Factual error: In the scene where the Iron Giant is spinning the boy around in a junk car he is holding, notice that the car resembles a 1959 Cadillac...however since the film is set around 1957, this is not a likely car to be found anywhere yet, much less a junk yard. (00:46:20)
Factual error: In the end credits, the year is given as MCMXCVIX. This is not a correct Roman numeral. It should be MCMXCIX.
Factual error: There are two rentals cars driven by "Theresa" which have the same North Carolina license tag number, which is displayed on the front where required in Maine, the actual location of filming, but in North Carolina, license plates are not displayed on the front of the cars.
Factual error: When Cy Coates is impaled on the terrace guardrail, we see a shot of various emergency vehicles in front of the building, including FDNY Rescue Company 4. Rescue 4 is the rescue company for the borough of Queens; the movie takes place in Manhattan, so Rescue 1 would have been the unit that responded.
Factual error: Set in the summer of 1977, serial killer David Berkowitz is seen throughout the film wearing a US Army woodland camouflage pattern field jacket. The Army did not start using these jackets nor were any ever made until the early 1980's. They were all solid green until then.
Factual error: In the scene where Taylor Jackson's father leads the march to the public pool at night, it is lit with several underwater lights. Underwater swimming pool lights were invented in 1980, well after the time period in which this film is set. (00:47:25)
Factual error: Well into the movie, when the cop is searching Adrien Brody for contraband, the cop wouldn't be running his bare, ungloved fingers through Brody's mouth.
Factual error: Kevin Coster's arrival at spring training is set up by a shot of a beach scene with the caption "Spring Training Lakeland Florida". The shot was not filmed in Lakeland and is not at all representative of this town. Lakeland, Florida is located near the middle of the state, and while it does have many lakes, it is not on the ocean. (I suspect this shot was actually filmed in Ft. Lauderdale or Miami, which is at least 200 miles away.) (00:05:56)
Factual error: At the beginning, the MacManus brothers are attending a Catholic mass. The priest is saying the Our Father, and concludes it with "For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever." However, Catholics do not include this line when they say this prayer - only Protestants say this. Also, the prayer is never said before the priest gives his homily as it is in the movie.
Factual error: In the scene where the boys are driving to (or from) the dance, while driving down the street, you can clearly see a 1988-1991 Honda Civic hatchback in a driveway. Obviously this car was overlooked since this movie was set in the 1970's.
Factual error: Throughout the movie, cars are shown driving on the right side of the road, but in Thailand traffic moves on the left. The movie was actually filmed in the Philippines instead of Thailand due to its subject matter about the Thai legal system.
Factual error: In the beginning where John Travolta is going through the gates in his car, he stops to let the guard on duty see his military ID. Under the US seal it has the words "1ST Sarg." printed. Real military ID's would have "1SG / E8" printed on them where he has "1ST Sarg." printed. Also, his expiration date says "12/24/02". This would be printed as "2002DEC24".
Factual error: As Pellew and Hornblower return to the Indefatigable, they go aboard a ship's launch. In the Royal Navy, when boarding a small boat, the senior officer always boards last, so he can disembark first. Captain Pellew boards before Lieutenant Hornblower.
Factual error: When Ryuuichi shoots the man in the car with the shotgun, you see a single large glop of blood hit the windshield. From this range, however, the man's head would splatter all over, not just in the one direction as shown in the movie.
Factual error: Towards the end of the movie, Lana and Brandon are driving in a car with 2 other characters, Brandon looks over at Lana then looks out the windshield at the skyline of Dallas, Texas not Nebraska.
Factual error: Dr. Lane must have become a pretty good typist by the end of the film. Not only can he perfectly type in Hebrew characters on a perfectly normal US keyboard (which, for example, has no four H's like Hebrew but one), he can also type at a ten character per second speed with one finger, not mentioning that he's only pressing keys around J.
Factual error: When Homer and Candy go to the movies, the theater has stadium seating. This seating style in theaters wasn't used until much later, not in the early 1940's, and certainly not in Maine.
Factual error: In two spots in the movie, first with Thornton and the second time with both Thornton and Cusack they stood on the runway over the threshold markings and waited for a landing aircraft so they could feel the strength of a wake turbulence. On final approach the pilot would have seen him/them on the runway and called a missed approach and execute a go around. You just don't land when there is an obstruction on the runway, it makes a hell of a mess of the undercarriage...
Factual error: As the Khan family enter Bradford, they go over a sleeping policeman. These weren't around in 1971. (00:30:45)
Factual error: The scene where Michael frantically arrives at the FBI headquarters, he drives the Contour up over the movable vehicle barrier. The movable vehicle barriers that are in place at the FBI headquarters, both pre and post 9/11, are steel ramp type barriers angled upward toward the entering car and lowered when needed. The ramps are about as high as the top of the Contour's hood and the Contour would have just gotten wedged under the opening of the barrier ramp. And there wasn't enough of a "ramp" in front of the barrier to floor it and jump the car over the barrier (ala Dukes Of Hazzard), hence the barrier system would really work.