Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
Goofs
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Character error (3) |
Continuity (9) |
Factual errors (5) |
Incorrectly regarded as goofs (1) |
Revealing mistakes (1)
Character error
After he works out the sequence of moves which will win the game, Josh offers Jonathan a draw before making his move. Proper chess etiquette dictates that a player only offer a draw AFTER making a move.
When Josh is watching Vinnie play Shirazi, Katya (Josh's sister) looked up at her mother and say, "Joan, I want to go home".
At one point in the last match, Poe who is playing white picks up a black pawn and plays it.
Continuity
None of the chess clocks are really running when they are shown, the little red second indicator never moves on any of them.
When Josh's mom throws Bruce out of her house, he gets up from the table twice.
When Josh and Fred Waitzkin are playing chess, Fred picks up a bishop and puts down a rook.
The baseball scene opens with Roberto Alomar hitting a ground ball to the second baseman. Minutes later it cuts back to the ball game and Roberto Alomar is up again and hits another ball to the second baseman. Easy to miss considering the first time he is batting right handed and the second time he is batting left handed. Roberto Alomar was a switch hitter though and it is clearly him. Also could be noted that there is a different pitcher for each occurrence. Left Handed pitcher the first ball hit, and a right handed pitcher the next one.
There are numerous mismatched shots of games in the film. In the final game, Josh moves his queen early in the game, yet later it can be seen on its starting square. In the first game he plays in the park against the old man who beat Tal, as he makes his first move there are already several pieces from both sides deployed on the board. In the first game against his dad, the father picks up a bishop in one shot and a second later sets down a rook to mate Josh.
At the end of the final game, when Josh offers his rival a draw, his thumb is alternative seen up and down.
In the opening scene when Josh encounters Vinnie for the first time, as Vinne stands there with the baseball pointing at the chess piece the sunlight is over his left shoulder. In the reverse angle shot of Josh, the sunlight should be over his *right* shoulder, yet the light is on Josh's left.
When Fred meets Morgan's Father at the pool, the beach sandals and towel jump about between shots and then disappear.
Vinnie is holding the McDonald's cup with his fingertips and thumb. In the next shot, Vinnie's hand is wrapped around most of the cup.
Factual errors
Josh tells Vinnie he learned the "Schliemann Attack" from his teacher. Actually there's no such thing. It's the Schliemann Defense. Also, when Vinnie asks, "What's that?" referring to the "attack," Josh actually hasn't yet made the move that would prompt him to say this, he's just playing the opening move of the standard Ruy Lopez (1. ... e5), so there'd be no reason for Vinnie to say "What's that?" at that point. The move that makes it "Schliemann" (3. ...f5) hasn't yet been played.
When Josh goes off to get a Coke, the Coke machine in Bruce's chess club can be heard off camera dispensing a can down though a chute at the bottom on the machine. When the Coke machine is shown, it is the old style where one had to pull the bottle out from the vertical dispenser and would not have made the sound of a can dropping. The next bottles in line in the row should have been heard rolling down and clinking together as glass bottles did in the older style Coke machines.
The supposedly winning combination in the final game between Josh and Poe is unsound. Poe could have drawn the game by playing his pawn to h5 instead of his king taking the knight on e5.
The filled-out certificate that Bruce gives to Josh is explicitly dated 1993 (when Josh would have been 16 or 17).
Ben Kingsley portrays Bruce Pandolfini as speaking with an Irish accent. Pandolfini is a New Yorker of Italian and Jewish heritage, and has no such accent.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
"Errors" such as the McDonalds cups seen in the movie being from the early 90s and not mid-80s are not goofs. Although the real life events happened in the mid-80s, the movie makes no attempt at all to stay in period. The cars, computers, clothes, etc., are contemporary to the film and not from the 80s.
Revealing mistakes
Josh hits the clock button at the start of his match with Jonathan, but in the next shot the button on his side is still raised.
