Factual error: Robin and Azeem land at the white cliffs and Robin says something like, 'Tonight we will dine with my father'. Those white cliffs are the Seven Sisters in East Sussex, about 200 miles from Nottingham. It would probably take about two weeks to walk it. They also reach Hadrian's Wall in the next scene, which is 200 miles further north than Nottingham.
Factual error: In the scene where there is a train passing, the cars are marked "Burlington Northern." There was NO Burlington Northern until 1970, 7 years AFTER the shooting.
Factual error: Warren Beatty refers to the "Hoover Dam" being able to generate the power needed for Las Vegas and his Flamingo casino. The problem is that he supposedly made the comment in 1937. At that time, the "Hoover Dam" was still called "Boulder Dam." It wasn't renamed to honour President Herbert Hoover until about ten years later.
Factual error: Morrison did finish film school in real life. He did not drop out as depicted in the film.
Factual error: In one scene, Vada is showing off her mood ring. The movie is set in 1972 and mood rings were not created until 1975.
Factual error: In the scene where Trey's father shoots at the burglar the gun punches baseball sized holes in the door. A .357 Magnum bullet going through a thin wooden door would just punch through, without expanding or tumbling, and leave a hole only a bit larger than the bullet diameter.
Factual error: There's a scene where Belle's father is riding away in the snow on his horse - the tracks left behind by the horse are exactly backwards. The round part of a horseshoe is at the front, not the back. (This was a deliberate 'in joke' done by the animators.)
Suggested correction: It is Belle who rides the horse in the snow, not Maurice. If we're talking about this being a mistake, then it could be a deliberate mistake, but if this was truly done as an in-joke, then I think it falls more under trivia. The tracks being backwards is factually incorrect, but it doesn't really fall under the category of "mistake" if it was deliberately done as a joke.
Factual error: When Mike is in Idaho he has a clear view of Mt. Hood. Even if it were possible to see the mountain from so far away (over 200 miles), there is another mountain range lying between Idaho and Mt. Hood, blocking the view.
Factual error: In the scene where Earl is fighting the other prisoner, he is using a "sword" made from a bar of metal, it has a blade that is well over 2 feet long from the tip to the hilt. At the end of the fight the other prisoner is standing with his back against a solid concrete pillar, but Blake somehow manages to shove the "sword" through him all the way up to the hilt. This wouldn't be possible unless Blake were somehow able to shove the bar into the concrete.
Factual error: Pierrepoint is depicted as having a London accent. In real life, however, he was from the north of England, and had a Yorkshire accent, which sounds completely different. This is proved in a BBC interview with him, dating from the 1970s.
Factual error: When Julia Roberts first moves to the small Iowa town, she picks perfect fall apples off her neighbor's tree, which draws his attention. But the next day, that tree, and most of the others in the town, appear in SPRING bloom. Some days later, she attends a July 4 parade. That timing might work with the blossoms, but certainly not with the apples.
Factual error: After JD steals Louise's money, Thelma decides to rectify the fact that they're broke by robbing a convenience store in Oklahoma. She holds the clerk at gunpoint, asks for all the cash, and then requests he hand over a bottle of booze. The problem is, due to the liquor laws in Oklahoma, one can only buy 3.2 beer and wine coolers at grocery stores and convenience stores, not "hard" alcohol.
Factual error: In the second skydiving scene Patrick Swayze tells the pilot to fly the plane at 4000 feet, which he does as this can been seen on an altimeter. When skydiving from 4000 feet it would take 25 seconds before you hit the ground but the skydive in this scene lasts 1 minute 51 seconds.
Factual error: In one scene Fred Tate is explaining to his mom, Dede, what a 'lepton' is. He says first "A lepton is a Z-particle", then furthermore says "Do you know what protons and electrons are? [...] Well leptons are even smaller." In fact, electrons *are* a kind of lepton. Also, there is only one Z-particle, and it is quite different from leptons.
Factual error: Garfield plays a violin in the film. The miniature displayed on the desk is supposed to be a violin, but it is actually a cello on its side.
Factual error: In the beginning when the Mcaffrey brothers' dad is killed, he pushes Scott Glenn (Adcox) into an adjacent room. Then the whole floor explodes - why wasn't Adcox hurt? He should have been blown up with the rest of the floor.
Factual error: When Idgie and Ruth ride on the train Idgie's shining hair reveals that there is more light in the wagon than the petroleum lamp they brought with them. (00:29:05)
Factual error: When Dutch is lighting fireworks, he accidentally catches the bag of fireworks on fire. He then throws his coat over the top of the bag. The bottle rockets shoot straight through his heavy winter coat and up into the air. I have never seen a rocket that could do this.
Factual error: While the movie is set in 1957, photos of Elvis attached to a wall were taken in the mid 1960s. The orange shirt shot is from Girl Happy, 1965 and the black and white shot below it is from Roustabout, 1964.
Factual error: In the Steve Martin segment, the bus hijacker makes a sharp left, which would throw the passengers to their right, but the film shows them being thrown to their left. (00:25:35)