Best movie factual errors of 1987

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Roxanne picture

Factual error: It is not possible to be "allergic to all known anaesthetics". Amongst the amide local anesthetics lidocaine, prilocaine, bupivicaine, mepivacaine and dibucaine are naturally occurring substances and if administered without a preservative they cannot trigger an allergic reaction. If Bales is allergic to them, he'd be allergic to the metabolic processes of his own body. They are all powerful local anaesthetics and could easily be used for a radical rhinoplasty such as that required by Bales.

More Roxanne factual errors
Jaws 4 picture

Factual error: At the end when the shark is attacking the boat and the electronic device is used you can hear the shark roar. Sharks cannot produce this sound since they have no vocal cords.

More Jaws 4 factual errors
No Way Out picture

Factual error: The Pentagon is the largest office building in the world. It has seven floors, 28 kilometers of corridors and 620,000 square metres of office floor space. The idea that the entire building could be searched in one afternoon by six people is beyond absurd. If those six people could search an average of one office every five minutes and they worked twenty four hours a day, seven days a week they'd get through the whole building in 89 days and 15 hours. I don't think the punter they are looking for has a lot to worry about.

More No Way Out factual errors
Wall Street picture

Factual error: The opening shot (of the New York Stock Exchange's trading floor) has the subtitle "1985," which might lead one to expect that at least the action in the first few scenes takes place in the year 1985. However, when Charlie Sheen is talking to his Nimrod broker buddy the Nimrod jokes that the day the Challenger exploded, Gekko was on the phone "selling NASA stock short." The Challenger exploded in January, 1986, not 1985. [An explanation for this: Wall Street, as conceived and filmed, was supposed to be set in 1987. However, near the end of 1986, The Ivan Boesky insider-trading scandal hit, many rules were changed, and acknowledging those events would have undone much of the plotting of the movie. So the movie was shifted back in time to 1985 (before the scandals, and also before the Challenger disaster), thus creating this major goof].

More Wall Street factual errors
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace picture Superman IV: The Quest for Peace mistake picture

Factual error: If the Russian cosmonauts need special suits to survive out in space, so should Lacy when she is abducted by Nuclear Man. (00:02:50 - 01:20:20)

Sacha

More Superman IV: The Quest for Peace factual errors
The Untouchables picture

Factual error: In the warehouse scene with the wooden crates with maple leaves, even though a correction has been submitted saying a maple leaf was valid, the real mistake is the type of maple leaf used. The film shows a modern graphic style of leaf that did not come into use until the 1960s and appeared on the new Canadian flag in 1965. In the time of Capone, the maple leaves used to depict things Canadian looked like actual maple leaves and not like a stylized graphic.

More The Untouchables factual errors
Escape From Sobibor picture

Factual error: Some of the SS rank insignia is incorrect. Most of them do wear correct insignia, with two exceptions. Wagner, who is addressed as Hauptscharführer, actually wears the collar and epaulette insignia of the next higher rank of Sturmscharführer. In reality, Wagner held the lower rank of Oberscharführer. Frenzel is addressed using his correct rank of Oberscharführer, but oddly wears the collar patches of the lower rank of Scharführer and the epaulettes of the higher rank of Hauptscharführer. Bauer and Beckmann, on the other hand, wear the correct collar patches and epaulettes for the rank of Oberscharführer which they did hold.

Necrothesp

More Escape From Sobibor factual errors
Good Morning, Vietnam picture

Factual error: Sergeant Major Dickerson wears his blue infantry cord on his left shoulder. The cord is correctly worn on the right.

Texijapi

More Good Morning, Vietnam factual errors
The Living Daylights picture

Factual error: Austria is famous for its mountains and ski resorts, but certain parts of Austria are quite flat. And the border region between Bratislava and Vienna is VERY flat. No chance to cross the border over a mountain with a ski resort like shown in the movie, unless you take a 600km detour with three more border crossings.

More The Living Daylights factual errors
Predator picture

Factual error: The heat from Dutch's body would warm the mud up in a matter of seconds (tested by the Mythbusters). It doesn't even cover all of his skin or his eyes. And the Predator isn't filtering his input for only large heat sources. His normal vision tracks in on a rat hiding just above Dutch.

Fireball

More Predator factual errors
Withnail & I picture Withnail & I mistake picture

Factual error: When they are driving back home from the holiday cottage you can clearly see an M25 sign in the background. The M25 didn't exist in the 60s.

More Withnail & I factual errors
High Tide picture

Factual error: As Lily and Ally drive away from Eden, they agree to head north towards Sydney. However, when they pull over by the side of the road at the gas station and diner, the coast is to their left, which would mean they are heading south.

More High Tide factual errors
La Bamba picture

Factual error: Buddy Holly is seen singing 'Cryin', Waitin' Hoping' at the Winter Dance Party. He hadn't actually finished composing this song, never mind recording it as a finished piece of work when he went on his final tour. This song comes from his final recordings 'The Apartment Sessions' which he recorded in New York and was finally released after his death, complete with added backing music and vocals.

davidleewarren

More La Bamba factual errors
Robocop picture

Factual error: After Robocop stops the criminal from robbing the convenience store by bending his machine gun, the robber tries to run past him, only to get clotheslined by Robocop. The direction the robber flies after getting hit defies all physics. (00:35:15)

More Robocop factual errors
Broadcast News picture

Factual error: When the Joan Cusack character bolts into the control room with the "Mercenary" cassette, you can here the director counting down to roll the tape. A 3/4" tape being inserted and threaded up in the machine normally takes about 8 to 10 seconds, yet the tape plays when the operator hits the play button.

More Broadcast News factual errors
Beverly Hills Cop II picture

Factual error: Ronnie Cox is shot in the heart at point blank range by Brigitte Neilsen, and it looks to me like she's using a large caliber handgun. Keeping track of the action of the film tells us that Cox is sitting up in bed chatting to his friends just three days later. What nonsense. Even if he did survive (unlikely) he'd still be in Post-Op Intensive Care at that stage. He wouldn't be conscious, let alone allowed visitors.

More Beverly Hills Cop II factual errors
Planes, Trains & Automobiles picture

Factual error: At the beginning of the movie, Steve Martin is trying to catch a cab to LaGuardia at about 5:30PM. In the movie, it's still daylight, whereas in reality, NYC is pitch black by that time of day - the sun sets at about 4:30PM in late November.

More Planes, Trains & Automobiles factual errors
The Quick and The Dead picture

Factual error: Throughout the film Doc Shabbit is carrying a rifle that is supposed to be a Henry repeater. If you look closely it is a Model 1892 Winchester with the forearm removed and a piece of metal welded on the magazine tube to simulate the magazine plunger. The plunger is up against the front of the receiver, which indicates the magazine is empty. Most weapons carried by other characters are pretty much period correct, but a main character has a cobbled up weapon.

More The Quick and The Dead factual errors
Full Metal Jacket picture

Factual error: When 8-ball gets shot, in the shot which shows the platoon ducking near a wall with Cowboy, Joker and Animal Mother in the front, there are two weapon related errors. Cowboy's M-16 has a nickel (silver colored) firing assembly and Joker's M-16 has an A2 type pistol grip. The A2 types were introduced somewhere around the 80s, and nickel plated assemblies are rarely used (and were invented after Vietnam, too). The nickel assembly is visible at the beginning of the shot, and you can see the A2 grip when Joker is changing magazines (while Cowboy shouts cease fire).

More Full Metal Jacket factual errors
The Running Man picture

Factual error: In the beginning of the movie just prior to the Bakersfield Massacre, the camera cuts away from Arnold periodically and shows a computer schematic for his location. The very first coordinate that we see is 29º, 43' N by 119º 23' W and is off the coast of Baja California. The last coordinate that we see is 45º 4' N by 119 8' W and is in north-east Oregon. So, in the 35 seconds or so between these scenes, Arnold's helicopter traveled approximately 1050 miles. That's one fast helicopter. This cannot be explained by saying that they just shortened the trip for the movie because in the first computer schematic you see Bakersfield in the distance which is certainly not 1050 miles away. (00:01:35 - 00:02:10)

More The Running Man factual errors

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.