In the Line of Fire

Factual error: When Frank talks to Booth the first time on the phone and realizes he's at the phone outside, he runs to find him, only to find the handset swinging and the phone emitting the periodic screech that is heard after 1 minute of leaving a phone off hook. Seeing as how the apartment is three stories max, there's no way that sound would be playing by time he got there even if Booth somehow hung up first. Furthermore, even if it did take that long, the handset wouldn't still be swinging. (00:14:45)

zephalis

Factual error: The second time Frank speaks with Booth, the line is being traced. When Frank switches over, Okura tells him to keep Booth on the line until they get the ANI (automatic number identification). Assuming the secret service has access to the phone company's internal computer (since you have to have toll-free service or be a customer of an ANI outsourcing company to receive the subscription based info), ANI only says who the phone is registered to and since the call was being tapped they would've had the ANI information before the call was picked up. This still holds true if the ANI is faked by a well built PBX system (as said later). (00:24:10)

zephalis

Factual error: When the motorcade arrives at the hotel, the Secret Service agent opens the door to his limousine and the President gets out. The door is then almost immediately shut. Proper procedure for the Secret Service is to hold the door open until the President is well away from the car, in case of an incident where the President has to be evacuated from the area quickly. (01:19:10)

Factual error: Considering there are 229 people protecting the president, it is a pretty serious security breach that the sharp shooters at the end do not have night vision on their rifles.

Factual error: When Leary shoots at the president, the outer security ring of agents is missing. This is a standard protocol. There are 4 Secret Service agents immediately around him, and a secondary ring of 8-10 agents to handle things like a shooter.

Continuity mistake: When Leary is assembling/loading his gun, the two bullets he slides out of the rabbit's foot appear to be .22 rim fire shells. The ones he slips into the gun appear to be either .32 or .38 center fire.

More mistakes in In the Line of Fire

Mitch Leary: Do you have what it takes to take a bullet, or is life too precious?
Frank Horrigan: Well, I'll be thinkin' about that when I'm pissin' on your grave.

More quotes from In the Line of Fire

Trivia: When the president goes to a town outside Atlanta, the footage is from President George Bush's visit to Woodstock, GA when he was running against Bill Clinton in 1992. They super-imposed the president from the movie into the shot.

More trivia for In the Line of Fire

Question: When he was looking through the seating chart, how did Frank know that Boothe was James Carney at the presidential dinner?

The_Iceman

Answer: Frank had reviewed and was familiar with the list of the attendees since he was concerned about an attempt, and when he looked at the faxed list of new bank accounts, the name Carney jumped out at him.

jimba

Answer: John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln.

Not the question. "Booth" is just a pseudonym used by Mitch Leary (John Malkovich) at the beginning of the film, until Frank and the FBI figure out his real identity. Your answer is right insofar as that's why Leary called himself "Booth." But the question is, how did he immediately connect Leary with the name James Carney on the seating chart.

When he spoke with Sandy Riggs, the organizer of the event, Sandy Riggs said, "Be right back, Mr. Carney." Then when he read the name James Carney on the guest list, he made the connection.

More questions & answers from In the Line of Fire

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.