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Eversmann: Nobody asks to be a hero, it just sometimes turns out that way.

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According to veterans of the actual event, when the Rangers got the go-ahead for the mission and were getting their gear ready, "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N Roses was playing on the base's loudspeakers. There were some half-serious comments among the men about the appropriateness of this song. However, the film's producers failed to secure the rights to use "Welcome to the Jungle," so they substituted Faith No More's "Falling to Pieces"--which is perhaps thematically in line with what happened on the raid. See more...

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Black Hawk Down (2001) - 49 mistakes

Directed by Ridley Scott, starring Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Josh Hartnett, Sam Shepard, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner (add more)

Genres: Action, Drama, History, War

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Visible crew/equipment: Near the end of the movie when the convoy is heading back to the Pakistan Stadium, a Humvee stops briefly to allow a man to walk across the street with a child in his arms. When the shot changes and the Humvee begins driving again, a crew member or cameraman is seen inside the Humvee wearing a white shirt. All of the men who entered the Humvee were wearing fatigues.

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Continuity: In the scene where Star 41 is called to the first crash site, it has mini guns and rockets, but when it gets to the site it has seats for people.

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Deliberate "mistake": When Blackburn reports for duty, he is asked his "Serial Number" and reels off some 7 digit number. However, in '93 and earlier, the Army was already using the Social Security Number (9 digits) for your Service Number (it's not called a Serial Number).

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Character mistake: Early in the movie when Pilla is making fun of CPT Steele, he is referred to as 'Specialist' (E-4) by CPT Steele right before CPT Steele puts him in the headlock. However, later in the movie when he is shot while up in the turret, SGT Strucker refers to him as 'Sergeant' Pilla (E-5). E-5/SGT is denoted by 3 chevrons on the collar and E-4/SPC is denoted by the rank seen on his collar during his scene with CPT Steele.

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Continuity: During the scene when the windshield explodes on McKnight's humvee, he gets clipped in the neck by a bullet. At that moment you can see a bullet hole appear in his passenger seat window. Rewind however and you will see that a few seconds earlier there was no window there. The window only appeared when the bullet was shot.

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Continuity: Just before Sgt. Eversman rappels down from the helicopter at the beginning of the raid you can see that he is not wearing kneepads. On the way down the rope he is wearing them. Once he is on the ground the kneepads are gone again.

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Factual error: The medic working on Jamie (the ranger with the femoral artery wound) is a delta named Schmid (from BHD the book). But in the movie, the guy's wearing green armor and has hair only on the top of his head - both typical of a ranger and not a delta. [Little known fact (far from OPSEC), but prior to deployment, all the Delta guys got high and tight haircuts. I was in 2-14 Infantry (part of 10th Mountain Division) during that timeframe.]

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Factual error: In one of the early scenes at the army base, the song "Die Born" by Days of the New can be heard playing over the PA system. This song was not released until 2001, eight years after the film takes place.

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Continuity: When all units are heading into town, there is a shot from the roadside of the convoy heading in. The camera cuts to the Black Hawks and all the gunners in the Hummvee's have changed position instantly.

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Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where the armored convoy jeeps fire at the roofs as the they drive down the street, when they show the two kids firing guns then getting shot down, look to the right at the pile of rocks that "explode" and you can see the wire used to knock them out of place.

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Continuity: When they call for a stretcher for Blackburn, the stretcher is half folded up. The camera does an instant cut and it is now fully open. They don't unfold that quickly.

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Other: The credits (and various websites) lists Canadian-born actor Kim Coates as portraying the character Wex, but he actually plays Master Sergeant Tim "Griz" Martin.

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Visible crew/equipment: Near the beginning as the helicopters fly in formation to invade Mogadishu, you can see the tail control surface of the film helicopter providing the shot for said scene.

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Audio problem: when Gordon and Shughart go to the 2nd crash site and Gordon knocks on Durants cockpit door, he asks him 'how bad' then fires his rifle. The problem is that 2 cartridges are ejected but there is only one shot heard.

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Continuity: When the Humvees and the trucks pull up to get the prisoners, there is a shot of a man shooting an M60 on top of a Humvee. In the next shot it reveals all the guns on the Humvees are .50 caliber.

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Continuity: When the two delta snipers are defending the second crash site, they sit the pilot down in a building right next to them. Several times it cuts to him sitting there defending their rear. Right after the first delta sniper is killed, it cuts to him again and he has the camo Car-15 in his lap. Following this, it cuts back to the downed chopper and the second delta sniper proceeds to take the camo Car-15 from his fallen comrade and bring it to the pilot covering his rear. The pilot shouldn't have the Car-15 in his lap when he does.

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Continuity: The lead in convoy has it's window smashed with the glass and shrapnel going into the drivers face. A few shots later the glass is back in one piece.

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Factual error: In the background of the scene involving CPT Steele giving SGT Eversmann charge of the Chalk 4, is a transport plane bearing the tail number of a Moroccan civilian plane (CN-ANG). Morocco was not a combatant in Operation Gothic Serpent.

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Factual error: In the movie, the stranded ground force calls in a gun run by Little Bird helicopters by having a Ranger post an infrared marker inside an enemy position to designate the target. This is the only time the attack helicopters are shown actively supporting the defending troops at the crash site. However, it is COMPLETELY absurd and unrealistic(not to mention suicidal) to mark enemy positions in this manner. What actually happened was that the markers were placed around the perimeter of the defender's position for the pilots, who made anything outside of it fair game. Also, the Little Birds provided CONTINUOUS air support with their miniguns and rockets through to the following morning, which is credited by US forces and Somalis alike as being the main thing preventing the Rangers from being overrun and wiped out.

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Revealing: During the Humvee convoy's dash to the first crash site, a quick, far-overhead shot shows the column racing down a dusty street, kicking up an obviously CGI trail of dust. The dust billows up from the Hummers, but travels in the opposite direction far faster than the ground below, almost as if a very strong wind is blowing in the opposite direction of the convoy's travel, but everything else in the shot shows the air to be calm.

Edit Submitted by johnrosa