Best war movie character mistakes of all time

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Saving Private Ryan picture

Character mistake: Before the final attack in the village, we can see a wall with an advertising for Byrrh, an aperitif drink made from a blend of wines. The ad reads: "Byrrh, l'ami de l'estomach, " which basically means: "Byrrh, stomach's friend." In French, the correct spelling is "estomac." not "estomach." This is quite a big mistake since the ad and the building are three or four stories high.

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Gettysburg picture

Character mistake: When Buster gets hit in the arm the first time, he is busy tying the kerchief below the wound. (02:21:05)

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In Harm's Way picture

Character mistake: As Torrey's launch heads for his new flagship, a signalman calls to the quarterdeck that the admiral's party is arriving. However, the signalman gets his signals mixed, addressing his message to the signal bridge from the quarterdeck, instead of the other way round.

goofyfoot

More In Harm's Way character mistakes
The Longest Day picture

Character mistake: When Rommel leaves his French headquarters for Germany on June 5th for his wife's birthday on the next day, he erroneously states that date as 6th of July (pronounced yoo-lee), not June (pronounced yoo-nee). (00:29:30)

Daniel4646

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1917 picture

Character mistake: Scene where they push the truck out of the mud; right after they drive away in the background you can see that the other side is flat grass. They never had to do all that.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Trucks of that era were not equipped with limited slip, nor posi-traction differentials, so having their truck land in mud on the drive axle side of the differential resulted in exactly what's portrayed in the movie.

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Devotion picture

Character mistake: While discussing his squad providing air support for the Marines on the ground, Lt. Cmdr. Cevoli refers to the men as "soldiers." Marines are not called "soldiers" because they are not in the Army. It is common for a layperson to make this error but nobody in the U.S. Navy would do this.

BaconIsMyBFF

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Age of Heroes picture

Character mistake: When the American hands over the wills to Ian Fleming he calls him Lieutenant Commander, but when Fleming turns up at the camp he has gold braid on his cap - only commanders and above wear gold braid. Also they kept calling the RAF guy Flight Sargent but he didn't have a crown above his stripes.

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Major Dundee picture

Character mistake: Ryan's final diary entry says the US Cavalry fought against "French irregulars." The French lancers were actually regular troops.

Necrothesp

More Major Dundee character mistakes
Platoon picture

Character mistake: When the soldiers are emtying the latrines and the "surfer" guy says he "broke a hundred the other day" and has 92 days left, he states that April 17th is his DEROS (Date Eligible to Return from Overseas). Later we hear Charlie Sheen say that it's "New Years Day." This would have put the "Latrine scene" around January 5th.

Skullduggery

More Platoon character mistakes
Patton picture

Character mistake: While General Patton is in Malta as a decoy for a fake Greek invasion, he gives some aides a tour of the fortifications there and tells them that they were "defended by 400 Knights of Malta and 800 mercenaries against a force of 40,000 Turks." He is referring to the Siege of Malta in 1565, but the date he gives is 1528.

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Operation Petticoat picture

Character mistake: At the end of the movie, when Tony Curtis goes aboard Sea Tiger, the word is passed, "Attention on deck." Since he is the captain, the proper announcement would be, "Sea Tiger arriving."

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The Reader picture

Character mistake: During the seminar, Professor Rohl tells students that only 19 workers of Auschwitz were sentenced (in 1966). During the first trial of Nazis from Auschwitz, 39 were sentenced, including 23 persons condemned to death. The trial was in 1947 in Krakow.

wozi

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The Bridges at Toko-Ri picture

Character mistake: Early in the movie, a flight deck officer tells Mickey Rooney to hurry up, and Rooney replies, "Very well, sir," which is major breach of Naval etiquette. (Officers say "very well" to enlisted personnel, but an enlisted man NEVER says "very well" to an officer.).

mdwalker

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Pearl Harbor picture

Character mistake: When threatening Evelyn with jail, the Army Signals officer says "Brig" which would be a Navy jail. In the Army the appropriate threat of incarceration would be the stockade.

Lupe1

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Jarhead 2: Field of Fire picture

Character mistake: When the supply convoy is ambushed, Soto is instructed to get on the .50 caliber. However, the weapon on the gun ring is a .30 caliber M1919 machine gun, not a "Ma Deuce" .50 caliber.

goofyfoot

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Battle of Britain picture

Character mistake: Many windows only have 1 or 2 panes taped over to prevent glass from shattering when it's hit. Unless every pane is taped over this will achieve next to nothing.

stiiggy

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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 picture

Character mistake: In the exchange at the train station in district 2, Katniss says how she killed Cato in the 74th games, and Cato killed Thresh and Thresh killed Clove etc However Cato didn't kill Thresh - he was attacked by the mutts and killed by them. (00:14:50)

Ssiscool

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Casualties of War picture

Character mistake: When the platoon is walking to the village the next morning after the firefight in the jungle the previous night Brownie is shown walking with no sleeves on his fatigues then later on right before he's shot and killed by the VC he's shown with sleeves on but rolled up when talking to Ericsson near the farmer in the rice paddy.

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The Last Legion picture

Character mistake: Merlin tells Arthur that Pendragon means Son Of the Dragon when it actually means Top Dragon or senior leader. Pen is Welsh for top not son.

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Zeros and Ones picture

Character mistake: Immediately after kissing (through masks) and having close contact with JJ, Valeria removed her protective mask and went to check on her sick/crying child. Valeria was clicking her tongue, kissing her child on the face/head and putting her hands around the child's ears/hair. Valeria did not take appropriate preventive measures for contracting and/or spreading COVID-19. (00:18:40 - 00:19:29)

KeyZOid

More Zeros and Ones character mistakes

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