Deliberate mistake: When the crew are piling into their jeep to ride out to their aircraft, the gunners ask the officers what their target is, and are disgusted to hear that it is Bremen, a tough one. The gunners should know their target already. Gunners were briefed on their target, and told what kind of fighter opposition to expect.
Deliberate mistake: During the scene on the train in lounge car, a picture on the wall prominently shows an ALCO PA locomotive. The movie was set in 1945, but this locomotive was first produced in 1947.
Deliberate mistake: In countless shots showing Japanese, and some shots showing Americans, being shot, take notice of the ground that they stand on. Almost every time a bullet(s) will hit below them at their feet, yet they still fall dead. In some shots even, there is a continuous line of shots from a single shooter, hitting the ground, yet numerous Japanese soldiers fall dead.
Deliberate mistake: During the last assault against the hill, a duo of helicopters is mowing down the Vietnamese soldiers with miniguns. In one shot, you can see one chopper coming up behind a tree, all guns blazing. However, the tree, which is in the way of the helicopters right side minigun, remains totally untouched, although, looking at the carnage the guns do to the Vietnamese soldiers, it should have been reduced to toothpicks. (01:51:00)
Deliberate mistake: None of the helicopter's in the movie have the Army markings seen on Vietnam era Hueys. The most you'll see is some crooked, faint and inaccurate stencils in the wrong spots. (00:37:50 - 00:51:25)
Deliberate mistake: During the early rehearsals for "Yip Yip Yaphank", a group of men are around the piano singing "God Bless America", and we hear the following lyrics: "Stand beside her/And guide her/TO THE RIGHT/With a light from above". This is NOT an error; I'm guessing that those were the actual lyrics of the rough draft, with the capitalized line above changed to the present "Through the night/With a light." at a later date. (00:14:50)
Deliberate mistake: During Lansbury and Dr. Brown's dance scene under the water, the drawings behind them (with couples of fishes sitting on their seats) are a still drawing, no animation at all.
Deliberate mistake: When the list of the KIA during the raid is showing, the name of Matt Rierson is up there but he died 3 days later from a mortar attack on the base. (02:11:50)
Suggested correction: Although he was killed 2 days later, he is still considered a casualty of the battle in official records so it's not a mistake.
Deliberate mistake: Rhododendrons, visible in the opening scene and mentioned specifically in the shooting script, do not grow in the Adirondacks.
Deliberate mistake: The actual Lazlo Almasy died in the 1950's after voluntarily serving with the German Army and SS during WWII.
Deliberate mistake: While recon platoon is marching in their modified pt uniform, Gunny has "Cojones" call a cadence. Meanwhile Sgt. Webster maintains control of his formation, but from the wrong side. No platoon leader ever marches their unit from the right side of the formation.
Deliberate mistake: The French NATO rescue team is flying an old, Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter which is not in service in France. It was probably rented in Slovakia where most of the film was shot. The Mi-17 is easily distinguished from the French multi-purpose helicopter Puma: the Mi-17's landing gear is supported by huge rods, its side windows are round, and it has a sleek boom with the tail rotor on the left side. The Puma has smaller gear support, rectangular side windows, and a thicker boom with the tail rotor on the right side. (01:15:42)
Deliberate mistake: After our heroes jump from the plane.as they are landing their parachutes the each come to a soft standing landing. if you jump with a standard Dash 1 Bravo parachute (which none of them had) your landing is similar to jumping from 14 feet high with no chute: you hit like a rock and collapse (the Parachute Landing Fall or PLF) They were all using stunt parachutes of a type that was unavailable in 1968.
Deliberate mistake: The entire time they spend in the trench, before they attack, Quinn has a white sheepskin jacket. It rains throughout the film yet with all the mud about you would think in about a day that this jacket would turn dark brown. It is still fairly white even when Quinn dies.
Deliberate mistake: The movie shows events between 1939 and 1945 but the children look the same at the beginning and the end, they don't grow up. Pay attention to Danka Dresner, Adam Levy and Olek Rosner.
Deliberate mistake: The barber is on the roof scarping from the stormtroopers and he falls down face through a window. When the shot changes to the inside of the house where the window is, he is falling on his back.
Deliberate mistake: The tanks used in the film are German "Leopards", never used by the US army.
Deliberate mistake: When Betty falls in the traphole, Maxine is right behind her, yet when the angle changes she's not only in front, but has turned 180ยบ. This allows for a funnier gag, but is still a mistake.
Deliberate mistake: Bones is preparing to attack the Libyan Scud missiles with the shoulder-fired missiles and fires one backwards. These are AT4 anti-tank weapons, and while a soldier could conceivably manage to work the cocking lever backwards, he would really have to twist his hand to work the safety and the trigger backwards. But Bones should have realized it even sooner, because the sights were behind him.
Deliberate mistake: The Americans actually spoke with American accents, but these very new Americans were British in origin, and so they couldn't develop a new accent in such a short time. The Americans should still have British accents. This would have been confusing and is done for the viewer's benefit, but still a mistake.