MovieChat Forums > Town Without Pity (1961) Discussion > US Flag blooper

US Flag blooper

posted 15 years ago by rlaniewski
3 replies | jump to latest

Note the large US flag hanging vertically in the "courtroom." It has 50 stars, but in 5 rows of 10 stars, not the official arrangement. I suspect it all had to do with timing. Film production likely began after Hawaii became the 50th state (8/24/59), but before the new flag was officially adopted (7/4/60). My guess is that the prop crew were told to put up a flag with 50 stars so the film wouldn't look dated with a 48 or 49 star flag, so they obliged with the 5x10 arrangement, either not yet knowing or not having time to research the new pattern.

[–] ragreen259 10 years ago

I'm not too sure they were worried about the number of people with OCD that think the flag makes the movie look dated.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] stevenewman-2 9 years ago

Nothing like coming six years late to a thread (but that happens on IMDB). You've got a good eye to see the 50 stars, but the star arrangement is not the only flag blooper. The flag is also hung incorrectly-- the field of stars is supposed to always be on the left whether the flag is horizontal or vertical. That's obvious enough when the flag is horizontal because it doesn't look right otherwise, but when it's vertical can cause confusion if you don't know the rule. My scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts taught us that!