Best history movie revealing mistakes of all time

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The Alamo picture

Revealing mistake: When Crockett, Bowie and their men are about to destroy the giant cannon, several of the men are standing right next to it at the moment one of them tosses the torch on the touch hole. Then, there's a big flash at the touchhole. In the very next shot, right before the cannon explodes, we see the cannon, but everyone has disappeared. There was no time for them to flee completely out of sight.

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The Great Escape picture

Revealing mistake: Towards the end of the film, when Hilts (Steve McQueen) is in a motorcycle chase with the German guards, if you watch closely, when the camera cuts away from Hilts and to the German motorcyclists, you might be able to notice that one of the guards chasing McQueen IS actually McQueen! They used him to play one (or maybe more) of the guards because of the experience he had with motorcycles. This can also be seen in some behind the scenes footage on the DVD version of the film.

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Elizabeth picture

Revealing mistake: When Mary of Guise is found dead by her nephew, he lies her down and puts his head on her chest. As he comes down, her eyes slap shut! If she were dead, they would remain open.

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Gods and Generals picture Gods and Generals mistake picture

Revealing mistake: In the Fredericksburg battle scene, just after the Union officer orders the men to fall back, there is a 1 or 2 second close-up shot of a Confederate soldier taking a hit and falling back. As he does, a modern wristwatch is visible on his left wrist under the sleeve of his coat. (01:49:49)

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Hero picture

Revealing mistake: In the final fight scene in the desert between Broken Sword and Flying Snow, when the camera cuts to the wide shots of them standing there, looking at each other, you can see tire tracks in the sand. (01:24:30)

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Seabiscuit picture

Revealing mistake: After William Macy interviews Jeff Bridges and when the narrator is describing Seabiscuit's fans (the scenes are about an hour apart), you see shots of people in trees. They are the same shot.

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Michael Collins picture

Revealing mistake: When Liam Neeson is on the boat on his return from England there is a shot of the water and part of the boat where you can see a modern CCTV camera on the side of one of the masts - rather advanced for the time the film was set. (01:21:20)

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1492: Conquest of Paradise picture

Revealing mistake: At the beginning of the voyage, in the shot where the camera pans around the ships (just after the scene when the sail is being unfurled) we can see a jet airliner contrail mark on the sky.

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The Untouchables picture

Revealing mistake: When they are on the bridge between USA and Canada one of Capone's men is shot (in the breast) by the rail of the bridge. Seen from outside the bridge you can clearly see that the stuntman is not falling, but he is jumping off the bridge.

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Schindler's List picture

Revealing mistake: In the scene where the women are laying in their bunks in the work camp and one lady is describing what she heard about the horrors of other concentration camps, at the end one woman puts up her hands to her face. You can see her fingernails are neatly manicured, something you'd think wouldn't be possible in a forced labor camp.

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Apollo 13 picture

Revealing mistake: In the final 1/2 hour there's a scene in which Kevin Bacon is drifting weightlessly in the lunar module, with a roll of duct tape floating nearby. Just during the last couple of seconds of this shot, suddenly he & the roll accelerate to the right. As everyone now knows the zero-g scenes were photographed on-board an aircraft which flies free-fall arcs for up to about 20 seconds before having to level off. The sudden acceleration on the set means that shot was filmed just as the plane was leveling off from a dive. (01:53:40)

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Quo Vadis picture

Revealing mistake: When the Christians are being fed to the lions, we can see that when a lion "attacks" one of the men, the man is actually smiling and visibly playing with that wild animal.

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The Man in the Iron Mask picture

Revealing mistake: When the Three Musketeers are escaping into the river with Louis, Porthos throws another Musketeer into the stone wall. You can see the wall jiggle when he hits it.

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Spartacus picture

Revealing mistake: During the initial breakout of the Gladiatorial training school an armed guard is stabbed on a balcony and falls to the arena below. He gets up and walks into the doorway adjacent to where he had fallen, apparently satisfied that his part was completed.

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Killing Jesus picture

Revealing mistake: After Jesus saves the woman from being stoned to death, members of the crowd drop their stones, but the stones bounce back up when they hit the ground.

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Spotlight picture

Revealing mistake: In Garabedien's office, supposedly in Boston, the top shelves are full of the Dominion Law Reports, all Canadian legal cases, with the Canadian publisher's name prominently displayed. Below that is long shelf of environmental law reports, an odd thing in a criminal lawyer's office.

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Battle of Britain picture

Revealing mistake: Technical Glitch: In the opening scene before the opening credits. The British are being run out of one of the last remaining fields in France. The Sergeant is burning the "lame ducks" when German planes attack. A German plane attacks almost directly toward the camera, you hear machine gun noises but no effects. Next a plane attacks from right to left, you hear machine gun noises and see the effects indicating the bullets striking the target. After the second plane has gone you see the effects of the first planes attack.

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