Best movie factual errors of all time

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Captain Marvel picture

Factual error: Carol Danvers' name appears on her dog tags as "Carol Danvers," but US military dog tags list the surname first, then given name. E.g. "Danvers, Carol."

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Passengers picture

Factual error: During the 31st year of the Avalon's voyage, the ship passes close to the star Arcturus, which is about 37 light years from Earth. Later in the movie, it was stated that the Avalon was moving at around 50% of the speed of light. The ship would not have reached Arcturus in the time allotted.

Blathrop

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Broken Arrow picture

Factual error: The United States Air Force does NOT, ever, allow its pilots to box competitively! Ground staff, yes; pilots, no, never. A pilot can be suspended from flying if he/she receives a blow to the head in day-to-day life; boxing is right out. Almost all air forces (the RAF included) impose this rule.

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King Kong picture

Factual error: Denham is obviously shooting a sound film - he has a sound recordist with him along with the bulky and awkward recording equipment typical for the era, and they discuss the problems of recording dialogue on board. But not once do we see him filming with sound. We see the crew recording dialogue - synchronised sound, recorded on location, which is utterly impossible given the equipment they have and the circumstances under which the fim is being shot. We never see a microphone, a boom pole or a tape recorder. His camera isn't even 'blimped' - soundproofed - and it's handcranked, which makes a racket. They can't be planning on adding the sound later - why have the sound recordist and his bulky and heavy equipment there with them if they are? We see the crew recording dialogue - synchronised sound, recorded on location, which is utterly impossible given the equipment they have and the circumstances under which the fim is being shot. The whole point of post dubbing dialogue is that you don't need a sound recordist in the first place.

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The Hitman's Bodyguard picture

Factual error: Dutch police cars don't look like they do in the movie, with their blue and white checkerboard pattern. They had blue and orange diagonal stripes on the side. In this movie, they look much closer to what British police cars look like.

Friso94

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A House on the Bayou picture

Factual error: Towards the end of the movie, two characters finally make it to a Louisiana sheriff's office. The sign out front reads, "Vierge County." There are no counties in Louisiana, only parishes.

TXTerry

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Leap! picture

Factual error: In the movie, we see the Statue of Liberty with its current bluish-green color. The statue only got that color over time, and as it was still being built, it should be its original brown.

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Battleship picture

Factual error: After the Missouri knocks the shield down, the admiral orders all aircraft launched, but the flight deck is shown in sailing transport mode, not flight readiness. It would have taken an hour or more to clear the deck and launch.

Blooddog35

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Suggested correction: It's a non issue, it was a massive international naval exercise, Good chance of more than one carrier participating. In fact, every picture of an actual rimpac exercise has multiple carriers visible. Just because 1 carrier isn't in flight readiness mode doesn't mean that others aren't. Might explain why he ordered every plane in the air but there's what? Only 3 that actually save Mighty Mo.

True there may been more carriers but you are being attacked and invaded no flag officer would leave his deck cluttered they would be at battle stations for sure.

Blooddog35

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Unstoppable picture

Factual error: In the yard scene when Dewey tries to change the switch, the throttle lever slips from idle to full power. This would not have been possible. Throttle levers are notched, and require significant force to move.

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Iron Eagle picture

Factual error: Doug Masters and his friend Reggie would be grounded on the spot and have their pilot's licences suspended (and in all likelihood cancelled) after buzzing the motorcyclist. Their flying is grossly unsafe. They would be visible for miles flying well below a safe altitude, but even if they were not seen their radio traffic and radar tracking would tell the authorities everything they needed to know.

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High Noon picture

Factual error: During the gun battle, Gary Cooper runs behind a building that has an air-conditioner or swamp cooler installed in a second-floor window. (01:17:30)

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Pearl Harbor picture

Factual error: In the scene where Admiral Kimmel is inspecting the crew of the battleship an aide comes up with a message to send some ships to the Atlantic. Admiral Kimmel starts complaining about the orders. No Admiral would ever do this especially in front of enlisted men. In fact he was placed in charge of the Pacific fleet when his predecessor complained about moving the fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor.

Clarence Daugette

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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood picture

Factual error: Twice in the movie a Jumbo Jet (a Boeing 747) from Pan Am appears. The movie is set in 1969, when that plane had its maiden journey, but it wasn't flown commercially until 1970.

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Poseidon picture

Factual error: When performing CPR on Elena, Robert doesn't tilt her head back. As a former firefighter, he would know one of the first steps of CPR is to tilt the victim's head back to clear the airway. His rhythm is also way off.

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Suggested correction: Tilting the head back to clear the airway isn't practised any more, due to exacerbating possible neck/spinal injuries. Instead, one would do a chin lift to clear the airway. But alas, he didn't do that either.

Paramedic here. The head tilt-chin lift is absolutely still practised today and is definitely our go to manoeuvre for CPR. You're thinking of the jaw thrust manoeuvre where we do it when we suspect spinal injury, which Elena did not have.

Former Volunteer First Responder and Ambulance driver part-time but also volunteer here. It actually depends on the SOP of the company in which you serve. Liability purpose has us practising caution in otherwise duty-to-act scenarios. While you are always to remain either Red Cross or American Heart certified in CPR, ALS guidelines and SOPs still govern the practice in which you are performing and can be effected by the decisions of your local Medical Director, but I digress.

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Midway picture

Factual error: In the final scene, where Fonda and Holbrook are looking over the carrier at the crowds on the dock, you can see that only the first rows of people are dressed in period clothes. The rest of the crowd are dressed as they would have been in 1976 when the film was made. Also, between them in the background is a yellow Ford Pinto.

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Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein picture

Factual error: When Dracula is about to bite the neck of his female assistant you can plainly see him in her vanity mirror and as all good horror fans know, you can't see a vampire in a mirror, especially Dracula.

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Tristan & Isolde picture

Factual error: The poem Isolde recites, John Donne's "The Good-Morrow", is a 17th-century work, which is centuries later than the movie's time period.

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The Hurt Locker picture

Factual error: In one scene they are playing on an Xbox 360, but the Xbox 360 did not come out until 2005, and the game being played, Gears of War, wasn't released until 2006. The movie takes place in 2004.

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Crocodile Dundee picture

Factual error: That is not a crocodile that attacks Sue. It more closely resembles an American alligator - the squat, rounded snout gives it away. Australian crocodiles have a much sharper, more angular snout. There are other tell-tale physical features, most notably the placement of the alligator's teeth when it closes its mouth, but that's the main one.

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Suggested correction: You can tell by the shape of the snout and the ridges above the eyes that, although animatronic, it is meant to be a Marine Crocodile that is native to Australia. It doesn't resemble an American alligator, which doesn't possess those pronounced ridges. Also, freshwater crocodiles can be seen in the boat ride scene where Mick motions for Sue to lean up off the edge of the boat. They have the narrower, angular snout that you referenced.

The placement of the alligator's teeth when it closes its mouth shows that it is more like an alligator than a crocodile. In fact, the animatronic puppet is a bizarre mish-mash of physical characteristics of both crocodiles and alligators.

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