My dad was always surprised that I would notice the minor editing mistakes in film.  Whether it was a continuity error (a time changing library clock in THE BREAKFAST CLUB), an error of fact (Nicolas Cage heading to the Valley Sheraton in VALLEY GIRL when the limo driver clearly pulled onto the 405 South at Sepulveda – the way OUT of the Valley), or even a caught on camera error (the little boy holding his ears in anticipation of the gunshot in Hitchcock’s NORTH BY NORTHWEST), I seem to catch them quite often – even in amazing films like those.  I don’t usually mind them and it doesn’t ruin the film for me.  It’s fun to catch something and assure yourself, you totally would have re-filmed that scene if you had been in charge, because surely you would have caught the mistake.  (to be fair, perhaps those mistakes were noticed but there was no time, money and/or crew to re-shoot)

What isn’t fun is hearing someone point out a mistake that you know isn’t there.  Case in point:  US Weekly once had a reporter that wrote a small column on movie gaffes & guffaws.  This reporter was happy to report the huge mistake he found in the film HOME ALONE in the scene when Kevin says he went to the grocery store and bought “milk, eggs and fabric softener.” Excitedly, he pointed out that Kevin bought Tide detergent, not fabric softener.  Mr. Journalist, go watch the film again.  Clear as day in Kevin’s grocery basket you will find not only Tide detergent, but Snuggle dryer sheets.  Last I checked, Snuggle is a fabric softener.  I was so upset that this writer criticized one of my favorite films that I wrote a letter to US Weekly.  To my knowledge, they have still not run a retraction.  (this happened in 1992)

Not that my favorite films aren’t flawed.  In fact, in regard to HOME ALONE, it has always bothered me that the tethered rope connecting the attic window to the tree house seems extremely slack when Kevin goes to cut it, even though the weight of Harry and Marv trying to shimmy their way across it would have made it extremely tight.  And, I would have been perfectly fine if Mr. Journalist had chosen to write about that instead.

But, even with my keen eye, I miss things too.

I recently was on a plane trip and, as luck would have it, under the classic movies available to watch, there was my favorite film of all time, HEAVEN CAN WAIT (if you somehow don’t know that by now).  After literally hundreds of viewings of this film since its release, I actually noticed a mistake for the very first time.  It wasn’t editing or a slip of the camera; this was an error resulting in the catastrophic breaking of the suspension of disbelief.  Never before had I questioned a single fact in the film.  A weigh station on the way to heaven that directs you to your final destination – possible.  A private secretary/attaché figuring out a way to hijack a mirror so it falls from the ceiling when something hits the bed below it – of course.  The Los Angeles Rams winning the Super Bowl – definitely.*  But, when you notice a mistake that goes against everything the lead actor believes in…whoa!  Wait a minute.

In this case, the lead character Joe Pendleton begins the film drinking a liver and whey shake.  (No, this is something I actually didn’t try just because I saw it in a movie)  Then, midway through the film, Joe utters the line, “sugar, it’s bad for the body.”  Clearly this is a man who tries to stay healthy and watches what he eats.  When we see him eating dinner, he washes it down with milk.  When he and Betty sit in the parking lot of the burger joint, he looks quizzically at whatever he is eating (but we don’t have confirmation that it was anything bad) and never actually takes a bite.  The only instance we notice him eat something bad is when Max brings him a cake for this birthday.  He sticks his finger in the icing and takes a taste, but we never actually see him eat any cake.   And really, even people that keep an eye on their calories, health and food options, are known to cut themselves some slack and celebrate a little on their birthday.  Even if he ate some cake, doesn’t go against what I know about Joe Pendleton thus far.

But, then, there he was, Joe (as Leo Farnsworth), walking into the Rams locker room after his tryout for a chance to be the new quarterback, drinking a can of Coke.

Clearly, I chose to completely overlook this error of consciousness.  Maybe because when you combine two of my most favorite things in the world (the movie & Coke), they cancel themselves out and it is no longer a mistake but instead a nod to the one girl in the world that would choose to ignore this error and think of it as a sign from above confirming that this indeed is meant to be her favorite movie of all time.  Needless to say, I will forever let this slide and still consider the film without flaw in my eyes.  For one reason, if it was merely product placement, bravo Coca-Cola (I always knew you were smart), for being included in the best film ever made.  But, mostly because this film’s final scene is to me, as I have mentioned before, one of the most magical and perfect scenes in all of movie making.  After all these years, it still gives me goosebumps and a well of tears in my eyes.

And, with that said, here are ten other scenes that make up some of my favorite movie moments.

• Leonardo DiCaprio eluding Tom Hanks by surrounding himself with beautiful girls dressed as Pan Am stewardesses while walking through the airport in CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. Add Sinatra’s “Come Fly with Me” playing behind the scene while the team swarms the naïve driver holding the Handratty sign in the Coupe de Ville; and, call it nothing short of excellence.  If I see the film on television, I always have to tune in to see if this scene is close.
• Dorothy Michaels (as Emily Kimberly) revealing that she/he is really Michael Dorsey (Edward Kimberly) during the live soap opera broadcast in TOOTSIE. I mean Dustin Hoffman is great in everything he does, but I can’t help but smile from ear to ear for a good ten minutes after watching this particular scene, because it reminds me that entire movie is just so wonderful.
• The way the sun hits the Corvette Stingray once Kenny has returned it to the high school at the end of CORVETTE SUMMER. This is magical to me because I actually recall noticing one day when the sun was shining exactly the way (lighting, angle, shade) it did on that day, at that moment when they must have filmed that scene.  I don’t know if anything like that ever happened to anyone else, but it was surreal.  Factor in the rest of the movie (Mark Hamill, Annie Potts, classic 70s Vegas, loving a car so much it makes you crazy) and it’s a masterpiece – even if I am pretty confident that I am the only one that feels that way.
• Michael Myers following Laurie Strode across the street from where Annie had been babysitting, after Laurie found all her friends dead in the original HALLOWEEN. The slow-walking, mask-wearing, knife-wielding, boogey man coming, his shadow moving across the lawn, closer and closer.  Add in the score and it’s the stuff nightmares are made of.  Still my favorite scare.
• Jake Ryan waiting across the street for Samantha Baker in SIXTEEN CANDLES. That innocent but alluring smile of Michael Schoeffling as he leans against his sports car.  Do I really have to explain this one?
• The reveal of Keyser Söze in THE USUAL SUSPECTS (not going to say anymore in case you haven’t seen the movie).
• The guys looking from one to another down the line in the funeral home pew in the original OCEAN’S 11 after they realize what happened to the money.
• THE REPLACEMENTS dancing to I Will Survive while they serve their time in jail for fighting; and, the stripper cheerleaders dancing to Bad Girl and distracting the other team. (2 different scenes, same movie)
• The first Yippee-Ki-Yay in the DIE HARD series, along with John laughing because he has a gun taped to his back and the shirt on the dead guy reading, “Now I have a Machine Gun, Ho-Ho-Ho.” (3 different scenes, same movie)
• And…The last 20 minutes of LOVE ACTUALLY. The restaurant proposal and Sam running through the airport and “To Me You Are Perfect” and Sarah sitting alone at her desk and Billy Mack playing his guitar naked and Hugh Grant singing Christmas carols…okay, actually the entire film is overflowing with emotional movie magic moments.  (every single scene, same movie)

*FYI:  The Los Angeles Rams won the NFL Championships in 1945 & 1951 (prior to the AFL/NFL merger) and the Super Bowl, as the St. Louis Rams…still waiting for a Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl win…maybe the year after the Cincinnati Bengals win?