Best movie factual errors of 1971

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Dirty Harry picture

Factual error: When Harry is confronting the bank robber and the robber says he has to know if Harry had any shots left, Harry cocks the hammer which rotates the cylinder. If you watch closely when he pulls the trigger the cylinder rotates again. This can happen only when the trigger is pulled in double action mode (hammer down). (00:14:00)

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The Abominable Dr. Phibes picture

Factual error: In keeping with the theme of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, Doctor Phibes has one of his victims eaten alive by locusts. Not likely. Locusts are strictly herbivorous, and like all herbivores locusts won't touch anything that moves. They would not be attracted by the slimy goo poured over their 'victim', because they zero in on plant pheromones and nothing else.

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Vanishing Point picture Vanishing Point mistake picture

Factual error: At the end of the movie the 1970 Challenger R/T that is shown crashing into the bulldozers is actually a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro at the time of impact. It's visible for just a few frames, from behind at impact (before exploding) and later as it stands on its nose, after the fire is put out. Note the plain steel wheels, painted silver in the latter shot.

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Diamonds Are Forever picture

Factual error: While Bond and Franks are fighting in the lift, you can hear glass breaking. However, when Franks picks up a shard of it to stab Bond, you can see it's really a piece of Plexiglass. When Franks is forced to let go of the shard, his hand shows no cuts or blood, which would have been unavoidable the way he had been holding it.

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Nicholas and Alexandra picture

Factual error: Prime Minister Peter Stolypin is shown at the Romanov Tercentery, which marked 300 years of Romanov rule. Stolypin died in 1911, yet the Tercentenary was held in 1913. Also, Alexei's Spala incident happened in 1912, and was also shown after the Tercentenary.

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Le Mans picture

Factual error: The duel between the lead three cars on the last lap of the race covers a section of the cicuit twice: it is the section past Arnage, Maison Blanche and the Ford Chicane.

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Walkabout picture

Factual error: The aboriginal boy gets upset about the white hunters shooting the water buffaloes which symbolises white man encroaching into aboriginal culture. But the water buffaloes are introduced pests in Australia and have no spiritual meaning to the aboriginals.

thedoorman

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The French Connection picture

Factual error: The "B" train which he is chasing normally runs on the right most track (there are 3 tracks on this particular line). The middle one is never used except for out of service trains. Most of the train stations on that line service the right or left track, not the middle one.

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Carry On at Your Convenience picture

Factual error: About ten minutes into the film, in the scene where there is a staff meeting deciding whether they should strike, the junior assistant talks about how much tea breaks cost the company each week. He says something along the lines of 'each member of staff has 18 toilet visits a day due to drinking tea. At four minutes a time this contributes to 72 minutes each day lost. This means we lose 15 hours a week due to visits to the toilet'. Even if the staff worked seven days a week, this would only amount to 8.4 hours lost.

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Man in the Wilderness picture

Factual error: When the trappers first encounter the Rickarees, the bow cannon is discharged, creating an explosion near the Indians, who promptly turn and ride away. Immediately after, a second shell explodes near them. It would be impossible for a single gunner to sponge out and reload with cartridge and ball in the space of 10 seconds.

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On the Buses picture

Factual error: When Blakey nearly catches Jack in turnaround Betty's house, Blakey tells them to get moving as they are late. At first they both go through the passenger door of the bus at the back before Stan goes round the front to drive, but the bus drives off too soon for Stan to walk to the front, climb in the cab, start the engine and drive off.

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Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory picture

Factual error: In every version of the story, including the book, in the scene where Augustus Gloop is sucked into the chocolate pipe, there's no pressure below him (it's an open river, with the pipe sticking into it) so the pressure must come from a vacuum at the top of the pipe. Augustus would have had his lungs and innards sucked out until he was thin enough to pass through the pipe. He would not have survived.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: In the book Charlie ask Mr. Wonka if all the other kids would be all right and he tells him yes they will.

This isn't a valid correction because the point of the mistake is that he wouldn't survive, as shown. At best you're saying Wonka lied to Charlie.

Bishop73

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Big Jake picture

Factual error: The scene where Jon Wayne's Son is shooting the deer at 600 yards, he swings his rifle about 20-25 inches in about 2 seconds - by my calculations the deer must have been travelling around 250 mph.

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Raid on Rommel picture

Factual error: In this scene we see two soldiers fire a heavy calibre machine gun into a armoured personnel carrier, which is only a few metres away. As they fire there is a two second delay, then we see the bullets hit the target vehicle. In reality there would not be a two second delay.

keiko

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The Andromeda Strain picture

Factual error: There are numerous references in the film about the type of jet, a Phantom, that crashes 60 miles outside of Piedmont, with a consultant at the crash site even saying "There's no rubber at all used in a Phantom F-4, General." The crashed tail-section of the plane at the crash site is and obviously not from a Phantom jet, but from a F-84 Thunderjet, a much smaller and older jet than a Phantom.

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Up Pompeii picture

Factual error: When Lurcio is dragging his ass through the market he passes several stalls which stock fruits and vegetables totally unknown to the Romans - potatoes, corn, papayas, mangoes and breadfruit amongst them. They were unknown in Europe during the time the film is set, and the Romans did not trade with anyone who knew about them, either.

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Von Richthofen and Brown picture

Factual error: It is true that Richthofen was killed during an aerial battle with a Canadian pilot; but it was not by the pilot (in the movie, his counterpart Brown) himself, but by one of the Australian machine gunners on the ground (it is still not for sure which one of the gunners did it, though).

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More The Blood on Satan's Claw factual errors
The Omega Man picture

Factual error: In the opening scenes of a city deserted for several years, lots of smog can be seen at the base of the mountains in the distance. Smog is entirely man made and would disappear completely in a matter of days once all human activity stopped.

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The Homecoming: A Christmas Story picture

Factual error: The movie is set at Christmas 1933.The radio that Olivia,Grandma and Grandpa Walton are listening to is a Zenith model S-232 (either 7,9 or 12-tube) which was not made until 1937.

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