Factual error: In the balloon scene it seems like Q can circle around and land on a spot where he flew past previously. A balloon can only fly in the direction of the wind.
Factual error: Even though this film is set in 1965, Burlington Northern locomotives can be seen. The railroad was formed in 1970. Also, an EMD GP40-2 can be seen at the beginning of the film, but the first ones were built in 1972.
Factual error: At one point, WOPR shows 22 Soviet subs leaving port. The map shows the Kola Peninsula, in the Arctic, bordering Norway and Finland. But the speaker say's they're departing Petropavlovsk, which is on the Kamchatka Peninsula, 4000 miles to the east, near Japan.
Factual error: When the shark swims towards the glass, it doesn't move its tail. Sharks have to swing their tail in order to swim. There is no way this shark could be moving.
Factual error: Chuck Yeager's sidekick, Jack Ridley, appears in many key events which occurred after 1957, including the climactic 1963 test flight of the NF-104 plane that Yeager ejects from and is picked up by Ridley. Jack Ridley actually died in 1957, when the aircraft he was co-piloting crashed into a mountain in Japan.
Factual error: Jack lives in suburban Detroit, yet there are palm trees along the streets.
Factual error: When we first see Fatima Blush she is waterskiing. She is doing several stunts which are only possible with one ski, the most notable being skiing backwards with one foot in the air. But when she releases the tow rope and skis up the ramp into James Bond's arms, she is on two skis. (00:45:55)
Factual error: Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson both live in River Oaks (very ritzy neighborhood in Houston) and are traveling to Brennans restaurant in downtown Houston maybe 5-10 miles away - but they go by way of Galveston which is about 45 miles south of Houston - which needless to say is way way out of the way... (00:50:40)
Factual error: During the St. Louis part, they show the Griswolds crossing the bridge into Missouri and *then* getting lost in what they title "East St. Louis." East St. Louis is actually in Illinois, so they would have encountered it before crossing the bridge. This has apparently been corrected in the video version.
Factual error: When Stefen leads the Ampipe team onto the field to play Walnut Heights, they run out onto the Point Stadium field. The locker room they come from is at the Johnstown Vocational and Technical school, which is in Richland Township. The Point Stadium is in downtown Johnstown.
Factual error: The movie was set in the mid-to-late 1940s, however, the red wagons shown in the display in Higbee's corner window at the beginning of the film, bear a Radio Flyer script logo which was designed in 1967. (00:03:10)
Factual error: The Amtrak Metroliner has open passenger coaches, not the European-style compartments as seen in the movie. (01:30:45)
Factual error: Part of the movie takes place in Vienna, Austria. Although the number plates of the cars are like those in Austria at that time, neither the road markings nor the street car which can be seen when both Steve Martin and Kathleen Turner are "climbing" outside their hotel look like those in Vienna.
Factual error: When the Brainstorm project is taken over by the sinister military operative Landan Marks, he begins weaponizing the brain-interface technology and testing it on the human guinea pig Gordon Forbes. As Gordon is subjected to increasingly difficult fighter-jet simulations, Landan Marks gleefully exclaims to military observers, "Now watch this! He can take a full 10-G rollout without losing control, just by thinking about it!" In the flight-simulator cockpit, Gordon grimaces, but the Brainstorm device allows him to remain conscious and maintain control despite his physical distress. But the fact is that no flight simulator in the 1980s or even today would be able to simulate extreme G-forces as described in this film. In fact, flight simulators then and now can't approximate even low G-forces. Only a giant centrifuge can produce such forces; but Gordon is not in a centrifuge for this scene. It's simply a flight simulator.
Factual error: When the F-16s take off to shoot down the Blue Thunder, both planes have the same tail number 068. All military jets have individual tail numbers. (01:30:25)
Factual error: Karen points out to Thelma that she should have given a nasal swab (to detect internal contamination) after being 'cooked', yet on both occasions when Karen is being scrubbed after being contaminated she has blisters all over her face - something which should be avoided when performing decontamination as this can allow contamination to enter the body.
Factual error: When Arnie Cunningham visits Dennis Guilder in the hospital, Dennis does not have a back brace. Patients with broken backs are put in a back brace to immobilize the spine, serving the same purpose as a cast. (00:42:50)
Factual error: When asked by the Princeton interviewer what he plans to major in, Joel replies "business." Princeton does not offer an undergraduate degree in business.
Factual error: During the huge thunderstorm which causes the fire you can see that it's actually a bright, sunny day with only a mild overcast. Several times you can see the sky in the shots and though sometimes lightning bolts are visible there are only a few light clouds on an otherwise blue sky.
Factual error: The caption says "twenty years later" before the main part of the movie starts. Now judging by the dates we've seen on-screen so far that would be in the reign of William and Mary, not Queen Anne.