Factual error: In the parade scene with Joey Zasa, they are having a raffle where they can win a Cadillac Eldorado. On the car a sign reads "Win THIS 1979 CADILLAC Diesel." The mistake: This a not a 1979 Cadillac Eldorado, it's a 1980 Cadillac Eldorado. The difference is the grill and a light under the headlights. The grill for the 1979 model has 14 spaces between the vertical metal beams, the 1980 model has 18 spaces between the vertical metal beams. Also the 1980 model has orange lights under the headlights, 1979 model has no such colour. Even though these two models are almost identical, there is a small difference in appearance. (01:17:55)
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.
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).
Factual error: When Paul hits Annie in the head with the 15 pound typewriter, she is only incapacitated for 2 or so seconds and has no bruising or bleeding on her face. One would think a typewriter this heavy would at least cause some type of injury to her face, such as bruising or bleeding to her face and would incapacitate her for longer than 2 few seconds.
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)
Factual error: When McCoy gets off the subway, we see he is riding the number 1 train and he gets off at 77th Street station. First of all, the number 1 train runs on the west side of Manhattan, no where near his Park Avenue residence on the east side, and second, there are no 77th Street stops on the number 1 line.
Factual error: At the beginning when one of the thieves steals the red Porsche, he opens the car with a tool but turns it on without the key in just one second.
Factual error: It's highly unlikely that any military police from another country would be allowed entry into the U.S. to search for a deserter of its military. In any case, the illegal alien would just hide here under the radar until found by ICE or the police and then deported back to his or her country.
Factual error: The film takes place in 1965. In Lawrence's description of his "I was white" dream, he refers to music by 3 Dog Night (which he calls "3 Dogs in the Night"), a group that was formed in 1967. He also references Creedence ("Clarence") Clearwater Revival, which was first called by that name in 1967.