Age of The Nerd
Movie mistakes. Titanic, Lord of the Rings, Commando, The Godfather…they all have them. Motion pictures are developed by many of the best in the business, but that does not prevent a goof or two from getting through on camera and finding their way into the final product. Many are revealing. Some are amusing. But they all prove that nothing is perfect, no matter how much money is poured into a film project.
Today, we are going to be taking a look at some of the most telling and sometimes humorous movie gaffs to have found their way unknowingly for public consumption.
The Terminator (1984)
1984’s The Terminator catapulted James Cameron’s directing career into the big time when he made this low budget sci fi horror film. The Terminator set a new standard for the potential for what a low budget movie should aim for. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s movie career may have been kickstarted by Conan The Barbarian but it was The Terminator that gave him worldwide stardom.
Nevertheless, the film about a cyborg sent back in time to terminate the mother of a future leader contains it’s fair share of mistakes. During the police station shootout sequence, when the Terminator is doing some rifle practicing on police officers, one of the actors playing an already dead cop laying on the ground jumps in fright at the sound of the Terminator’s gun firing.
Jurassic Park (1993)
The original Jurassic Park broke new ground as far as mixing CGI and animatronics go. Allegedly, the film was also the first to create a fully CGI rendered character. Steven Spielberg certainly had a wealth of modern technology to play with which lessened the burden if something went wrong, such as when the shark famously kept breaking down during the creation process of Jaws.
But no amount of advanced technological wizardry will account for reminding the crew for consistency. In this shot you can clearly see that the soles of Alan’s boots are relatively clean despite previously having ran around on extremely muddy and wet ground trying to escape death.
Titanic (1997)
James Cameron may pride himself in being one that defined movie related technology such as stereoscopic 3D and Computer Generated Imagery but many of his films are surprisingly littered with goofs despite being labelled in the industry as a perfectionist.
Titanic is Cameron’s crowning achievement in his directing career, there is no question about that. But that has not given it exemption from showing off the common gaff.
Here, you can tell that the hands drawing Rose’s famous picture are just a little older than what they should be, and are not the pair that a 20 something Leonardo Dicaprio should have. In fact, Cameron himself elected to draw the picture!
If you ever wondered why the The Aviator actor’s hands looked somewhat older in comparison to the rest of him, well, now you know why.
Enter The Dragon (1973)
It is a shame that Bruce Lee never got to see the worldwide impact his first and only Hollywood martial arts film, Enter the Dragon had on enthusiasts. Lee died a few weeks before the premiere of the film. Over 300 extras were bought in to make up the number to portray Han’s martial arts tournament in the film, and a few were not shy to challenge the real life kung fu master on set. No prize for guessing the outcome!
Here, you can see one of the extras in the background near to the right laughing after Bruce delivers a swift kick to the face of one of Han’s fighters. While it appears that Lee was looking right at the guy in the photo, immediately after he turns almost opposite to look in another direction.
Whether Bruce spotted the guy laughing at him will always be a mystery, but if he did then one dreads to think how he would have reacted once the director yelled “cut.”
Commando (1985)
Commando was born in the mid 1980’s which means you get all the action with a sizeable dose of camp. Arnold Schwarzenegger was right at home in his comfort zone gunning down everybody in sight in order to rescue his on screen daughter. The film’s main villain, Bennett has gained a small fan base of his own online due to the character’s unintentionally homoerotic undertone and funny quotes.
It is no surprise then that a movie mistake was bound to show up sooner or later, and what better way is there to show one on a bright yellow Porsche, previously damaged on one side and then in pristine condition in the next shot!
This is actually one of the more well known film goofs. It makes you wonder if they should have fired the camera operators and had them all replaced, doesn’t it.
