Trivia: Even though Angelina Jolie plays Colin Farrell's mother in the movie, she is only a year older than Farrell.
Trivia: When Sergeant Snow thrusts his sword into a horse rustler, he yells a Wilhelm scream.
Trivia: Towards the end of the film, in various scenes involving trains & railways, if you look carefully, you can quite see that no attempt has been made to disguise the loco's etc. into German locos. You can quite see in various shots 'British Railways' and the British Railways roundel etc. If you know your train stuff, you can quite see all the locos, coaches, wagons etc. are British Railways stock. Also, in the scene in the big station before Dirk Bogarde is captured, and put into a room out the back with his fellow escapees, if you look closely in the background, the station is London Victoria by the way, you can quite see a SR suburban EMU waiting in one of the bay platforms.
Trivia: Sir Alec Guinness won his only Oscar for his role as Colonel Nicholson in this movie.
Trivia: When the destroyer is bombed next to the mole, the shots of it sinking are of the corvette Compass Rose from The Cruel Sea.
Trivia: When Lance is thrown on the bar during the bar brawl, he yells the Wilhelm scream.
Trivia: The Chinese extras cast in this film were almost all Spanish residents, especially in Madrid. This was done to such an extreme extent that some Chinese restaurants and other Chinese-Spanish-owned businesses in the Madrid area especially were forced to close for a few days due to lack of personnel.
Trivia: Hitchcock's cameo comes twelve minutes into the movie - he can be seen wearing a hat and coat and reading a newspaper after Joel McCrea leaves the hotel.
Trivia: Lina Wertmuller became the first woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director with this film.
Trivia: The characters John Blackthorne and Toranaga are based upon two historical figures: Togukawa Ieyasu and William Adams, an Englishman who both became a samurai and a close advisor to Ieyasu in the 1600s.
Trivia: Esmond P. Knight, the actor who portrayed Captain Leach of the battleship "Prince of Wales" was a crew member on the ship during the real battle where he was badly injured, suffering a period of blindness.
Trivia: The first Tom and Jerry cartoon to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Trivia: At the end of the film, when Katniss and Peeta are enjoying their life together, their two children are played by Jennifer Lawrence's real-life nephews Bear and Theodore.
Trivia: Steve McQueen received his only Oscar nomination for his performance as Jake Holman in this film.