Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsCannes Film FestivalStar WarsAsian Pacific American Heritage MonthSummer Watch GuideSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
Back
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro
The Greatest American Hero (1981)

Goofs

The Greatest American Hero

The Greatest American Hero

Edit

Continuity

Both Bill's and Ralph's cars have disappearing/reappearing rear-view mirrors. It's most obvious during the first UFO encounter and later when Ralph is trying to get past a traffic jam on his way to court.
When Hinkley and Maxwell are trapped in the car, Maxwell is not wearing his suit jacket. However when the alien ship is hovering over them, the scene cuts back and forth from the ship to the car several times and in some of the shots of the car, Maxwell is wearing the suit jacket.
In the pilot, when Ralph grabs Pam and turns toward the wall to show her the vision, she just sees the wall. In future episodes, when he grabbed Bill to show him, Bill could see the vision.
When the students enter the diner, Maxwell is sitting at the counter with a plate of pie. The camera angle changes and the plate is gone. The camera angle changes again and the plate is back.
The driver's window in Maxwell's car is rolled down when he almost hits Hinkley. A fem minutes later when they jump in the car to get away from the UFO, the window is rolled up.

Factual errors

During close-up shots of Pam, Ralph, and Bill in Pam's car, regardless who is driving, nobody ever shifts the transmission. Pam's car is a 1977 Volkswagen Beetle. These car's were not offered with regular automatic transmissions. Manual shifting was required.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs

At the park before demonstrating his super strength to Pam, Ralph corrects Bill on his pronunciation of the word "forte" when Bill notes that command decisions are his forte. Bill pronounces it like "fort," and Ralph tells him that it's "fôr tay" citing that he also teaches English.

Ralph is not wrong. It's a loan word that English has taken from French. It means strength. It is also used in fencing to describe the third of the blade nearest the hilt.

Revealing mistakes

When the goons shoot at Ralph, the "bullets" that bounce off him are empty shells, not bullets.
When Ralph is flying towards the President's helicopter, there are two shots where the wires attached to his suit that are holding him above ground are visible.
Ralph's hair doesn't move when he's flying.

Crew or equipment visible

In the pilot when Bill and Ralph are talking in the bathroom at the school, the morning after the alien encounter the shadow of a boom mic is visible on the wall throughout most of the scene

Character error

Hinkley and Maxwell spend several moments trying to kick out/break the side windows after they are locked in the car. The car has crank windows, so they could have easily just rolled down the windows and then climbed out.

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
The Greatest American Hero (1981)
Top Gap
What is the broadcast (satellite or terrestrial TV) release date of The Greatest American Hero (1981) in Australia?
Answer
  • See more gaps
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More from this title

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb app
Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
Follow IMDb on social
Get the IMDb app
For Android and iOS
Get the IMDb app
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • License IMDb Data
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.