Goofs for
Chinatown (1974) More at IMDbPro »

• Crew or equipment visible: Reflected in the glass behind Gittes while he signs the contract with Mrs. Mulwray.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Police cars use the higher-pitched style of siren commonly heard from the 1960s onward, not the lower-pitched style characteristic of the 1930s.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: The tires squealing when Gittes pulls into the driveway of Katherine's house.
  
  

• Crew or equipment visible: When Gittes visits the orange grove and crashes into the tree, you can see that a steel plate has been placed around the tree to protect it.
  
  
• Continuity: Gittes lights a cigarette while waiting to see Yelburton for the second time. Entering his office, he still takes a puff. But when they shake hands, the cigarette is gone.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: At the end of the movie, the cop shooting towards Evelyn's car starts stooping on his own, before Gittes coming from behind has a chance to grab him.
  
  
• Anachronisms: When Jake gets home after following Mrs. Mulwray and his phone rings, it is clearly not the sound of a 1937 telephone. The sound of his placing the receiver on the cradle is authentic, but the ringer is no earlier than the sixties.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Among the items in Ida Session's pocketbook, which Gittes rummages through is a social security card which is 1970s style with blue and red ink, not the 1937 style which had only one color, and a different look.
  
  
• Continuity: When Gittes get drenched by the water, he's completely immersed in it. Then moments later his suit is fairly dry looking as though he had only been splashed.
  
  
• Continuity: In the orange grove scene, Gittes car has its right front tire shot and deflated, yet it is not deflated when the car hits the tree.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In scene with Gittes, Mulvihill, and Yelburton (“Mulvihill! What are you doing here?”), elevator call buttons are modern, automatic elevator type - they have lights. In the 1930's, elevator call buttons were generally black and had no lights.
  
  
• Continuity: When Cross and Gittes are lunching, the close-up of Jake's plate does not match, with the fish, potatoes and lemon wedge being in completely different positions.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Gittes is driving through the orange groves, the sign says "No Trepassing." "Trepassing" should be spelt "Trespassing."
  
  
• Continuity: When Gittes takes photos from the rooftop of Mulwray and a young woman, the scene cuts away to a shot in front of Gittes, where his 35mm camera captures Mulwray embracing the woman on the terrace below. However, the image in Gittes' camera should reflect a mirror image of the couple. The editors simply superimposed the image of Mulwray and the woman onto the lens of the 35mm camera - and forgot to reverse it.
  
  
• Anachronisms: When Mrs. Mulwray drives away from the Coroner's office you can hear a siren in the background. The siren is a modern electronic one. In the 1930's, they only had mechanical sirens which have a different sound.
  
  
• Errors in geography: The clerk in the Hall of Records says some of the plot maps for the northwest San Fernando Valley are in Ventura county. The county line is well to the west in the surrounding hills.
  
  

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