Factual error: Towards the end of the movie when Andy is escaping, he breaks open a sewage pipe and is covered with its contents. It is physically impossible for the sewage to shoot out of the break like it did. In order for that to happen there has to be pressure. But there is none there, because the end he crawls through is empty and the end is in the open air. (01:52:20)
Factual error: The terrorist with the AK47 is unaware of the fact that a Harrier is hovering just outside the window until he slowly turns and see it there. He does a double take when he sees the Harrier just five metres away! A Harrier is an incredibly loud aircraft; you can hear them from three kilometers away. At that range the floor would shake with the noise and he would have been in no doubt whatever that he had been under attack for some time.
Factual error: During the 1972 New Year's Eve celebration, Forrest drinks a Dr. Pepper with a logo that wasn't devised until around the mid 80s.
Factual error: Finishing his rounds on the morning of Christmas Day, flying over downtown Chicago, the sun is over the horizon west of Chicago, Sunrises occur in the east, not the west. (00:26:10)
Factual error: When the bus is driving over the gap in the freeway, it jumps off at an angle. And when it lands, it lands close to perfection. If the bus landed at the same angle it jumped off on, the bus would either tip over or the 2 tyres would burst.
Factual error: A bunch of troops are in heavy camouflage in helicopters, going to an assignment. The officer in charge tells them to take their dog tags off and empty their pockets of anything that could identify them. This is silly: first, in troop helicopters, the troops wouldn't be able to hear the officer's voice - it's too noisy - and second, this would be ingrained in them, to remove dog tags etc, and would have been done back at the base, before they left.
Factual error: The military ranks for everyone but O'Neil are wrong. O'Neil is a Colonel (Full bird), Kawalsky is wearing the insignia of a Lt Colonel, but is referred to by O'Neil simply as Lt., when he should be called Colonel. All the others are wearing enlisted stripes (Ferretti - TSgt, but is credited as Lieutenant Ferretti), the others are also credited as "Lieutenant", but wearing enlisted stripes.
Factual error: When Wyatt (Kevin Costner) becomes the sheriff/deputy/policeman of Wichita, Kansas, you can plainly see mountains in the background - there aren't any around there.
Factual error: In the opening shot of the film, a big oak door opens - carved in it is the date 1862 - 42 years after George III died.
Factual error: There is a theater showing 'La Dolce Vita.' That movie came out in 1960, but this film takes place in 1957 or 58 (since there is a reference to new 1958 model car).
Factual error: At the end of the movie, they show a bunch of ducks flying. Those are not ducks, they are geese.
Suggested correction: This was intentional. This is a mostly Minnesotan team and the team is going home. While geese are technically speaking not ducks, they are the state bird of Minnesota and fly in a very similar manner to ducks. This was meant to be a symbolism of them going home to their state.
Factual error: In the beginning of the movie, we see one of the two journalists playing "The Game" in a Game Boy. The other journalist says that the game is available in cartridges and floppy disks. The problem is that the guy playing the game doesn't even has a cartridge inserted in the Game Boy. It's impossible to play ANY kind of game in a Game Boy, if the Game boy doesn't have a cartridge inserted in it.
Factual error: When Eric goes to help the guy who got hurt after bungee jumping at the dance, the guy's line is long enough to allow him to lay flat on the ground. If it was really that long he would have crashed into the floor and not gone back up.
Factual error: The movie is set in the late 1950s, yet Ed's car has yellow-on-black California license plates that weren't issued until 1963. The plates on Ed's car should be black-on-yellow 1956 issue plates.
Factual error: We're told they carbon dated the gold to determine its age. Problem is, the gold hasn't aged by the normal processs - as it's been brought forward in time it will appear to be extremely new. As such carbon dating wouldn't work. Also, carbon dating only works on things that were alive and absorbed carbon-14; gold, having never been alive, could not be dated this way.
Factual error: When Mufasa is showing Simba the kingdom from Pride Rock they are facing the sun, yet Pride Rock's shadow is visible below them. Also in the same position, you see that they have shadows behind them. Then a few seconds later when Simba sees the shadow area the shadows are in front of them while you can see part of the sun to their left side. They would be facing south when the sun is east. How are their shadows in front of them?
Factual error: What on earth is the conductor at the premiere of the 9th doing with a baton? This was not used until around 1849, and the premiere of the 9th is in 1824.
Factual error: There is a shot with Wesley Snipes and Gary Busey aiming one another just to pull the triggers and discover that the guns are out of ammo. In fact, after the last shot (of the pistol, not the movie) the slide of a semi automatic pistol is retained open by the empty magazine, and doesn't return forward as we can see in the shot (of the movie, not the pistol). The reverse mistake is very common in movies, when the armorer loads just one round to be shot (in the movie as well as the gun) and the actor keeps fighting or menacing with an unloaded, breech opened gun.
Factual error: When Julia Roberts drives away from the building where she finds the dead body of the boy with "LD" written on his hand, it is raining heavily. Yet, as she accelerates, there is an extended sound of tyres screeching on a dry surface.
Factual error: Maverick and the rest of the poker players throughout the movie are using plastic poker chips. You can tell by the sound they make when thrown. Poker chips during that time were made out of wood or ceramic.