Published Jan. 25, 2007 in Kansas City’s Sun Tribune, Sun Gazette and Liberty Tribune newspapers.
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By Steve Crum
No filmmaker wants his or her mistake displayed on huge movie screens or via DVDs for home viewing. But it happens all the time. Errors in continuity, factual dates, and props are among the most common, which does not mean they are that easy to spot. However, what fun to try.
In one of my favorite movies, Alfred Hitchcock’s NORTH BY NORTHWEST, Cary Grant’s character is on the run after being framed for murder. In a crowded restaurant located atop Mount Rushmore, his girlfriend (Eva Marie Saint) pulls out a gun and shoots him. Before she pulls the trigger, however, a young boy extra (looking the other way) can be seen in the distance placing fingers into his ears in anticipation of the sound. Perhaps the kid had already read the script?
Here is a sampling of some kind-of-recent and not-so-recent movies with fun/sad errors.
•In Martin Scorsese’s THE DEPARTED (2006), Leonardo DiCaprio’s Bill Costigan is having coffee, holding a cup near his mouth. Where did the toothpick go that was in his lips a second ago? Let’s hope he didn’t swallow it.
•NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM (2006) features a prehistoric slip, among many glitches. A caveman’s footprints leading to an open window suddenly disappear in the next shot.
•Would a classic, standing-the-test-of-time movie like THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) have even one mistake? There are dozens, among them Dorothy’s pigtails. They increase and decrease in length when she first meets the Scarecrow. Frightened follicles maybe?
More of my favorite movie errors, predating internet listings, include:
•MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961)—Confederate prisoners escaping in a balloon encounter a downpour when they are above the clouds. Now that’s mysterious.
•BULLITT (1968)—The Dodge Charger chased by Steve McQueen up and down the streets of San Francisco clearly loses three hubcaps. Soon after, the car crashes as three more hubcaps take flight.
•ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS (1940)—Raymond Massey does a fine turn as President Lincoln, so 
much so an extra who was supposed to join the crowd in yelling, “Goodbye, Mr. Lincoln!,” instead shouts, “Goodbye, Mr. Massey!”
•DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)—Fred MacMurray is taunted by Barbara Stanwyck in this classic Billy Wilder murder tale. Even though his character is a confirmed bachelor, he wears a wedding ring throughout.
•JAILHOUSE ROCK (1957)—During the dynamic prison dance/singing sequence of the title, Elvis Presley’s uniform number changes from 6239 to 6240. Wasn’t 6240 the address of Heartbreak Hotel on Lonely Street? Nah.
•Finally, little did I realize when attending 1968’s volcano disaster movie KRAKATOA: EAST OF JAVA (at the long gone Capri Theater in downtown Kansas City) that in fact, Krakatoa is WEST of Java.
Who in lava land wants to know the correct location for this forgettable movie anyway?