Continuity mistake: Early in the movie when Thomas falls overboard, John Smith ties a rope around his waist (00:02:56) and jumps in after him. Thomas is very far away from the ship (00:03:12). But when the men pull John and Thomas up, John is holding on to the rope with one hand and the end is left dangling (00:03:36). One of the men who pulled them up then coils the rope with a mere two coils (00:03:48), not nearly long enough to have reached Thomas while he was overboard. In the same scene, when we are viewing the men pulling John and Thomas up from above (00:03:38) there is no extra rope at their feet as there should have been for such a long rope.
Pocahontas (1995)
Directed by: Mike Gabriel
Starring: Mel Gibson, Christian Bale, Billy Connolly
Genres: Animated, Disney, Drama, Family, History, Musical, Romance
Factual error: John Smith's (voiced by Aussie, Mel Gibson) accent changes and also fades in and out during the course of the movie.
Other mistake: Just after Grandma Willow says "There's still some snap in these old vines," John Smith puts on his bag, but he just presses it to him instead of putting it over his head.
Trivia: At least three actors in this film have been involved in other Pocahontas-related projects. Gordon Tootoosis also acted in Pocahontas: The Legend, while Irene Bedard and Christian Bale later appeared together in The New World.
Trivia: "Pocahontas" originally included the song "If I Never Knew You", which is now played in pop version in the credits.
Trivia: Pocahontas existed in real life and so did John Smith. When they met, Smith was nearing the age of 40 and Pocahontas was 11 years old. In reality they didn't fall in love. They were friends. Pocahontas later married another Englishman.
Pocahontas: It would've been better if we'd never met. None of this would have happened.
John Smith: Pocahontas, look at me. I would rather die tomorrow than live a hundred years without knowing you.
Ratcliffe: Shoot! [As Thomas runs by, he trips and accidentally fires his gun, almost hitting Ratcliffe in between the legs.] Them, you idiot!
Question: What happened to the one Native American that Governor Ratcliffe shot? I know he went back to the village for treatment but what happened to him afterwards? Did he die?
Question: Why was Pocahontas angry and upset when Tomas killed Kocoum? Kocoum tried to kill John, and he would have killed him if Tomas hadn't been there. He saved John's life.
Question: The soldiers practically drag John Smith up the mountain to be killed. Why does he just lay down on the rock, when there's nothing keeping him there?
Answer: He probably knows that if he tries to escape he'll be shot down by the Powahatans' arrows. He prefers dying with some kind of dignity rather than while running.
Answer: There was a strong belief at this time period, as executions were commonly witnessed, that when you were brought to public execution, the right thing to do was to welcome your end rather than fighting against it. You'll find very few reports during this time of people who were being publicly executed attempting to run away for this exact reason.
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Answer: This is a question the movie chose not to answer. It could be assumed he died as the Powhatans did not have the knowledge to treat gunshot wounds. However, there were cases even as far back as this time of individuals being able to survive gunshot wounds as long as the bleeding could be stopped and infection didn't spread. As the Powhatans did know herbs in the land to treat infections and did know how to mend bleeding; it is also possible he lived though he would have walked with a limp for the rest of his life.