IMDb > Ghost (1990) > Goofs
Ghost
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  • Crew or equipment visible: Camera and TV monitor can be seen in the bottom of the mirror in the move-in scene. Stage light equipment can be seen in the mirror soon after Carl passes in front of it.

  • Continuity: The wet clay coating Molly's and Sam's hands.

  • Continuity: Molly Jensen drops and damages the corner of the shoebox containing her dead boyfriends' things. In a later scene, when bad guy Carl Bruner steals the box from her closet, the box is in perfect condition.

  • Continuity: When Sam is following Willie to his apartment, Willie opens up the door and after Sam goes through the door, it automatically closes, but when Carl visits Willie, the door remains open.

  • Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Molly and Oda Mae climb the ladder and walk the rafters, both Molly and Carl can be heard shouting, but neither moves their mouth.

  • Continuity: When Sam is on the train, he is pushed violently through the rails, cabin doors, but hits his head on the last cart.

  • Continuity: When Sam is getting up after trying to kick the can, the still intangible ghost bumps into the soda can, which moves.

  • Continuity: When Ode Mae first goes to see Molly she is wearing one pair of shoes; as she turns the corner her shoes have changed colors.

  • Continuity: When Sam is shot and Molly is holding him, her sleeves are covered in blood. Later, at the police station her sleeves are clean.

  • Revealing mistakes: When Carl is being "dragged" away to hell, the wires that are helping him float are visible.

  • Continuity: When Molly and Oda Mae are running from Carl they lift a ladder so that Carl cannot reach it. In the first shot they have nearly pulled up the entire ladder and it is almost in a horizontal position. In the next shot, Carl grabs for the ladder as it is in a vertical position, not very far from the ground.

  • Continuity: When Carl pins Oda Mae down toward the end and he has the gun on her, he cocks the pistol 3 or 4 times as he threatens to shoot her.

  • Continuity: After Oda Mae gives away the check, she says goodbye to Sam and we see a group of extras crossing the street. When the angle switches to the other side of the street, we see one of the same extras (African American lady, box cut hair) crossing the street again.

  • Crew or equipment visible: When Carl is preparing the account for "Rita Miller", the camera and operator are reflected in the computer screen.

  • Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Throughout the film, Sam casts a shadow. As an invisible ghost, this should be impossible.

  • Continuity: When Sam is chasing Willie through the apartment and Willie hides in the bathroom, you can see the shower curtain. When they show Willie on the reflection of the mirror, is a different shower curtain.

  • Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In the credits, Bruce Jarchow is credited as Lyle Furgeson, but the scene at his desk has a sign with the spelling of his name changed to Ferguson.

  • Factual errors: Sam boards an IND line train at Franklin Avenue, which is underground. We do not see him change trains. We see a IRT (#9) train emerging from underground to an elevated station (Dykmon Street, which is uptown). He gets off a BMT line train at the Myrtle/Wykoff station, which is elevated, in Brooklyn. This trip is impossible without changing trains, also Sam and Molly lived in SoHo, which is downtown and the Myrtle/Wykoff station is in Brooklyn.

  • Miscellaneous: There are a number of inconsistencies concerning Sam touching things when his hands should have gone through. For example, when Sam is in the hospital after his murder he gets out of the chair by grabbing hold of the arm-rests to push himself up out of the chair.

  • Factual errors: With the closing credits the spelling of "Cemetery Ghost" is wrong. The credits spell it as Cemetary Ghost, the correct spelling should be CEMETERY.

  • Continuity: When Molly slaps Carl after he tells her to come for a walk, the shoebox containing personal things is in her left arm. The camera then goes to Sam, who walks slowly towards them, and then the camera goes back to Molly, the box is now on the floor, and she picks it up as if she had dropped it, but we do not see this, and there is no noise indicating this.

  • Continuity: When the Subway Ghost kicks the cigarette vending machine in anger, you can clearly see that the rows of cigarettes were rigged to go straight down and out the chute, which would not occur simply because the glass was broken. Also, there were also many more packs of cigarettes on the ground than could have come out of the machine, and were obviously pre-placed.

  • Continuity: The length and distribution of Molly's bangs changes in the last scene with Sam.

  • Errors in geography: We are told that Willie Lopez lives in Prospect Place. But when we see him go home when Sam follows, he gets off the J train in Bushwick. Also there is no J train at Franklin St in downtown Manhattan. You would have to take the 1 train.

  • Continuity: Why, once Sam has learnt to touch things, including humans, can he not dance with Molly? Despite touching Willy in his flat, Sam can only dance with Molly by getting into Ode Mays' body, surely he should have just been able to dance directly?

  • Revealing mistakes: When Willie is fighting with Sam just prior to shooting him you can see that the gun Willie is using (Walther PPK or similar clone) is in the safe position (i.e. manual safety/decocker is vertical rather than horizontal). Such a gun should not fire.

  • Factual errors: After Sam's death, Carl attempts (successfully) to obtain the codes to Sam's accounts. This would be useless as upon Sam's death, the Bank would reassign all of Sam's clients to others. The access to these re-assigned accounts would be under the codes of the new assigned Banker, not Sam.

  • Revealing mistakes: When "Oda Mae" and "Molly" are straddling the rafters, they are obviously stunt doubles.

  • Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the exchange between Molly and the bank officer, she asks him if that was Oda Mae, and wanted to know what business they had just done. The banker tells Molly her name (Rita Miller) and said that she was closing an account. By federal law, bank personnel can never discuss the details of one customer's transaction or identity with another. However, Sam describes Lyle as a "social moron," which means that he was very likely to have forgotten or not cared enough about the law to keep himself from discussing it with Molly.

  • Plot holes: When Lyle Furgeson asks Oda Mae for her ID so he can confirm her identity and check it against the bank's signature card, we are shown that her signature on the ID says "Rita Miller." That is impossible as she had only heard the name a few minutes earlier, and had no opportunity whatsoever to concoct a fake ID, let alone sign one. The first bank officer likewise would not have processed Rita Miller's signature card without taking care to verify her identity in the first place.

  • Factual errors: Giving away a fraudulently obtained money order, even to a charity, would not have protected the defrauder from prosecution for the way it was obtained.

>>> WARNING: Here Be Spoilers <<<

Goofs below here contain information that may give away important plot points. You may not want to read any further if you've not already seen this title.

  • Incorrectly regarded as goofs: SPOILER: When Willie is hit by the car, his body is split in two, the spirit body that we see fall on the street, and the physical body lying on the car that the people run to help.


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