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Anachronisms (26) |
Audio/visual unsynchronised (4) |
Boom mic visible (1) |
Character error (9) |
Continuity (30) |
Crew or equipment visible (6) |
Errors in geography (4) |
Factual errors (2) |
Incorrectly regarded as goofs (6) |
Plot holes (2) |
Revealing mistakes (6)
Anachronisms
1980s cars can be seen passing by the school at the flagpole scene.
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The toy wagons in the window of Higbee's Department Store have the 1980s "Radio Flyer" trademark.
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The wheels on the wagons in the Higbee's store window have bright red plastic hubcaps. Radio Flyer used larger silver metal hubcaps on their wagon wheels until well into the '60s.
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The Mickey Mouse costume seen in the parade depicts his 1960s look.
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The BB package is too modern for the time period. The package should be red with black lettering and crimped at the ends like a shotgun shell.
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In the night scenes showing street lights and also on the big ship docked across the road from the spot where Ralphie and Mr. Parker fix the flat tire, purplish mercury vapor street lights are shown, which had not yet been invented at the time.
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When Scut is laughing at Ralphie, there is a close up showing the braces on his teeth. The braces are the type that attach to the front of the tooth with adhesive, which were not invented until many years later. Braces at that time would have been the type with a metal band going around the tooth.
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When Ralphie steps on his glasses outside in the snow after shooting his Red Ryder BB Gun on Christmas morning, a 3 barrel hinge on the temples are clearly visible. This type of hinge was not available until the 1980s.
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When the kids are gazing into the store window Christmas display, the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls are Knickerbocker Toy Company dolls from the 1970s.
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Some of the Lionel electric trains in Higbee's window are identifiable as 1980s production.
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The windup chattering teeth in Miss Shields' confiscation drawer weren't invented until 1949.
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With the Christmas tree on the roof of their 1938 Oldsmobile, the moving car gets a flat. While changing the tire, Ralphie goes to help his dad, who implores him to hold the hubcap flat to catch the "nuts." We see them in the hubcap. That car used removable "bolts" like all GM cars into the 1950s. Even Jean Shepherd mentions "bolts" in his running monologue.
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Colored bowling balls were not developed until the 60's. In addition the ball already has the holes drilled in it. Aside from the fact that the holes are way too small for an adult, the holes are drilled to fit the user so they wouldn't have been in the ball until after his hand span was measured.
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The BB gun is wrapped in red embossed, solid color paper with a metallic finish. Wrapping paper of the period was typically non-metallic paper lithographed with repeated designs, such as Santas, sleighs, snowflakes, and the like.
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On Christmas morning (of what is supposed to be 1939 or 1940), the family is listening to Bing Crosby's "Merry Christmas" album while they open presents. That album was not released until 1945 (and reissued in 1947).
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Vehicles parked outside Warren G. Harding School include a 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster and a 1947 Ford half-ton pickup.
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The fire chief's car at the flag pole scene is a 1948 Chevrolet Stylemaster.
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The car that passes by Warren G. Harding School is a 1940 Ford V8 De Luxe. This film can be placed in 1939 by the Orphan Annie radio show still being hosted by Ovaltine.
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There is an African-American girl in Ralphie's class, however Indiana schools were not integrated until 1949.
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A 1980s math book is sitting on Miss Shields' desk.
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At the beginning of the movie, a modern TV antenna can be seen on the top of one of the houses. (Full Frame version only.)
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At the beginning of the movie Mr. Parker enters reading a newspaper distressed that the White Sox had just traded "Bullfrog". Bill Dietrich the Bullfrog was released from the Chicago White Sox on September 18, 1946. That would place this scene some time in the middle of September - a little too early to be thinking of Christmas lists or for Indiana to be covered in snow. The movie seems to be set in 1939 or 1940 anyway.
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Jean Shepherd said the film is set in 1940 and it is usually agreed that the action takes place in 1939 (The Wizard of Oz characters) or 1940 (there is no reference to Pearl Harbor or WWII). But in Jan. 1940 Ovaltine dropped the "Little Orphan Annie" radio show and switched to "Captain Midnight." In Dec. 1940 Quaker Puffed Wheat was "Annie"'s sponsor. The announcer, Pierre Andre, also left "Annie" in Jan. 1940 because audiences identified him with Ovaltine, and he too went to "Captain Midnight." These facts would only fit the action of a film set in 1939.
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The Davey Crockett hat that Scut Farkus wore didn't come out until the 1950s as part of the Fess Parker mania.
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Mrs. Parker mentions to the Old Man that "the Bears are playing Green Bay on Sunday". In 1939 and 1940 (the years it is generally agreed that the events occurred) the Bears and Packers did not play in December (the Packers played at Chicago on 11/5/1939 and 11/3/1940), and the NFL season was over by the second week of December. However in 1941 the Packers played a playoff game at Chicago on 12/14.
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Audio/visual unsynchronised
When Ralphie blurts out "Schwartz" and his mom calls Mrs. Schwartz, the voice of the kid receiving the spanking on other end of the phone is not R.D. Robb, the Schwartz actor. If you listen closely, it is actually the voice of the Flick actor, whose name is, oddly, Scott Schwartz.
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The fight the smelly hounds are having over the turkey in the kitchen is in reverse. The dogs seen entering the shot are walking backwards. The sound is not backwards though.
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The numbers on the radio to be decoded don't match what is written by Ralphie. The last number spoken is 25 but written down is 11.
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When the "old man" sends the boys to bed on Christmas Eve he listens for them to go to their rooms. He even points as if tracing their paths down the hall. We hear 2 doors close. However, throughout the movie it is shown that Ralphie and Randy share a bedroom, so only 1 door would have needed to close.
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Boom mic visible
When the kids run to their seats in the classroom after putting the plastic teeth in their mouths, a shadow of a boom mic is visible on the wall as the camera pans right to left.
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Character error
In the Santa Claus line-up, Jean Shepherd's character transposes his references to the "front" and "back" of the line.
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After Ralphie gets sent to bed after saying the F word, the narrator stated that Schwartz was getting punished from three blocks away. However, at the beginning of the movie, we learn that Schwartz actually lived two houses down from Ralphie.
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The Old Man mistakenly refers to the Chicago Bears as "Terror of the Midway." The correct term has always been "Monsters of the Midway."
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When the lamp breaks it makes the noise of glass breaking, but later Mrs. Parker says it was made of plastic.
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The song on the blackboard under "name this tune" is Mary Had a Little Lamb. The last two notes on the line should be "G"s, not "F"s.
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Before Ralphie and Randy get in line to visit Santa in Higbee's Department store, The Wizard of Oz characters pass by, and the witch tries to talk to Ralphie, who won't interact with her because he's busy 'thinking'. Watch Randy's face in this scene as he comes out of character for a moment and smiles at a scared little girl, who is off camera. She was afraid of the witch during rehearsal, and never really was able to handle her presence.
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The word Christmas is misspelled in Ralphie's school theme title, "What I Want for Chistmas," but was not marked as an error by Miss Shields. There are no errors marked on the paper anywhere to justify his final grade of C+.
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Ralphie checks the mailbox for his secret decoder package. Both times the red flag is raised, indicating to the mail carrier that the mail in the box is to be taken to the post office. When mail is delivered by the mail carrier, they are supposed to put the flag down.
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Randy claims he can't put his arms down while he is "bundled up". Yet he had them down just fine only a few seconds earlier, and is able to do so while bundled up throughout the movie.
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Continuity
The packing material on the back of father, as he is digging in the box for the lamp.
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When the dad first pulls the lamp out of the box, there's no electrical cord attached to it, yet he plugs it into the wall seconds later.
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During Ralphy's fight with Scut, in the wide shot bright red blood is clearly visible on Scut's nose, but in the close up there is no blood visible on his nose/face.
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While dad is unpacking the lamp, mom's necklace repeatedly changes position between shots.
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After the bully hits Ralph with a snowball, the snow suddenly disappears from his face as well as his coat.
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The little girl shown looking out the school window at Flick stuck to the flagpole was actually one of the last to leave her seat and head toward the window in the shot before.
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When Ralphie presents Miss Shields with the fruit basket the arrangement of the fruit changes: the banana rotates.
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The mashed potatoes disappear and reappear on Randy's face between shots during the dinner scene ("show mommy how the piggies eat").
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Ralphie's chocolate milk at the start of the film.
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When Mrs. Parker first breaks the lamp it is in her lap in three pieces. The camera goes to the Old Man then back to Mrs. and the lamp is in one piece but broken vertically. This is reinforced when he tries to put back together the lamp in the window.
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When Ralph's mother is dressing Randy up for school, Randy's arms are clearly by his side before he suddenly announces that he can't put his arms down. The camera angle jumps back and forth twice between arms up and arms down before Ralph's mother pushes Randy's arms down, only to have them pop back up.
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When Ralphie is decoding Annie's secret message in the bathroom, the text's case on his writing changes from lower case to upper case between shots (watch the "E/e" in "Be"... (Be sure to drink your Ovaltine)).
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In the Black Bart fantasy sequence and the scene in which The Old Man is getting water to fight the Oldsmobile, there is no cabinet under the sink. In a later scene, this is the location of the cabinet door behind which Randy is crying because "Dad is going to kill Ralphy".
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When we see the Chinese restaurant from the street, the headwaiter is standing in front of the table conducting the singing waiters. When we move into the restaurant the song (Faa-Raa-Raa-Raa) has not missed a beat, yet the headwaiter is now standing behind the table.
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After opening presents on Christmas morning, Ralphie goes outside while his mother bastes the turkey in a roasting pan at the kitchen table. In the next shot, a canning jar of pickles has appeared beside the roasting pan. In the next shot, the jar of pickles has disappeared from the table and is in her hand as she comes up from the basement and sets it on the table.
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After Flick is removed from the flagpole, the teacher then gives the class an assignment to write a theme. While she's saying this, the blackboard behind her says "The brown fox jumped over the lazy dog". Seconds later the blackboard says "A Theme What I Want for Christmas".
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Before the radio announcer began to read off the numbers to Orphan Annie's secret message, he instructs the listeners to set their pins to "B-2." The first letter in the message would be the letter "B" in the word "BE" so if the pins were on "B-2," then the first number that he reads off should be "2." Instead, the first number he reads off is 12.
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As the workers are bringing the crate into the house the is a rope tied around the crate. Once they get it into the house the rope is no longer there. The exterior shot was done in Cleveland and showed a rope, while the interior shot was done in a Toronto studio weeks later.
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During dinner just before the Old Man's major award arrives, Ralph's milk glass is full, and a split second later it is empty.
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When the family is eating dinner on the day the Ralphie beats up Scut Farkas, the bread plate on the table switches position from left of the pickle plate to the right.
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During the first battle of the furnace, both levers are to the right when Dad yells to open the damper. Mom goes over touches the damper (lower) lever, but then instead moves draft (upper) lever all the way to the left. She then back away. When the view takes in the levers again, the damper (lower) lever is to the left and the draft (upper) lever is to the right.
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As Ralphie and Randy are waiting in line to see Santa, there is a woman with a red coat standing behind them. Moments later, as Ralphie and Randy make it to the stairs leading to Santa, the woman in the red coat is suddenly in front of them. There was no time between shots for her to have moved.
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Randy's puffy outfit changes from being really puffy to not as puffy.
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When Mrs. Parker is getting Randy ready for school and he complains about not being able to put his arms down, the shots of Randy from the back show him with his gloves off; shots from the front of Randy when Mrs. Parker responds show him with his gloves on. The sequence continues for 5 shots, each alternating gloves on, gloves off.
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When the old man enters the house fighting the Oldsmobile he tosses his hat on the dining room table and it falls to the chair. Later in the scene as Mrs. Parker goes to open the damper for the furnace, as the camera pans, it can be seen on the table.
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When Ralphie is in his bunny suit, he looks to his left to tell Randy to shut up. At that point, his parents are to his left on the sofa, and Randy is by the tree to his right.
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When Miss Shields first gets to the flagpole to help with the frozen tongue, she's wearing her coat. In the rest of the scene she's dressed only in her dress.
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The camera is over Ralphie's shoulder as he proofreads his theme, his fingers sticking straight out over the bottom of the page. The next scene his hands are clenched and facing each other.
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In the opening scene, Ralphie's house is pictured with a pan shot that shows an open lot next to his house. Later in the movie there is a house in that spot.
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Near the beginning of the film, when The Old Man yells up from the basement to open the damper, Mrs. Parker adjusts the top control all the way to the left, and the bottom control all the way to the right, then backs away from the controls. In the very next shot, the positions of the controls are reversed.
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Crew or equipment visible
In the first scene that has Ralphie's father going down to the basement to do battle with the furnace, you can see a crew member's foot quickly disappear from the shot in the next room just as the father crosses the kitchen and is about to open the basement door.
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Shadows of crew on kitchen chair when Randy is in the cabinet, worrying about Ralph getting killed by their father (for fighting) when he comes home.
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When Black Bart is escaping from Ralphie's backyard, the trampoline that he uses to jump over the fence is clearly visible (it was not there in the previous backyard shots, so it's not part of the "furniture"). This is only visible in the Full Frame version; it gets cropped out of the original Wide Screen movie and the Wide Screen DVD version.
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During Ralphie's dream sequence of soap poisoning, the reflection of the studio lights can be seen in his sunglasses.
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When Black Bart is escaping from Ralphie's backyard, you can see a crew member's head skimming the top of the fence as they are leading the horse from left to right then again from right to left as they leave the horse for Black Bart.
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When Ralphie comes up to the house in the "blind because of soap poisoning" dream sequence, a crew member can be seen reflected in his sunglasses. Additionally, one of the stage lights is reflected in his glasses later on in the sequence.
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Errors in geography
On Christmas Day, the family goes out to a Chinese restaurant for Christmas dinner, but when they go, there is still light in the sky. At this time of day, normally, Indiana would be dark at this time of the year.
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When the red and cream trolley goes by, the emblem in it's side is for the TTC, the Toronto Transit Company.
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During one of the scenes at the family table, the old man can be seen reading a Chicago newspaper.
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On the front of the radio in the living room is a red light in the dial. The light is supposed to be green because it is not actually a light. It is the top of one of the vacuum tubes that sits on it's side. It's called a magic eye tube, and is not a full circle until a station is tuned in. This would also be a product of the movie being filmed in Canada as radios with magic eye tubes were very common in Canada but not in the US.
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Factual errors
According to the Daisy Air Rifle manufacturers on the Special Edition DVD documentary on the history of the Red Ryder BB Gun, the gun did exist except for one error in the story: The gun did not have a compass and sundial as mentioned in the movie. According to the historians, writer Jean Shepherd confused the Red Ryder gun with another rifle that did have those features. But because the story and screen play were scripted to have the compass and sundial, guns had to be specially made for the movie.
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Incorrectly regarded as goofs
The Old Man thanks Mrs. Parker on Christmas morning for a blue bowling ball, yet was unable to distinguish blue Christmas lights the previous evening. This was probably just the Old Man's stubborn refusal to admit that he was mistaken, rather than color-blindness.
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The wall clock in Ralphie's kitchen has no power cord. Battery-powered wall clocks did not exist in 1940, but wall clocks were often mounted on a recessed power receptacle and were plugged in.
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When Ralphie defends the home against Black Bart, he shoots three times, hitting three thugs. Yet when the scene ends, there are four dead thugs with x's on their eyes. This may be a flourish to heighten the absurdity of Ralphie's hyperactive imagination.
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When the children are taking their seats after they were handed the fake teeth, Schwartz appears to look at the camera and smile. He in fact looks just off screen-right, then at Ralphie, smiles, and looks off screen-left.
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As Ralphie dreams of his new BB gun, a few bars of the theme from High Noon are heard. Although Ralphie could not have heard this song in his childhood, it could be his adult self projecting the song backward, or simply an in-joke for the viewers which Ralphie isn't really hearing.
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The Lifebuoy "soap" in Ralphie's mouth can appear plastic due to a seam. Soap can be molded the same way plastic is, between two halves and leaving a seam. Without a reference to an actual bar of Lifebouy, then it can be likely a real bar looked this way. Also the filmmakers probably food-dyed a block of wax for the actors, which is easier than making a piece of plastic.
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Plot holes
After his BB gun mishap, Ralphie comes back into the house through the back door. In the next scene, the Bumpus hounds are shown coming through the living room from left to right and moving on to the kitchen. The dogs would need to open the front door for this to be possible.
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When the fuse blows while the Parkers are decorating the Christmas tree, the room goes completely dark despite the roaring fire in the fireplace behind Ralphie and Randy.
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Revealing mistakes
At the beginning of the movie when we see Christmas activities in the large town square, there's a red-and-cream "Peter Witt"-type trolley car, as well as an elevated view of a two-car trolley. There are no trolley tracks, nor are there overhead wires to power the trolley.
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When Miss Shields looks out the window to see Flick waving his arms while his tongue is stuck to the flagpole, his tongue is seen moving away from the pole showing that it was not really stuck.
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When Ralphie is in line to see Santa Claus, the boy named Billy tells Santa that he wants "a toy truck". Santa repeats "A toy truck! Get him off my lap!" and Billy screams as he's pushed down the slide. This exact exchange is heard, but not seen, in the same scene during shots of the interior of the store.
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Both newspapers that Mr. Parker reads are the same for different days.
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When the parents first come downstairs Christmas morning you can see a roaring fire in the background. Unless they stayed up all night there should not be a fire going.
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When the Old Man blows the fuse trying to plug in his lamp, he just unplugs on cord and doesn't have to go anywhere to actually replace a blown fuse. The lights even come on again, magically.
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