Most of us have experienced a variety of life bloopers and blunders, but we can usually put them quickly behind us and move on. Unfortunately for moviemakers, their mistakes are often caught on camera and not so easy to erase or forget.
From wardrobe malfunctions involving Spanx, tape and other hidden undergarments to props that don’t make any sense, the details embedded in your favorite movies don’t always come out quite right. When bloopers happen, the results can be very embarrassing. See for yourself!
A Pink Parasol for a Warrior in Troy
In the film inspired by Homer’s classic The Iliad, the producers certainly had some big shoes to fill. While the public seemed to love the film — it grossed nearly $500 million — critics weren’t impressed. One particular scene seemed to irritate them all.
In the scene in question, Orlando Bloom’s character, Paris, is shown riding in a beautiful, regal, horse-drawn chariot with — a pink frilly parasol over his head? If you’re confused at the logic, so were critics, although the reason wasn’t the choice of pink like you might think. It’s because umbrellas hadn’t even been invented yet at the time in history when the movie is set.
Pulp Fiction’s Magical Bullet Holes
Pulp Fiction was a mega-hit that did great things for both pop culture in the ’90s and Quentin Tarantino’s reputation as a filmmaker, but there was one little discrepancy that fans noticed immediately. In one of the most famous scenes, a shootout occurs while Vincent is reading Bible verses.
Before the shootout even begins, the wall behind Vincent and Jules already has bullet holes in it. Another oddity that fans noticed is that it’s a gangster film, but there isn’t a single police officer anywhere in the entire movie. Although this film was popular, it was also very bizarre.
Back to the Future’s Futuristic Guitar
Many people loved Back to the Future and its quirky storyline and characters. However, an unfortunate moment in moviemaking shows Michael J. Fox jamming on an electric guitar in 1955 in the movie. Considering the movie is about traveling to the past, this is inaccurate, to say the least. Marty would have had to do a little more time traveling to make it plausible.
That snazzy Gibson ES-345 guitar wasn’t invented until a few years later in 1958. It was made to be a blues guitar, with an all-maple, semi-hollow body, but it can also be used to play some mean jazz, rockabilly, country and rock.
Julia Roberts’ Accidental Breast Display
Whoops! It seems that although Julia Roberts is steadfastly against nude scenes, the film that put her on the map — Pretty Woman — shows her with a full breast exposed at one point. Moments before her character, Vivian, is shown in a thin gown, one of her breasts is plainly in view.
It’s the scene where the two main characters have sex for the first time, and her left breast is exposed for a very short period of time. It’s not likely this was done on purpose with her permission, so we can assume it was an unfortunate accident.
Singin’ in the Rain — in a Dress from the Future
The musical Singin’ in the Rain boasts a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, but the 1952 film set in the ’20s isn’t actually without some flaws. This charming film will have everybody with a heart singing along and is very uplifting, but one thing is just a bit out of place.
Debbie Reynolds did a fantastic job playing the role of Kathy Selden, but the producer’s choice for her beautiful pink dress was an unfortunate one. The dress didn’t go with the 1920s theme of the movie, as that style of dress wasn’t popular in that era.
Forrest Gump and the Ironing Ghost
Forrest Gump is considered a great American classic movie, with its innocent and goofy main character, who is played by Tom Hanks. Near the end of the movie, Forrest is reunited with Jenny, the love of his life, and meets his son, who is also named Forrest.
It’s one of the most emotional scenes in the entire movie, but one small detail takes away from the meaningfulness of the scene. In the background, an iron is shown standing vertically on an ironing board, but in the next scene, it’s lying flat — an anomaly that did not escape moviegoers.
Rose’s Illusive Beauty Mark
The 1997 hit Titanic broke several world records and took home tons of awards. It also made a huge amount of money, grossing about $1.84 billion. With all the work that went into the film, you would think the makeup artists would have been on point.
When Kate Winslet’s character, Rose DeWitt Bukater, is introduced in the movie, she has a beauty mark on the left side of her face. For some reason, in all the other scenes in the movie, the beauty mark has magically moved to the right side, which didn’t escape the eagle eyes of viewers.
I Dream of Jeannie’s Stand-in
I Dream of Jeannie captivated the world in the1960s, thanks to Jeannie the genie and her hilarious hijinks with her mortal husband, Tony. However, there was a discrepancy in an episode titled “My Sister, the Homemaker” in Season 5.
Barbara Eden, the actress who played Jeannie, played both Jeannie and her evil twin sister nemesis in this episode, with a stand-in used when both characters are shown on camera at the same time. The stand-in’s face was meant to be hidden at all times, but at one point, her entire face is shown, destroying the illusion.
The Underwire in The Ten Commandments
The modern underwire bra can be traced to an 1893 patent idea, but it wasn’t actually invented until the 1930s, and it wasn’t worn by most women until the 1950s. However, in the 1956 movie, The Ten Commandments, Anne Baxter’s character, Nefertari, wears one in a movie meant to be set a couple thousand years earlier.
Additionally, she looks absolutely stunning in her sheer turquoise dress and generous jewelry, but turquoise dresses also weren’t a thing in Biblical times. Unfortunately, the bra is clearly visible through the dress, and she looks beautiful, but it makes the costuming pretty far from accurate.
The Raiders of the Lost Ark Extra
While extras are crucial in the making of every film, they aren’t supposed to stand out and steal the show. In one of the scenes where Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford, is having a drink, a man is sitting behind him in plain clothes looking entirely out of place.
The filmmakers seemed to go out of their way to provide scenes with 1936 tapestries and attire, so the man hanging out in his jeans sticks out like a sore thumb. Although jeans were obviously everywhere in 1981 when the film was released, they didn’t become popular until the 1950s, long after the film’s setting.
Bare Legs in Pearl Harbor
When a movie is set in a specific historical time, filmmakers should be careful about the details that can make the movie feel genuine or fake. If moviegoers detect discrepancies in the film that make it seem inauthentic, they may disengage and base their opinion of the film on its flaws.
The movie Pearl Harbor was set during World War II in 1941. That year, women who followed fashion trends would have worn nylon stockings or painted lines down the backs of their legs to give the illusion of stockings. However, several women in the film are seen with completely bare legs.
Glory Extra Forgets His Wristwatch
In this Civil War-era movie set in the 1860s, filmmakers again tried to recreate a specific time period in history and failed. One of the extras in the 1989 film was extremely technologically advanced for a soldier fighting in the 1800s.
In one scene, a soldier played by an extra raises his arm in the air in the foreground. On his wrist is a gleaming, metal digital watch! Although mechanical watches were invented in the 1920s (still 60 years after the Civil War), digital watches didn’t hit the market until 1970.
A Gladiator in Lycra Shorts
Although the movie Gladiator was impressive in its fight scenes and overall portrayal of the time period (A.D. 180), there is one glaring wardrobe flaw. When the leader of the Roman forces (played by Russell Crowe) attempts to defeat the Germanic tribes to bring peace to the Roman Empire, he’s not dressed quite right.
In one scene, Russell Crowe’s body armor on his lower half is gone, and he is wearing Lycra shorts underneath. While he is rightfully indignant in the scene, the mistake was pretty difficult to overlook by some fans, as Lycra wasn’t invented until 1958.
Seabiscuit and the Strapped Helmets
Seabiscuit is a 2003 film set in the Great Depression (1929-1933) that is based on a true story about horse racing. The main character (besides the horse) is Tobey Maguire, who plays a likable and charming Red Pollard.
While the movie did great at the box office and with critics, there’s a small flaw in the wardrobe of the jockeys for that time period in history. Strapped jockey helmets had not been invented yet in the 1930s, but we’ll give them a gold star for safety, at least.
Mozart’s Intelligence and … Zippers
In the film Amadeus, historical accuracy seemed to take a backseat in favor of creative liberties. The film got impressive reviews, but actual fans of Mozart, a terrific composer, were not impressed that Mozart was portrayed as somewhat of a half-wit at times in the film.
The truth is that the real Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had a genius IQ between 150 and 155, according to historians, which would be logical for that kind of musical talent. Another historically inaccurate flaw in the movie is when the dancers are shown wearing clothing with zippers, which didn’t exist until 1918. Mozart died in 1791.
Hello, Dolly! and the Self-Cleaning Dress
The film Hello, Dolly! had a lot to live up to as far as the extravagant wardrobes worn by women in the 1890s. In this 1969 romantic comedy, adored by many, one spectacular dress seems to miraculously clean itself in a matter of seconds, disrupting the film’s continuity.
While Michael Crawford’s character, Cornelius, dances happily with a gorgeous woman in an elegant red dress, the hem of her dress becomes quite dirty from trailing on the grimy pavement. However, in the next scene, the dress has magically cleaned itself, seemingly with no effort on the woman’s part.
There Will Be Blood’s Futuristic Shoes
In a 2007 film set in 1898 called There Will Be Blood, almost everything seems perfect, but there is one tiny flaw that doesn’t escape viewers with sharp eyes. The film had critics as well as fans on the edges of their seats and did very well overall.
However, in one scene, Daniel Day-Lewis’ character, Daniel Plainview, is walking in a church away from the camera, and the bottoms of his boots show a waffle pattern. While Nike is proud of inventing the waffle pattern to help runners run faster, this type of shoe wasn’t invented until 1972.
Belt Loops Are Unforgivable
While the 1992 western Unforgiven was critically acclaimed and grossed more than $159 million at the box office, greatly surpassing its $14 million budget, it wasn’t without flaws. The film also won four Academy Award nominations, one of which was Best Picture.
While we loved the movie Unforgiven, there was a question about Gene Hackman’s pants. Yes, his pants. Hackman played Little Bill Daggett and did an extraordinary job, but he did it while wearing pants with belt loops, which did not exist in 1880. They weren’t invented until 1922.
Django’s Shades
Quentin Tarantino is a great movie director, but he may have missed the mark when he put Jamie Foxx’s character in Django Unchained, Django Freeman, in sunglasses. Although he looks great in the shades, which add intrigue to the movie, sunglasses weren’t readily available on the western frontier in 1858.
In fact, sunglasses weren’t considered stylish in the 1800s, although they would have been great in the Texas heat and sun. In other movie goofs, dynamite was not invented until 1867, and Calvin Candie compares his slave to a teddy bear, which also wasn’t invented yet.
Braveheart’s Kilt
Obviously, Braveheart was an extremely successful box office hit — people are still talking about it 15 years later. However, when Mel Gibson played Scottish knight William Wallace, they should have considered giving more thought to the kilt-wearing of William Wallace and his men.
While kilts fit the typical modern-day Scottish stereotype, they were invented several hundred years after 1280, the year the film was set. Kilts did not come along until the 1720s, unfortunately for Mel and his boys, who proudly sported kilts during many scenes in the movie.
The Doors Discrepancies
In the 1991 movie The Doors, based on the life of Jim Morrison — played by Val Kilmer — something was definitely out of place. Kilmer played a pretty cool and convincing Morrison, but he sported Ray-Ban sunglasses that didn’t come out until the 1980s, 10 years after Jim Morrison died.
The film was set in the 1960s and directed by Oliver Stone. The beautiful and sensational Meg Ryan played Pamela Courson, Morrison’s companion. The film received mixed critical reviews, made little money and was disliked by Morrison’s actual bandmates in The Doors.
Lon Hammond’s Hair Color
The popular swoon film The Notebook grossed $81 million compared to its $13.5 million budget. The weekend it came out, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 also released, stealing the show for those two days and grossing $119 million overall.
The Notebook was still very popular and very loved and is considered a romantic classic because of Noah and Allie’s passionate, undying love affair. The affluent and debonair Lon Hammond Jr. was clearly a catch as well, adding intrigue to the endearing tone. However, Lon’s hair goes from black to brown from scene to scene, adding a bit of weirdness to the movie.
A Modern Diaper in the 18th Century
Sense and Sensibility, a 1995 movie inspired by another very successful Jane Austen novel, was considered a piece of art by many. It does have one historically inaccurate prop, however, which is in a scene with a lovely and adorable infant.
In this particular scene, the baby is wearing a modern diaper, clearly made of plastic and other synthetic materials. This film was set in southwest England, London and Sussex in the late 1700s, and modern diapers were not invented until the 1950s.
Tom Cruise’s Irrelevant Samurai Gear
In the 2003 movie The Last Samurai, Tom Cruise plays Captain Nathan Algren, who becomes — you guessed it! — a samurai warrior. Unfortunately, his armor leaves a bit to be desired. While it looks nice, the style is completely wrong for 1876, when the movie was set.
The armor that Captain Algren sports is an armor specific to the 1600s and would have been obsolete by 1876. Of course, when you look at Tom Cruise wearing all that gear, he looks pretty darn amazing, so it’s really hard to hold the whole armor thing against him.
Jim Morita’s Earbuds
Although Captain America: The First Avenger is obviously fiction, it’s easy to buy into the magic of watching Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans) transform into Captain America after being infused with “Super-Soldier serum.” It’s too bad one detail kind of blows the whole illusion for you.
The movie is set in World War II, which occurred between 1939 and 1945, yet soldier Jim Morita (Kenneth Choi) is shown wearing and using a functional earpiece for communication purposes. Engineer Nathaniel Baldwin invented audio headphones in 1910, and the U.S. Navy used them, but ground troops did not. Plus, his early headphones were certainly not the same as earbuds.
Telescopes in 1194
When Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves hit theaters in 1991 with Kevin Costner in the lead, people seemed to like it. It was the highest-grossing film of 1991 at almost $400 million. The critical reviews of the movie were generally mixed. The story was set in the year 1194, around the same time the real-life events supposedly happened — if you believe the legend.
However, one major historical inaccuracy sticks out in the film related to a telescope that fascinates Robin Hood’s friend and ally. Although the telescope is arguably a very cool device, it wasn’t invented until eyeglass maker Hans Lippershey tried to patent it in 1608 in the Netherlands.
Private Ryan’s Boots
While the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan was considered to be masterfully created and filmed and was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, World War II buffs might have noticed one incorrect glaring detail. In many scenes, the toughened soldiers worked manically to get their jobs done.
The error in the movie comes down to the soldiers’ attire — specifically their boots. All the boots in the movie seem to be colored black, while real soldiers in World War II were more likely to have worn brown colored boots.
Nip Slip in I Know What You Did Last Summer
In this 1997 slasher/mystery movie, four friends run over a fisherman, presume he is dead and dump his body in a river. (Oh, how it could have been different if someone in the group had been talented enough to accurately check for a pulse!) A year later, they receive a letter stating that someone saw their crime, and a killer starts to stalk them.
Although this movie is supposed to be terrifying, it seems to be more about Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jennifer Love Hewitt’s tank tops than anything else. In one scene, Gellar frantically reaches for a rope to climb to get away from the killer, and her breast is revealed. One critic called the movie “…gross, but provocative.”
The Terminator’s Surprise Package
The Terminator became an instant classic when it came out in 1984, and it’s safe to say that most people liked it. In the movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a Terminator that time travels from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, who is played by Linda Hamilton.
With a nuclear holocaust looming, the Terminator is determined to complete his mission. In one notable scene, the Governator is walking up to a gang of hoodlums completely naked. In the ’80s version, his private parts aren’t visible. However, in the newly remastered Blu-ray version, you’re in for a surprise.
The Firemen in Gangs of New York
In the 2002 drama, Gangs of New York, Amsterdam Vallon, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is an Irish immigrant in the 1860s who has just been released from prison and wants to avenge his father’s death. William Cutting (played by Daniel Day-Lewis), the man who killed Amsterdam’s father, is a bigoted gang leader.
This film mostly sticks to the mid-1860s theme, but one notable exception is that the firemen in the movie are wearing gear that looks exactly like today’s firefighter uniforms. This is a definite faux pas when it comes to historical accuracy.
