’s few victories, is missing two key elements, the armies main leader Andrew de Moray who many historians claim won the battle for Wallace, and, perhaps more crucially, the bridge itself.

Braveheart was the name given to Robert the Bruce and not Wallace, 

 

Wallace’s father wasn't killed by the English when Wallace was a boy, and was likely still alive during his son's rebellion.

The romantic liason with Isabella of France never happened, she was 3 at the time of Wallace's rebellion.

Wallace was not a wild, hairy highlander from farming stock, painted with woad (1,000 years too late) running amok in a tartan kilt (400 years too early). He was a Scottish nobleman.

King Edward the 1st didn't die at the same time as Wallace, he died a few years later.

As one critic said 'This film couldn’t have been more inaccurate if a plasticine dog was added to the cast and the film was retitled 'William Wallace meets Gromit.'

[hw88]

Virtually every Western is loaded with historical innacuracies - wrong type of guns (usually repeating rifles years before they were commonplace), wrong hairstyles (especially the women), use of bras and other non-period clothes, and virtually no black people - 30% of cowboys were black.

[gingerjon]

7 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

One of the many historical inaccuracies of Braveheart of course is that they wear kilts. Kilts were first worn in Scotland in the 16th century not the 13th. 

A slightly less clear one is bagpipes. Although there are claims pipes existed in Scotland in the 14th century, they can only be proven to the 15th century and so again, a bit later than this film is set. 

I suppose though they have to get all the Scottish stereotypes in for the international audience. 

Everyone speaking English too.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

Everyone speaking English too.

Well yeah that as well, especially considering French was the official language of England at that time and English only became commonplace as the main language around a century after the events depicted in the film. And the fact the Scots would have been speaking a form of medieval Scots Gaelic. 

[DavidM]

These aren’t bloopers though are they ?

[The Hallucinating Goose]

3 minutes ago, DavidM said:

These aren’t bloopers though are they ?

I did say inaccuracies in the tags as well. And stated at the top of the thread simply things that shouldn't be there. 

[DavidM]

2 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I did say inaccuracies in the tags as well. And stated at the top of the thread simply things that shouldn't be there. 

That’ll be every single film ever made 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1 minute ago, DavidM said:

That’ll be every single film ever made 

Well you better get posting then!

[DavidM]

Well a blooper that springs to mind is the coffee cup left in shot in game of thrones 

[gingerjon]

11 minutes ago, DavidM said:

That’ll be every single film ever made 

I tend to use Braveheart as an example though because it is believed by so many to have a sort of “ring of truth” when it doesn’t even have that.

I’m less bothered by films like, say, Titanic because that is more obviously a melodrama that just happens to use the occasional real person’s name.

[RoyBoy295]

The biggest booper (s) ever...

 

Anything with Kevin Costner in it.

[Copa]

The shadow of the camera man moving across the wall in Blade Runner. 

 

[Exiled Townie]

5 hours ago, hw88 said:

Virtually every Western is loaded with historical innacuracies - wrong type of guns (usually repeating rifles years before they were commonplace), wrong hairstyles (especially the women), use of bras and other non-period clothes, and virtually no black people - 30% of cowboys were black.

Every single western film about Custers Last Stand - battle of the Little Big Horn - seems to have a glorious last stand with the cavalry surrounded by hoards of Indians as they all go down fighting. In reality it was a major mess up by Custer and the 'battle' was just a shambolic retreat by 200 soldiers from 3000 Indians.

[hw88]

Zulu.

Private Hook was not a malingerer as portrayed in the film.

There was no singing contest!

[The Hallucinating Goose]

33 minutes ago, hw88 said:

Zulu.

Private Hook was not a malingerer as portrayed in the film.

There was no singing contest!

The 24th Foot were not a Welsh Regiment either as depicted in the film. They were the 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot. There was 32 Welsh soldiers in the Regiment of approximately 120 soldiers. 

[Marauder]

14 hours ago, hw88 said:

Zulu.

Private Hook was not a malingerer as portrayed in the film.

There was no singing contest!

Not a Welsh regiment there either.

[Bobby123]

What do you expect from re-hashed repeats?.