Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures (2016)

17 mistakes since 19 May '17, 00:00

(6 votes)

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Factual error: In the conference room Katherine is at the board working out of the re-entry figures. She begins by converting 17544 mph to 25371 feet per second. The correct answer is 25731, an error of just over 1 percent in the first line of her calculations. She persists with the error but, contrary to the calculations she's presented, she gives the answer that she would have obtained had she not been working with the wrong figures. She then says that her obtained answer converts to 2990 miles, which it doesn't. (01:34:50)

James the maths teacher

Factual error: The truck that drives John Glenn to the launch pad is an M939 series 5 ton, which did not go into service until 1982.

Factual error: When they are watching the video of Yuri Gagarin's space flight (April of 1961), the announcer describes the time as "UTC." The official abbreviation of UTC and the official English name of Coordinated Universal Time was not adopted until 1967. They would have described it as "GMT" (Greenwich Mean Time).

hgwalters

Video

Factual error: In the conference room scene Katherine presents the landing point, orally and in writing, as 5.0667° N and 77.33° W then indicates this is the target landing point in the area of the Bahamas "give or take 20 square miles." However, this latitude and longitude is actually on the Pacific coast of Colombia - about 1300 miles from the Bahamas and on the other side of Central America. (01:36:00)

James the maths teacher

Factual error: When character Mary Jackson was appealing to Judge in court and sweet-talked him by mentioning his college that he graduated from George Mason, George Mason didn't exist until after 1957 and the movie setting was 1961-1962, which wouldn't be enough time for the character to graduate and become a judge by then. (01:00:00 - 01:05:00)

Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the movie when the car is broken down you can see either a whole bunch of cows are in the field through the passenger window. When Dorothy starts the car with the screwdriver the cows are gone. (00:03:10 - 00:05:54)

Factual error: When Colonel Jackson comes to town to organize a National Guard unit, he is wearing the Army Green military uniform. It only has the branch insignia (infantry) and the US lapel. It has no name tag, no shoulder insignia showing what unit he was assigned to, no shoulder unit crests and no award ribbons. A person with that rank must have been in the Armed Forces at least 16-18 years and no ribbons?

Continuity mistake: When Atlas is launched, Catherine stands in the control room next to the person who has radio contact with Glen. There are three different takes from the same camera angle, and in the last one, Catherine is not standing next to the radio person. It's only a few seconds apart. (01:44:02)

Hidden Figures mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the final scene between Harrison and Katherine. Her pearl necklace starts tucked into her dress, then out while she says "You too, Mr. Harrison", and then back in. (01:56:36)

Factual error: During Glenn's reentry scene in Feb. 1962, a police car is passing. It is a 1964 model.

Factual error: In the background towards the end there is a Mercedes Benz W108 that was not built before 1965. (01:42:45)

Factual error: They show a clip of JFK's Rice University speech on Sept. 12, 1962. Shortly afterwards, Paul Stafford makes a statement that JFK has ensured their job security by proposing to go to the moon. They should have shown the clip from his speech to Congress on May 12, 1961 when he actually first made the proposal to go to the moon. By the time of the Rice speech, two orbital flights had already taken place. In the movie, the first orbital flight (Glenn) doesn't happen until after the Rice speech.

Visible crew/equipment: When the rocket is about to launch, Dorothy drives to a field. After she exits the car the camera crane is reflected on the door.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: After Katherine grabs the book with Euler's Method she writes a formula on the board and puts a circle around it. The circle changes shape between shots.

Sacha

Factual error: The IBM arrives on several pallets with the parts on the pallet fixed with stretch foil. This foil became common in packaging at least ten years later. In the 60s sensible equipment was crated and one should have seen huge wooden boxes.

Factual error: The signs in the hallway are made of blue plastic. Not in 1961. They became common later. (00:09:35)

Factual error: When the man takes a picture at the party, he holds the camera up to his face like a modern camera. The old style camera he is using would require you to hold it down at waist level and look down into the viewfinder.

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Suggested correction: He doesn't hold the camera right up to his face. It is in front of and below his face. You didn't need to hold these cameras right down at waist level. His viewing angle is fine.

Vivian Mitchell: Despite what you may think, I have nothing against y'all.
Dorothy Vaughan: I know, I know you probably believe that.

More quotes from Hidden Figures

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