Factual error: Under US law neither Peter Lowenstein nor Oscar Grace would be allowed any level of participation in the investigation, arrest and prosecution of Ned Racine. Both have a highly visible social relationship with him, which disqualifies them from having anything to do with a criminal case against him. In fact as soon as he became a suspect in Edmund Walker's murder they would both be officially 'warned off' - told not to contact him again for any reason.
Factual error: When Christina mixes a drink for one of Mommie's "guests" she bends down behind the bar to put a bottle back. Sitting on top of the bar is a Trigger Sprayer bottle of "Fantastick" - a spray that did not come out until the late 60's.
Factual error: Mel Gibson sits around the campfire at the railway camp with the lads, reading newspaper reports of the April 25, 1915 landing at Gallipoli. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade (including the 10th Light Horse Regiment from Western Australia) landed at Gallipoli on 20 May 1915. This would have given him less than 3 weeks to enlist, train, travel to Egypt by ship and land on the Peninsula. A bit of a stretch. In reality, the 10 Light Horse regiment was raised in October 1914, with the 1st-3rd reinforcements departing Fremantle February 19-22, 1915.
Factual error: Another flag gaffe: The Canadian flag in the 1920s was either the red ensign or the Union Jack. The Maple Leaf only became the national flag in 1965.
Factual error: The boxcars in the opening scene have bar codes, but the film is set in the 1930s.
Factual error: After the autopsy of "Sheila," the medical examiner tells the entomology expert that "she has no internal organs whatsoever." Yet, we're looking at "Sheila," and she has not been cut open at all, certainly not in the standard Y-shaped incision used in autopsies. Wouldn't even the worst medical examiner at least look inside before stating that internal parts were missing?
Factual error: In the boat-stealing scene, when the machine gunner fires a burst of blanks out of the M60 at the Cajuns, the weapon functions perfectly. However, the muzzle is bare. When firing with blanks, weapons have to have metal pieces called blank adaptors screwed into the muzzle to keep enough gas inside the weapon to cycle the bolt. Without one, the M60 would fire one round and stop.
Factual error: There could never be an aircraft of World War 2 vintage with the call sign "Yankee Zephyr". If it was a US aircraft (it appears to be) it would have the call sign "Yankee Zulu". If it was an RAF aircraft it would be "Yoke Zephyr". This all changed when the phonetic alphabets were standardised by NATO in the Fifties, but the DC3 in this film is supposed to have crashed before the end of World War 2 in 1945.
Factual error: Ragtime is set in 1906. Yet a 1915 Model T figures prominently in the plot.
Factual error: The training set piece is supposedly Japan, but it's obviously taking place in the Philippines. Its biggest giveaway is the presence of Taal Volcano. (00:02:55)
Factual error: When Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn are filling the boat up with fuel early in the movie, when the gas pump is shown, Henry Fonda is looking at the pump. $19.00 is the total sale but 29+ gallons purchased, at .67+ cents per gallon... The total sale should be over $19.43, probably closer to $20 but I can't read the fractions of gallons or cents. (00:14:10)