Best crime movie factual errors of all time

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Hannibal picture

Factual error: When Hannibal calls Clarice and gives her 3 seconds to change the battery on the phone, it is possible to change the battery in 3 seconds but you would have to turn the phone back on and let it initialize which would make the whole process take longer than 3 seconds. (01:33:17)

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Suggested correction: Please provide evidence, including the make, model, and duration of the initialization process of the phone, to substantiate this statement. It's not known from the information available that it isn't possible to hot swap the battery, meaning it's quite possible in 3 seconds.

Tell you what, why don't you give us all the make and model of phone which can be turned off, have its battery replaced, and then boot back up again, in 3 seconds. It's not remotely possible on any phone, old or new. Anyone who was using cellphones in the era this phone was made knows it, or indeed now for that matter.

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The Nice Guys picture

Factual error: When Holland March is swimming behind the bar with mermaids, "Get Down On It" from Kool and The gang is playing. That song did not come out until 1981 and the film is set in 1977. (00:39:50)

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The Sting picture

Factual error: When Hooker comes out of the diner there is a billboard advertisement to the right. It is for Ezra Brooks bourbon. Ezra Brooks brand wasn't created until 1957.

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Basic picture

Factual error: When the Ranger trainees first meet Samuel L. Jackson, he's wearing the rank of a Specialist on his collars even though he's a Master Sergeant. Title 18, Chapter 33 of the US code prevents the unauthorized wear of a military uniform (among other things), however this does not automatically correct the mistake since a common misconception is that one slight alteration is sufficient to make the uniform legal. Having the wrong rank on is too obvious of an alteration, especially for anybody who has spent more than a day in or around the Army and would still be punishable by law, if he was dressed in an attempt to fool your average citizen outside of a movie.

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Salt picture

Factual error: The 20 € banknote shown is multicoloured, but the real one is plain blue. (00:40:40)

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The Outsiders picture

Factual error: When Ponyboy and Johnny leave the bar after going there to see Dally, there is a song playing on the juke box called 'Jack Daniels if you please' by David Allan Coe. This song was written and released in 1978 but the movie takes place in the '60s.

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Home Alone 2: Lost in New York picture

Factual error: No airport in NYC has the view of the New York City skyline that Kevin has when he realizes that his family is in Florida and he's in New York.

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Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle picture

Factual error: Helicopter rotor blades do not unfold by themselves and there is no way to unfold them from inside the helicopter. A trained mechanic with the right tools and equipment (including the proper ladder for the job) will take a minimum of twenty minutes to rig a four bladed rotor, and that's if (s)he's in a hurry. An airborne (i.e. falling) helicopter? Forget it. (00:07:40)

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Swordfish picture

Factual error: Worms are not created in AutoCAD. Ever. Period. Does not happen, cannot happen. Building design work and the like is done in AutoCAD. Viruses and worms are coded out by hand or created with a generator by slackers that don't know the code and then compiled into executables.

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Fast & Furious picture

Factual error: During the first tunnel sequence, all the cars travel very far into the mountains, turn lots of corners, yet not only is Gisele still able to speak to them over the radios, their GPS still works. GPS signals invariably need a clear 'sight' of the sky and can penetrate light cover, but most certainly not that depth and cover. (00:58:05)

GalahadFairlight

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Big Momma's House picture

Factual error: In the movie, when the baby is born and Big Momma delivers it, the baby comes out without any blood and there's no umbilical cord. (00:34:20)

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Gangs of New York picture

Factual error: In a scene set in 1862 or 1863 Bill the Butcher says: 'An Irishman will do for a nickel what a ****** will do for a dime or a white man for a quarter'. The first nickel 5 cent piece was coined in 1866. At the time of the scene the 5 cent coin was a small silver coin called a half-dime. (01:10:00)

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Chicago picture

Factual error: In the scene where Roxie is placed in the "paddy wagon" to be taken to Cook County Jail, the prosecutor refers to himself as District Attorney Harrison. However, the court system in Illinois doesn't have district attorneys; rather, they have state's attorneys. The original play by Maureen Watkins correctly calls him a state's attorney.

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Ronin picture

Factual error: When Gregor shoots the guy in the car after nearly killing the little girl, blood sprays over the window, but there's no bullet hole. If the bullet exited his head, hence spraying blood, it should have gone through the window too. (00:55:00)

Jon Sandys

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Knives Out picture

Factual error: Opening the blank envelope, Marta finds the fragment of the toxicology report. It is signed "Office of the chief medical examiner, Norfolk County, Massachusetts." But then it writes also the address of said office, which is in Marlborough. Marlborough is also the city when Marta resides, and where the lawyers' letters we see come from. But Marlborough is also a city in the Middlesex county, not Norfolk. (01:28:25)

Sammo

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Shoot 'Em Up picture

Factual error: In the final standoff, Smith shoots Hertz by holding cartridges between his fingers in the fire. This is not remotely believable. The casings, weighing much less than the bullets, would have been blasted off while the bullets themselves would have gone nowhere. (01:15:15)

throcko

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Lord of War picture

Factual error: When Yuri is narrating about selling weapons for the US government (this was around the scene when he sells M-16's by the kilo), he mentions Lieutenant Colonel Southern. However, when you see the him, he has Colonel rank, which is a silver eagle. The Lieutenant Colonel rank is a silver leaf, not an eagle.

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Frequency picture

Factual error: A ham radio requires the person to hold down the button while talking. Numerous times in the movie they are talking without pushing the button.

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Suggested correction: This is actually subtly addressed in the film. The magic which allows the radio to work across time also allows the two men to speak without pressing the button. There is a moment where Frank wonders what is going on with the radio and presses the button a few times to talk but then notices that he doesn't have to press the button to be heard.

BaconIsMyBFF

If that was true, then it wouldn't make sense for them to continue to show Frank and John hitting the squawk bar throughout the film.

Bishop73

That is a separate issue. The mistake entry states that you need to hold the button to talk on a ham radio, which is true, but the magic ham radio in the film doesn't require it. If the actors continue to occasionally press the button that could be considered a character mistake but it could also simply be a force of habit by the characters.

BaconIsMyBFF

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Monster picture

Factual error: This movie takes place in 1990, but that big 'Welcome to Daytona Beach' sign was not built until 2001. (00:21:05)

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Mystic River picture

Factual error: In the scene at the beginning of the movie as the 3 youths walk up the street, you can see current MA license plates, although the action should have taken place many years earlier. (00:01:30 - 00:05:50)

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