Factual error: The first thing on screen after the opening credits is the year the film is set in, 1953. How then, do Kim Novak and Tony Curtis make their arrival in a Cadillac convertible, which is quite obviously of 1959 vintage? (00:19:44)
Factual error: The Bandit is in a showdown with Buford T. Justice in a desert mountain range shortly after crossing into Texas. There are no desert mountain ranges in eastern Texas.
Factual error: At the end of the movie, they break out of prison and their lawyer finds them at the hangar. She tells them they are free and they celebrate and get in the car and drive off. Innocent or not, they broke out of prison. I highly doubt red tape would allow an official to say, "Oh well, never mind, we were gonna release them anyway." (01:46:25)
Factual error: The older woman, Grace, tells Susan Sarandon's sister that both their husbands died from being shot. Susan Sarandon's sister's husband was not shot, he was stabbed to death.
Factual error: It is established early in the movie (Natalie's call) that the money ball event celebration is part of the -first - anniversary of the Valley River Center, the shopping mall where most of the movie is set, with the town of Eugene, Oregon, mentioned explicitly. However, the center opened in 1969, and the movie is set in 1980. The original script was written in 1971, so that line needed an update and slipped by.