The Frisco Kid

Factual error: The movie takes place in 1850-51, and yet when the Rabbi is challenged to a shootout in San Francisco, the weapon he is handed is an 1858 Remington New Model Army revolver.

Factual error: The rabbi, Avram, shows his partner, Tommy, a photograph of his betrothed. However, in 1850-51, it would not have been on photographic paper, but either a tintype or a daguerreotype, on metal or glass.

Factual error: The entire sequence where the two heroes have to walk rather than ride to escape the posse because it is the Sabbath is completely false. There is a reasonable chance that their lives are in danger from the posse. According to Jewish law, it is forbidden to risk one's life for the Sabbath. In that situation, not only would they be permitted to ride, they would be compelled to. There is no way the rabbi would not know this basic principle.

Factual error: In the wedding reception scene toward the end of the movie, the celebrants are dancing in a circle to Hava Nagilah. The song did not exist in the 1800s. The song is derived from a slow dirge from the early 1800s in Ukraine and was not written as the fast, energetic folk tune we know until around 1918.

Factual error: The locomotive used by the M&O R.R. is a coal-burner, a fuel not employed in locomotive fireboxes until the late 1860s, when bituminous coal mines became prevalent.

Factual error: The movie takes place in 1850-51, and yet when the Rabbi is challenged to a shootout in San Francisco, the weapon he is handed is an 1858 Remington New Model Army revolver.

More mistakes in The Frisco Kid

Tommy: You sure talk funny. Where you born at?
Avram: Poland.
Tommy: Oh. Is that near Pittsburgh?
Avram: No, that's near Czechoslovakia.

More quotes from The Frisco Kid

Question: When Avram is departing on his horse after meeting Tommy, Tommy asks him if he speaks any Mexican. Abram, who doesn't, is puzzled by the question and asks why...to which Tommy responds "Just curious." I've always assumed that Tommy was mocking him cause he was unknowingly riding south and headed for Mexico instead of West towards San Francisco. Am I right?

Gavin Jackson

Answer: Right on the nose.

More questions & answers from The Frisco Kid

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