The Goodbye Girl (1977)
Goofs
Continuity
When Paula falls in the street, a box of spaghetti remains intact. But when Elliot goes back to help her, the box is open and spaghetti is strewn on the ground. Also, Paula is now beside a completely different parked vehicle.
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Audio/visual unsynchronised (3) |
Continuity (10) |
Errors in geography (2) |
Factual errors (1) |
Revealing mistakes (2)
Audio/visual unsynchronised
In the last "Richard" rehearsal scene, the director is heard to call out: "Good! Good!" Yet, his lips are clearly seen to be saying: "Yes, Yes!"
The brass, square doorbell button mounted on the door to the apartment sounded with an electric buzzer sound when pushed. This doorbell is actually a mechanical, spring loaded model which sounds a "ding dong" as one pushes the button in and then releases button. The mechanism is on the opposite side of the door and can be seen in later scenes. One typically sees these on office doors, small apartments, mobile homes, etc.
When Paula confronts Elliot for playing his guitar, Dreyfuss' finger movement on the instrument doesn't match the music.
Continuity
When Elliot returns home drunk, prior to opening the window, he knocks over a white table, spilling everything and leaving the table bare. The next shot is of Elliot outside the window, reading a bad review (11 seconds before Paula starts to pull him back inside). The following shot from inside the apartment shows the table with all items returned properly (but not to the same positions). Although it's possible Paula reset the table, it's unlikely that she was able to reach all the items and return them to proper positions so quickly.
When chasing the thieves, Paula drops three items that disappear in the next cut.
When Elliott leaves the apartment to go make the movie at the end of the film, the scarf he is wearing goes from wrapped around his neck, to hanging loose, to wrapped again between shots.
During the spaghetti dinner, Lucy holds a fork wrapped with spaghetti; a second later, in mid-sentence, it is empty.
The horse drawn carriage near the end of the film passes the same bank twice, going in opposite directions.
The Coca Cola can on the edge of the bathtub disappears and reappears while Paula is bathing/talking to Lucy.
When Paula is on the balcony at the end of the film holding the guitar, the position of her hands changes after they cut back from a quick shot of Elliot.
The extent to which Elliott has his head stuck into the headboard changes.
The level of wetness on the face of Richard Dreyfus during his initial apartment conversation with Marsha Mason varies throughout the scene.
When a drunken Elliot leans out of their apartments bay window to yell at the world his body drags the curtain with him. But in the next exterior shot there is no curtain visible, and in the next interior shot the curtain has disappeared from the window altogether.
Errors in geography
Paula makes sandwiches with Best Foods mayonnaise, but in the eastern U.S., the Best Foods brand is called Hellman's.
When Paula tells Elliot that somebody stole her purse, there is a NYC Police car in the background. Additionally, when Elliot confronts the muggers at the red light, there is another NYC Police car right before the intersection in the left corner.
Factual errors
In the apartment, Elliot and Rhonda claim they are rehearsing Act 1, Scene 4 of Richard III. Neither of their characters appear in that scene.
Revealing mistakes
When Quinn Cummings pulls the old style flip-top off the can of soda it breaks leaving a sharp piece sticking out of the opening of the can. Quinn sees it, but continues the scene with barely a flinch. Pretty amazing for a 10 year old.
Based on a previous reference, the movie takes place in the early spring (also note how trees have yet to bud out). Thus, the time period of the film is late March. During a morning conversation between the two lead characters, Mason notes that it's 5:55 a.m. However, the high level of light outside the window would have been impossible at that time of day in the early spring. The scene appears to have been shot in the middle of the day, not so early in the morning.
