Factual error: When Napoleon is up in the air in the basket held up with balloons, you can see the Sydney Harbour Bridge, however on his adventures, he goes past Eagle Rock, which is not near the city. Also he meets a Frilled-Neck lizard, which is found in a different state to Sydney.
Factual error: During the first few minutes of the film we see Major Payne report into the General. Major Payne then salutes, however, he does not have a cover on his head. As per USMC/Naval Customs and Courtesies, Marines only render the proper greeting of the day when reporting to a superior officer without a cover, they don't salute. (00:03:20)
Factual error: Throughout the film they show exterior shots of Alcatraz. If you pay attention you can clearly see that the Warden's house is destroyed and all that remains is a shell. Also there is only 1 guard tower. Alcatraz had many guard towers but they were destroyed in the seventies by fire. The movie takes place in the late thirties.
Factual error: When Gene Hackman is shot at the end he looks down and sees the hole in his shadow. However if he was shot from someone at the same level as him, the hole would be straight, parallel to the Earth's surface. So if he could he the reasonably proportioned shadow the angle of the sun wouldn't show any hole in him at all.
Suggested correction: First, it is reasonable to assume that Hackman is significantly taller than Stone, and, given that she is firing from a hip draw the angle of entry for the fatal gunshot would be on a upward trajectory. This generally upward bullet trace combined with the evening or late day sun could be reasonably expected to cast a shadow if you suspend disbelief initially to allow that this type of wound is practically plausible.
The fact that she is shorter is irrelevant given the distance between them. For the angle of the light showing through him to make sense (and that's assuming it makes sense for it to show through him at all) she would need to be kneeling directly in front of him. The fact that, as you say, suspension of belief is required demonstrates the original mistake is valid.
Suggested correction: He doesn't see the hole in his shadow. We see him look downward slightly, then we see the shadow slightly from the side, not the view he would see. We then see him looking down at himself. It's easy to assume he is looking at his shadow, but we don't see him doing that. He could simply be staring into space, with the shadow presented for dramatic effect for the viewer.
Factual error: James Graham, 4th Marquess of Montrose, became 1st Duke of Montrose in 1707, six years before the film is set, although the film refers to him throughout as a Marquess.
Factual error: When the bully has been shocked and his heart stops, Powder zaps him back to life. Okay, fine, but as a former ER nurse I noticed some flaws. 1) You can not get a person's heart beating by defibrillating if he's flatlined. You need some sort of activity in the heart first. If Powder had started with some CPR, possibly. 2) Defibrillating someone in a puddle of water? Bad move, unless you assume that Powder's immune to his own shocks. And 3) when defibrillating you hold one paddle on the sternum (middle of the chest) and one on the left side of the ribcage, thus allowing the electricity to go between the paddles and through the heart. The way Powder held his hands really wouldn't have worked.
Factual error: When Baldwin is in the old Caddy convertible driving alongside the train, he sets the cruise control so that he can jump into the train. There are three problems with this. I seriously doubt a Caddy that old, it looked like early 70s, would have cruise control, but they were luxury cars, so it is possible. They show a shot of him setting the cruise control, and it is on a modern-style control stalk, very typical to late 80s and early 90s GM cars. Since the ground along a railroad track is not pavement, it would be very bumpy and uneven, and virtually impossible for the cruise control to keep the car going whatever speed he wanted it to go, going over dumps and holes like that.
Factual error: How could Brian get a cold after he was outside in the rain for a minute and was dried off right away?
Factual error: When the hovercraft is stopped after Jackie cuts the side open, it isn't slanted to one side(from the outside view), it is straight.
Suggested correction: It is slightly slanted... it's just hard to see with the camera angles, since it's mostly shot from the side once it crashes.
Factual error: The movie is set in 1948. When Easy first visits Albright about the job, Albright throws some $20 bills down in front of him. The top bill bears the signature of Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady, which appeared on paper currency from 1988 to 1993.
Factual error: In the movie, it is depicted that Verlaine shoots Rimbaud in the palm; in reality Verlaine shot Rimbaud in the wrist.
Factual error: Mr. Holland starts teaching at JFK in fall of 1964 (q.e.d by the fact that the first graduating class seen is class of 1965). However, when Holland first meets the assistant principal parking his Corvair, the latter asks him if he's read Ralph Nader's book (Unsafe at Any Speed), which was not published until November of 1965.
Factual error: In the opening scene with Doug Masters flying in Russian airspace, he is to be escorted back to American airspace by MiG-23s. But in fact the two planes that show up are F-4 Phantoms. When the "MiG" fires a missile, you see a completely different plane. Best I can tell, that is not a MiG either.
Factual error: During the scene where Navajas is throwing knives at El Mariachi and then the Bucho gang in the limo, he slides down in front of the car. The license plate simply says "Mexico" under the serial. Actual Mexican plates of the time period in the movie use the official state abbreviation followed by MEX to identify the state of issue. For example, JAL MEX for Jalisco, which is where the JWF685 serial seen on the plate would have been issued.
Factual error: Many times in the film, the Nutcracker is shown to be standing at rest, but with its mouth open. It is at rest with nobody touching it, so its handle/lever would be in the down position by gravity. Yet the Nutcracker’s mouth is open. If a nutcracker is sitting at rest with the handle down, the mouth should be closed.
Factual error: In two, maybe three scenes, there are ring-necked pheasants. One is early in the movie as the Jameses ride past a butcher shop where ducks and pheasants are hanging up for sale. One is mid-way in the movie in the scene of the house- or barn-raising and big picnic. The movie supposedly took place in the mid-1870s. Pheasants were not imported to America from China until 1881.
Factual error: When asked, Julie Delpy says the reason her English is so good is because she spent a summer in LA. Come on. Even after a year, almost no one could manage to speak and pronounce a foreign language that well, let alone in a summer. Her English is very nearly flawless. We know she has spent some time in London before, but if she had stayed there long enough to learn to speak such good English, she would have learned it the way they speak it there, which means she would have a British accent and not an American one. Someone - whether or not she's a native speaker - doesn't change accents after spending a mere three months somewhere.
Factual error: At the end when the oil in the cavern is burning there is no sign of smoke. With a fire as large as it appears to be, everyone in there should be choking to death, yet they don't even seem the least bit bothered. Forest Whitaker should have also been roasting over the flames, yet he is unscathed.
Factual error: At one point in the film, Morgan calls out "Riflemen, to me!". The film is set in the late 17th century. Whilst rifling had been invented prior to this date, it was still rarely used except on the most expensive weapons, and even then mostly used by specialists. It is highly unlikely that all, if any, of the pirates would have been armed with them, especially in the close quarter fighting they would have been expecting. The pirates would be more likely to be armed with the more common smooth bored muskets of the period, so "Musketmen, to me!" would be much more likely to be correct.
Factual error: At a very early point in the film, the King says something along the lines of "....and these are your playmates". In the background is a horde of 17th century ladies boating on the Achille Duchenne water parterre at Blenheim Palace. The palace wasn't built until the late 18th century, and the parterre was not designed until 1925.