One great movie goofs was “The Searchers” starring John Wayne. The setting for the movie was just after the Civil War. While filming one scene, a car came down a dirt road and was captured in the film. One can barely make out a car, but there was a car and it did stir up a dust trail. When the.director, John Ford, reviewed the film, he decided to just leave the scene in and not reshoot it. I think this film was produced about 1956.
There’s a plane in the Movie Ben-Hur.
@MikeInNH In the movie “Robin Hood, Men in Tights” there is a scene in an old castle with a lighted EXIT sign above a door. I think the producer did this on purpose.
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Yes, we could make an entire thread about the impossible stuff they did in those movies…
Tires squealing on dirt or gravel roads seem to be an ongoing accomplishment.
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The one that comes to mind for me is in “Hidden Figures”. I think it took place in 1956 or so but the police car used was a 64 Ford. Probably got it from the Andy Griffith show props. OK it was a good and true story but really do they think the public is this uninformed or are the Hollywood producers just that uninformed? Or maybe it just doesn’t matter-it’s just a movie and only cost $8 here.
In the old police show, The Lineup, which was also called San Francisco Beat when shown as reruns, inspector Matt Grebb and Lt. Ben Guthrie, played by Tom Tully and Warner Anderson respectively, would leave the police station in a 1957 Dodge and arrive at the crime scene in a 1958 Dodge.
The earlier episodes from 1954 through the fall of 1957 were better in that the scenes used the same car–a 1951 Ford.
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The one that really leaped-out at me was Bridge of Spies. It was a good flick, but…
The early scenes of the movie are set in NYC, in 1957-58, but the cars are not accurate for the year.
I’ll give them a break on the '58 Chevy & the '58 Buick, because they went on sale in the fall of '57, but… the '59 & '60s Plymouths were not accurate for the year being portrayed.
Also, the NYC subways were shown as having fluorescent lighting, a P.A. system, sealed windows/AC system, and an exterior of stainless steel, making them at least 2 decades past the period being portrayed.
I recall discussing all of the inaccuracies with a friend of mine, and his theory is that the “continuity” people are most likely in their 20s & 30s, and that any car that seems “old” to them is probably considered to be okay. However, less than 10 minutes of online research would have told them that their NYC subways were decades away from being accurate.
Heh heh. Here’s how it probably worked. They were on the way, then Matt got a call on the radio that the motor pool had a new 58 Dodge to replace that POS 57. So they just took a quick swing by the motor pool to switch cars. Ya think?
Re the movie continuity thing, the one that stands out for me is one with actual continuity. In the move “Bullitt” there is a scene during the chase where Steve McQueen makes a right-hand turn onto a street that runs downhill. There is a camera is mounted on a parked car on the street onto which he turns. The Mustang slides into the parked car and then the scene changes. After this scene the Mustang shows body damage (might have had to pull out the fender a bit for tire clearance).
Re Bing’s post suggesting movie makers tone down their action scenes (if I’m interpreting his post correctly; if not, I apologize) I’ve always felt that kids should be shown movies scenes like the D-Day scenes from “Saving Private Ryan.” Then they would realize that being shot and catching shrapnel has real life consequences like losing limbs and having great bloody holes made in your body. This is in the same vein as driver training classes showing movies like Signal Seven, in which the real life consequences of traffic accidents is shown - bloody and hard to watch, driving stupidly in cars that do not have roll cages and other safety equipment like stunt cars will not often allow you to simply walk away and do the next “scene” of your life. Like Samuel E. Jackson liked to say in the movie “Jumpers”: “There’s ALWAYS consequences.”
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Neither was the Rifleman. Well over 100 confirmed kills. But they were all bad guys.
And in some cuts of it, you can see a little red sports car going by in the background of the chariot race. I bet the sports car won. 
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@shadowfax. The chariot won. The sports car was an English make and the Lucas electrical system crashed before the end of the race.
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Yeah I could never push my Morris Minor fast enough to win a chariot race.
Well played. I regret that I have but one like to give.
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I read an article a few months ago concerning a high school which was evacuated and HAZMAT was summoned because a student brought a vintage mercury thermometer for science class show and tell. Hey! It could have broke and immediately killed everyone on campus!
In the 1966 historically silly movie 1,000,000 years BC. There are jet airliner contrails in the sky!
A casualty of Sir Joseph Lucas. Prince of Darkness! Oddly I have owned 4 vintage British sports cars and driven several others with zero electrical problems!
Oh my gosh, I’ve got one of those thermometers in the garage. It came from the bank. Now I really don’t want the SWAT team to visit me. I think they could condemn my whole house. I think I’ll call the bank and have them come get it and take full responsibility. Too dangerous for me to transport. It was reading about 90 degrees a little while ago anyway so must be broken.