Movies are huge productions, and it’s easy with a project of such a massive scale to make mistakes. Here is our list of HUGE mistakes in film, from getting history mixed up, to dodgy special effects.
Movie: Cast Away
Error: These cardboard FedEx boxes were floating in the ocean near the island. Miraculously, none of the contents of the non-waterproof packaging were damaged!
Movie: Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Error: Despite being a period film there is one extra in the background who is dressed in modern clothes during a marketplace scene. Can you spot him?
Movie: The Aviator
Error: In one scene in the movie, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character buys chocolate chip cookies. Unfortunately, the writers didn’t realize these cookies weren’t created until 1930, two years after the movie is set.
Movie: Braveheart
Error: In the movie, Mel Gibson’s character wore a kilt. While Scots are known for wearing them, they wouldn’t have been worn in 1300 when the film was set, becoming common place in the 1600s.
Movie: The Dark Knight
Error: I don’t think the Gotham Times has a proofreader working on their staff. Otherwise, they’d have picked up on the ‘hiest’ in their publication.
Movie: 300
Error: Xerxes army attacks using bombs, but this would have been impossible in real life as black powder wasn’t invented until the 9th century.
Movie: Django Unchained
Error: The title character wore sunglasses in the movie, but they weren’t common at the time, used as a medicinal aid, and were only prescribed by doctors on rare occasions. He did look badass, though!
Movie: Back To The Future
Error: When Marty McFly travels back in time to 1955 he plays a Gibson ES-345 guitar at the high school dance. Some funky time traveling must have been going on. The ES-345 wasn’t produced until 1958.
Movie: Halloween
Error: The film is set in a fictional town in Illinois, but you can clearly see Californian palm trees in the background of many exterior shots.
Movie: The Hurt Locker
In one scene they are playing on an Xbox 360, but the Xbox 360 did not come out until 2005, and the game being played, Gears of War, wasn’t released until 2006. The movie takes place in 2004.
Movie: Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
Error: While the Nazi book burning scenes were visually dramatic, they didn’t occur in 1938 when the scene is set, but 1933, five years earlier.
Movie: Malcolm X
Error: Poor Malcolm X’s home is under fire, and he yells out for someone to call 911 while he struggles to defend himself. The problem? 911 wasn’t launched until three years after he was assassinated.
Movie: The Patriot
Error: Aging is an awkward thing to portray when you’ve got a movie that spans several years. The Patriots way round it? No-one ages at all, including the children who inexplicably don’t look a day older.
Movie: Pirates Of The Caribbean
Error: Captain Barbossa was keen on an apple or two, including Granny Smiths which didn’t exist until 1868, about 140 years after the film was set.
Movie: Gladiator
Error: Russell Crowe’s character is called ‘The Spaniard’, which is an Old French word invented in the 1300’s. The researchers must have had a lazy day, as Gladiator is set over a thousand years earlier in 180 AD.
Movie: Gladiator
Error: Oopsy, another gladiatorial error. In one of the scenes, a gas canister is clearly visible in the back of a chariot as it comes crashing to the floor. That take probably should have ended up on the cutting room floor.
Movie: Public Enemies
Error: We could maybe chalk this up to creative licence, but in the movie, both Pretty Boy Floyd and Babyface Nelson are killed off by John Dillinger. In truth, he died before either of them.
Movie: Saving Private Ryan
Error: When Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) becomes injured in battle he leans against a Ural M-63 model motorcycle. The model itself didn’t exist until 18 years after the film is set.
Movie: Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End
Error: In the movie, the crew of the Black Pearl travel to Singapore for a showdown with the East India Trading Company. This would have proved tricky in the 1700’s, as Singapore was yet to be founded.
Movie: The Sound Of Music
Error: The Von Trapp family decide to escape Austria to get to Switzerland and travel over the Alps. This is geographically impossible – they would have only been able to reach Germany.
Movie: The Shawshank Redemption
Error: When Dufresne was planning his escape, he covered the escape hole he was digging with a Rita Hayworth poster from “One Million Years B.C.” The movie came out one year after Shawshank was set.
Movie: Sherlock Holmes
Error: The chase scene at the end of the film was remarkably short considering it started in the sewers at the Houses of Parliament and ended at Tower Bridge. The two are over two miles apart!
Movie: Top Gun
Error: During flying, Maverick and Goose fly closely in tandem, with one plane upside down. This is totally impossible in real life. The back wings of the planes would collide, causing a fatal crash.
Movie: The Green Mile
Error: We see Coffey executed by electric chair in the movie, but the method of execution was not used in the state of Louisiana where the movie is set until 1940 – five years after the film events.
Movie: Troy
Error: Paris used a lovely parasol to protect his chariot. Knowledgeable historians would be quick to point out that this type of umbrella wasn’t created for another 800 years.
Movie: North By Northwest
Error: Looks like the kid in the top-right hand corner has had a premonition. He’s got his hands over his ears before the gunshot rings out in the room. Psychic hotline eat your heart out.
Movie: Passion Of The Christ
Error: This movie falls into the age old argument of a white actor playing Jesus. The son of God resided in the Middle East, so couldn’t possibly be white.
Movie: Ace Ventura, Pet Detective
Error: It’s doubtful that the comedy was going for 100% accuracy, but when the dolphin is kidnapped, it manages to speak in dolphin tongue – even when it’s out of the water!
Movie: Forrest Gump
Error: Forrest receives mail from computer company Apple in 1975. This must have been a surprise as Apple’s famous rainbow logo was not designed until the following year, in addition Apple was not evan a publicly traded company until 1981! Oops!
Movie: Mr and Mrs Smith
Error: Despite being set in New York there are lots of instances in the film which show it was shot in Los Angeles.
Movie: Schindler’s List
Error: It feels wrong to criticise a movie as epic as Schindler’s list, but there is just one little mistake in the film. Plastic stamp pads were used in the film but weren’t invented during war time.
Movie: Spiderman 3
Error: Despite New York City being home to our beloved Spidey when he fights Sandman you can clearly see The Terminal Tower – a Cleveland landmark in the background.
Movie: Gone With The Wind
Error: The gas lamp this young lady is carrying clearly has an electric cable running from it! Suffice it to say, there wouldn’t have been electricity around then…
Movie: Pulp Fiction
Error: During the tense overdose scene where Uma Thurman needs an adrenaline shot to survive, her chest is marked with a red marker pen. When she revives, the pen mark has disappeared.
Movie: Reservoir Dogs
Error: During this scene in which Marvin Nash is being brought to be tortured his hands are cuffed behind his back. A few seconds later they are cuffed in front of him.
Movie: The Avengers
Error: During the final battle at the end of the film, Captain America’s suit becomes ripped near the waist. In the next shot, it has magically repaired itself. Impressive skills, suit!
Movie: Panic Room
Error: A trapped Jodie Foster decides to light a propane canister, dropping to the floor to avoid the rising canister. In reality, propane is heavier than air, and the canister would fall to the floor as well.
Movie: Terminator 2 Judgement Day
Error: You’ll remember that iconic scene when Arnie shoots the T-1000 in the head, and it splits open. What you’ve probably not realised is that the head split open BEFORE Arnie fired the gun.
Movie: Titanic
Error: In the movie, Jack mentions to Rose that he and his father used to fish in Lake Wissota. The problem is, Lake Wissota was formed in 1917 – the Titanic sank in 1912!
Movie: Independence Day
Error: When the ill-fated Empire State Building explodes from the inside out in the movie, it is actually located at a different address to the real life building. The real-life address is 34th street while in the movie the building is shown on 53rd street.
Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean
Captain Jack Sparrow had some serious swagger – that much no one can deny. But still, it seems unlikely that even this styling’ swashbuckler would have been wearing adidas.
Movie:Pirates of the Caribbean (Again)
Cowboys and pirates have often been compared. They live by their own rules in unforgiving terrain. To catch a cowboy on Captain Balboa’s pirate ship is pushing it.
Movie: Pulp Fiction
This iconic scene from the cult-classic film, Pulp Fiction is quite possibly one of the coolest moments in cinema history. The only problem: there are bullet holes behind Samuel L. Jackson, BEFORE the shooting took place.
Movie: Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back
