Gaffes

The train leaving Washington, D.C. has a different style locomotive than the same train shown later in a pass-by shot.

(at around 12 mins) When Mortimer Duke is signing the paychecks, at least one of the shots is flipped horizontally. At first he signs with his left hand, then his right, then his left again. The part in his hair changes sides as well.

(at around 58 mins) When Ophelia first takes Louis to her apartment, it can be seen as she enters that she's wearing pantyhose. Later, when she removes her dress, she's wearing only panties.

(at around 1h 7 mins) When a man begins telling the "escargot" joke, Randolph and Mortimer are eating dessert. When the joke is over, the two are now eating dinner.

(at around 1h 50 mins) At the end of the futures trading sequence, Louis' and Billy Ray's trader ID badges, which have been a bright green, are the same gray as Billy Ray's suit.

FCOJ is subject to daily trading price movement limits. The 'swings' shown would trigger 'limit up' and 'limit down', and trading would be suspended for the day by NYMEX.

Compartments on American passenger trains are always private. If Beeks had reserved one, no other passengers should have been allowed to enter.

In the trading of the FCOJ, only the prices of the April contract change. In real life, the prices of all the future months would move.

(at around 1h 16 mins) At the Christmas party when Winthorpe jumps on the table waving the gun, the clocks show that it is 1905 in Los Angeles, 2205 in Philadelphia and 0205 in London. London should read 0305. London is five hours, not four, ahead of Philadelphia, regardless whether in Daylight Savings Time (British Summer Time) or in Standard Time.

Winthorpe's car, a Mercedes Benz 600 Grosser, is unique in that it features a complex hydraulic system that runs everything from the windows to the suspension. The car would need time to run and generate enough hydraulic pressure for the suspension to raise the car to proper operating height. It would not be possible for Coleman to just start the car and drive to work as is done in the beginning of the movie.

(at around 26 mins) When Billy Ray is released from jail, Randolph says that they are "the ones that bailed you out." Later, during the conversation in the limo, Billy Ray asks, "What about the police and the payroll?" The Dukes state that they have had the charges dropped. If the charges were dropped, then there would have been no need for bail. Bail is a conditional release/promise to appear in a future court date, which would not be necessary if there were no criminal charges.

Beeks tells the Duke brothers that he will meet them in the parking garage at 2400 hours. There is no 2400 hours. Military time only goes up to 2359 hours (11:59 PM), at which point the clock strikes midnight and begins the next day at 0000 hours.

Actually both 0000 hours and 2400 hours can be used to represent midnight. Typically, 0000 is used to denote the beginning of the day, whereas 2400 would represent the end of the day. Also, non-military persons likely would use the two times interchangeably.

During early scenes in the movie, there's a fair amount of snow on the ground, but later scenes show a completely dry and snow-free Philadelphia. In fact, one overhead shot of Constitution Hall and the surrounding park shows green grass and leaves on the trees - highly unlikely in Philadelphia at Christmas-time.

The windows on the outside of Winthorpe/Valentine's house do not match the inside, and the foyer appears to be absent from the outside.

(at around 35 mins) In the large room when Louis is being framed, everyone is instructed to place the contents of the jacket pocket of the person to their right on the table. The people along the walls have no such tables as they are only sitting on chairs. The people on the right end have nobody emptying their left pockets.

(at around 1h 45 mins) On the trading floor, the Secretary of Agriculture announces, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Orange Crop Estimates for the next year..." The next frame shows Louis with his order pads facing the camera, completely covered in scribbles but no note taking or information on whom he bought from or sold to.

The scene in the corridor of the train shows it to be a flimsy set as it shakes when people move quickly down it.

(at around 1 hour 18 mins) When Valentine runs to the Santa walking in the road whom he believes to be Winthorpe, he pulls down the man's beard and an "Ow" sound can be heard, but the man's lips do not move.

(at around 1h 8 mins) When Louis is walking past the restaurant in the rain, the scene switches to him a number of times, and the rainfall can be heard. The first time, the camera shows a closeup of Louis; however, the camera is still inside the restaurant, yet the sound of rain falling drowns out the crowd noises in the restaurant that are heard continuously (other than when Valentine is making his prediction about the Russian wheat crop) when the camera is inside.

(at around 54 mins) When Winthorpe is in the cab and Valentine is in the limo and they see each other, the street they are on outside Independence Hall has two-way traffic. This was only done for the movie. In real life, this is a one-way street heading east. The white lines on the street dividing the travel lanes can be seen, rather than a double yellow line which would be needed for it to be denoted as a two-way street.

(at around 34 mins) When the President of the Heritage Club announces that there is a thief among them, there is a Baltimore city flag standing right behind him.

On the train from Washington to New York, the sound of the train passing railroad crossings is heard several times. Due to the electrification of the Amtrak Northeast Corridor line, nearly all grade crossings have been removed.

The Dukes ruin Winthorpe by framing him for robbery and possession of PCP. He's told he faces 3 to 5 years in prison. His girlfriend bails him out of jail, and later he meets his friends at a country club asking to borrow money for his defense fund to fight the charges. Yet after this, there is no further mention of his legal troubles, and the whole plot point is dropped. It's possible the Dukes made the whole thing go away (as they did with Valentine), but it's never mentioned.

Billy Ray and Louis put Beeks in the gorilla suit and then are inspired to put him in the cage with the real gorilla. BUT they have just put him in the gorilla suite right in front of the real gorilla so that the real gorilla KNOWS that Beeks is just a man in a gorilla suit. Yet, later on in the movie the real gorilla is enamored of Beeks knowing full well that Beeks is a human, NOT a gorilla! BUT, it really was, NONETHELESS, quite hysterically funny.

At the Christmas party, Louis steals food, plants drugs, and threatens everyone, including a security guard, with a gun. Yet he is allowed to casually walk out of the building unimpeded with no one even bothering call the cops.

Near the beginning of the movie, the Dukes leave their mansion to a chorus of "Good morning Mr Duke" from the various servants.

A few moments later they are in the car and arguing about whether to sell pork bellies or to wait a few minutes to see if Winthorp's target price is reached. Mortimer says "the market's closing, we won't get the order in!"

As it is morning in Philadelphia, the market would not be closing at this time.

In the street traffic in front of Independence Hall, there is no yellow line down the middle of the street. This is because Chestnut Street was, and still is, one way eastbound.

(at around 1h 28 mins) When Billy Ray enters the railway car that Beeks is in, it's hard to believe that Clarence wouldn't recognize him, as he's already encountered him twice before in the past few weeks.

Billy Ray is bailed out of jail and then picked up by the Duke brothers. The Duke brothers then tell Billy Ray that they bailed him out. Moments later they tell him that the charges against him have been dropped. If the charges have been dropped, then bail would not be necessary.

Beeks and Ophelia meet twice, first at the Philly police station where he bribes her $100 to embarrass Winthorpe in front of his fiancé, second on the New York bound train where she's disguised as Inga from Sweden. Despite the fact she's wearing different wings in both scenes, it's odd that Beeks at first doesn't recognize her in the train sequence.