Trivia: General Robert E. Lee was shown throughout the movie as wearing the three star insignia of a Colonel, rather than the three stars surrounded by a wreath as was the proper insignia for all Confederate generals. General Lee actually wore this throughout most if not all of the war, and this is accurate.
Trivia: This movie was filmed back-to-back with Letters from Iwo Jima, a fictional account of the battle of Iwo Jima that looks at it from the Japanese soldier's perspective.
Trivia: Humphrey Bogart won his only Oscar for his performance as Charlie Allnut in this film.
Trivia: The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness tells the story of Gladys Aylward, an English missionary in China. The casting of Ingrid Bergman in the role was quite amazing, especially considering that Gladys Aylward was still alive at the time. Ingrid Bergman, who exuded glamour throughout the movie, was 5' 9" tall, had blonde hair and retained her native Swedish accent. Gladys Aylward was of rather plain appearance, stood a mere 4' 10" tall, had black hair and spoke with a cockney accent.
Trivia: The film was to have run six hours with two intermissions, but it was cut down to four with one.
Trivia: Michael Hordern plays Charlton Heston's father in the movie. In real-life, Hordern was only 12 years older than Heston.
Trivia: Esmond P. Knight, the actor who portrayed Captain Leach of the battleship "Prince of Wales" was a crew member on the ship during the real battle where he was badly injured, suffering a period of blindness.
Trivia: The characters John Blackthorne and Toranaga are based upon two historical figures: Togukawa Ieyasu and William Adams, an Englishman who both became a samurai and a close advisor to Ieyasu in the 1600s.
Trivia: Sir Alec Guinness won his only Oscar for his role as Colonel Nicholson in this movie.
Trivia: Thomas Heggen wrote the novel "Mister Roberts" based on his wartime experiences on two Navy cargo ships, U.S.S. Virgo (AKA-20) and U.S.S. Rotanin (AK-108). The Virgo was an attack cargo ship, designed for use in amphibious assaults, and saw quite a bit of action. In the movie, U.S.S. Hewell (AKL-14) was used as the fictional Reluctant. The Hewell was a light cargo ship, designed for coastal operations. A basic comparison of the three ships follows: Hewell/Reluctant: 176 feet long, 500 tons, 26 crew (not 62, as stated in the movie.) Rotanin: 441 feet long, 4000 tons, 206 crew Virgo: 460 feet long, 6500 tons, 404 crew.
Trivia: "Mark" in the film is in reality Mike Coburn, who wrote his own account of Bravo Two Zero. Another writer and ex-SAS, Michael Asher (in "The real Bravo Two Zero") travelled to the area of events and found a different truth than in "McNab's" book. For example that Andy McNab is not his real name, that the cab was not a New York cab but a Toyota Crown and that there is actually no evidence that the patrol ever got into any big fire fights at all. Names and cars are minor discrepancies but the fights are way off what could be called "real events". The film is rather true to the book by "McNab" but not all true to the real events as told by other members and fact finders.
Trivia: The officer speaking French is true to historical facts: it was mainly the French Foreign Legion fighting in Indochina at the time. However, the troops were predominantly of German origin (ex Wehrmacht and SS soldiers) and there is no detectable German accent in their French. True, this could be a fully French unit, thus no mistake. In live movies and interviews from the time, German accents in French are common.
Trivia: When Lance is thrown on the bar during the bar brawl, he yells the Wilhelm scream.
Trivia: Director Alfred Hitchcock has a cameo role in this film - he is seen standing in front of Cut Rate Drugs where Barry Kane is taken upon arrival in New York City.
Trivia: Even though Angelina Jolie plays Colin Farrell's mother in the movie, she is only a year older than Farrell.
Trivia: Steve McQueen received his only Oscar nomination for his performance as Jake Holman in this film.
Trivia: The Chinese extras cast in this film were almost all Spanish residents, especially in Madrid. This was done to such an extreme extent that some Chinese restaurants and other Chinese-Spanish-owned businesses in the Madrid area especially were forced to close for a few days due to lack of personnel.