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Anachronisms (38) |
Audio/visual unsynchronised (1) |
Character error (3) |
Continuity (23) |
Crew or equipment visible (2) |
Errors in geography (2) |
Factual errors (7) |
Incorrectly regarded as goofs (1) |
Plot holes (1) |
Revealing mistakes (6)
Anachronisms
The fire alarm system in the hospital is from the late '80s/early '90s.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. goes to meet his father in a bar, he is wearing a United States Postal Service jacket. Pre-1971, the United States Postal Service was the U.S. Post Office Department.
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At the French prison in 1969, Hanratty uses a pop-up mini-umbrella. This type of umbrella wasn't available until the late 1970s. Until then, all umbrellas were of the two-hand, slide-up variety.
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When Hanratty and Frank Abagnale Jr. are aboard a plane at Fiorello LaGuardia Airport in 1969, a shot of the New York City skyline shows the World Trade Center towers fully built. However, the towers were not completed until 1973.
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The green-capped McCormick spice bottles on the spice rack in the apartment were not available in the early 1960s.
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During one of the Christmas telephone conversations between Frank Abagnale Jr. and Carl, Frank's phone has a modular telephone jack connection.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. is watching a court scene to prepare for his stint as a lawyer, the television clearly has a remote control infrared panel and control buttons on the front.
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As Frank Abagnale Jr. first walks down the street in his Pan Am uniform, a Fedex delivery truck is partially visible in the background. Federal Express wasn't founded until 1971 and the Fedex logo on the truck was designed in 1994 when the company officially adopted the Fedex brand name.
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We see TWA aircraft several times, all with the famous two stripe logo. That logo was not introduced until 1975, several years after when the movie was set.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. and his father pull up to the Chase Bank, a Duane Reade drugstore in the background has a current logo.
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At Miami International Airport, the National Airlines logo should have been the "SunKing" logo, introduced in the mid-1960s.
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The slide projector used by Hanratty in his briefing on Frank Abagnale Jr. has a carousel, which was not released until Christmas of 1968.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. is arrested in France, the police car he gets into has an antenna/defroster embedded in the rear window.
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The map of Europe Hanratty uses to figure out Frank Abagnale Jr.'s location is from after 1990: Germany is unified, and the former Yugoslavia is divided into several different countries.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. interviews potential stewardesses, one of them sings a line from the song "Leaving on a Jet Plane". This scene takes place in 1966 or 1967, long before the song was made popular by 'Peter, Paul, and Mary' in 1969. The song was written in 1967 by John Denver (who made the song famous in 1973), which might have been before the scene in question, but it is highly unlikely that a student would have known the song before 1969.
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The front-loading washers in the laundromat are Wascomat W74 Front Loading washing machines. The square door handle and rotary temperature control knob were introduced in the 1980s.
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When we first see Brenda at the hospital, she is wearing 1970s-style braces on her teeth.
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Brenda is last seen waiting at the Miami airport directly behind a sidewalk curbcut for wheelchairs which was not introduced until at least the mid-1970s, particularly after federal legislation for the handicapped was enacted.
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Early in the movie, when Frank Sr. attempts to pull off a bank heist with the help of Frank Abagnale Jr., a 1980s city bus is in the background.
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The bottle of Tab diet cola in pool scene is from late 1970s.
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Use of OCR-A character-reader font on letters, driver's license. It was first introduced in 1970.
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In the beginning of the movie, Hanratty visits Frank Abagnale Jr. in a French prison and notifies him the terms of his extradition "according to the European Convention on Human Rights". France did not ratify this convention until 3 May 1974.
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When the plane that takes Frank Abagnale Jr. and Carl back to the States lands, we are shown a sequence where the wheels touch the runway. The exterior shots of the landing plane are of an Airbus A310, which did not fly until 1983. The shots of the taxiing plane are of a Douglas DC-8. The interior shots are of a 707.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr.'s father opens a checking account for him in early 1964, the checks are imprinted with ZIP codes. ZIP codes were introduced in 1963, but they weren't widely used until the mid-Sixties.
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A 1968 lava lamp appears in a 1965 scene.
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In the scene at the Miami airport, which was set in the late 1960s, Checker cabs with impact absorbing bumpers are seen. Impact absorbing bumpers did not appear on cars until late 1972 (for the 1973 model year.) The cabs are at least 1974 models, when impact absorbing bumpers for both the front and back of the car were required.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. first walks into the classroom where he impersonates the substitute teacher, one of the students is heard to use the word "frickin'", a word not coined yet in the 1960s.
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Early in the film in the sequence showing the family's move from a house to an apartment, there is a shot of the apartment building taken from the street outside. As the camera pans upward to show the whole building, a modern video security camera can be seen in the top right corner of the shot, apparently mounted on a telephone pole opposite the building.
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Police lights on top of the French police cars are the wrong color for the time period (blue, should be yellow) and are Peterson Mfg model 771, a low cost light not made until the late 1980s.
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During the parts of movie that are set in the early-to-mid 1960s, Pan American Airlines is constantly referred to as "Pan Am." A shot of its office building even shows the "Pan Am" logo on it. However, Pan American Airlines was abbreviated as "PAA" during this time, and did not adopt the "Pan Am" logo until 1972.
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In the beginning of the movie there are four Citroens parked in front of the prison. One of them is a Citroen 2cv Charleston (the dark-red/black behind the police cars). This car was produced in the 80's, so it would have been impossible to have one parked outside in '69.
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A title card for the arrest scene is dated "Christmas Eve 1967." Several of the French police cars are Citroen DS models with four front headlights. Citroen did not update the DS to use double headlights until the 1968 model year. Although Citroen, like US automakers, does typically announce new models in the fall previous to that model year's release, it is extremely unlikely the entire fleet of police cars in a small French village would use only next year's model.
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In front of the French prison are parked two Citroen "2cv", but one of them is the "charleston" special edition, that was not on production until 1980.
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Abagnale goes to see Goldfinger at a cinema, and shortly afterwards meets an attractive ex-model. During this sequence, the song "The Look of Love" plays in the background. This was written for another Bond film, Casino Royale, which wasn't released until two years later.
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Many of the cars in this movie have new style aero dynamic black wiper blades. Cars of the 1960s had standard silver/chrome colored wiper blades.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. flies "deadhead" in the cockpit of a TWA plane, the cockpit windshield has a central pane, without a metal divider in the center. At the time, the only jet airliner with that type of windshield was the Douglas DC-8. TWA flew the Boeing 707, not the DC-8.
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Frank Abagnale Jr. calls Carl every Christmas, starting in 1966. In '66 Carl is working alone. The next time in '67 Carl is working with his team. Then the next year, when Carl and Frank are in France, the subtitles say 1967. Shouldn't it be 1968?
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Toward the end of the movie when Frank Abagnale Jr. is walking in the corridor tube at the airport there are a couple American Airlines flights announced in the background. This was in the TWA terminal. It's possible that the filmmakers did this intentionally since American bought TWA at the time the movie was filmed, but in the late 60's there would not be an American flight in the TWA terminal as they were fierce rivals.
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Audio/visual unsynchronised
When Carl confronts Frank Abagnale Jr. in France, just after he yells "They're going to kill you!" his mouth moves after that, but you don't hear anything.
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Character error
When Hanratty shows his ID to a frightened maid at the top of a hotel staircase, the badge with the FBI logo is facing the camera and not her, so in actual fact all she would see is the black leather outer of the wallet.
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In the scene where Frank Abagnale Jr. walks through Miami International Airport surrounded by newly recruited Pan Am stewardesses, the stewardesses are wearing their hats wrong. The Pan Am emblem is supposed to show from the front, whereas these recruits wore their hats with the emblem toward the back.
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While Frank Abagnale Jr. and Carl are flying back to the US Frank looks out the window and tells Frank that they are over Fiorello LaGuardia Airport and runway Number 44. All runway ends are painted/labeled based on the compass direction or bearing it is facing or heading. A Due North is runway "36", meaning 360 degrees and the opposite end marked "18", for 180 degrees. Runway numbers include 1 to 36. No runway 44 exists.
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Continuity
While having lunch with his father, Frank Abagnale Jr.'s hand jumps from the table to his side, and on and off his wine glass, between shots.
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The gauze pad and small retractors Frank Abagnale Jr. gets in the ER disappear in one shot, then reappear two shots later.
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The checks Frank Abagnale Jr. gathers up when he's confronted by Hanratty shift position between shots.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. gives the new car's keys to his father at the restaurant, Sr. takes the ribbon off the box, and sets it down to the right of his plate. In the next shot the ribbon is to the left of his plate. The box itself moves around and alternates between partially open and completely closed.
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Frank Abagnale Jr. kisses a girl and smudges her lipstick. In subsequent shots, the lipstick is smudge-free.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. has dinner with his fiancé, he finishes the prayer and we see her shaking her napkin at him to let him know to put it in his lap. In the next shot, she is picking up her napkin.
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When Carl is visiting Frank Abagnale Jr. in prison, the comic books jump around between shots.
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When Frank Sr. hugs his son Frank Abagnale Jr. during the pancake scene, his jacket moves about between shots.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. gets to Miami International Airport to wait for his fiancé, a car driven by a man wearing a hat stops right behind him. When Frank looks around searching for potential police, the door of the car behind is opening. In the next shot, the car behind him is gone.
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It is sunny at poolside at the Tropicana in L.A., with young ladies sunbathing. When Frank Abagnale Jr. is almost caught in his motel room, he points to the "perp" being escorted to the car by "another Secret Service man." The streets are clearly wet, and the car is covered with raindrops. (See trivia.)
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En route to Hanratty's first confrontation with Frank Abagnale Jr., Amdursky and Fox are wearing sunglasses in one shot as the car turns into the hotel parking lot (after the "knock-knock joke"), but not in others.
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When the little girl on the street asks Frank Abagnale Jr. if he's a "real live pilot", she's standing in front of a yellow car. After he speaks to her, he begins to walk away, and the yellow car is gone.
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Frank points out the Manhattan skyline from the plane. They are at a much higher altitude in a subsequent shot, and only clouds are visible.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. tries to escape after printing the checks, he is holding the checks in his arms in a disorganized pile. In the next shot, before he throws them to the floor, they are sorted more neatly.
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When Frank Sr. and Frank Abagnale Jr. are entering at Chase Manhattan Bank, a little white truck is shown three times, twice going in the same direction in a couple of seconds.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. is walking down the street with his new co-pilot uniform, the sidewalk is dry. In the next shot, the camera is above his head and the sidewalk is wet.
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When Hanratty and his two assistants go to Paula's house, one of the assistants grabs a piece of dessert and tries to reach a fork that is on a plate in front of Hanratty. Hanratty has a paper in his right hand in one shot while he's looking at the lady. In the next shot is right hand is empty and free to instantly grab a fork for his colleague and hand it to him in that comedic stabbing motion.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. impersonates the substitute French teacher in order to take revenge on the bullies who bumped into him in the hallway, he shouts for order in the classroom then asks which chapter the previous teacher left off on. Frank Jr then opens his book up to the correct page, and after embarrassing one of the bullies by making him read out loud, he begins to walk to the front of the room. When he is in the aisle in the classroom, he holds the book open as he walks. After the shot changes angle and distance, he completes his walk to the front of the room, but the book is now closed.
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Frank Abagnale Jr.is given a co-pilot's jacket (two stripes) at the outfitters. However, immediately afterwards when he is seen walking away he's wearing a senior co-pilot's jacket (three stripes) and continues to wear that rank throughout the pilot scenes.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. is talking to Cheryl Ann in the hallway, he is seen at one point leaning against the wall. In a subsequent shot, he is seen standing upright and then purposefully leans against the wall.
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In the scene where Frank Sr. is dancing with Paula, the wine spilled on the carpet changes shape and location throughout the scene.
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In the scene at the Miami airport, after Frank Abagnale Jr. leaves Brenda at the curb, Carl and his group are seen walking through the terminal. Two uniformed police officers are seen running up behind the group and passing them on the left of the screen. They are then seen circling behind the group of FBI men and running up and passing them two more times.
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When Frank first arrives at the FBI office, Carl shows Frank to his new office and Carl sets a box of files on Frank's desk. The flexible desk lamp is open and ready for use. The next shot, Frank is sitting at his desk and there is no box and the lamp is closed.
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Crew or equipment visible
At the end of the film, when the camera pans out through the FBI office, the last row of file cabinets can be seen being pushed together into place after the camera has passed through. A crew member can be seen on the left side of the screen trying to duck out of the shot after you see him pushing the left file cabinet.
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A number of large blue production tents are seen in the reflection of the bank window outside right before Frank sees the PanAm pilot and stewardesses exit a cab.
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Errors in geography
When the French police come to catch Frank Abagnale Jr., the plate number of their car is 44 (number of the state). Montrichard's plate number is 41; Loire Atlantique is 44.
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When Hanratty is briefing fellow FBI agents about check routing, the first US map has many geographical errors: Kansas City is where Omaha should be, St. Louis is in middle of Missouri, and Boston is in Maine. When the same map is shown again, the cities are correctly located, and the map shading scheme has changed.
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Factual errors
Stopping a press like the one shown in the movie would not result in a flurry of cut checks flying through the air. Additionally, the cutter would be a machine that could fit the entire width of the paper, and make the precision cuts required for things like checks.
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When the FBI agents tell Paula how much money Frank Abagnale Jr. has stolen, she reaches for a pack of Kent cigarettes. The cigarette she lights has a "cork" filter. Kents had a white filter.
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In the closing credits, "Saxophone solos" is misspelled as "Saxaphone solos."
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In the FBI office, all of the desk chairs are Pollack chairs. Designed by Charles Pollack for Knoll in 1965, it's possible that these chairs might have gotten to the FBI offices by that date. What's not possible is that the FBI would have spent the money on these chairs; they are very expensive and would never have been standard government issue.
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During the jet airplane sequence where Frank Abagnale Jr is extradited back to the United States and Carl Hanratty informs Frank that his father, Frank Abagnale Sr., was killed in a fall down the stairs while attempting to catch a train, Hanratty mistakenly refers to the location of the fatal accident as being Grand Central Station. In actuality, the correct name for the famous New York City train station is Grand Central Terminal. Grand Central Station is actually the name of the nearby New York City post office.
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When Frank and Carl are in the airplane Frank points out LaGuardia Airport and says runway 44. This is incorrect because runway numbers stop at 36. However there is a runway 4 at LaGuardia.
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The Pan-Am check that Frank takes to the teller to be cashed does not have either the account number on it nor the routing number. Routing numbers on checks have been around since 1910.
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Incorrectly regarded as goofs
In several scenes, Agent Hanratty uses the "Weaver Stance" when holding a handgun. This is particularly evident when he first meets Secret Service Agent "Barry Allen" in the hotel room. Although not widely used until the 1970s, the "Weaver Stance" was first developed during the 1950s, so Hanratty could have known it.
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Plot holes
The filmmakers would have us believe that, in the space of one day, Frank reorganized the high school assembly schedule, interviewed each girl, secured their parents' permission to travel to Europe for several months, had them all fitted perfectly in uniforms and accessories and then just disappeared?
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Revealing mistakes
When Carl flips through Frank Abagnale Jr.'s high school yearbook looking for his photo, the close-up shot reveals the same names duplicated on multiple pages of the book.
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When Hanratty makes a phone call outside Frank Sr.'s apartment, the entire phone booth shakes, as if it is not bolted to the ground.
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When Hanratty is in the laundromat he pulls a red sweater out of the dryer that changes his clothes pink. But, the lady who grabs the sweater from him is also doing a white load. It seems very unlikely that she would have had that sweater in her clothes, and if she did her clothes would have been pink as well from the wash.
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When Carl Hanratty is in the phone booth telling the other agents that Frank Abagnale Jr. is staying in Atlanta, the phony phone booth shakes when Carl moves.
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The non-speaking role of "stewardess" Miggy is played by Amy Acker for the scene in the hall and when the stewardesses get out of the car with Frank Abagnale Jr. outside the airport. However, for the scenes inside the airport, another (non-credited) actress has replaced her.
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When Frank Abagnale Jr. goes to the flight deck to ride on the jump seat, the jump seat that is pulled out has no restraints on it.
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