Goofs

Outside the Braidwood Inn, Neal tells Del that he has a Visa Card, a gasoline card and a Neiman Marcus Card. However, earlier when they check into the motel, Neal pays with a Diner's Club International card.

The rental car that the men travel in would appear to have a fully electrically adjustable passenger seat, yet a drivers seat with manual levers and knobs.

Hubcaps can be seen falling off the car, only to return in later shots. Further, the same hubcap can be seen falling off twice.

After Del and Neal drive their rented car between and sideswipe the two semi trucks it is shown that Del has bent the top of the steering wheel down, nearly in half. In subsequent shots, after the car fire, the steering wheel is shown again as being fully round. This is especially noticeable when Del drives the car out of the motel room after backing into the room.

Despite his complaints about not being able to change clothes at the end of the film Neal's attire seems to be freshly cleaned and pressed.

Considering that it's a few days before Thanksgiving, sunset is around 4:30 yet when he's on Park Avenue trying to get a cab, it's broad daylight.

Early in the movie when Neal Page is waiting in New York waiting for his bosses approval on the new marketing image, he is seen viewing his boarding pass for his flight from New York City to Chicago. The ticket says the flight leaves at 6 pm and arrives in Chicago at 6:45 pm. The average flight from JFK to Chicago is 2h 49m. So it would never have been possible for Neal to arrive home in such a short period of time.

Owing to the time difference, Chicago is one hour behind New York City. So when the flight left at 6 PM it would already have been 5 PM in Chicago, so with an arrival at 6:45 PM Chicago time, the flight time at 1 hour 45 minutes is still too short.

Two comments address the fact that the state trooper who stops Del and Neal is wearing a Wisconsin badge. According to the Director's cut of the movie, this was a scene that was filmed to indicate that they had gone too far, but, due to cuts, that dialogue was removed from the scene. Also, the motel they stayed in the night before was actually north of Chicago, another nod to the same idea (that the two of them had already traveled too far.)

When Neal and Del are walking up Neal's front walk, he is carrying a suitcase that hasn't been seen before in the entire movie. (At the train station we see the suitcase on Del's trunk.)

At the motel, when Neal (Steve Martin) trades his watch for a room, he tells the desk clerk that he has 17 dollars on him. When the camera cuts to the desk, there actually are 20 dollars in notes and a few coins. (There is a $10 bill and a $5 bill on the counter but the watch crossing the $5 makes it appear to be two bills.)

When the L train is coming back to the station at the end of the movie there is an aerial view of the actual train which uses reversed footage. On the ground below you see (very quickly) a person walking backwards.

On the bus the child running up and down the aisle accidentally conks the woman sitting in the front seat hard on top of her head with the handle of the toy he is playing with. Watch her eyes to see both how startled she was and also, to her credit, how determined she was not to let it show.

Neal's plane ticket claims that he'll leave from JFK Airport, but with the information board in New York and the arrival board in Chicago, Neal is actually departing from LaGuardia Airport.

When traveling by car, Del adjusts his passenger seat via power controls while complaining about the position. Later when he is driving, he catches his parka on the controls but now they are manual controls.

When Neal and Del are driving on the wrong side of the highway a couple in a gray car try to yell to them that they are going the wrong way. They are supposed to be traveling at highway speeds, but close up on the couple clearly shows the car is in park.

When checking into the motel for the final night on the road, Del pleads for a room, stating that Neal has been wearing the same underwear since Tuesday. This sounds like Neal hasn't changed his underwear for days. The writers may have wanted this to sound ripe. However, since Thanksgiving is always a Thursday, this makes it Wednesday for the characters, which means he's only been wearing the same underwear since "yesterday."

When riding in the back of the pickup going to the "people train," Neal (Martin) is sprinkled with hay. This can be seen in the reflection on the rear glass by an assistant.

Whilst sitting in the meeting Neal looks at his watch which shows 4:45. His flight leaves at 6:00 which would give him one hour fifteen minutes to get from the center of New York to the airport. That is not physically possible during rush hour.

Incorrectly regarded as goof. The plane ticket from NYC to Chicago shows departure at 6:00 and arrive in Chicago at 6:45. That is possible because of the time change. It would be 6:45 in Chicago due to Central Time with a travel time of 1 hours and 45 minutes.

Neal arrives at the airport by bus at 5:58. It's taken less than an hour in rush hour to drive through New York and get to the airport. Not possible with the amount of traffic that would be about at that time of the day.

When Neal Page is dropped off at the car rental parking lot, he looks for his parking space, V5. When he is looking, the camera is reflected in the back of one of the cars.

When Neal and Del are riding in the back of the pickup, the shoulder of a crew member can be seen at Del's right.

When Neal calls home to tell his wife he is delayed, while they are sitting at the table, a woman's head and shoulders are visible holding the toddler on the chair (Pan and Scan version only)

At 1:09 when Del is at the motel counter and says he doesn't have the $42 - you can see a cord on the upper right side of screen dangling.

After Del exits the off ramp and starts heading the wrong way on the highway, there are visible Botts' dots on the center line of the road. These are not found in the Midwest because snowplows would rip them off the road.

At the top of the ramp as Del was attempting to free himself from his parka, a sign in the background darkness indicates the westbound entrance of California State Route 198.

Aerial shot shows Del and Neal arriving on the bus into St. Louis by traveling over a Mississippi River bridge. However, they would have been coming from the west, not over the river from Illinois.

Del and Neal spend most of the day and night driving from St. Louis to Chicago, switching drivers several times. Then when they get a ride in the truck, Del says 'you should be home in three hours.' The drive from St. Louis to Chicago is only 300 miles and should've been completed in roughly 4.5 hours or so.

When Del and Neal arrive in Saint Louis by Bus there is an exterior shot of a Trailways Bus Terminal. This Bus Terminal is actually the one in Chicago in fact it happens to be the same one seen in The Blues Brothers.

Del tells Neal they have to ride in the back of the red semi truck he found for a ride because the driver doesn't allow passengers in the cab with him yet Del was just riding in it when they pulled up.

When Neal sees the "Marathon" bus drive away he snaps and hikes back to the building for his profanity laced tirade. It seems that the company would have buses shuttling customers between the office and lot fairly regularly, so he should have just waited for the next bus. As well, he could have found a nearby phone and called the office to explain his dilemma. However, it is shown that he is quite a reactionary and his following behavior was more fitting for his character.

After Neal is seen backing the car into a parking space at the Braidwood Inn, Dale is shown talking to the innkeeper about getting a room, while a boom mic cord appears in top left of the frame.

Right after Del backs into the motel room, you can see a turn signal showing a left turn on their car, yet in the next scene we see Del using his hand for a turn signal.