Factual error: Would pulling the alarm call the fire and police departments if the phone lines were disabled?
TedStixon
22nd Dec 2022
Die Hard (1988)
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Suggested correction: While I'm not sure how the alarms contact the fire department, it's also important to note that when Karl cuts the phone lines, his brother is re-routing some of the lines. I believe the implication is that he was bypassing certain lines so that way emergency services and the phone company wouldn't get alerts that their phones lines were down at the plaza and send people to check it out. So it would makes sense to me that a fire alarm could still get a signal through the phone lines in that case. (I'm also presuming that the way the fire alarm sends its signal is different from how a phone call is made, since one is automated and not call-based).
15th Dec 2020
Die Hard (1988)
Corrected entry: On the box for the VHS and DVD, it says, "Armed with only a service revolver and his cunning, McClane launches his own one-man war." His gun was a semi-automatic, not a revolver.
Correction: I don't think a mistake on the box-cover counts as a movie mistake. It would probably be better as trivia if anything.
3rd Aug 2019
Die Hard (1988)
Corrected entry: When John McClane fell down the ventilation shaft, that would have ended him. There is no way he could have caught and stopped himself like he did.
Correction: Why would that have "ended" him? I don't see any issue with the scene as shown that would lead to it being a mistake. Sure, the scene might require a slight bit of suspension of disbelief that he'd have the reflexes to catch the shaft as he fell and not break his fingers, but not enough that it'd constitute a mistake.
The problem is that Hollywood has people believing if you fall you can just grab onto something and live. Not true. The force exerted on your arms, even if it were possible to hang on, would rip them off your body. It has happened in real life to too many people. : (.
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