Directed by: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Bill Murray, John Candy, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates, P.J. Soles
Revealing mistake: When Bill Murray is blowing up the prison door, you see the explosion, but the explosive is still intact.
Revealing mistake: When Bill Murray and Harold Ramis are whipped into the rope snare traps there are huge gaps in the ropes between Harold Ramis' feet that would make it impossible for the trap to secure him.
Revealing mistake: The couple make love in the General's bedroom in the US. Later they make love in a German hotel room. The same set is used for both scenes.
Factual error: Then, as now, every recruit reporting to boot camp would be tested for illegal drugs, first by a urine test and then by a broad spectrum blood test in the case of a positive result. There is no reason for Elmo to try to hide his stash when the recruits are told they are to be tested - he is going to come up positive anyway. He may as well just say he has changed his mind and walk away. He is entitled to do that any time up to ten days after he signed on, and it happened a lot in real life!
John Winger: C'mon, it's Czechoslovakia. We zip in, we pick 'em up, we zip right out again. We're not going to Moscow. It's Czechoslovakia. It's like going into Wisconsin.
Russell Ziskey: Well I got the shit kicked out of me in Wisconsin once. Forget it!
Trivia: The "kitchen utensil" scene between Bill Murray and PJ Soles was completely improvised.
Question: Why are Czechoslovak border guards speaking Russian? The Soviet Red Army would not be guarding the border with West Germany.
Answer: In 1981 Czechoslovakia was part of the Warsaw Pact and thus under the Iron Curtain. The Soviet Union would not fully allow the satellite states to do their own border security, so Soviet guards were placed.
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Suggested correction: Those drug tests didn't exist in 81.
Did you watch the film? The recruits are told they are about to take a broad spectrum drug test - not they are going to be searched for drugs, they are going to tested for the presence of illegal drugs in their systems. As has been pointed out such drug tests were mandatory at the time the film is set but that is not important - in the context of the film Elmo's action make no sense as he is going to be tested for drugs. Hiding his stash makes no sense at all as it will not solve his immediate problem. The posting is correct and the correction is nonsensical.
Drug testing of recruits commenced in the United States on a trial basis in 1975 and became compulsory in 1977. In 1981 every single volunteer would have to take a broad spectrum drug test before being allowed to start boot camp.
What specific drug tests didn't exist? Nixon directed a military drug urinalysis program in 1971 and the DoD started random drug testing in 1974 (not that testing deterred drug use).
Bishop73
I enlisted in 1982. I got a single drug test at the meps and didn't get tested again during an entire 3 year enlistment. In fact, I didn't receive a drug test until 2 years into my second enlistment. The military just wasn't as strict on drug testing.
ssgemt