Trivia: The idea of helicopters was not necessarily new in WW2, but effective designs were not made until after the war; there is evidence from some literary sources (one of them being a book named "German Secret Weapons of WW2" or something like that) that the Germans did indeed conduct experiments and designs on this vehicle type.
Trivia: Australian playwright David Williamson makes a cameo as the tall player in the opposing team in the football match held near the Pyramids in Egypt.
Trivia: Halloran's plane, George-Ann, is named after the director's wife.
Trivia: Whenever Nicholas Cage had to fall over, he had to be lowered down on a harness onto a crash mat because he hates falling over.
Trivia: The "Graf Spee" still exists! The USS Salem (which played the part) is now a museum.
Trivia: The filming in Czechoslovakia was interrupted due to life imitating art somewhat when in August 1968 the Soviets decided to invade. The evacuation of cast and crew was performed using a fleet of 20 taxis.
Trivia: Operation Petticoat was filmed at the US Naval Base in Key West Fla. They actually did paint a submarine pink. I was attending the Fleet Sonar School on the base at the time and watched with great interest. The submarine used was the U.S.S. Balao (SS-285), which was still in commission at the time.
Trivia: The hand that lights the lighter in the cooking scene is the director, Gregor Jordans' hand. It says this in the DVD's audio commentary.
Trivia: The movie was not very popular in the US since it dealt with WWII and Nazis in a very unconventional way (for Americans), but it did enjoy great popularity in Europe.
Trivia: Geraldine Chaplin, the actress who plays Dr. Zhivago's wife, is the daughter of the silent film actor, Charlie Chaplin. Her maternal grandfather was famed playwright Eugene O'Neill.
Trivia: A (corrected) entry states that a USAAF B-17 'Flying Fortress' bomber is visible in the film. In fact in some prints produced for release in the US irrelevant stock footage of a B17 was randomly cut into the film to make it more acceptable to American audiences. This was a deliberate alteration of the film done very much against the wishes of the producer and director, and it explains the 'error' - the contributor has seen one of the non-canon US prints.
Trivia: This film is based on Pentagon lawyer Adrian Cronauer's life as a DJ during the Vietnam War. He is worked in the Pentagon in its MIA/POW office until his death on July 18, 2018.
Trivia: The Ice Cold in Alex refers to an Ice Cold Carlsberg lager when they reach their destination - the final scene, where they get their ice cold lager was later used by Carlsberg in an advertising campaign.
Trivia: Roberto Benigni became the first Italian actor in more than 35 years to win an Oscar for an acting role. The last winner was Sophia Loren. His unexpecting Oscar win for "Best Actor" marked only the second time that an actor had directed himself in an Academy Award winning performance. The other was Laurence Olivier for Hamlet (1948). Benigni also became the first actor to win a best actor oscar for an non-English speaking role.
Trivia: The USS Nimitz was based in the Atlantic during filming of this movie. When the ship pulls into Pearl Harbor past the USS Arizona Memorial, it is actually the USS Kitty Hawk not the Nimitz.
Trivia: At the very end of the film when Gregory Peck and David Niven are standing on the deck of the warship watching the explosions, you can see a very distinctive injury on Niven's upper lip. During the filming of the sequence where the commandos climb the cliffs he was slammed into the rock face by the water dumped on them to simulate the waves breaking over them. The resulting infection put him in hospital. He complains about the indifference of the film's producers in his book "The Moon's A Balloon."
Trivia: The film was a favorite of President Woodrow Wilson, a Southerner who was alleged to be a racist, evident through his purging of blacks working in the federal government during the first presidential term.
Trivia: The character who plays Capt Ross is the son of Coronation street's Ken Barlow a.k.a William Roache.