Goofs for
Trading Places (1983) More at IMDbPro »

• Continuity: When Valentine is in the Dukes' limo, rain on the rear window disappears and reappears repeatedly between shots.
  
  
• Continuity: Winthorpe's hair during his initial encounter with Ophelia on the steps in front of the courthouse/jail.
  
  
• Continuity: When Mortimer Duke is signing the paychecks, at least one of the shots is flipped horizontally. At first he signs with his left hand, then his right, then his left again. The part in his hair changes sides as well.
  
  

• Continuity: After Coleman dumps the crepes into the garbage and answers the telephone, you can see that the pan looks clean.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Billy Ray is in the limo, Randolph Duke introduces himself and Billy Ray asks if the name Randolph is like Randy Jackson of the Jackson 5. Randy was not a member of the Jackson 5. He did not join the group until they became The Jacksons.
  
  
• Continuity: When Billy Ray is giving the briefcase to Louis, the two baggage handlers walk past Billy with a bag of pretzels (the Keebler logo is shown). In the next shot, the baggage handlers are in the bar car.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Winthorp's credit card is referred to as a 'Master Charge' card, despite the fact that MasterCard Incorporated changed that name to MasterCard in 1979.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Billy Ray is pan handling, the Police officers pick him up and his blanket falls on the sidewalk and appears folded and not folded in following scenes.
  
  
• Errors in geography: When the President of the Heritage Club announces that there is a thief among them there is a Baltimore City Flag standing right behind him.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The scene in the corridor of the train shows it to be a flimsy set as it shakes when people move quickly down it.
  
  
• Continuity: As Billy Ray is walking away from the two policemen his knees are wet. After crossing the street towards the Heritage Club, his knees are suddenly dry.
  
  
• Factual errors: When Winthorpe is in the cab and Valentine is in the limo and they see each other, the street they are on, outside Independence Hall, is two-way traffic. This was only done for the movie. In real life, this is a one way street heading east. You can see the white lines on the street dividing the travel lanes, rather than a double yellow line which would be needed for it to be denoted as a two-way street.
  
  
• Continuity: After Valentine is challenged by the police officers and finally walks away, the camera cuts several times between him and them. The direction towards which he is walking, as shown by the houses in the background, switches back and forth a couple of times.
  
  
• Factual errors: At the Christmas party when Winthorpe jumps on the table waving the gun, the clocks show that it is 1905 in Los Angeles, 2205 in Philadelphia and 0205 in London. Daylight Savings Time was not observed between late October and late April so London would be five hours, not four, ahead of Philadelphia.
  
  
• Continuity: During the scene at the restaurant, when the man begins telling Valentine the 'S Car Go' joke, Randolph and Mortimer are eating dessert. When the joke is over, the two are now eating dinner.
  
  
• Continuity: In the park after the 2 cops expose Billy Ray, the cop on the right is standing with his legs slightly apart facing the camera. The shot from behind shows him standing with his hips to the right, one leg behind the other.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: In the large room when framing Louis, everyone is instructed to place the contents of the jacket pocket of the person to their right on the table. The people lining the walls have no such tables. The people on the right end have nobody emptying their left pockets.
  
  
• Factual errors: You can't just walk in off the street and trade in the NY Mercantile Exchange - you have to be a registered trader for one of the member brokerages of the exchange. Louis and Billy Ray should never have been allowed in the pits.
  
  
• Continuity: The Dukes park their limo on Locust Street heading west right before Billy Ray appears. Locust Street is one way heading east and all other times in the movie we see the cars heading east on Locust Street.
  
  
• Plot holes: Mr. Beaks could have easily escaped the gorilla cage. His hands were not tied so he could have taken off the gorilla mask and got help.
  
  
• Continuity: At the end of the stock trading sequence, Louis and Billy Ray's trader ID badges, which have been a bright green, are suddenly the same gray color as Billy Ray's suit.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Louis is walking past the restaurant in the rain, the scene switches to him a number of times and you can hear the hard rain falling. The first time the camera shows a close up of Louis however, the camera is still inside the restaurant yet the sound of rain falling is heard, drowning out the crowd noises in the restaurant that are heard continuously (other than when Valentine is making his prediction about the Russian wheat crop) when the camera is inside.
  
  
• Errors in geography: On the train from Washington to New York, the sound of the train passing railroad crossings is heard several times. Due to the speed of the Amtrak Northeast Corridor line, there are no railroad crossings like that.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In the final scene, under a bright sun somewhere in the tropics, Billy Ray and Louis are inexplicably wearing sweaters.
  
  

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