Movie blunders can be continuity errors, ignoring historical facts, ignoring scientific fact or a mistake that reveals a plot hole that causes the premise of the movie to crumble. Mistakes can happen to even the best directors with the most outrageous of budgets. If you’re a filmmaker you can make sure you don’t fall foul of such mistakes by hiring expert film production services. Check out some of the worst offences in movie making from over the years:
Shawshank Redemption is the top rated movie of all time as voted by users of online movie information database IMDB. This should mean a movie of incredible quality and indeed there is no disputing its overall mastery but surprisingly a total of 34 mistakes have been recorded including a crucial plot hole that makes Andy’s escape from prison implausible. Andy, the leading character, escapes from prison through a hole in the wall of his cell. However the hole is not discovered for a time because it is hidden by a perfectly hung poster on the wall with all four corners stuck down, an impossibility if Andy was on the other side of the wall.
This obvious plot blunder defies the laws of physics and calls the audience’s attention to the fact that this is an entirely fictional story that could never really happen- an uncomfortable position for the audience who have become invested in the story so far. Director Frank Darabont has admitted that the poster was a cheat. Andy could not have stuck down the corners at all, having gone head first into the tunnel, let alone fixed them so perfectly. However the poster hiding the hole creates mystery for the audience and the guards and prisoners in the movie. It also gave Andy move time before being detected. Unfortunately once you realise it isn’t realistically possible the excitement that’s built up fades quickly.
Pirate’s of the Caribbean: At World’s End is the most expensive movie ever made but they must have run the budget dry and sacked the continuity crew as there are 73 mistakes in the movie. The movie cost $300 million to make so the volume of errors is quite disappointing. The most noted continuity error is the disappearance and reappearance of Captain Jack Sparrow’s leather cuff. When Jack, Elizabeth and Barbossa have an exchange with Will, Beckett and Davy Jones, Jack’s wrist cuff comes and goes several times.This is doubly unforgivable because of the amount of hand gestures Jack Sparrow’s character is known to make. Why would part of his wardrobe be forgotten, especially from such a conspicuous area? It’s surprisingly that Johnny Depp as a committed actor playing Jack Sparrow forgets this accessory and that it wasn’t noticed in editing despite the prominence of Sparrow’s gesturing.
Apocalypse Now wins the credit for movie with the most mistakes, reportedly racking up a total of 394, excluding minor mistakes, an extremely high number for a seemingly big budget Hollywood movie. I could pick any of the 394 blunders but I’ve picked from one of the most conic moments in cinematic history; the scene where US military helicopters fly in formation with the music ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ playing loudly from the Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore’s helicopter. The film shows a close up of the tape player but as you can see in this picture the tape isn’t turning over the heads of the player.
This filmic choice to show a close up that instantly highlights a blunder is very odd. However this seems par for the course on this movie, with continuity errors and lack of attention to detail riddling just about every scene. Unfortunately this particular error is to my mind the most careless mistake because of the use of the close up and how legendary this scene has become.
