Factual error: The idea of two spacecraft blasting off together so close to each other at the same time is a joke. One would put the other at great risk. Not only is there massive fire and heat, but the vibrations from the noise of the exhaust do great damage to the surroundings. And there is great inconsistency about just how close the two spacecraft really are. The first still shot taken in the dark has them at different towers about 150 yards apart. But, then all the men take an elevator up ONE tower and are split apart into the two groups at the top of the tower. Furthermore, the launch takes place at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39: the fixed and rotating service structures built for the Space Shuttle are visible. The pads at LC 39 are 8,700 feet apart (just over 1.5 miles). (01:00:00)
Factual error: At the end when Ben Willis and his son have Julie at the graves, Ray shows up with a gun. He fires at Ben but there is no bullet in the chamber. Later after the fight between Ray and Ben's son Julie picks up the six-shot gun and fires 8 shots at Ben.
Factual error: After the soldiers' initial disembarkment they are shown crouching in groups near the shore and later running towards the bunkers. Unlike the movie shows, anything even as simple as crouching behind the tank traps, let alone actually standing up and running, was impossible at Dog Green Sector and indeed for anyone when pinned down by a machine gun from a high far-away position. In the real-life landing at Dog Green within 7-10 minutes all the officers of the landing company were dead and the survivors inert. They could do nothing except throw away all their equipment and slowly crawl up the beach, shielded from bullets by the incoming tide and dead bodies. 1 hour 40 minutes after landing twelve (known) survivors made it to the base of the cliffs. Only 2 had enough strength left to go on and fight with another group. (The second wave, apart from one boat which was almost entirely killed, opted to land elsewhere when they saw the fate of the first wave.) In this way the movie rather poorly represents what it meant to make a properly opposed landing on D-Day - although whether this is justified or not is another matter. (00:07:00 - 00:07:40)
Factual error: When Gregor shoots the guy in the car after nearly killing the little girl, blood sprays over the window, but there's no bullet hole. If the bullet exited his head, hence spraying blood, it should have gone through the window too. (00:55:00)
Factual error: When Reese Witherspoon's character is sitting at the desk reading, there is a cheerleading trophy and the cheerleader on it is wearing a mini skirt, - they didn't have mini skirts on the cheerleading outfits then. (01:08:20)
Factual error: When the bus breaks down, steam is shown coming out of the front of the bus. GMC buses have the engine and radiator in the rear.
Factual error: In the scene where we first meet Rosie, it opens with a shot of the house and then goes inside, passing by some pictures of Rosie and her husband. One of them, a picture of their wedding, says "Frank and Rosie - Wedding 1948", but then when Rosie is talking about how her husband will know how much she still loves him after all those years, Robbie says that he hopes that he and Linda will be as happy as Rosie and her husband on their 50th anniversary. If they got married in 1948, they would be closer to their 40th wedding anniversary. Since the movie is supposed to take place in 1985, this would actually be their 37th wedding anniversary. (00:12:10)
Factual error: The Apaches in the film are depicted with dual machine guns on each side of the cockpit, mounted directly on the windows. In real life, Apaches cannot mount such cannons, and instead use an M230 Chaingun in a turret underneath the helicopter, which the film Apaches have, but for some reason do not use. (00:49:25)
Suggested correction: Yes, we can all see they are supposed to be Apaches but not once are they mentioned by name. The US Army obviously didn't allow for real Apaches to be used. This isn't a mistake as there would have been no official licence to use the real deal.
Factual error: When Javert arrives in Paris to inform the Prefect that he has found Valjean, the government building displays the French Tricolour. This part of the film is set in 1823, during the Bourbon Restoration, so the flag should be the white, Bourbon flag.
Factual error: Sir Francis Walsingham was only a year older than Elizabeth.
Factual error: While the tidal wave is enveloping Manhattan, there is a scene where Washington Square Park is destroyed. A large arch is hit by the wave before reaching the rest of the park. The problem is the arch is on the UPTOWN side of the park, not the DOWNTOWN side which according to the movie was the direction the wave was coming from.
Factual error: Near the beginning of the film, a scene opens with the subtitle 'New York'. Strange, these New Yorkers drive on the left.
Factual error: Dallas, Texas is not surrounded by desert mountains. This is a dumb tourist mistake; when that shot of downtown Dallas appeared on the screen audiences there groaned in unison. (00:07:30)
Factual error: If you have ever actually seen London then you can see that the route Hallie takes to get to the house would take you all around London.
Factual error: Dr. Dolittle is driving through San Francisco with a cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee - there are no Dunkin' Donuts in San Francisco.
Factual error: When requesting images from the satellite, the position (latitude and longitude) is always given in degrees and minutes (but NOT seconds), and a few moments later they get a picture centered on the person they are looking for. Now a minute equals a nautical mile (or 1.85 kilometers), so with a position given in degrees and minutes you'd get a region bigger than 3 square kilometers.... which makes it impossible to find a person that fast (especially in a crowded town).
Factual error: The size of the shadow of an object depends upon its distance from the light source, not the surface it falls upon. Lifting the cutout of the bird a few inches closer to the sun as they do would make absolutely no difference to the size of its shadow, yet it quadruples in size.
Factual error: In the beginning, when pi is listed, it reads: "3.141592652631245..." when pi is actually "3.141592653589793...". (00:00:31)
Factual error: Riggs is shown using a laser-sight on his handgun throughout the entire movie. However, almost every single time he turns it on, the entire "beam" of the laser is visible, which doesn't happen in real life unless there is smoke/vapor/debris in the air. Obviously done for the sake of the audience seeing where the laser is pointed, but still a mistake.
Factual error: Adam Beck says "Kill the lights, unit one." They just don't shut off a main breaker but they cut the main wires. Then shortly afterwards the lights are back on again. It would have taken an electrician hours to replace the cut wires to the power. (01:44:25)