That Thing You Do

Factual error: When The Oneders are recording their song with Uncle Bob, there is an In-N-Out cup sitting by the recording equipment. There are no In-N-Out restaurants in PA.

Duffman

Factual error: When the boys go to the radio show in CA, the DJ says to the listeners to keep Saturday and Sunday, August 20th and 21st [1964] open. The 20th and 21st of August 1964 were a Thursday and a Friday.

ChiChi

Factual error: Several times during the film a Zildjian stencil logo can be seen on the bottom of a cymbal. Zildjian did not start applying logos until the 1970s.

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Faye and T.B. Player burst into the appliance store to announce the song was on the radio, watch the blue car behind them. It moves forward twice, depending on the camera shot.

Kent Blanch

Factual error: In the scene where Ethan Embry is taking a picture with the Marines, Mickey, and Goofy, the Disney characters are modern characters, and not wearing the same style costumes that were worn in the mid 1960s. When the film was set, the non-black part of Mickey's face was not as round, the bow-tie was orange and had streamers going down the front of his shirt, the collar on his jacket was more fancy and white. In the 60s, Goofy had a larger head, a blue hat, and a green vest. He also had eyelashes which have since been removed from the costume.

Lenny: "Skitch", how did we get here?
Guy: I led you here, sir, for I am Spartacus.

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Trivia: Another Beatles parallel in the film: There's a scene where you see the band members play on stage and Mr. White is watching them (while moving his head along with the music). There's a famous picture of Brian Epstein (Beatles' mythological manager) doing the exact same thing on The Beatles' famous Shea Stadium concert.

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Question: Are the characters in this movie based on actual people? Is it a true story or a fictional story that was entirely possible?

Answer: The movie was written by Tom Hanks and some what reflects the music industry during that time period. It is not about a real band, but shows how a lot of bands were treated at the time and how quickly you can rise and how you can fall even faster.

Bruce Minnick

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