Factual error: Alex's 6-year-old kid must be a very powerful little boy: when he grabs that model aeroplane glue tube it bursts in the air like water.
Factual error: When they are on the pistol range, the recruits are shooting with a "modern" two handed grip. In 1971, the US Army still taught recruits to shoot one-handed.
Factual error: In one scene in "Finding Forrester", Sean Connery's character video-tapes a bird from his apartment window, proclaiming that it is an "adult male...Connecticut Warbler." He then shows the image on his camcorder to Rob Brown's character and the audience. But the image we see is NOT a Connecticut Warbler. It is an adult male Yellow Warbler. There's no way to confuse the two species. The Yellow Warbler is very distinctive: all yellow, with faint chestnut streaking on its chest. The Connecticut Warbler has a greenish back and a grey "hood" (head, throat, and chest). If he HAD shown a picture of a Connecticut Warbler, that might have been confusing, because there are other warblers that look like a Connecticut. But the Yellow Warbler is unmistakable, and the brief glimpse in the movie left me with no doubt. It is such a simple, and obvious mistake, that I must wonder if they made it on purpose, just to test the audience. Anyone who could come up with the name "Connecticut Warbler" would have to know what one looks like, or at least have easy access to an image (there's zillions on the web, not to mention in scores of books, including ANY guide to North American birds). Even assuming the filmmakers had correctly depicted a Connecticut warbler on Sean Connery's camcorder, the likelihood of this species appearing outside a third-story window in the Bronx is practically nil. Connecticut warblers are extremely secretive birds that do not perch in trees, but walk on the ground, amongst dense vegetation. Furthermore, they are not in the New York area, but occur there only on rare occasions during migration. Even in its proper habitat, a sighting of one is considered exceptional.
Factual error: If you've ever been to Sydney you'll realise howw wrong a lot of the locations are in this film. For example the girls are apparently "surfing" at Manly Beach, a huge surf beach almost three kilometres long on the Northside of Sydney. The girls actually "surf" at a waveless, inner-harbour bay about one hundred metres long that I believe is in the Eastern suburbs. You can actually see land beyond the water.
Factual error: The Colorado state police car following the RV is white with red stripes down the side of the chassis. Colorado police cars have blue stripes.
Factual error: Placing a watch over a fresh brand would hurt a lot and they would be adjusting their watches continuously because of the gross scabbing.
Factual error: The sharks in this movie growl. Sharks do not growl.
Factual error: There is a scene where interceptors, flying out of an Alaskan air base, are ordered to go to afterburners in a desperate attempt to catch the lone bomber. When the commander of the flight signals his wing to light their afterburners, they cut to a shot of a jet firing missiles.
Factual error: After a new camera man is hired, Wagner, the camera man starts showing off to his fellow crew members that he invented "slow motion". In the next scene he demonstrates this by spinning the handle of the camera slowly. In fact this is not right, when the movie is projected the movie will be speeded up instead of slowed down.
Factual error: In the final scene when Mahree returns to the farm, the car arriving at the farmhouse has the newer, yellow number plates. During the 1970s, South African vehicle number plates were white text on a black background. Transvaal province was the first to use the new black on yellow plates in 1978.
Factual error: In the sword fight between Hamlet and Laertes at the end, both characters are wearing jackets of the kind only used in foil fencing, to differentiate between a hit on target and a hit off target. The line in the script is "These foils have all a length?" but the weapons they hold are actually epees - which have a different target and different rules. Laertes' jacket is not properly done up, and he should have been penalised by the referee for removing his mask without permission. And a fencing piste should be 14 metres long - the one in this film is much too short.
Factual error: When Snow Plough Man drives his truck around clearing snow, he honks the horn of his truck by pushing the button on the steering wheel. The sound that is made is an air horn. In reality the button on the steering wheel of a truck honks an electric horn like a car. The air horn is actuated by a rope or cable hanging from the ceiling.
Factual error: Basinger's husband (Vincent Perez) is wounded by a buffalo while hunting. Not yet completely recovered, Perez come out his house in the savannah limping with a gun in his hand. He says to a worried Basinger, (more or less... I saw the Italian version): "I go and kill that buffalo, before he attacks someone else!" That sentence is absolutely ridiculous (as the whole movie!): 1) In Kenya there are thousands and thousands of buffalos, undistinguishable, how can Perez find his particular buffalo? 2) In spite of his harmless look, buffalo is surely the most dangerous animal in Africa! Attacking men is in the nature of every buffalo. Will Perez shoot all buffalos in East Africa?
Factual error: The average Iguanodon is estimated to have weighed around 3.4 tons, while Carnotaurus probably weighed about 1.5 tons. By this logic, during the final Carnotaurus encounter, the rocks at the edge of the cliff should have crumbled when Kron tried to escape, but remained intact until the Carnotaur was at the edge of the cliff. This is because the Carnotaurs in the film are inaccurately depicted as being T-Rex - sized animals.
Factual error: The team are shown using bare, wet hands to drill through and handle rough, steel reinforced concrete. Without gloves on, the skin on their hands would have been shredded and bleeding in a very short time.
Factual error: When Marion picks up the phone to call to score a hit, the number she should dial is 934 8777. However, listen to the pitches of the keys she dials. The pattern should sound like: EECDCCC. The pattern she dials is: DCDEDDD. She is clearly not dialing 934 8777. (01:16:25)
Factual error: In the scene with the giant hamster, the hamster is making squeaking noises. These unique noises are actually made only by guinea-pigs, not hamsters. Hamsters don't make any sounds at all. (01:14:45)
Factual error: Hernando Cortes is featured as the main background villain. Only thing about his appearance: according to the history books, he never actually ventured into South America to do any conquests; his actions were limited to Cuba, Mexico and California.
Factual error: Ben Stiller buys Champagne in a drug store, yet in NY the only legal place to buy wine/champagne is a liquor store.
Factual error: The hospital scenes were shot at Newham University Hospital, which was (and still is) a modern, well-equipped hospital. Everything in the scenes is blatantly anachronistic: a scene set in 1968 is full of furniture, fittings, and advanced medical equipment that is from the very late Nineties when this scene was shot.