Factual error: The hat that Brad Pitt wears in the 1985 scenes is a Padres hat with navy, orange and white as the colours. In 1985, the Padres' colors were brown and yellow. The color change didn't come until late 80's or early 90's.
Factual error: As the kidnapper is watching TV, we hear a news anchor describing the kidnapped child. She is described as 12 years old, 3 ft. 5 in. tall, and 52 pounds. This is the size of a child half this age. A 12 year old of this size would be freakishly small, which this character is not. And as we see her throughout the movie, she is easily approaching 5 feet tall and in the 70 - 80 pound range. (00:13:30)
Factual error: When Hannibal calls Clarice and gives her 3 seconds to change the battery on the phone, it is possible to change the battery in 3 seconds but you would have to turn the phone back on and let it initialize which would make the whole process take longer than 3 seconds. (01:33:17)
Suggested correction: Please provide evidence, including the make, model, and duration of the initialization process of the phone, to substantiate this statement. It's not known from the information available that it isn't possible to hot swap the battery, meaning it's quite possible in 3 seconds.
Tell you what, why don't you give us all the make and model of phone which can be turned off, have its battery replaced, and then boot back up again, in 3 seconds. It's not remotely possible on any phone, old or new. Anyone who was using cellphones in the era this phone was made knows it, or indeed now for that matter.
Factual error: Worms are not created in AutoCAD. Ever. Period. Does not happen, cannot happen. Building design work and the like is done in AutoCAD. Viruses and worms are coded out by hand or created with a generator by slackers that don't know the code and then compiled into executables.
Factual error: When the Betty Doll takes off, there is a rapid fire selection of different shots of how the craze is impacting the nation. During the baseball scene, the shot starts with a L.A. Dodger (Eric Karros) hitting a pitch from a New York Mets pitcher (appears to be John Franco). The shot changes to that of the baseball going into the stands... in Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs.
Factual error: During the custody hearing, the Maryland flag in the courtroom is upside down. The rule for a Maryland flag is "black and gold, top of the pole," this flag has the red symbol at the top.
Factual error: During the first race a square plate on the floor falls off Brian's Eclipse. The Mitsubishi Eclipse is a unibody car; the frame and body are built as one solid piece, and it does not have floor pans. While some racers might put a steel plate in the interior as a finishing piece, it would be cosmetic only and not part of the vehicle's structure.
Factual error: When Jackie and Chris are at the Casino. Chris goes to play craps and throws $100,000 down for chips. The croupier give Chris two stacks of 20 $500 chips, which equates to only $20,000. (01:01:35)
Suggested correction: He wasn't really focusing on how much money he threw. Carter was creating a distraction for Lee so the Security would not see him sneak in to find the plates.
Factual error: The customs warehouse guards are carrying guns. Canadian custom guards do not carry guns at any time.
Factual error: The year is 1969 when they steal the first aircraft (single engine Cessna), and there is a 757 taking off in the background. The 757 first flew on 02-19-82. (00:22:05)
Factual error: Although you'd have to actually live in Boise to catch the myriad of differences from the movie town, the most glaring is that the movie Boise appears to be a lush rainforest, like Vancouver or Seattle. The real Boise is strictly desert, and you won't find those green interstate medians anywhere near here.
Factual error: When McElroy and Fitz arrive at Anfield their car is driving through the Shankley Gates, but when they park their car, they are parking it near the Executive boxes entrance which is actually part of the Centenary Stand which is the opposite side of the stadium where they first drove to. Also at the end of the film McElroy walks off from one of the bars in the Kop Stand to his car which you can now see outside the doors. The Kop Stand is on another side of the stadium and there is no direct access from the Centenary Stand to the Kop. (01:14:20)
Factual error: Towards the end of the movie, Mary sends a hand-written note to Inspector Abberline. The 'r' in her name is written in a North American style, where she is European.
Factual error: Two problems with the end of the movie - first, a doctor must declare death officially before bodies can be bagged, and second, the bodies cannot be moved until a full investigation is performed.
Factual error: When Gandolfini has the shoot-out with the black assassin, it just doesn't make any sense that the cops who are nearby investigating the "suicide" of Gandolfini's boyfriend don't hear the gunshots and get involved. If the guns had silencers, the whole scene would be more sensible. Come to think of it, the sound-effects used in the shootings sound much like silenced shots but it shows that both weapons are unsilenced.
Factual error: In the scene when Clooney and Damon are rappelling down the shaft on steel cables, the come up short of the floor. They pull knives and swipe the cables. No knife would be able to cut a steel cable with one swipe.
Suggested correction: The cable is actually small enough gauge to be severed by a sharp knife when under the amount of tension created by the (static) suspended loads, i.e. Linus and Danny, although if so, it probably should have broken when their dynamic descent was halted so abruptly.
Cables would be left swinging, therefore setting off the alarm sensors.
They were retracted after they were cut. There's enough time for that to happen.
Factual error: Ed Crane is executed by electrocution at the end of the film. However, in 1949, when the film is set, the gas chamber was used as the sole method of execution. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, California has never used the electric chair as a means of capital punishment.
Factual error: When Famke Janssen pulls the knitting needle out of her cast to stab her attacker, it makes a sound like a sword being pulled out of a sheath. It should not have made that noise, since it was between a plaster cast and her skin. (01:19:01)
Factual error: When Detective Alex Tardio first appears in the movie, investigating the robbery at the town house, he picks up Gloria's dog twice. The second time, he identifies it and catalogs its qualities by saying, "The Yorkie is an independent dog but a devoted companion etc." This dog is not a Yorkie but a Brussels Griffon. (00:45:30 - 00:49:40)
Factual error: When the knockaround guys are riding in their rented vehicle from Wibaux, Montana, their license plate starts with a J and is followed by several numbers. In Montana, license plates start with one or two numbers, followed by a P or a T, then four more numbers and one more letter at the end.