Animal House Mistakes (compliments of imdb.com)
- Continuity: During the lecture on Milton, the handwriting for the
word "Satan" on the chalkboard changes from scene to scene.
- Continuity: The letters on the balcony change from "DXT" to "DTX"
and back again while the house is being gutted by the authorities.
- Continuity: Beth's brooch moves from side to side in the Dexter Lake club.
- Anachronisms: When the Lincoln is driving away from the Dexter Lake
Club, the license plates are blue and gold California plates - similar to
Otter's Vette plates that came out in 1970.
- Revealing mistakes: When Bluto falls from the sorority house, you
can see the false ground move when he impacts.
- Anachronisms: When Stratton pulls into the motel parking lot, there
is a pale yellow Plymouth Volare or Dodge Aspen station wagon parked in the
lot. Chrysler didn't introduce the Aspen/Volare until 1975.
- Continuity: After Katie asks Boon about the previous night's Toga
party, and she tells him she's busy that night, Otter puts his left hand on
Boon's left shoulder. In the next shot, his right arm's on Boon's right
shoulder.
- Continuity: Position of food on Bluto's tray in cafeteria changes,
then changes back (esp. bananas).
- Continuity: In the classroom, Jennings writes "Satan" on the boards
very sloppily. When we next see it, "Satan" is written very neatly and much
smaller. The T also changes position.
- Anachronisms: The car that Flounder borrowed from his brother is a
1964 Lincoln Sedan whose body style was not introduced in 1962.
- Continuity: In a long shot of the make-out scene at the football
stadium, the field has artificial turf. In close-ups, it's grass.
- Continuity: While Niedermeyer is belittling Flounder, Boon selects
a club and hands the golf bag to Otter. Cuts back to the "you all are
worthless and weak..." speech, Boon hands the golf bag to Otter again.
- Anachronisms: During the check out scene at the Food King, there is
an old style pushbutton cash register in front of the teen age girl cashier,
but from a different angle looking toward Boon, you can clearly see an
electronic computerized NCR style cash register which would not be found in a
supermarket in 1962, which is the year the movie is set in.
- Crew or equipment visible: As Bluto makes his way down the
cafeteria line, the feet of a crew member following him are visible in the
angled mirror above the food.
- Anachronisms: Many of the parade watchers wearing late 70's
hairstyles, clothing.
- Continuity: When Pinto arrives at the Delta house and gets a beer,
his grip on the mug constantly changes from using the handle or just holding
the mug.
- Continuity: When Boon and Otter are looking down on the ROTC group
on the field, Boon takes the golf clubs off his shoulder, selects a club, cut
to the field, cut back to Boon and Otter, the clubs are back on his shoulder.
- Continuity: When Bluto is on the ladder at the sorority house he
first appears at the window on the left. Then (without moving) he appears at
the window on the right. Mandy comes into room on the left and then moves to
the right Bluto moves (hops) the ladder to the right.
- Continuity: At the parade mayhem, Bluto slides down from the
rooftop to the street, tearing up the "Welcome Alumni" banner in the process.
In a later scene, the banner is whole again.
- Anachronisms: The movie takes place in 1962, but Astroturf was not
invented until 1965.
- Anachronisms: When Katy is walking through the kitchen with her
bare behind showing, she passes a refrigerator with a US Bicentennial sticker
on the door. The Bicentennial wasn't until 1976.
- Continuity: When Otter is talking to Mrs. Wormer in the grocery
store, the price signs change.
- Revealing mistakes: When the "EAT ME" car hits the bleachers, you
can see the rope used to pull them down, pulling the bleachers from behind and
dragging them for a short time.
- Continuity: In the parade scene the letter "A" on the SIGMA float
is knocked off by a fire hydrant but it reappears in the following segment
- Continuity: When Otter is making out with the coed in the car he
removes her bra. As she dives into the neighboring car she is wearing it
again.
- Continuity: At the toga party, Bluto already has mustard all over
his toga in the shot right before he empties the jar on himself. In the shot
just before he dumps the mustard on himself, the toga is clean.
- Crew or equipment visible: When Bluto grabs the sign which tears to
get him down to the street to jump in the convertible at the end, the cable
holding him up is visible.
- Revealing mistakes: During the riot toward the end when Flounder
sneaks up on Neidermeyer to spray him with the bottle of seltzer, Neidermeyer
shoots the bottle out of Flounder's hand. There are people running behind
Flounder at the time, directly in the path of the bullet, but no one is
wounded.
- Revealing mistakes: When the band is marching down the alley at the
end of the film, the "brick wall" that they all run into repeatedly bounces
back and forth as it is touched.
- Continuity: When the mayor and Dean Wormer are discussing the costs
of the parade, the mayor mentions use of his three Oldsmobiles, but the white
convertible that the mayor and Dean Wormer ride up in is a Buick, a 1961
LeSabre or Electra. The second red convertible in the parade is a Cadillac.
The first red convertible in the parade might be a 1961 or 1962 Olds Cutlass,
but looks more like a 1962 Buick Skylark.
- Continuity: During the performance of "Shout", the first wide
screen of the people dancing when Otis Day sings "A little bit softer now",
you can see Bluto on the left hand side of the screen. In the next wide screen
shot, you can see the flowers of his dance partner (who was always next to
him) on the right hand side of the screen, meaning the two jumped across the
room in about 5 seconds.
- Factual errors: During the probation hearing the words "Pan
Hellenic Disciplinary Council" can be seen written on the chalkboard; Pan
Hellenic Council is the organization that governs sororities, not
fraternities, which are regulated by Inter Fraternity Council.
- Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Otter carries Mrs. Wormer to his
bed, she is seen kicking off her shoes. When she kicks off the second shoe it
lands on the glass table and the sound of shattering glass is heard, yet the
table remains intact.
- Anachronisms: Stratton's Vette have what appear to be blue
California plates. California did not introduce blue plates till 1970. (Best
view is when they enter the first party.)
- Continuity: When Pinto is in bed with the girl, she passes out as
she is taking her bra off. As she falls over, the toilet paper in her bra
hangs over Pinto's hands. The next shot when you see Pinto, the paper is in a
ball.
- Continuity: When Flounder and Sissy are going in to the toga party,
she takes his arm with her bare hand, but when they get to the door, she is
wearing gloves
- Errors in geography: During the parade scene, when a police car
skids to a stop on a side street, in the background you can clearly see a sign
on a building, "Cottage Grove Sentinel". That's the name of the newspaper in
Cottage Grove, Oregon, where the scene was filmed.
- Continuity: When Bluto chugs the bottle of whiskey, he spills some
on his sweater. In the next shot, his sweater is dry.
- Revealing mistakes: When Carmine gives his speech at the Homecoming
Parade, a man sitting near him is mouthing the words with him.
- Boom mic visible: When Niedermyer is yelling at Flounder, the boom
mike is reflected in his helmet.
- Anachronisms: In the homecoming parade there is a float showing
President Kennedy and the word "Camelot". The use of this word dates from an
interview Jackie Kennedy gave Theodore H. White days after Kennedy's
assassination in which she revealed that the President listened to the music
from the Broadway musical "Camelot" before he went to sleep. The movie occurs
before his death and uses a word not associated with the president at that
time.
- Revealing mistakes: When the exam papers being copied by the
secretary, the copies are shown being cranked out. The header says "PSYCHOLOGY
101", yet the questions are clearly for a history exam.
- Anachronisms: In the parade sequence near the end of the movie,
there is a mid-'70s model Chevrolet pickup truck in the background.
- Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Otis begins to sing the song
"Shout", they zoom in on the big drum in the drum set which is red with gold
letters. During the song the drum set center is now white with green letters.
- Miscellaneous: In the food fight scene, all of the ROTC soldiers
and Greg Marmalard fall on Neidermeyer when they are chasing Bluto. You
clearly see Marmalard get up off of him and continue the chase. But, the next
scene, you see the soldiers and Marmalard just getting up off of Neidermeyer.
- Factual errors: When Larry and Kent are accepted to Delta House,
they are awoken from bed with carbon dioxide extinguishers. The type used are
aluminum cylinders which were not manufactured in 1962 and the label suggests
they are Amerex extinguishers, Amerex was founded in 1971.
- Anachronisms: In the Food King scene where Flounder is catching
groceries tossed by Otter, items on the shelf have UPC symbols, which were not
used until 1973. Also, there is Low-Calorie Nestea on the shelf (not available
in 1962), and the product prices are too high for 1962.
- Continuity: In the ROTC scene, after Otter hit's Niedermeyer's
horse with a golf ball, the horse rears on its hind legs. When Otter hits his
next ball at Niedermeyer's helmet, the horse is shown in a long view perfectly
still.
- Continuity: When Niedermeyer closes the door on Flounder at the
Omega house they show a close up of him with the stairway in the background.
Two red dressed girls are coming down the stairs. A second later the stairway
is empty and then the girls start down the stairs again.
- Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the
filmmakers): As the ROTC cadets are marching down the street in the parade
at the end of the movie, the left front cadet fails to spin his rifle with the
others, and simply keeps marching.
- Factual errors: During the disciplinary hearing scene, there are
two flags pictured. One is an American flag, and the other is a Tennessee
state flag, even though the film was supposed to have taken place in
Pennsylvania.
- Continuity: In the cafeteria scene when Bluto is filling his tray,
the food rearranges itself from shot to shot as he moves down the food line.
- Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the
filmmakers): The American flags in Delta/Animal House are all 48-star,
World War II-era flags. By 1962, when the film is set, America had 50 states.
Therefore, the flags should all have 50 stars (although this could be
deliberate to show that the members of Delta House are too lazy to get updated
flags.)
- Continuity: Niedermeyer forces Flounder to do push-ups in horse
manure. But in the scenes that follow, including the "killing Niedermeyer's
horse" scene, there is no trace of manure on his shirt.
- Continuity: While walking out of the Delta House to Flounder's car
(on their way to see Fawn Liebowitz), Otter puts a beer can on top of the car.
Everyone gets in the car with the beer can still on top. When the car drives
off the beer can is gone.
- Errors in geography: The movie is supposed to take place in New
England, however during the night time scene in the football stadium with
Pinto and Clorette, PAC 10 school banners can be seen hanging on the wall in
the background (since the movie was actually filmed at the University of
Oregon).
- Anachronisms: To compound the previously cited geographical error
of showing Pac 10 banners in the football stadium (the University of Oregon's
Autzen Stadium), there is also an anachronism in this banner display. The Pac
10 would have been known as the Pac 5 or the Pac 6 in 1962 when this story is
supposed to take place (Washington State University joined in that year).
However, an OSU banner can clearly be seen: the University of Oregon and
Oregon State University did not join the Pac 6 (which then became the Pac 8)
until 1964.
- Anachronisms: Right before Flounder spills the marbles in the
street, he is seen holding them in a Kenner Spectograph box. This toy was not
sold in the US until 1966.
- Anachronisms: The Ludwig logos displayed on the marching band bass
drum in the parade was not introduced until the 1970s. The logos used in the
1960s were much smaller, and used a script lettering (as used on Ringo Starr's
trap set in the early Beatles films and recorded appearances).
- Audio/visual unsynchronized: While Neidermeyer's horse is rearing
its hind legs after Otter hit the horse with a golf ball, we hear Neidermeyer
shout to the cadets "Get back in ranks! Attention!", but he is not speaking.
- Factual errors: The Army ROTC cadre, led by Diller, conducts
physical training in full dress uniform. Organized physical training is always
done in either standard combat dress or in prescribed athletic wear, by
regulation.
- Factual errors: The ROTC cadets should have stood at proper
attention for Niedermeyer's line inspection, called to it by Diller, by the
squad leaders squad by squad, or even by Niedermeyer himself.
- Factual errors: At the ROTC inspection, Neidermeyer salutes Chip
Diller and Diller returns the salute. Since Chip Diller is the lower ranking
officer, he should have saluted Neidermeyer, and Neidermeyer should have
returned the salute.
- Crew or equipment visible: Blutarsky (Belushi), dressed in pirates
garb, climbs up the side of the building before he grabs the banner and rides
it across the street. He is chased to the building by ROTC cadets. You can see
a civilian give Belushi a two handed lift up in order to help him up the
building. The ROTC cadets act as a screen to minimize our being able to see
the boost.
- Revealing mistakes: When pirate Bluto swings from the roof using a
banner, his stunt harness cable is visible.
- Crew or equipment visible: At the very beginning of the scene where
Boon's golf ball smashes through Dean Wormer's window, a hand is visible
flinging the ball at the window.
- Miscellaneous: In addition to the previously mentioned error
involving the Mayor's Oldsmobiles, although Mayor DePasto owns an Oldsmobile
dealership, the car seen in his driveway when Larry brings his daughter home
in the shopping cart after the toga party is a Buick. The mayor also promised
free Oldsmobiles for the parade but the decorated car that Bluto tosses Mandy
into is also a Buick.
- Crew or equipment visible: In the lunch line, while Bluto is
picking items from the shelves, the cameraman's feet can clearly be seen in
the mirror above the shelves. As Bluto moves, so do the feet, facing Bluto.
- Anachronisms: A major song that is featured in the movie is 'Louie, Louie'. The movie is supposed to take place in the Fall 1962 - Spring 1963 timeframe, however, 'Louie, Louie' (by the Kingsmen) was not released until late 1963 (November-December timeframe).