Here’s the second of two goofs from “Potter’s Retirement,” originally broadcast February 20th, 1978. Again, I’m afraid I don’t know who e-mailed me with this one. But here it is:
When BJ and Hawkeye are looking in Charles foot locker and Hawkeye reads the letter BJ has the scarf wrapped around his shoulders. When they stand up to tell Charles about the secret reports about the colonel, the scarf is just hanging around his shoulders and then after that the scarf is wrapped around his shoulder again and his arms didn’t move.
Here are four images from the scene in question. First, Hawkeye and B.J. are sitting and going through the locker. B.J. has the scarf wrapped around his neck. Then, when Charles confronts them, they stand up and all three are shown from the side and the scarf is still around B.J.’s neck. Next, Hawkeye and B.J. are shown from the waist up in a two shot and the scarf is straight. Finally, another shot of all three from the side and the scarf is once again wrapped around B.J.’s neck.
My guess is the scenes were filmed out of order.
Hawkeye reading Charles’s letter to the mysterious Meredith was hilarious especially the part about Grandmama Winchester owning half of Downtown Boston.
Most times angle cuts that are seen in the final film or any kind of film cuts for the same scene are likely all from different takes each,even though the events are supposed to be happening in real consecutive time,like when BJ is sitting and then he gets up,well then the next camera,or the next camera angle shot,shows him getting up but that was apparently a different take and between each take Mike would take the scarf off and put it back on in a different position for the next take,and we are seeing different takes for the same scene and sequence between each cut.