Goofs for
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) More at IMDbPro »

• Continuity: In Shaw's flashback of the summer with Josie Jordan, he is seen eating a meal with Josie and Senator Jordan. Halfway through the shot, it is simply reversed. You then see Shaw removing a piece of meat from his mouth with a fork and attaching it back to the meat on his plate with a knife.
  
  
• Errors in geography: Shaw's and Marco's journeys through Central Park do not accurately reflect the real layout of the famous park.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: The camera's shadow is visible on the bust of 'Abraham Lincoln'.
  
  

• Anachronisms: In the opening sequence the bar in Korea has a US flag with 50 stars. During the Korean War there were only 48 states and hence only 48 stars on the US Flag.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Although almost all of the film takes place in mid-'50s following the Korean War, several early-1960s model cars can be seen in various scenes around New York City.
  
  
• Continuity: When Rosie and Ben meet on the train, the train passes the same water tower and countryside twice.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): While speaking on the Senate floor, Iselin addresses the chair as "Mr. Speaker"; the presiding officer of the US Senate is the "President" (a post officially held by the Vice President), not the "speaker", thus the form of address is "Mr. President".
  
  
• Continuity: At the end of the movie, when Raymond Shaw targets the presidential candidate Benjamin Arthur through the sniper scope, the first shot shows people sitting directly behind the Arthur. In subsequent shots, no one is sitting behind Arthur.
  
  
• Boom mic visible: The shadow of the boom mic is visible upon the face of the guy who requests Shaw be tested first before being release to an American operator.
  
  
• Anachronisms: When Dr. Yen Lo makes his little "yak dung" joke he parodies the famous advertising jingle "(Winston) tastes good like a cigarette should". Unfortunately the cigarette and its advertising slogan weren't introduced until 1954, a year after the end of the Korean War, so Yen Lo couldn't have made the joke. The joke was originally part of Dr. Yen Lo's speech in the original novel by Richard Condon, then retained in the movie script. It was amusing for both the 1959 and 1963 audiences for whom the Winston jingle was ubiquitous.
  
  
• Anachronisms: After the fight between Marco and Chunjin, the movie marquee shows Pirates of Tortuga (1961) playing with Pinocchio (1940). Although Pinocchio was released in 1940 and could be playing, Pirates of Tortuga wasn't released until 1961. The time frame in the movie is 2 years after the events in 1952, therefore 1954.
  
  
• Continuity: When Shaw and Marco get drunk, Marco opens and pours a second bottle of champagne while Shaw reminisces about his happy past. Later in the scene the bottle is back in its paper bag, unopened.
  
  
• Continuity: When Captain Marco is shown a photo of the Communist official Gomel at the birthday party, the first two views of the photo shows the little boy to Gomel's left and the girl to his right. As they cut away and come back for our third view, the boy is to the right and the little girl is on the left. The image has been reversed.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The marquee over Madison Square Garden shows that the hockey and basketball seasons have begun. These did not take place until October, far too late for any party's convention.
  
  
• Factual errors: At the end of WW2, the Russians captured thousands of P-38 pistols, and circulated them both inside the USSR military and intelligence apparatus, as well as those of their client states. So, the use of the P-38 would have been common in 1954.
  
  
• Factual errors: Shaw's character wears the stripes of a Sergeant First Class on both his fatigue uniform in Korea and his dress uniform coat when returning to the U.S., although he is referred to in the film as "Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw," which is actually one rank lower than the stripes he wears.
  
  
• Factual errors: The presidential convention, where the assassination is supposed to take place, is held in 1954. 1954 was not a presidential nomination year. The correct date would be 1956.
  
  
• Continuity: Rosie lights a cigarette and gives it to Marco on the train. He smokes it, then stamps it out, then is seen smoking it again, then finishes grinding it out. The long shots don't match the closeups.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: As Raymond Shaw descends the stairs to enter Jilly's Bar, the camera and crew can be seen reflected in the plate glass door.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: During the scene on the train, you can see the countryside passing by outside the window. Its obvious that the actors are not really being filmed on a moving train, but the footage of the moving landscape was shot at an angle. So the camera thats aimed directly towards the window depicts a landscape thats bizarrely moving away from the train on an angle.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Raymond is about to shoot Senator Jordan, the senator asks if thats a silencer on his pistol. Raymond replies yes, but when he shoots the gun, it still makes a cheap, crappy bang sound.
  
  
• Continuity: When Raymond shoots Senator Iselin, the senator jolts in reaction. Theres a cut away and then back to a view of Iselin and Angela Lansbury's character and the senator jolts again.
  
  
• Continuity: When Marco spots Shaw's Congressional Medal of Honor among the papers and debris on the floor. He reaches down and retrieves the medal from within the pile with his right hand but when the camera comes in for a close-up, the medal has suddenly switched to Marco's left hand.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Long shots of the convention floor use stock footage from different conventions, with delegates' placards sometimes white, sometimes black.
  
  
• Factual errors: Shaw is said to be supplied with a special Russian sniper rifle. In fact, he uses a Japanese paratroop rifle, with the chrysanthemum visible on the receiver.
  
  
• Continuity: When Marco and Rosie are talking on the train, the camera occasionally switches to close ups and we only see one head. Both are lit so a strong shadow in on one side of the head and a weaker one is on the other. In Marco's case the strong shadow is on the left as we look; which means Rosie's strong shadow should be on the right as we look, for she stands opposite Marco. However, the shadows are the same for both people, as if they stood on the same spot in relation to the lights' positions.
  
  
• Factual errors: The edition of the New York Post that announces the slaying of Senator Jordan and his daughter carries the following headline above the masthead: "Violent Hurricane Sweeps Midwest; 20 Dead, Hundreds Homeless". Hurricanes, of course, do not reach the American Midwest, only its coastline.
  
  
• Continuity: Just before Raymond shoots Senator Jordan, the Senator is holding a milk carton in front of his chest. Just as Raymond shoots him through the carton, he is holding it in front of his left arm. Being shot in the arm would not have caused him to fall unconscious. Also, the milk is shown only coming out of the front of the carton. It would have also been leaking from the back if the bullet had gone through it and hit the Senator.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The pistol that Raymond uses at the Jordan house is a revolver, fitted with a silencer ("flash suppressor" is the correct term), but revolvers can't be silenced/suppressed - the exhaust gases escape out the side. Only cartridge loaded pistols (in which the exhaust gases escape out the end of the barrel) can be silenced/suppressed.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Television cameras used in the press conference scene were RCA type TK-60. That type camera was introduced in 1960. The NBC logo on the cameras was a late 50's through the 60's design.
  
  

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