Best action movie factual errors of 1990

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Die Hard 2 picture

Factual error: It is impossible for a stream of burning jet fuel to follow a plane through snow and catch up. Not only is jet fuel extremely hard to ignite, almost as soon as the plane was off the ground the fuel stream would be too dispersed for the flame to climb up into the tank, and even if not it wouldn't burn fast enough to catch the plane.

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Back to the Future Part III picture

Factual error: Though extremely modest on today's standards, the dress worn by Clara to the hoedown shows far too much cleavage for the time. No schoolteacher would ever wear a dress like that in the 1880s.

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Bird on a Wire picture

Factual error: Mel and Goldie board a ferry. A visible sign states 'Detroit-Racine Ferry'. Detroit is on the east side of the state of Michigan but Racine, Wisconsin is west of Michigan, across Lake Michigan. The only water route to get from Detroit to Racine would be to circumnavigate the entire state of Michigan.

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The Hunt for Red October picture

Factual error: When the USS Dallas submerges to attack the Red October, they rig for battle stations as well as rig for red. On a submarine, rig for red is only for periscope depth operations at night, to allow control room watchstanders eyes to adjust to the darkness topside. No other area on the boat rigs for red. Throughout the movie the lights darken along with battle stations. No naval ship would reduce visibility on purpose in a heightened state. (01:31:00)

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Memphis Belle picture

Factual error: They hold a huge dance in the hangar at night, and Dennis leaves to walk to the Memphis Belle through the hangar doors, which are wide open. The whole flight line, tarmac and hangar are bathed with light - on a US Air Force base in East Anglia during the blackout. Blackout restrictions were rigidly enforced and were not eased until September 1944. The last mission of the Memphis Belle was in May 1943.

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Days of Thunder picture

Factual error: One of the first races that Cole runs is Phoenix. Phoenix International Raceway is a very flat track. There are several shots in that segment showing a high-banked oval.

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Air America picture

Factual error: The movie is set in the late 60's. In the restaurant scene two guys on stage are singing "A Horse With No Name" which didn't come out until 1971.

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Navy SEALS picture

Factual error: At the end of the movie when Hawkins is cutting the guy's throat underwater no blood is visible.

MAdMaN

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Darkman picture

Factual error: During the scene where Peyton is hanging from the helicopter, Durant is firing at him with a grenade-launcher. He hits several cars, most of which end up in flaming wrecks. Despite this, traffic continues as normal... If you saw cars around you exploding, would you casually continue on, oblivious? This error is especially visible with the truck driver, whom reacts to Peyton landing on top of his truck, but seems oblivious to the chaos behind him.

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Total Recall picture

Factual error: Throughout the movie, whenever the domes are breached (which happens much too often) it is said that there is only vacuum outside. But Mars has an atmosphere. Its thin and mostly CO2, but it's there.

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

Suggested correction: While it is not a true vacuum outside the domes, it's around 1% of Earth's atmosphere. The effect of a dome breach would be close enough to a true vacuum to the people affected.

Suggested correction: "Vacuum" is a colloquial way of saying low pressure, just like the 'vacuum' you use to clean the house creates a low pressure to cause suction.

Suggested correction: It's possible human colonization of the planet affected the atmosphere.

If the Martian atmosphere ceased to exist, the sky would be always black, never red as seen in the movie (Mars' sky is actually a butterscotch color during daytime and bluish during twilight).

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Men at Work picture

Factual error: The lights and siren of a police car don't go on when starting the engine. They are turned on and off separately from the engine.

RoyT

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Nikita picture

Factual error: Bob shoots Nikita in the knee to prevent her from doing anything drastic. However her leg heals really fast, without any medical help and no scars at all. (00:19:00)

Hamster

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Maniac Cop 2 picture

Factual error: The blonde cop is thrown into a hardware store. She then grabs a brand new, shiny chainsaw that was sitting on a cardboard stand-up display. Then, of course, she goes to attack the maniac cop with the weapon. A new chainsaw that was on display wouldn't have gas in it.

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Marked For Death picture

Factual error: During the car chase through Northern Illinois they are passing by palm and cypress trees. Not indigenous to Illinois.

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Fire Birds picture

Factual error: The crashed Apache has dirt piled around it as if it hit nose first and slid to a stop. Yet the chopper crashing at over 100 mph didn't even scratch the glass FLIR sensor on the nose. Obviously, dirt was just shoveled around a stationary Apache or a mockup.

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King of New York picture

Factual error: In the scene that takes place on the number 7 train, Penn Station is a destination identifier. The 7 train does not go to Penn Station. It terminates at Times Square.

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Problem Child picture

Factual error: When John Ritter and his wife are sitting with the fertility expert, the doctor explains how her reproductive system is not functional. The manner in which he explains this would lead us to believe that she would have been physically unable to menstruate, thus she would have known long before this meeting that she was incapable of bearing a child.

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Another 48 Hrs. picture

Factual error: No handgun shots can throw a police officer through the air halfway over a diner. That's just pure Hollywood fantasy (Mythbusters even proved this using all kinds of guns).

Gavin Jackson

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles picture

Factual error: April interviews (live) the police Chief and then tries to take the train back home. The subway station shows that it's the City Hall stop, and she just finished her interview with the guy, which happened mid-afternoon as you can see by the clock in the corridor. Despite being New York in the middle of the day, there's not a soul in the station, nobody got off the train she just missed, nobody around at all on any of the multiple platforms. It's a trope good for a scene set at 3 AM, not 5 PM. (00:19:25)

Sammo

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