Factual error: When Swagger is fleeing from the police in the car wash after being shot, the radio says that he is at a car wash at 9th and Girard. There is no such intersection. On Girard Ave, 9th street picks up south and north of that street.
Factual error: In the final standoff, Smith shoots Hertz by holding cartridges between his fingers in the fire. This is not remotely believable. The casings, weighing much less than the bullets, would have been blasted off while the bullets themselves would have gone nowhere. (01:15:15)
Factual error: If you pay attention to the backgrounds of the scene where Frank is in the airport and when Frank is being arrested as he walks from the church, you can see two cars pass by which weren't produced until at least 2000.
Factual error: During the chase with the semi, McClane is shown struggling to keep the truck under control with the freeway collapsing/blowing up all around him. He is shown making a left turn on a ramp, and the truck going up on 9 wheels, almost rolling. The shot cuts back to McClane steering left to to try to control the truck. If he were to steer left, as depicted, he would be guaranteed to roll the truck. If he was trying to get the wheels back down, he'd have to steer into the roll, or right, to bring it back on the wheels. At the end of the shot, you can actually see the stuntman brings the wheels down with a short right turn of the steering wheel. The similar entry in corrections is right, the person making the correction is wrong. During 15 years of driving a semi, I had a very similar situation with the truck almost rolling. I had to steer into the roll to bring the truck back on the wheels, not away from it, as the film showed McClane doing.
Factual error: When Bob Ford opens the box under the bed, on top is an issue of "The Jesse James Stories" weekly, which was published from 1901-1903 - fully twenty years after the events of this film. (00:36:10)
Factual error: In the scene when Kale uses the lamp, taking off its lamp-shade, to see what's inside the hole, he points it in there. The lamp, actually, shouldn't illuminate the wall in one point creating a circle like a flashlight but wholly lighten the larger area. (01:30:00)
Factual error: At the end of the film, SGT Angel gets into his Police car Subaru Impreza, and on the bonnet it has the writing 'Sandford Constabulary'. This is incorrect, it would in fact be 'Gloucestershire Constabulary' as established at the start of the film that Sandford is in Gloucestershire. A Constabulary is always named after the County, never after a tiny village within that County. (01:49:35)
Factual error: At the 7-eleven as the Latino is walking up to the store you can see a 2001 Chevey Van pull out of shot,the film takes place in 1994. Other 2005 model vehicles are seen throughtout the movie.
Factual error: When Sweeney is sharpening his blades, most noticeably during the shaving contest, he is sharpening toward the blade, which you simply can't do with a razor blade and leather strop. A razor will slice right into the leather. He also doesn't even have the blade flat to the leather so again they're not remotely sharp as a sharp blade would easily sink right into the leather. Pirelli is using roughly the correct technique, even though they're trying to portray him as sloppy. (00:35:50)
Factual error: Karl Wolfschtagg's Olympic uniform should have read 'DDR' (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, the German name) rather than 'GDR', the English name for East Germany. Olympic country names are customarily rendered in their native language.
Factual error: Although the movie was set a few years after the Civil War, the train was equipped with modern automatic couplers.
Factual error: In a couple of scenes, most notably the one where Graysmith drives his kid to school, there are newer cars in the background than the year it is supposed to be. In this scene the car is a 1971 Chrysler, when the scene takes place in 1969.
Factual error: The movie was meant to be set in Oregon, but it was actually filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana. In the scene that has Tracy leaving the apartment complex where Bafford (Mr. Smith) is, she is worried that she is being chased by a jogger who may possibly be Mekes. In the background, during the shot where the jogger first appears, a brown sign can be seen. These specific signs are unique to Louisiana and describe the history of certain locations, this one obviously being Shreveport.
Factual error: The route that Hanssen discusses with O'Neil on their way back to the FBI headquarters, from the DIA, is not geographically correct and would not get them from point A to point B.
Factual error: Trudie and her family are released from jail because David, being the victim of kidnapping, decided not to press charges. That's not how things work. It's not up to the victim to decide whether or not to press charges. It's up to the prosecutor to decide or not to press charges.
Factual error: The second part of the movie is supposed to be located near Lebanon, TN, however, it is fairly obvious the terrain is Southern California. I realize that movie companies often use different locations to film than what they really are, but the landscape between CA and TN is vastly different.
Factual error: At the scene in the church, there are lots of security personnel standing around wearing steel helmets. The helmet type seems to be an East German M56 helmet (standard for the East German Armed forces until reunification). There is no reason why a Russian security force would have the M56 helmet. (Only if the makers of the movie where able to purchase a lot cheaply :).)
Factual error: This movie takes place in Seattle. However, when Jack gets his car and drives out of his office you can see a Bell Canada building.
Factual error: In the control room, the TV monitors show Vinnie Jones face against a background of the British flag. It is upside-down.
Factual error: After Carlton Leach and his friends have been tricked by the kids, a huge fight starts, and police arrive to break it up, a Ford Sierra is seen in the background. The fight is set in 1982, but the model shown is from the early 1990's - impossible for 1982.