Best movie factual errors of 1978

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Superman picture

Factual error: When Clark speaks to Jor-El for the first time in the Fortress, Jor-El says "I will have been dead for many thousands of your years..." Fine in theory - Baby Kal-El travelled to Earth at above light speed so time passed differently for him. However, as such, wouldn't Jor-El have seen Earth as it was thousands of years ago? Which also makes there a problem with all the things Kal-El was taught during his voyage to Earth, as Jor-El references Einstein by name, for instance, and he would not have existed at the point when Jor-El sent him to Earth.

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Halloween picture

Factual error: There's no way that the knife that killed Bob was long enough to go through his body and impale the wall behind him. And a butcher knife cannot "pin" a human body to a wall and just stay put, they aren't strong enough.

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Grease picture

Factual error: The movie and events take place in 1958. However, two Fender amplifiers that are used by the band, "Johnny Casino and The Gamblers" are "Silverface" models that were only manufactured between 1967 and 1981.

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The Deer Hunter picture

Factual error: The boys go deer hunting somewhere in the Appalachians, but the geology is all wrong. That scene is in North Cascades National Park in Washington State. In addition, the "deer" they are hunting is a Red Stag. Not typically found in the Appalachians.

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

Suggested correction: Part of the scenery is the North Cascades, including the first mountain shot, Mount Baker, south of the Canadian border.

Someone notes that "Red Stags are not typically found in the Appalachians." In reality, there are no wild red stags in the Eastern US, or anywhere in the US, or in North America, or even in the Western Hemisphere. Red stags are native to most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of Western Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains of Northern Africa.

Thank you! Growing up in Pennsylvania and hunting deer since the age of ten - The use of the Red Stag in the last scene always bothered me. No trained White Tails, I guess. Great movie other than that.

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Animal House picture

Factual error: The car Flounder drives is a 1964 model, built beginning late in 1963, but the events of the movie take place in 1962. (00:45:40 - 01:08:25)

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Dawn of the Dead picture Dawn of the Dead mistake picture

Factual error: When they are refuelling the helicopter (as a zombie approaches quietly from behind) the actor has put the gas nozzle not into the hole for the gas tank, but into one of the foot-holes that helicopter mechanics use to climb up to the top of the helicopter to do repairs. It doesn't even fit properly. (00:22:55)

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The Wiz picture

Factual error: Dorothy tells Miss One that she lives at "433 Prospect Place." Dorothy is supposed to live in Harlem. Any New Yorker knows that there is no Prospect Place in Harlem. In reality, Prospect Place is in Brooklyn and is, in fact, where the street scenes for "Harlem" were filmed.

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Death on the Nile picture

Factual error: In the Abu Simbel scene, watch closely when they show a side-view shot of Jackie, accidentally depicting the shores of Lake Nasser in the background. This reservoir was built only in the 1960s and didn't exist at the time the movie is set in (1930s). (In fact, the whole temple had to be cut from the rock and moved to higher ground following the completion of the Aswan Dam, so the "original location" was no more available for the film crew.) (00:51:15)

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I Wanna Hold Your Hand picture

Factual error: The movie is set in New York. When Tony Smerko goes up on the roof of the studio to chop down the antenna, there's a green Art Deco building with a clock tower in the background - the Eastern Building, a downtown Los Angeles landmark since the 1930s.

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The Buddy Holly Story picture

Factual error: When Buddy and the musicians tour bus is towed to the Clear Lake Auditorium for the final concert before the fatal air crash, the canopy states that the concert is on the 3rd of February. The fatal accident that took Buddy, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens occurred at 1am on 3rd February 1959 so the canopy should have read 2nd February.

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Jaws 2 picture

Factual error: The "Cable Junction" in the movie is a transformer junction station built on a rock pile however when you look at it there is no algae or barnacles anywhere on the rocks. This is impossible because algae and barnacles thrive on rocks in sea water.

Leonard Hassen

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The Thirty Nine Steps picture

Factual error: The carriages on Hannay's train feature British Rail 'class' totems on the windows. These didn't appear until the 1950s, yet it is supposedly 1914.

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Force 10 from Navarone picture

Factual error: The Force 10 finally manage to escape of the German ammunition depot by train. However, when the train leaves the tunnel and the men jump off the train the engine is a modern red and white electric locomotive. Only one problem: Electric trains did not exist in Yugoslavia until 10 years later. The engine is a mid-60's Swedish type RC.

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Damien: Omen II picture

Factual error: The movie takes place in Chicago, except for one scene that is supposed to be in New York City (when Damien's uncle visits the priest). Two problems. First, as the cab pulls up to the church where the priest is, it goes past a housing project. Anyone who knows public housing construction in New York and Chicago knows that building is in Chicago. Second, when they go out to a trainyard, you can clearly see the Hancock Tower in the background. Of course, that building is in Chicago, not New York.

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The Driver picture

Factual error: During the early chase, a policeman fires a shotgun at the blue LTD. Each shot is supposed to hit the trunklid, as it comes loose, then flies off, yet the lid is never damaged by the bullets, as if they are passing through the lid, hitting the hinges and lock without leaving any holes or dents in the lid itself. (00:11:40)

johnrosa

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The Cat from Outer Space picture

Factual error: Jake takes a huge piece of gold and condenses it down into a small strip. It is then lifted with no difficulty. For the science of the film to work, this would have to be done without losing any of the gold's mass, or they could just get a small piece. As of such, the condensed gold would be just as heavy, if not heavier than in its original form.

Quantom X

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Game of Death picture

Factual error: When the bad guys collect the $100 million in cash from the vault, it's been laid out in just 2 suitcases. According to US government specifications, that much cash (it is mentioned in the movie that it is in $100 bills) would be a single pile nearly 50 feet high (about 10 times what is shown) and 1,000kg - a full ton of weight.

DavidRTurner

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Hooper picture

Factual error: During the fire scene at night, the water truck has "Vasser" printed on the side. Water in German is spelled "Wasser."

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The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash picture

Factual error: In the sixties retro scenes vehicles can be seen that didn't start production until the seventies.

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Piranha picture

Factual error: When they drain the pool at the abandoned army station, Paul tastes the water and claims the water is salty. Piranha are freshwater fish and would not survive in salt water. (00:19:30)

luchador

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