Home Alone

Revealing mistake: When Kevin's cousin Fuller is trapped behind the kitchen chair during the spilled soda incident, the "wooden" chair back which hits him in the nose actually bends when it hits his face. (00:09:25)

Revealing mistake: The morning the McCallisters are rushing to get to the airport, the kid from across the street is bothering one of the van drivers. In the scene where the van driver says, "Gee, kid I dunno, hit the road," you can clearly see the kid mouthing the words as the man speaks. (00:14:00)

Revealing mistake: As Kevin is flying off the front porch on the toboggan, you can see the small wheels mounted on the bottom of the sled to aid in its "jump". (00:25:30)

Revealing mistake: When Harry walks around the side of the house towards the front door, in the shot which shows Harry walking from side-on, this is obviously a stand-in, given this person is much taller than Joe Pesci (who plays Harry). It is also the same stand-in when we see Harry in the behind shots as he holds onto the railings while he tries to climb the steps. (01:14:10)

mightymick

Revealing mistake: Towards the end when Harry walks up the frozen stairs, you can see it switches to a stuntman when he slips and lands on his back. (01:17:55)

dabears51907

Revealing mistake: When Marv is about to hit Harry, who has the spider on his stomach, you can tell that, for two shots, it's a fake spider. The real spider is brown. In the shots where Marv is standing about to hit it, the spider is black and motionless. (01:26:00)

Knever

Revealing mistake: When Harry trips on the fan string throwing feathers all over him, the fan sound is heard running but there's no air blowing at him as the feathers are falling around him undisturbed. A few shots later, we see the fan on and blowing feathers around the room which is what it should have been doing.

jerimiah

Revealing mistake: Whenever Marv is outside walking in the snow in his bare feet you can tell that the feet aren't real.

Revealing mistake: When Kevin rides the rig on the rope to get to the treehouse, you can see that it was a stuntman who is much taller than Kevin and looks nothing like him.

Revealing mistake: When Kevin screams from putting on aftershave, the shot cuts to the spider running behind the toilet. You can see white tiny pellets being thrown at the spider from behind. This must have been to make sure it kept moving during the shot.

Revealing mistake: When Kevin lands in the treehouse, he's at the back with his feet through the wall. Given where the rope is tied to the tree, he would have hit into the tree or the door frame of the treehouse, not at the back wall.

jerimiah

Revealing mistake: When Harry tells Marv that he's sick of him leaving the water running in the house that they robbed, you can see Harry supposedly shift his van into drive. However, Harry does not even move the gear selector from park to drive.

Revealing mistake: Kevin goes food shopping, He gets milk and detergent, obviously heavy items. Afterwards we see him walking home and the bags he is carrying break open. He is carrying them like they are light as a feather. Even when the milk falls, you can tell it's an empty bottle.

Revealing mistake: When Harry and Marv are crossing the "rope" to the treehouse in the far away shots it is something thinner and resembling more like a steel cable, not a rope as Kevin had put up.

jerimiah

Revealing mistake: When talking to John Candy in the box van, the view outside the window screen is a projection, and the picture is not moving - at this point they're supposed to be driving.

Revealing mistake: In the scene where Kevin goes to climb the shelves, we can see that the tarantula is fake as it doesn't move, nor would its legs be spread out if it was holding onto the side of the glass tank as shown.

jerimiah

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: He does move his fingers while playing his clarinet.

AAL117

Revealing mistake: When Marv is at the basement door trying to regain his stance, as he steps onto the icy ground, the "ice" bends and distorts the light just like a piece of plexiglass.

jerimiah

Revealing mistake: When Marv is trying to break into the basement, after he slides down the stairs and is trying to use the crowbar to hoist himself back up, the "ice" on the floor looks "too perfect" and is either a greased up glass sheet or plastic (to allow him to slide his feet around comically). You'd sort of expect the ice to be a bit uneven naturally. It's more evident in HD or digital versions.

Revealing mistake: When Harry tells Marv to go back while they are climbing across the rope, in the shot facing them front-on, you can see Kevin in the background about to cut the rope. If you look closely this is not Kevin, it is his stand-in.

mightymick

Continuity mistake: When Kevin goes to the grocery, he buys Tide detergent. While walking home, the two bags break, but no Tide detergent falls out.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Maybe he returned it.

No chance, we see him buy it and then use it in a later scene.

Ssiscool

More mistakes in Home Alone

Kevin McCallister: This is extremely important. Will you please tell Santa that instead of presents this year, I just want my family back. No toys, nothing but Peter, Kate, Buzz, Megan, Linnie, and Jeff. And my aunt and my cousins. And if he has time, my Uncle Frank. Okay?

More quotes from Home Alone
Home Alone trivia picture

Trivia: When Kevin is in Buzz's bedroom, he finds in the box a picture of Buzz's girlfriend. This is actually a picture of the art director's son dressed up to look like a girl, because the director, Chris Columbus, thought it would be too harsh to make fun of a girl like that.

More trivia for Home Alone

Question: Maybe I missed it, but did the McAllisters even bother to call home? I don't remember them calling the house at all. Why wouldn't that be the first thing they do? Kevin seems to be pretty independent for his age. He might have not answered the door, but I'm sure he would have answered the phone.

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: They did but the power and phone lines were down due to a tree branch that had fallen on them the night before the family left. A flight attendant on their plane mentions that attempts had been made to call the McAllisters' home but "the phones are still out of order".

Jeff Swanson

But how did he call the police at the end if the phone lines were down.

That was several days later. Clearly the phone lines were repaired over the course of the film.

The film takes place over 3 or 4 days.

Ssiscool

After the storm the lineman tells them the power has been restored but the phone lines are "a mess" and that it would take several days to get them fixed. They were out initially, and then in various stages of repair afterward.

Also explains calling for a pizza.

Ssiscool

It's ridiculous though that the phones are apparently working by the time they land (Kate's SIL calls everyone on their street). Yet none of them try the house again.

Answer: That is also how Kevin was able to order his cheese pizza from Little Nero's.

zredman

Answer: The phone lines were fixed by the end of the movie. Remember, this takes place over the course of several days.

Answer: It's also possible they don't think he's at the house still since the cops did attempt to stop by and see if he was home, but received no answer after ringing the bell. Or they did try to call and left a message, but Kevin may not have thought to check the phone messages if he was out of the house and didn't expect anyone to call. He also didn't want anyone to return until the day prior to Christmas, by which point the mom was already en route and the dad and remaining kids had a plan to come home on Christmas morning.

Answer: The next day, after the cop shows up to check the house, while the Wet Bandits are in the house next door, the phone rings and the answering machine picks up, allowing Peter to leave a message. If the next-door neighbor's phone is working, wouldn't it only make sense for Peter to immediately call his own house? Even if Kevin hasn't returned home from shoplifting a toothbrush and doesn't answer the phone, Peter should still be able to leave a message on an answering machine and most likely keep calling over and over until Kevin answers the phone.

More questions & answers from Home Alone

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