Goofs for
Withnail & I (1987) More at IMDbPro »

• Anachronisms: Shows EEC hedge rows planted near the motorway, a policy not introduced until the 80s.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Several outdoor shots with rain only falling in the foreground.
  
  
• Anachronisms: A road sign for the M25 London orbital motorway can be seen at one point as Withnail and Marwood are driving along the motorway on the way to the cottage. This was road was constructed in the 1980s, well after 1969, the year in which the film was set. In 1969, motorway signs were still green, not the international blue that came in in the 1980s, and the folded metal crash barrier is a thing of the late '70s at the earliest. Numerous cars dating from the 1980s are seen on the motorway.
  
  

• Continuity: The same cluster of vehicles is seen following the titular characters on both the outward and return journeys to Monty's cottage.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: When Withnail puts his boots in the oven to dry, he opens the iron door with a stick because it will be hot. When he closes it, he uses his hand and doesn't even flinch.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Withnail and Marwood are driving along the motorway on the way to the cottage, at least one motorway construction vehicle can be seen driving in the same direction, but on the other carriageway. This gives away the fact that the motorway scenes were filmed on a completed but as yet unopened section of the M25 motorway.
  
  
• Continuity: When the girl shouts 'Up yours, granddad!' at Withnail, her mouth does not match the words.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In the first kettle scene, the gas burns blue, whereas in 1969 we still used town gas (coal gas), which burns with a yellow flame. Not a lot they could have done about this of course.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Marwood is in the bath shaving (just before Withnail arrives with his saveloy and chips), you can clearly see that below the shaving foam he is in fact already clean shaven.
  
  
• Continuity: When Marwood is seen knocking at the Penrith cottage door looking for the farmer, there is a distinctive black coal bucket outside. When the camera pans out before he leaves, the coal bucket is no longer there.
  
  
• Continuity: When the letter is delivered to the cottage, Withnail picks it up from the table to read it. In the following shot, he is holding the envelope at the back of the letter which wasn't in his hands in the previous shot.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The word "Provos" can be seen on the wall of the pub as Withnail and Marwood leave, however the Provisional IRA were only formed in December 1969 which is at least a couple of months after the film is set.
  
  
• Continuity: When Monty drives Withnail and "I" into Penrith the radish is on his left lapel. When they arrive in Penrith a few minutes later, the radish has mysteriously moved to his right lapel.
  
  

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