Character mistake: When Buster gets hit in the arm the first time, he is busy tying the kerchief below the wound. (02:21:05)
Character mistake: When the American hands over the wills to Ian Fleming he calls him Lieutenant Commander, but when Fleming turns up at the camp he has gold braid on his cap - only commanders and above wear gold braid. Also they kept calling the RAF guy Flight Sargent but he didn't have a crown above his stripes.
Character mistake: When Werner asks Hendley why, as an American, he fights alongside Britain, he mentions that the British burned down the U.S. capital in 1812. While it happened during the War of 1812, the burning of Washington actually occurred in 1814. (00:11:10)
Character mistake: Ryan's final diary entry says the US Cavalry fought against "French irregulars." The French lancers were actually regular troops.
Character mistake: When Rommel leaves his French headquarters for Germany on June 5th for his wife's birthday on the next day, he erroneously states that date as 6th of July (pronounced yoo-lee), not June (pronounced yoo-nee). (00:29:30)
Character mistake: Scene where they push the truck out of the mud; right after they drive away in the background you can see that the other side is flat grass. They never had to do all that.
Suggested correction: Trucks of that era were not equipped with limited slip, nor posi-traction differentials, so having their truck land in mud on the drive axle side of the differential resulted in exactly what's portrayed in the movie.
Character mistake: While discussing his squad providing air support for the Marines on the ground, Lt. Cmdr. Cevoli refers to the men as "soldiers." Marines are not called "soldiers" because they are not in the Army. It is common for a layperson to make this error but nobody in the U.S. Navy would do this.
Character mistake: As Torrey's launch heads for his new flagship, a signalman calls to the quarterdeck that the admiral's party is arriving. However, the signalman gets his signals mixed, addressing his message to the signal bridge from the quarterdeck, instead of the other way round.
Character mistake: While General Patton is in Malta as a decoy for a fake Greek invasion, he gives some aides a tour of the fortifications there and tells them that they were "defended by 400 Knights of Malta and 800 mercenaries against a force of 40,000 Turks." He is referring to the Siege of Malta in 1565, but the date he gives is 1528.
Character mistake: When the soldiers are emtying the latrines and the "surfer" guy says he "broke a hundred the other day" and has 92 days left, he states that April 17th is his DEROS (Date Eligible to Return from Overseas). Later we hear Charlie Sheen say that it's "New Years Day." This would have put the "Latrine scene" around January 5th.
Character mistake: At the end of the movie, when Tony Curtis goes aboard Sea Tiger, the word is passed, "Attention on deck." Since he is the captain, the proper announcement would be, "Sea Tiger arriving."
Character mistake: During the seminar, Professor Rohl tells students that only 19 workers of Auschwitz were sentenced (in 1966). During the first trial of Nazis from Auschwitz, 39 were sentenced, including 23 persons condemned to death. The trial was in 1947 in Krakow.
Character mistake: Early in the movie, a flight deck officer tells Mickey Rooney to hurry up, and Rooney replies, "Very well, sir," which is major breach of Naval etiquette. (Officers say "very well" to enlisted personnel, but an enlisted man NEVER says "very well" to an officer.).
Character mistake: In the movie, Gregory Peck claims that he speaks German "perfectly." But in the scene where he uses the dead cliff guard's radio, he speaks with a noticeably thick - and highly un-German - accent. (00:57:22)
Character mistake: When the supply convoy is ambushed, Soto is instructed to get on the .50 caliber. However, the weapon on the gun ring is a .30 caliber M1919 machine gun, not a "Ma Deuce" .50 caliber.
Character mistake: Many windows only have 1 or 2 panes taped over to prevent glass from shattering when it's hit. Unless every pane is taped over this will achieve next to nothing.
Character mistake: When threatening Evelyn with jail, the Army Signals officer says "Brig" which would be a Navy jail. In the Army the appropriate threat of incarceration would be the stockade.
Character mistake: In the exchange at the train station in district 2, Katniss says how she killed Cato in the 74th games, and Cato killed Thresh and Thresh killed Clove etc However Cato didn't kill Thresh - he was attacked by the mutts and killed by them. (00:14:50)
Character mistake: Richard Thorp is Henry Maudslay, who got killed on the raid. However, at the end of the film, in the mess, he is patted on the shoulder by Stanley Baker. Big error.
Character mistake: G. Peppard holds up a Walther P-38 pistol and calls it a Walther PPK.
Suggested correction: The question was intended to demonstrate how far out-of-touch Werner was with United States history.
Charles Austin Miller
You misunderstand. Werner's question in and of itself is not the mistake; it's merely a point of contextual reference. The mistake is him giving the incorrect date of a historical event he claims to have read about; it's hard to believe that every book that he might have read on the topic are all wrong, so he must be remembering, and thus repeating it, incorrectly.
Cubs Fan ★