Continuity mistake: When Steve and Romanoff are at the camp site, they enter an office. As they enter, the door is mostly open, but closed by a few inches. In the next shot, just as they discover the portraits, the door is fully open. (00:57:40)
Visible crew/equipment: After The Winter Soldier throws a grenade at the car, Romanoff appears behind and starts fighting with him. Romanoff ties his hands together and the Winter Soldier walks back into a silver car. In the following shot, just as the Winter Soldier aims Romanoff at the other car, it can be noticed that Romanoff has been replaced by a stunt double. This is only visible for a frame or two so you'll have to be quick in order to see it. (01:18:05)
Continuity mistake: When Romanoff kicks Agent Sitwell off the rooftop, Sam flies him back on to the roof. After Sitwell lands, he is shown rolling around on the floor and stops with his legs both stretched out. The next shot shows a wide angle of Sam landing back on the roof in his Falcon wings, and Agent Sitwell, still visible in shot, no longer has his legs stretched out. (01:11:55)
Continuity mistake: When Fury and Pierce are talking before the retinal scanner they are beside each other but in the next shot they are several feet apart.
Continuity mistake: When Bucky attacks Cap and the others on the freeway the sun is changing in every shot.
Continuity mistake: During the beginning of the scene where Steve is ambushed in the elevator, one of the Shield agents is seen removing his shield from his back and placing it to the side. We then see someone hit the emergency stop button for the elevator, after which it cuts back to a wide shot where we see a different agent remove his shield again. (00:47:55)
Continuity mistake: When Romanov swings under the bridge to escape the Winter Soldier, she sees his position by his shadow, indicating that the sun is behind them. The shadows from pedestrians and vehicles in the shot are pointing the other way. (01:18:43)
Factual error: When Cap, Falcon and Black Widow are being arrested after fighting the Winter Soldier in DC, a new helicopter shows up with a "K" call number, which are reserved for western stations. DC stations use "W" call numbers.
Answer: Here's what he said in an interview: The thing with him is, you don't know if he's making up a story to get you to do a certain thing or if he's actually giving you a piece of himself. The great thing for me about that particular story is that is what my grandfather did when I was a kid. He actually ran an elevator in a hotel in Chattanooga, Tenn. That was his job. I used to go down there and sit in the elevator with him while he took people up and down. He got tipped that way and had money in his pocket or in a bag - and a little gun. He always had a pistol with him, some brass knuckles. I did not write that, it was just in there. It totally just happened that way. I chuckled about it. I was trying to figure out if I had talked about my grandfather in some interview somewhere years ago or something and somebody read it and put that in there. I never found out if that was the case. I think it's a true story for him.