Movie Goofs, Bloopers and Outtakes

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Movie Errors, Goofs, Mistakes and Bloopers

Movies are often filmed over long periods and out of sequence this provides many opportunities for continuity errors, goofs and errors of all types. These errors both teach us a lot about movie-making and also make movie watching more fun.

Now there are many types of goofs from the blatant change of an item of clothing during a scene, clocks going backwards, to technical goofs such as this type of item had not yet been invented etc.

Goofs only really came into their own when videos and DVDs allowed film buffs and geeks to play movies in slow motion, and in general watch movies many times.

See humorous examples of all of these below.

James Bond in Dr No : My First Goof

Dr No was the first in the series and although one of the best was made with presumably a much lower budget. I got a list of goofs from IMDB and these were my favorites:-

James Bond socks change from being long to short several times, this doesn't seem very exciting but I was amazed.

The camera lights reflecting in the car window

Pee-wee's Big Adventure Blooper

How driving scenes are filmed

This is an important goof as it shows how filmmakers achieve the moving car effect. You can see the Road sign being pulled by the car on a track. It's much easier and cheaper to film a car scene if it's not moving. When a driving scene occurs in daylight the car is mounted on a truck which does all the steering, allowing the actors to engage in debate without paying too much attention to the road. This blooper which needs eagle eyes is probably present in many old movies. This blooper has been removed from the DVD you can only see it on VHS.


There is however another terrible and inexcusable blooper (purged from the DVD version) where Pee Wee pulls a seemingly endless bike chain from a small basket on his bike and you can EASILY see the chain feeding in from a hole in the bottom.

Another blooper from Pee-wee's big adventure
by baluonly | video info

18 ratings | 14,813 views
curated content from YouTube

Famous Goofs, Best Goofs Top Ten

  1. Spartacus (1960)

    This classic film is packed full of goofs, wristwatches , a truck appearing in the distance.
  2. Titanic

    The Titanic was built as a full scale model in the desert. Apparently in one scene you can see sand (instead of sea) through a doorway. I've never found this, perhaps they've eliminated this goof from recent copies.
  3. Halloween 1978

    The movie is supposedly set in Illinois, but all the cars have Californian plates. (Other signs it's California such as Palm trees)
  4. Wizard of Oz

    This movie is stuffed with Continuity Errors eg When the flying monkey grabs Dorothy, the sky of flying monkeys shows Dorothy being carried. Behind her, a flying monkey carries Toto. In the next shot on the ground, a monkey then grabs Toto to carry him off.
  5. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle 2003

    Continuity: When Bosley as a crossing guard is in the middle of the road, attempting to stop Ray Carter in his car, the waiting children disappear and reappear between shots. Done for safety reasons of course, but is a brilliant example of a goof that you can show friends , assuming of course that you have this franchise-killing movie.
  6. Pearl Harbor New or Old Carrier?

    In the scene where the bombers are taking off of the flight deck of an aircraft carrier (actually the USS Constellation), parts of the modern aircraft carrier can easily be seen such as the catapults, side antennas, modern flight deck "non-skid" surface, etc as the aircraft are taking off. Other scenes use an actual WW2 type carrier.
  7. Carry on Camping 1969

    Early on in the movie they go to buy camping equipment; When Sid and Bernie go to the Department Store, the lady in the white trousers has already gone past them, but when they get out of their car, she walks past them again. This doesn't sound very exciting but is a glaring example of a goof. Later when driving to the Campsite they pass a parked car and then pass it again.
  8. Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain

    When Nino visits Amélie in the cafe, "Menu du Jour" disappears and reappears on the glass between shots. Watch this in slow motion it's quite amusing and gives an indication of how many cuts were required to film just this simple scene
  9. Twilight New Moon

    When Jacob climbs the tree into Bella's room he is wearing shorts. After entering the room he is wearing jeans.

    When Jacob tries to wipe the blood from Bella's head with his shirt, the blood doesn't smear or run at all, as if it was painted on
  10. Hairspray
    When Tracy and Edna are entering Pinky's Hefty Hideaway, a pink Cadillac disappears and reappears twice between shots. This is probably the most stunning continuity error ever, a very conspicuous PINK CADILLAC entirely disappears and reappears. I would guess they only rented the car for one day of the shoot

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Definition of the Ideal Goof


  • A goof must be unintended by the movie-makers

  • It should be highly visible once it's been pointed out to you

  • It should not be a dull technical goof such as that was a XB22/A and not the XB22/B

  • It should tell you something about film making



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Best Goof Websites

imdb.com
Always has a list of Goofs
moviemistakes.com
Movie goofs, mistakes, bloopers, quotes and trivia in movies and TV shows, updated daily. Currently lists 69,000 mistakes from more than 5,200 titles

Visual Movie Goofs and Cliches

Watch Out for These in Any Movie


  • Suitcases: People carrying suitcases in such a way as to unintentionally show they are empty

  • Women with Prams: In car chases where a Woman with a Baby is nearly run-over observe that "woman" is quite burly as she is likely to be a stuntman (in last minute scene only)

  • In a view of say a construction site with lots of busy workers, you will notice that many of them are pointlessly digging holes or swinging tools

  • Notice what techniques are used to hide the star's face in stunt scenes e.g. full motor cycle helmets

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Goof Classifications from IMDB

Types of Goofs



  • Continuity (Clocks going backwards)


  • Revealing mistakes (broken arm obviously not broken)


  • Incorrectly regarded as goofs i.e. there was a reason for it


  • Plot holes


  • Anachronisms (Prop did not exist at that time)


  • Factual errors


  • Errors in geography


  • Crew or equipment visible


  • Errors made by characters (spoken errors ie inconsistent with other facts)


  • Audio/visual unsynchronized (noise of something too late or too early)


  • Wrong Weather : Supposed to be raining but you can see dry ground in the distance


  • Wrong Time of the Year: Supposed to be one Season but you can see wrong flowers etc


  • Wrong Geography: Supposed to be Africa but you can see Snowy Mountains

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What are Not Goofs But Rather Film Makers Artistic Licence

  1. The Beautiful Heroine
    Beautiful heroines can cross the desert or a jungle but their blouses will remain pristine white and their hair will be well combed, that is Movie License we want them to be beautiful , it's only a goof if it's an entirely different blouse!
  2. Quick drying
    The hero will swim through water but only have wet clothes for a short period
  3. Injuries
    The hero will recover from injuries very quickly that's movie license it's only a goof if they limp with the uninjured leg.

Outtakes

Mistakes noticed during filming, normally fluffed lines

Outakes include fluffed lines, props breaking, stunts failing, laughing in the wrong places.
Outakes used to be destroyed by film studios, but with modern technology they started to be pirated. Increasingly they are an expected extra for the DVD and to my annoyance are often included after the film during the credits. It annoys me when they appear in the credits because they can destroy the effect/elation of a good movie. If I choose to watch them on the DVD that's my choice.

I also fear but have no proof that many bloopers are staged!
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YouTube videos Actually Showing You Goofs

The Jurassic Park Goofs really show many of the different types of goofs possible.
Revealing Movie Mistakes: Jurassic Park
by houseofICE | video info

332 ratings | 79,289 views
automatically generated by YouTube

Titanic has 200 Mistakes

Quite expected for a huge blockbuster

Rose had a noticeable mole on her cheek in the beginning of the movie. Half-way through the film, the mole moves to her other cheek. This continuity error happens a few times throughout the film.

Types of Goofs

  1. Continuity Errors

    Continuity errors are errors that don't match storyline or timeline. Clocks show time going backwards. A sticking plaster changes place. The color of a piece of clothing changes etc etc. They are due to the fact between scenes they had lunch, went home for the night etc.
  2. Extra used instead of Actor

    Many minor scenes use Extras these extras are not always identically dressed or the same build etc
  3. Levels of Drinks

    These go up and down frequently during a scene and are very common. They arise because even short scenes are made up of several cuts which are later stitched together
  4. Anachronism

    The model of an Auto shown in a period film may be of a later time period, in fact any item may be from a future time. Such goofs however are often uninteresting
  5. Film Crew/Film Set Items/Camera Appearing

    The film crew and studio are always just off set , sometimes they accidentally included or seen in a mirror etc
  6. Roman Soldiers Wearing Watches

    Modern life appearing in the background of period films include cars, planes, watches etc. Usually tough to spot
  7. Clocks

    Always watch the time in Movies, time often goes backwards or leaps forward
  8. Weather

    Outdoors scenes are notorious for having the weather change , from cloudy to sunny etc.
  9. Disaster Scenes

    In many action films there is a scene where the entire set is blown up, there is no chance of a second take. Minor goofs have to let through.
  10. Broken Things Mend Themselves

    An object knocked over or broken will appear intact a few scenes later
  11. Objects Moving Around

    Vases will change places, open books will close.
  12. Going into a building

    You will see actors enter a real building (but also a set) when they are filmed inside however they are back in the studio. Windows may not match the "entered" building etc etc

Goofs in Cartoons

When I first heard there were goofs in cartoons I thought it must be impossible because they have control over every image. But in fact they have goofs for many of the same reasons, they change the plot, they create the drawings in non-sequential order, they have different teams of artists may be working in different offices, they are working to deadlines.

This is a famous goof
On the episode "And Maggie Makes Three", when Marge informs Homer that another new baby is on the way (Maggie), in the background you can see a photo of Maggie hanging on the wall.
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More Goofs

  1. Avatar
    When the defeated troops return to Earth they are not wearing oxygen masks
  2. Gladiator
    In an early scene a stagehand wearing jeans is CLEARLY in view behind Maximus

Other Things to Watch for in a Movie

  1. Product Placement
    Product Placement works best when it is subtle and discrete. In the otherwise excellent Cast Away with Tom Hanks they went laughably over the top with "FedEx" product placement.
  2. Cameo Appearances
    Of perhaps the director (Alfred Hitchcock) or a famous star who happened to be filming in the same studio
  3. Before They Were Famous
    Actors appearing as clerks or passersbys or getting killed as henchmen.
  4. Telephones answered immediately
    When the hero phones someone they were standing right by the phone because they answered instantly, if they don't they have already been kidnapped or are dead.
  5. Watch out for Banal Incidents
    In "The Island" the real Ewan Mcgregor pretends he is going to help the "Clone Ewan McGregor" but first he must fetch his coat, in fact he goes off to phone to get the Clone Ewan Mcgregor caught. Now if films never have to do banal things so normally the coat would be hanging next to the door. Watch out for these things, they have run out of coffee, need to fill up with gas etc these are all necessary for the plot
  6. Recognizing the bad guy
    In the early part of the film a seemingly real good guy (though perhaps a little too smooth) will be seen to kick out at a dog, or throw rubbish on the floor, this is a clue that he is the Baddie!!

Top Ten Movie Cliches

(incomplete)
  1. The Fruit Cart
    Does this still appear? In a car chase there is always a guy pushing a fruit cart
  2. The beautiful girl alone at the bar
    If a hero walks into a real rundown beer joint there is guaranteed to be a beautiful girl at the bar who will likely make the first move.
  3. Shot Down Helicopters
    Always crash on the other side of a hill where you just see a fireball. Nobody can actually afford to blow up a real helicopter

The Most Famous Goof of All

Star Wars Storm Trooper Hits Head

You have to look quite closely even when you are expecting it.

You don't have to feel sorry for him, because he's a bad guy!!
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Your Favorite Goof

When did you first spot or hear of a film goof

  • Lifeboost Nov 28, 2011 @ 3:47 pm | delete
    Fabulous, fun topic for a lens - love this one! Blessed. :)
  • christopherwell Sep 22, 2011 @ 6:54 pm | delete
    Thanks for sharing!
  • Tipi Jul 4, 2011 @ 2:56 pm | delete
    Goofs and bloopers are always entertaining, especially if they don't get caught on the editing floor!
  • rhonney May 5, 2011 @ 11:55 am | delete
    nice..!!i like it
  • HorseAndPony Nov 30, 2010 @ 9:54 pm | delete
    I love goofs. I have missed many of them. I need to watch more closely. Thanks for sharing.
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Ronin Ice Show Crowd Scene cardboard cut-outs

In the ice show, most of the crowd in the upper decks are clearly made of cardboard cut-outs. They never clap when everyone else is clapping. Especially evident in the crowd shots from the roof. Cut-outs or CGI is used for most crowd and battle scenes as it is obviously very expensive to hire 100's of extras. In Ronin it is however particularly obvious.

Ronin [Blu-ray]

Amazon Price: $4.70 (as of 06/03/2012)Buy Now

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