Factual error: In the scene when Will is opening the drawer of films from the Leeds home, there is clearly a copy of Mrs. Doubtfire in the left column of tapes. How can that be? Red Dragon is clearly set "several years" after 1980, as the caption says, but before the 1991 Silence of the Lambs, but "Mrs. Doubtfire" came out in 1993.
Continuity mistake: Towards the end of the movie, when Joey Nova is trying to get out of town, he sells his football ring to the drug dealer, but in the final scene he is clearly shown wearing the ring when he points the gun at his father.
Continuity mistake: In the final scene where Roxie and Velma are dancing in the concert hall, Roxie is on the right and Velma is on the left. They then turn around, and from behind (same point of view as before) they're suddenly the other way around. (01:44:20)
Continuity mistake: During the Xmas day scene, Markus receives a Sony portable CD player as a gift from Will. However, before the gift's unwrapped, the Sony box is visible on the table. (00:51:45)
Continuity mistake: When swimfan85 is trying to talk to Ben and he tells her he has homework to get done, she is talking with the nick name swimfan85 but when she signs off it says "swimfan has signed off." They forgot to add the 85.
Factual error: A force of Russian Tu-22 Backfire bombers attacks the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) by sneaking in under the ship's radar. This is all well and good except that carriers usually don't use their own radar, they have Airborne Early Warning aircraft (E-2 Hawkeye's) that can see much further and not give away the carrier's position (let alone the F-14s which would be patrolling too) not to mention the fleet of destroyers other ships guarding the carrier. The whole point is, the US Navy practiced and planned for such a "carrier versus Backfire" battle for years. I guess in the interest of furthering the plot Hollywood has to ignore the immense measures the USN takes to protect those multi-billion dollar assets, not to mention the 5000+ sailors that man them.
Factual error: Tom Hanks is driving his car over a bridge in downtown Chicago in 1931. In the background is the elevated train structure. An aluminum bodied train passes on the trestel in the background. This aluminum bodied train is of 1980's contruction. In the 1930's the train cars were of wood construction and painted brown. They were still in service in the 1950's.
Other mistake: The first time the cops come to the house, Connie and her son see them from the upstairs window, and start walking downstairs. It then cuts to the cops in the living room looking around, and Connie walks in and introduces herself. Her husband is not home, so did the cops just walk into in the house without knocking?
Suggested correction: I'm pretty sure the housekeeper let them in if you listen carefully.
Continuity mistake: At the "Big Pipe" contest the star gets trapped under water when her leash gets caught on some rocks. You see her undo the velcro on her ankle and then abandon the board (with the leash attached). About 20 seconds later when she is diving below the oncoming waves you can clearly see the leash re-attached to her ankle.
Factual error: On the plane, while being escorted by FBI agents, Frank Jr sees New York's LaGuardia Airport and says, "There it is, LaGuardia Airport, runway 44." A runway numbered 44 is impossible. No runway can be numbered over 36 because there are 360 degrees in a circle. (01:58:25)
Continuity mistake: Toward the beginning of their drive, while the girls are singing "Bye, Bye, Bye" the position of the window behind Mimi keeps changing. Sometimes it is all the way up, then it is part-way down, then back up again.
Continuity mistake: A group of Marines approaches a minefield and one of them falls with his back on a mine. The explosion throws him in the air and you can see his uninjured back. Not even his shirt got a scratch. (01:46:50)
Visible crew/equipment: When Monica is in bed with her boyfriend and they get up to dance, the whole film crew is mirrored on the glass of the window.
Factual error: In a scene set in 1862 or 1863 Bill the Butcher says: 'An Irishman will do for a nickel what a ****** will do for a dime or a white man for a quarter'. The first nickel 5 cent piece was coined in 1866. At the time of the scene the 5 cent coin was a small silver coin called a half-dime. (01:10:00)
Factual error: At the art exhibition, Eleanor wears a plastic name badge which looks rather modern for this period. (00:36:15)
Revealing mistake: In the scene where Calvin is driving with Ricky after bailing him out of jail and Ricky tells Calvin to pull over so he can toss the gun, you can clearly see that Calvin isn't actually turning the steering wheel. You can notice this more after Ricky gets back in the car and Calvin drives away and does a hand-over-hand turn.
Continuity mistake: During the briefing Alexei Vostrikov was receiving from the Generals, he has three stars on his shoulders, but for the most of the rest of the movie he only has two stars on his shoulders.
Continuity mistake: In the split screen scene when Lauren removes Sean's sunglasses, you can see that after the shot pans outward where both are facing each other, they are actually several feet apart. There is no way she could have reached his face from where she is standing. (00:37:01)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Tom Green has the boy hanging from a rope with a chainsaw. When the boy cuts the limb the limb hits the car, and bounces onto the ground. The camera cuts to Tom Green and Jason Lee, and then back to a shot where you can see the car and the limb is back on the trunk.
Continuity mistake: When Sy is following Nina and Jake after he put the picture of the husband cheating in with Jake's pictures, the cars pull over to the side of the road. If you watch when they pull over, you see that they pull over next to a down sloping hill that is nicely green with grass and a few sporadic trees. But when they show Sy's car in the rearview mirror, you see that they are now pulled next to a large up sloping hill that is covered in leaves, dirt, and a lot of trees. (00:53:40)