Best movie factual errors of 1996

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Primal Fear picture

Factual error: In the beginning the guy shooting pool gives a CD to Richard Gere, he says that the song they were listening to is the fourth song when in fact it's the first song on the album.

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Up Close and Personal picture

Factual error: When the bodies wash up on Miami beach, they do a live remote report from the beach. However, the TV station truck that they are riding in is a regular truck that is not equipped with the satellite dish and extension pole necessary to send a live feed back to the station. They had nothing more than a shoulder camera with a wire running from it.

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Diabolique picture

Factual error: The geography throughout the film is all wrong. The setting is in Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. The driving times between there and Williamsport are extremely under-estimated. Most egregious is the river structure. The body is found in the river near Sunbury. Not possible from a site in Western PA. Basically all relationships between actual towns/cities mentioned are totally wrong.

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Dragonheart picture

Factual error: When Kara is sitting up on the bed after Einon throws her down, you can see she is wearing a bra. They didn't have bras in Medieval England.

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Hellraiser: Bloodline picture

Factual error: A vinyl knife is present among other tools of torture during the 1700's sequence, but vinyl flooring did not come into the commercial market until the mid twentieth century.

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Eddie picture

Factual error: After the New York Kicks start their winning streak, they play against the Suns. The sign outside says, "Knicks vs. Suns - SOLD OUT", but when they take you inside, more than half the seats are empty.

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Waiting for Guffman picture

Factual error: Although the movie supposedly takes place in Blaine, Missouri, you can see Texas flags in certain shots. The movie was filmed in Texas.

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Escape From L.A. picture

Factual error: From the range that Snake fired his clip full of blanks at Malloy and his aide, they still would have been burned by the muzzle blasts and quite possibly deafened by the noise. They assuredly wouldn't have stood there smirking. (00:20:15)

Rooster of Doom

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Daylight picture

Factual error: In the beginning of the movie, the explosion in the Holland Tunnel is caused when a car crashes into the trucks carrying toxic waste barrels. In real life, it is against the law for vehicles carrying hazardous chemicals to use any of the tunnels. Even if the drivers didn't know this, which is highly unlikely, they would have been pulled over by the Port Authority cops as soon as they headed for the entrance - lots of yellow barrels would be a bit suspicious.

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A Time to Kill picture

Factual error: Toward the end of the film, Matthew McConnaughey is in his office late at night and hears someone outside (it turns out to be his wife). However, McConnaughey draws a revolver from his desk drawer and we can hear (but not see) him pulling the hammer back to cock the gun. Problem is: When pulling back the hammer on a revolver, the cylinder turns to rotate the next bullet into position. The cylinder did not turn. The sound we heard was obviously added by the sound editors after the scene was shot.

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Beautiful Thing picture

Factual error: Jamie and Steve catch a bus from Thamesmead to Greenwich ... at the wrong side of the road. (00:59:10)

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The People vs. Larry Flynt picture

Factual error: Jerry Falwell and Charles Keating never knew each other personally in real life.

megamii

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One Fine Day picture

Factual error: When the cell phones are switched, Melanie's mom asks Jack what his cell is and he says Pennsylvania-something. The old-fashioned system, over a half-century old of having a two-letter denomination for the area or town, such as PA for the area around Penn Station, or LI, for Long Island, is followed by five digits, but Jack gave four digits, so it wouldn't have been an actual phone number.

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

Suggested correction: Pennsylvania 3317 is the area code. First three numbers are for that area in New York, Then 3317. 10 numbers.

I think it's the New York area code, which for early cell phones in 1996 was most likely 917, then, the area code for all of Pennsylvania in 1996 was 814. I think Jack is saying his number is 814-3317. He wouldn't need to specify the area code since at the time you only included it when dialling out of your own region, or if dialling a mobile number - and the phone Rita's calling would surely have had the same 917 area code as Melanie's, since 917 phones like the star-taks were not yet common.

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Tremors 2 picture

Factual error: As Burt is driving, he is producing a video diary. He indicates it is 1900 hours (7PM) on May 14th, and yet it is pitch black outside. Nowhere in Mexico would the sun have set by 7pm in May.

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Tin Cup picture

Factual error: On the final hole, the shot that Roy "has" to make is hit perfectly the first time. For some unknown reason, it spins backward off the green. This is patently impossible with a 3-wood. The club just doesn't allow it, and any golfer on the face of the earth knows it. This scene should have been shot with a long iron, a 2 or 3 iron, which is still very hard to hit, but at least possible (for a pro) to put enough spin to back it up.

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Barb Wire picture

Factual error: When Barb kills the Directorate colonel at the end, she pulls the hook release on the crane. We don't see the hook come off when it falls.

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My Fellow Americans picture

Factual error: The Hyundai rental car that Kramer and Douglas end up with is, at the newest, a 1989 model, which would be far too old to still be in fleet as a rental car.

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Fly Away Home picture

Factual error: At the start of the movie Amy and her mother Alaine are in a car accident near Auckland, New Zealand. The ambulance is a US or Canadian ambulance, as New Zealand ambulances do not have the word paramedic on the side.

Blair Howden

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Last Man Standing picture

Factual error: When Smith shoots the first man with his twin .45s, the man flies back about 30-40 feet. In reality, he might fall back a foot or two, but he certainly wouldn't be propelled anywhere by simple bullets.

Ian Hunt

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Set it Off picture

Factual error: In the bank robbery scene the signs in the teller windows say FIDC. The correct abbreviation is FDIC.

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