Continuity mistake: When Cortez gets out a photo of his wife pregnant, the photo changes between shots. She is facing a different direction in the next shot. His USMC tattoo, however, stays the same direction throughout the scene. (00:26:55)
Continuity mistake: It is 1940. Two pilots come out of a house - one of them has just lost his wife and family in the London Blitz, the other is an RAF Squadron Leader. The door they come out of has a modern electric bell push - a post 1965 version, white rectangular box with a round button.
Continuity mistake: The pictures of Sara's parents in the locket switch places throughout the movie.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Bunny kills the one legged Vietnamese with the butt of his gun, watch the cigarette in Sgt. O'Neill's mouth. In a shot after the kid is dead, the cigarette in O'Neill's mouth is short. When it shows him again, the cigarette has mysteriously grown. (00:50:00)
Factual error: When Lt. Dunbar is being interrogated in the Commandant's office you can see a map on the far wall. It is a map of Germany dictated by the Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I because it shows E. Prussia separated from Germany and does not include the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia. These annexations were completed before the start of World War II in '39 and certainly before late '44, early '45 when the film took place. It is highly unlikely any German officer would have this map displayed not only because it's inaccurate but because it displayed the territorial losses brought on by the humiliating defeat of World War I.
Revealing mistake: The cannons shown are firing blank charges, which produce no recoil. Recoil has been simulated by towing the guns backwards when they fire. The problem is, there is always a distinct delay between the discharge and the "recoil." The cannon also seem to largely fire explosive shells. At no point do we actually see a cannon ball rolling or bouncing along the ground or into any group of soldiers.
Revealing mistake: In the beginning, there is a scene where Sen. Shaw is watching Raymond make a speech on a TV screen. It was obviously put in in post-production because the aide immediately next to the screen is nodding and clapping in agreement at inappropiate times.
Continuity mistake: At the fair when Isabelle goes to give Suzanna the baby, she actually hands it to her in one shot, but in the next (a split second) Suzanne shows no sign as if the baby ever left Isabelle's hand. (01:38:24)
Revealing mistake: In one scene just before the attack on a big Hunter the young captain (Jürgen Prochnow) is sitting with his charts. Beside him he has got a glass of beer standing. The sub lurches heavily right and left in the hard weather, but the surface of the liquid stays the same.
Factual error: After Hardy dies and they're going through his possessions, a football scarf is pulled from his kit bag. The scarf has a Sunderland AFC badge. The film is set in World War II. The badge on the scarf was introduced in the 1970s.
Revealing mistake: In the scene after the battle of Agincort, where Henry and his retainers are walking meditatively among the heaps of the fallen, if you look carefully, you will see one of the fallen with his head raised watching the procession. He then realizes that he is on camera and puts his head back down. It's near the edge of the screen so may occasionally be cropped.
Factual error: When William Holden visits the Special Operations HQ for the first time a black vehicle is seen pulling in to the complex. The car is a 1948 Dodge or other Chrysler product which had not yet been manufactured.
Factual error: When the camera took a shot on a train coming to a station in Czechoslovakia, you can see electric cables above the train tracks. There was no such thing in Czechoslovakia as electrified trains in the 1940's. The electrification started in the 1950's. (00:01:05)
Other mistake: Capt Cahill was declared dead after the helicopter he was in crashed and then taken captive. I spent almost 24 years in the military and know that if a body is not found, even though presumed dead, the official status is Missing in Action (MIA). The notification to Capt Cahill's family should have been MIA not dead.
Factual error: A very common error in First World War films. British soldiers were not permitted to shave their upper lips until 1916 - in 1914 almost all (unless physically unable to grow them) would have had moustaches.
Continuity mistake: Near the end of the film, when the SEALs are in the inflatable boats heading towards the coast of Beirut, there is a shot from behind showing all the SEALs wearing black diving suits. But when the shot changes to a close up of their faces, you can see they are wearing camouflage fatigues, not diving suits.
Visible crew/equipment: While young Joan is lying in the field next to the sword, in the far right corner you can see a pair of legs and a camera lens pointed at the actress. (00:06:35)
Revealing mistake: When the toggle on the gun is pulled back that supposedly injures Captain S. Melly's fingers, it doesn't actually make contact with them.
Factual error: When Mike is being questioned, he calls himself a soldier. Marines always refer to themselves as Marines - soldiers are the army. (01:01:20)
Factual error: Calendar date at the very beginning of the film (in the police station), shows the dates of Saturday 20th/Sunday 21st July 1983. However the 20th and 21st July 1983 fell on Wednesday and Thursday.