Best movie factual errors of 1985

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Pale Rider picture

Factual error: As Preacher and Hull ride out of town for first time, Hull offers "3 hots and a cot." Earliest reference of this term is in the 1930's.

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Better Off Dead picture

Factual error: A native French speaker like Monique would never mistake the word 'testicle' for 'tentacle'. The French word for 'testicle' is 'testicule' and the word for 'tentacle' is 'tentacules' - both are pronounced almost identically to the English form. She'd have to confuse the two words in French, and not even a non-English speaking French person would make a mistake like that. Monique's English is very good. She'd be perfectly aware of what she was saying.,.

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Commando picture

Factual error: If the access hatch to the nose wheel well on an airliner was opened at any time during the flight, every alarm panel in the cockpit would light up like a Christmas tree. In this case happening within seconds of takeoff the pilot would immediately declare an emergency, turn around and land at the airport he had just left.

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Back to the Future picture

Factual error: The electric guitar Marty plays at the "Enchantment Under the Sea Dance" is a Gibson ES345. This guitar model debuted between 1957 and 1958 yet he's supposedly playing it in 1955. It would have been more accurate to have him using a Fender Telecaster (1950) or Stratocaster (1954) or a Gibson Les Paul (1952). (01:23:50)

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D.A.R.Y.L. picture

Factual error: While the problem with refuelling the SR71 is a real one for D.A.R.Y.L., he is never going to get that far. The SR71 had no self starters and required a trained crew with a starter generator mounted on a truck to get the engines going in the first place. D.A.R.Y.L. just pushes a button and away he goes. Not likely.

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Rambo: First Blood Part II picture

Factual error: When Rambo plays possum then suddenly takes out the Russian officer's Hind Helicopter he uses an M72A2 light anti-tank weapon (LAW). When fired, the M72A2 has a back blast that can kill out to 100 feet, which means he would have either blown up his own helicopter or killed all the MIA's he had rescued...

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Return to Oz picture

Factual error: When Dorothy runs away from the hospital she is chased by a nurse, who has a torch. Earlier in this film the doctor said they two months away from the 20th century which gives the year as 1899. Such a modern torch that the nurse had was not invented yet.

Hamster

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Clue picture

Factual error: When the evangelist first enters the mansion, Mrs. Peacock calls him a beatnik. However, the movie is set in 1954, and the word "beatnik" was not coined until 1958. (01:15:25)

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Teen Wolf picture

Factual error: There are no palm trees in Nebraska, visible when Wolf Scott surfs the Wolfmobile. (00:59:45)

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Runaway Train picture

Factual error: The train consists of four locomotives, but close ups beaneath the train show the wheels of freight cars.

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The Goonies picture

Factual error: When Mouth flattens the tires on Brand's bike, all he does to let the air out is take the valve caps off. There's actually a valve in the valve stem that needs to be depressed to let the air out. The cap is just there to keep dirt out of the valve, simply taking it off wouldn't let the air out.

RJR99SS

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The Color Purple picture

Factual error: When Celie is leaving Albert, she is riding in the back of the car with Shug. As the car drives away down the dirt driveway you can see the telephone pole and electricity wires at the end of the driveway. Not unusual now, but in rural Georgia in the 1930's, it would have been impossible.

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Fletch picture

Factual error: In the culminating scene where Fletch is held at gun point and escapes by turning on the gas valve in the fireplace and then igniting the vapors into a ball of flame, he actually turns the valve into the off position (valve is perpendicular to the pipe). (01:32:00)

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

Suggested correction: The valve was in closed position (perpendicular). He opened the valve (turned parallel to pipe).

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Jewel of the Nile picture

Factual error: The tiny missiles on the F16 are shown as being attached to some sort of flexible metal framework which bends and shifts as the plane moves along the ground. The F16 is a supersonic fighter - any such thing would be ripped clean off the wing at speed. The missiles carried by the F16 are attached to streamlined 'hard points' under the wing, or the wingtips themselves.

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Rocky IV picture

Factual error: Drago is presented as an infantry Captain in the Soviet Army. However, during the press conference his shoulder bars are the same as a soviet Colonel, not a Captain.

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Silver Bullet picture

Factual error: The story takes place during spring of 1976 but Marty's parents drive a 1979 station wagon.

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A View to a Kill picture

Factual error: When Bond crashes the snowmobile he ends up in a ditch to escape - he uses the front ski, but when he knocks the two soldiers over he is skiing uphill - no way to manage this from a standing start in a ditch. (00:03:07)

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Spies Like Us picture

Factual error: When the CIA guys are 'invited' to the secret underground base via the highspeed drop platform - shouldn't they be flying off at the speed the platform is descending?

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Witness picture

Factual error: When Rachel and Samuel leave for Philadelphia by train the train overtakes Daniel's cart after quite a while. That's not possible since Daniel was still standing on the platform when the train left the station. (00:08:45)

NancyFelix

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Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning picture

Factual error: When Vic is in the police car, there should be a screen separating the front from back seats. (00:20:35)

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