Con Air

Factual error: At the beginning of the movie, Nicholas Cage is supposed to be an Airborne Ranger. His uniform is correct for someone being in the 75th Ranger Regiment but his hair is entirely too long. Rangers are required to keep their hair EXTREMELY short. (00:01:25)

Revealing mistake: Though it may be a little hard to see, when Poe is in his prison cell towards the beginning, he is doing handstand pushups. This would be really cool to see a star doing these only, you can see the strap around his foot holding him up. (00:07:25)

Factual error: In the movie the officers are seen wearing brown shirts and pants. Officers in the federal bureau of prisons do not wear brown, they wear white shirts and grey pants. (00:14:40)

Character mistake: When Cyrus and Johnny-23 are talking they both pronounce the Spanish version of Johnny-23's name as Juaniyo. That is not how Johnny is pronounced in Spanish. It is pronounced Juanito with a T. Normally I would have chalked it up as a language barrier but Danny Trejo is of Spanish ancestry. He should have known better. (00:20:41)

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Suggested correction: "Juanillo" is another, though less common, diminutive of Juan.

LorgSkyegon

I can appreciate you doing a google search but you would have noticed in your google search that the Juanillo you speak or is predominantly an Asian name and is not a translation of Johnny in Spanish. I am Spanish and can assure you that it was a mistake as Juanito is the correct pronunciation. Thank you for doing your due diligence however he was not playing the role if an Asian.

It should be pointed out that there's a town in Mexico called Juanillo and Juanillo Beach is in the Dominican Republic. So it is a word Hispanic and Latinos might be aware of.

Bishop73

Don't know why the previous guy said that Juanillo is not a common name in Spain... I am Spanish and know 2 guys that go by the name Juanillo. I would say that not only Juanillo and Juanito, but also Juanele are commonly used in Spain and probably Latin America as well.

Other mistake: After Pinball douses "Cochise" with flammable liquid, the match he throws extinguishes before it leaves his hand. (00:22:45)

Con Air mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Pinball is fighting the female guard on the plane they are struggling, and from one angle her hat has fallen off and from another angle she is still wearing it. It jumps between scenes like this with her hat being on and off. (00:24:03)

Continuity mistake: When Pinball is looking for the three convicts who are to get off at Carson City, Cyrus and Billy Bedlam are standing near the front of the plane. Cyrus says, "The pilot's white," which prompts a laugh from Billy Bedlam. When Billy smiles his teeth are perfectly white - in the rest of the movie they are yellow and stained. (00:32:10)

Revealing mistake: When the fake block is discovered in Cyrus's cell, the back of the block is painted and surfaced to match the surround blocks. This cannot be done from the inside of the cell (Cyrus doesn't have access to the other side to properly hide the fakeness of the block). (00:35:10)

Continuity mistake: When the plane is at Carson City for exchange of prisoners, the guards have jackets with 'Dept of Prisons' printed on the back, but there is a bus with 'Bureau of Prisons' written on the side. (00:35:50)

Continuity mistake: When Pinball leaves the plane, he opens a door under the cargo hold, and he never makes it back on the plane, but when the plane is taking off, that door is now closed. (00:43:00)

Murfcin

Factual error: After the hijacked plane departs Carson City, they are pressed for time. We can assume they fly a direct route to Lerner Airfield, not flying any doglegs. So flying over Fresno can not have been a deviation, it must be on a direct route from Carson City. Lerner Airfield, however, is exremely dry, wide-spread desert land, but such type of land doesn't exist in the lush areas of California South of Fresno, on a straight line extended from Carson City beyond Fresno. (00:43:40 - 01:04:35)

Con Air mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Diamond Dog puts the hat on in the plane after it's hijacked, he puts it on backwards.A second later, it's on straight without him turning it around. (00:43:55)

Continuity mistake: Coe releases Pinball's dead body from the forward landing gear bay and pushes it out of the aircraft. The landing gear then starts to retract. Cut to a wide shot of the aircraft with Pinball's body falling away, and the forward landing gear is retracted, and the landing bay doors fully closed. Cut to Poe in the landing gear bay, and the gear is still retracting, and the bay doors are wide open. (00:52:00)

Continuity mistake: When Diamond Dog opens the door in the floor and tells Poe to go down to take care of the landing-gear problem, he has plenty of sweat in his face (downright wet and reflecting). In the next shot he has barely a trace of sweat in his face. (00:52:55)

Revealing mistake: When Pinballs is squeezed in between the landing-gear door and the fuselage/landing-gear, you can see in the face that it's a dummy. (00:53:35)

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Suggested correction: That absolutely looks like Dave Chappelle and not a dummy.

jshy7979

Factual error: When Pinball falls from the aircraft, he lands in Fresno, California supposedly. Fresno does not have more than two buildings over 30 stories - the city in the movie has many more. (00:54:00 - 00:54:55)

Factual error: The tour plane departs Carson City, but shortly later Larkin says that the hijacked plane was over Arizona (still believing it to be the hijacked C-123, not knowing yet that the tour plane has the transponder of the C-123 on board). Even if we take the NorthWestern-most area of Arizona, that would be over 300 statute miles from Carson City. That small plane can not fly over 300 miles in that short time. (00:59:25)

Factual error: When John Cusack is driving the old Corvette to Lerner Field he shifts the car. He is going way too fast to be shifting from second to third so apparently he is shifting from fourth to overdrive. The only problem is that five speed transmissions weren't available until much later. In fact, on these old transmissions, shifting up and to the right from fourth would put you in reverse. (01:00:50)

Factual error: In a scene during the C-123 (airplane) flight, Nicolas Cage and another man open a trapdoor in the floor on the plane and go down to a lower level to discuss their plans. This aircraft sits very low to the ground and has no lower level in any part of the cargo area. (01:00:55)

Factual error: The tour plane flies way too fast and way too close to the buttes on its scenic tour. For one thing, that prop plane type cannot fly that fast, and secondly, no tour pilot would ever fly that fast and close to the surrounding terrain. Such a tour would most definitely be operating according to Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations, but even if operating under Part 91 (which a commerial tour cannot be) it would violate the FARs in terms of minimum safe altitudes, minimum lateral distance from obstacles/terrain, and the catch-all "reckless and careless" clause would apply as well. (Notice this happens already before they're confronted with the Cobras.) (01:02:20)

[Poe is looking out of the back of the plane at the DEA agent's car tethered to it, flapping about.]
Cameron Poe: On any other day, that might seem strange.

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More trivia for Con Air

Question: What is the actual likelihood that a decorated serviceman, with no prior criminal record (we know this because if Poe had any priors he wouldn't have been in the Army) would actually get prison time for killing two men who attacked himself and his girlfriend? Seeing as there were witnesses (said girlfriend and bartender) I find it hard to believe he would have gotten more than an extended period of probation. A prison term, even a year or two, seems severely harsh considering the circumstances.

dablues7

Chosen answer: Zero. As you said, he was attacked and there are witnesses that he tried to avoid the fight and the killings were in self-defense. It is an extremely weak plot hammer to get Poe onto a plane full of criminals. It's foolish as well. The writers could have had Poe framed for a crime then exonerated and put in the same situation much more believably.

Grumpy Scot

It's in Alabama. People are put in prison here for much less.

First, Poe is a federal prisoner, not subject to State laws or legal procedures. Secondly, he is not in Alabama. During a conversation with Billy Bedlam we hear that he is incarcerated in the "Q" - prison slang for San Quentin in California. It makes you wonder why a Federal prisoner is in a State prison, but that's another type of mistake.

Would it really be considered self-defense, though? After he beat the guys to the ground he could have just stopped and walked away, but he didn't. He kept beating them until they died.

He is defending his wife against two armed assailants, and use of lethal force is allowable. No DA in the United States would even think about pressing charges, knowing full well a grand jury would throw them out in a second.

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