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Anachronisms (7) |
Character error (1) |
Continuity (20) |
Crew or equipment visible (3) |
Errors in geography (5) |
Factual errors (2) |
Incorrectly regarded as goofs (3) |
Plot holes (2) |
Revealing mistakes (3) |
Spoilers (7)
Anachronisms
Norm Gunderson talks about a 29-cent postage stamp in 1987, four years before they were introduced.
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A jar in the kidnappers' shack has a modern "Nutrition Facts" label.
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Some of the buildings in the Minneapolis skyline scene were built after 1987.
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The Oldsmobile Ninety Eights featured in the movie are "refreshed" 1989-1990 models with a revised grille, side moldings, emblems, nameplates, and rears.
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In the hide-out cabin, a plastic cup on the table has a cartoon picture of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
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Some billboards, including a "Miller Genuine Draft" billboard in the Twin Cities, did not exist in 1987.
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When Jerry, Wade, and Stan are standing outside of the Embers, you can see I-394 over their shoulders. An overhead sign shows an HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle, or carpool) lane. Minnesota introduced HOV lanes in 1991.
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Character error
When Carl and Gaear are driving into Minneapolis, Carl says the IDS Tower is the second tallest building in the upper midwest, after the Sears Tower. This is incorrect, as there were several other taller buildings in the upper midwest at the time (all located in Chicago), including the Aon Center (then called the Amoco Building), the John Hancock Center, Water Tower Place and Chase Tower (then called First National Plaza).
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Continuity
Gaear's jacket and the beer bottles in the opening scene in the bar.
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Gaear's cigarette after shooting the cop in the top of the head.
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The alarm clock in Scotty's room when he talks to Jerry goes from 8:52 to 8:50 to 8:53.
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Marge's burger when she is having lunch in her office.
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Marge's scarf swaps sides on her first visit to Jerry's office.
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Jerry's sketch pad changes after he storms out to do a lot count.
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Right before Jerry flees the interview, Marge gazes forward and sees the picture of Jean. When Marge gets out of the chair as Jerry flees, the picture is clearly behind her.
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When Carl is burying the money, the fence is different on each side. From the far side, we see three or four meshes sticking up from the snow. From Carl's side, we only see one.
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The blood on Carl's face after the State Trooper is shot.
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When Shep tries to strangle Carl with a belt, Carl's hands are first grabbing the belt with his fingers away from his neck and then toward his neck.
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The kidnapper's Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera is a 1987 or 1988 (with a straight flat rear window) in some shots, and a 1989 or 1990 (with a restyled back end and a rounded rear window) in others.
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During the parking garage sequence, the neon clock at Minneapolis City Hall (visible in some shots) shows a very different time from when the money was supposed to be exchanged. According to the same clock, nearly an hour elapses between Carl's departure and Jerry's arrival.
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During the ransom transaction scene between Carl and Wade, the camera shots alternate between snow falling and no snow falling.
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As Jerry and Jean tell Scotty they don't want him playing hockey, Wade calls Jerry to set up the meeting the next day. When Jean answers the phone, the time on the microwave is 10:44. When she hands the phone to Jerry, it's 7:43. When he turns his back, it's 11:05.
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Grimsrud is smoking when the state trooper pulls the car over. You can tell by the smoke trails that the footage jumps.
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During the interview, the pencil on the clipboard in the office is pointing down. When Jerry flees, it's pointing up.
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While driving, the shots of Gaear show him in a cloud of cigarette smoke. When the shots switch to Carl, there's no smoke at all.
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When Jerry drives the car and trailer into the parking lot, the only light is from the street lamps. When the camera moves from Jerry to some guys playing pool, natural light or daylight is coming in through the window.
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When Jerry gets into his car after his meeting with Stan and Wade, the windshield is covered in snow. When he goes out to scrape the ice and snow off, the windshield is clean.
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During Jerry's first meeting with Marge, in his office, his sketch pad goes from half doodled to fully doodled in an instant.
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Crew or equipment visible
Shadow at lower left during zoom into Marge's bed.
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When Jerry drives past the parking garage booth, a crew member is reflected in Jerry's rear window.
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Shep throws an obvious stunt double over the couch.
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Errors in geography
When the kidnappers first enter Minneapolis, they are driving northbound on 35W, which means they're approaching from the south. Brainerd is north of the Twin Cities, so they should be approaching from the north.
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In Brainerd, when Officer Olson interviews Mr. Mohra about the guy "going crazy at the lake," they each refer to lakes that are nowhere near Brainerd. Officer Olson asks if it's White Bear Lake, about 130 miles southeast of Brainerd. Mr. Mohra tells him it was Moose Lake. Minnesota has more than 1 Moose Lake, but the closest one is in adjacent Cass County, which is outside of the Brainerd Police department's jurisdiction. The error is repeated later, when Marge Gunderson says she is on patrol around Moose Lake.
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When Marge and Lou are talking, they get a lead that their two suspects stayed at the Blue Ox Inn on I-35. However, I-35 runs about 60 miles east of Brainerd, MN.
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At the scene of the triple homicide, when Marge asks Lou where the State Trooper is, he points to the direction from which Marge just traveled (according to the orientation of her car when she parks). If she'd come from that direction, she would have encountered the first murder scene, and the personnel attending to it.
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Margie asks if the Blue Ox is the "truckers' joint on I-35." Interstate 35 does not run through Brainerd.
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Factual errors
Minnesota license plates have numbers on one side and letters on the other; they are not mixed together as shown on the car at the beginning of the movie.
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When Marge investigated the trooper's murder, no other law enforcement officials were at the scene when she arrived or left, so any passer-by could contaminate or destroy evidence.
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Incorrectly regarded as goofs
Jean Lundegaard dials 911 from a phone in the upstairs bathroom. A few seconds later, the phone is disconnected. While most current 911 systems could automatically identify the address, that was not the case in 1987. The dispatcher might not have been able to do anything.
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In Ludegaard's first plan to raise money, he asks Wade for seed money for a $750,000 parking lot project. Wade refuses to give him the money, but offers him a 10% finder's fee. If he took the finder's fee, he would have had $75,000 instead of the $40,000 he would have had from his second plan of splitting the $80,000 ransom with the kidnappers. However, the ransom demand was $1 million; Jerry only told the kidnappers it was $40,000.
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When the patrolman approaches the kidnappers car at night on the highway, he carries the flashlight in his left hand, and his gun and holster are on his left hip, but when he arrives at the car window, he has the flashlight in his right hand, and the gun and holster are on his right hip. This is not a goof because when the patrolman is approaching the car it's being filmed through the cars side mirror.
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Plot holes
The murder of a State Trooper would automatically fall under the direction of the Minnesota State Police, not local law enforcement. The lack of response by the State Police to the murder of one of their own is highly questionable.
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At the end of the movie when Carl Showalter gives Gaear Grimsrud the keys to his truck: How did Carl's truck get to the cabin by the lake? They traveled to Brainerd together in the Ciera.
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Revealing mistakes
After Marge arrives on the second murder scene about 35 minutes into the film, as she examines the slain trooper, his eyelids move up and down.
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The poster in Scotty Lundegaard's room spells accordion "accordian."
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When Showalter breaks down the bathroom door during the kidnapping, the wall to the left of the door moves slightly as he pries it open.
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Spoilers
Audio/visual unsynchronised
When Shep Proudfoot is beating Carl with the belt, his mouth does not sync correctly with his words.Share this
Audio/visual unsynchronised
When Carl shoots Wade repeatedly, the gun fails to fire once, yet the sound of gunshots is heard.Share this
Continuity
When Marge arrives at the hideout cabin to find Gaer pushing the leg into the wood-chipper, she passes the front door through clean white snow, which should be bloodied from Carl's death by axe.Share this
Continuity
Gaerd shoots the boy in the red jacket in the back, and the boy falls dead face down. When the boy is next seen he is on his back, with no snow on the front of his clothing.Share this
Continuity
When Marge pulls her revolver from its holster, just before she shoots Gaear, she has a Smith & Wesson with a 2-inch barrel. When she fires, it becomes a 4-inch revolver, then back to a 2-inch barrel.Share this
Continuity
Carl and Gaear approach the Paul Bunyan statue from the front when going *towards* their hideout. Margie and Gaear approach the statue from the front when going *away* from the hideout.Share this
Revealing mistakes
When Carl shoots Wade, before Wade's gun goes off, you can see the squib on Carl's face where he will eventually get shot.Share this
