Public Enemies

Public Enemies (2009)

4 revealing mistakes - chronological order

(2 votes)

Revealing mistake: After a shootout with Baby Face Nelson at a hotel, Melvin Purvis converses with J. Edgar Hoover over the telephone. As he says, "Our type cannot get the job done." Watch the background. You can see a modern era train move along the tracks in the darkness. This is inconsistent with the film's setting of 1933/1934.

Revealing mistake: In an aerial shot of Lincoln Ave in Chicago outside the Biograph Theater the rubber mats laid on the road to look like 1930's brick streets only cover the middle 1/3rd of the street. On the outside 2/3s the street is modern asphalt and shows striping tape for bike lanes.

Revealing mistake: Just after the Little Bohemia scene when Melvin Purvis is shooting Baby Face Nelson, you can see a whole bunch of flashes going off in Nelson's jacket, which are obviously charges going off.

yankeesfan1994

Revealing mistake: In the scene where Dillinger breaks out of jail in Indiana, there is a shot of the getaway car and its license plate, and you can see that the license plate says "Historic Vehicle" on it.

Public Enemies mistake picture

Factual error: In one scene, focused on a period wood-staked pickup truck parked on the street, you can see clearly a modern Jeep Grand Cherokee parked on the other side of the street.

More mistakes in Public Enemies

Melvin Purvis: The only way you're walking out of this jail cell is when we take you out to execute you.
John Dillinger: Well, we'll see about that.

More quotes from Public Enemies

Trivia: Baby Face Nelson did not die as was depicted in the movie; he actually escaped from Little Bohemia and outlived Dillinger by four months (Dillinger died in July, and Nelson the following November). Nelson received mortal wounds in a shootout with two FBI Agents (who died as well). Nelson died that night after escaping with his wife and associates; his body was left in a ditch and discovered by the authorities the next day.

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Question: I must have missed something, but when Dillinger and his accomplice (can't remember his name) are escaping from the lodge, they both hitch a ride with Baby Face Nelson on the dirt road. Later Purvis and his men run Nelson's car off the road and kill him and another guy. Then we see Dillinger and his wounded accomplice with a car in town getting medical supplies. How's that possible?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Baby Face Nelson doesn't pick up Dillinger. He picks up the characters played by Stephen Dorf and another associate. Dillinger and Hamilton escape through the woods and steal a car from an older man they come across in the forest. After the shootout, Dillinger and Nelson are never in the car together.

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