Corrected entry: During the scene at the Arapaho National Forest sign, the soldier translates, "Roosevelt leading imperialist army and cowboys putting down a great peasant uprising... 35,000 dead... etc. etc." Yet the sign only reads, "Founded by Roosevelt under the forest service act of 1908 comprises acres of virgin timberland of..." No info of any battle is displayed.
Corrected entry: In the scene where the downed F-15 pilot is discovered, he's carrying a revolver. Fighter pilots are all issued Beretta 9mm pistols in their survival gear. (00:53:15)
Correction: Actually, at the time the movie was made (1983/84) the Beretta was not in service for the most part. The Air Force issued .38 revolvers to pilots, the Army issued the M1911A1 (.45). The Beretta M9 was purchased to try to have one pistol for all the services. It was not placed into service until 1985/86.
Corrected entry: When Charlie Sheen sneaks up to the hill outside his hometown to have a look at its condition, the "Russian" tank column moving in the distance is really American, as one of the tanks has a white star.
Correction: They could simply be American tanks that the Russians captured.
It's good head canon. It's not really a mistake as much as a necessity. There's a lot of US military equipment in the movie likely because the movie was filmed during the cold war and was banned in the Soviet Union as western propaganda. The USSR wasn't likely going to just hand over large amounts of equipment for filming an American movie that made them look bad.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Patrick Swayse laments the loss of his best friend (who he just executed for treason), Patrick sits on a log in the snow and cries. For a brief shining moment a large snot bubble appears out of his right nostril then gets sucked back into his nose.
Correction: When people cry their nose runs. How is this trivia?
Corrected entry: In the scene where the freedom fighters are attacked by the Soviet helicopter gunships, one of them fires a rocket from an RPG-7 at one of them. It does little damage - it should have been blown out of the sky. The RPG-7 is an anti-tank weapon, so even a heavily armored helicopter shouldn't be able to withstand a hit from one.
Correction: If you look closely the RPG actually hits the Soviet guy in the open area of the helicopter. The copter actually has a open door (much like the US Huey) in the middle. The Russian is manning a gun in this middle part. The explosion kills this man (possible another) and disperses the explosion out the open sides instead of throughout the helicopter's hull.
Correction: The Hind helicopter is the most armoured helicopter in service. It will easily withstand an RPG hit because the RPG is designed to penetrate solid armour and has a relatively small explosive charge. The main enemy to all helicopters, as proven in Afghanistan, is the Man Poertable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS), like the Stinger, which homes in on the engine, and could easily drop a Hind if it hits there.
The original correction is correct: the explosion is dispersed through the open space. Had the RPG round struck the Hind elsewhere, the chopper would've been obliterated: RPG-7s have destroyed numerous main battle tanks, and an MI-24 Hind's armor was designed to withstand 14.7 mm rounds, not rocket-propelled grenades.
This is factually wrong. The RPG-7 as shown in the movie has actually only destroyed a few main battle tanks. In both Gulf Wars only 1 Abrams M1 was disabled (not destroyed) by an RPG. If the RPG had indeed exploded in the "open" part of Hind it would have killed the crew.
Corrected entry: Not one of the actual parachutist's names are mentioned in the credits.
Correction: Not trivia. Extras are rarely credited.
Corrected entry: When Jed drives into town to escape the Russians and hits a car, you can see the police and spectators farther down the street, where they had closed off the street for filming. (00:07:40)
Correction: Those are Russian troops, not police. The spectators are actually prisoners and their hands on their heads (giving up/surrendering) to the Russians. You can also see concertina wire across the roads as well.
Corrected entry: When our heroes (aided by the downed F-15 pilot) attack a Soviet forward airfield, the Soviets are seen to have Yak-38 "Forger" V/STOL (Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing) aircraft stationed there. Trouble is, the Yak-38 was operated exclusively by the Soviet Navy, and was designed operate off of the Kiev Class light carriers. This aircraft would not would not be deployed so far inland. (01:03:20)
Correction: True that the Yak-38 is a Naval Aviation craft, with the appropriate service branch markings...however, this is several months into "World War Three", where now, as Lt. Col Tanner describes it, "the whole thing is pretty conventional now..." AFTER he describes a limited nuclear strike against the US (taking out missile silos and several major US cities including DC). Presumably, there would have been a major naval engagement and the few Soviet aircraft carriers have been sunk, leaving any surviving naval aircraft 'orphaned'. The Yak-38 would be quite suitable as a ground attack aircraft if it could be ferried to the front. With the communists in charge of the south-central portion of the US from the Rockies to the Mississippi river, and presumably most if not all of Latin America, they have a ready means to get that plane to the front in Colorado.
Corrected entry: After Toni is shot when Jed gives her the grenade he puts in her right hand, later when the Russian finds her the grenade isn't in her right hand. When he picks her up it falls from her left side & rolls underneath her. (01:32:56)
Correction: She could have easily grabbed the grenade with her left hand while holding it with her right hand a few minutes later, in order to let her right hand rest. She might not have wanted to die that very second. Second, a common way to booby trap a body is to put a grenade underneath it so the spoon is still compressed. When the body is moved, the spoon flies and the grenade explodes (hopefully) killing the person moving the body. That was the intent of the scene.
Corrected entry: It is remarked that dissidents have been taken away to an internment camp and no one in town is even allowed to talk about them. However the boys (including Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen) stroll up to the edge of the fence and talk to the inmates for several minutes without being approached by any guards, even when the spot-light is briefly turned on them during their conversation. (00:23:25 - 00:25:15)
Correction: This just shows that the rule is not rigorously enforced. The prisoners in the camp are not considered to be much of a threat (or they would have been taken away to a more secure location, or shot), so the guards don't bother to go out of their way to stop simple conversation at the fence.
Corrected entry: The Mayor's kid, while part of the rebel guerrilla 'Wolverines' consisting of a total of 8 closely-knit people, somehow managed to sneak into town, talk to his dad, get caught by the Russians and imprisoned, interrogated, implanted with a bug, and sent back to his group, and none of them noticed he was gone during that time.
Correction: Could he not have been off hunting, which could take all day, or on extended patrol, or some other mission that might take 3-4 days?
Corrected entry: In the scene at the beginning where the black teacher is shot, right after a Russian soldier starts shooting at the students through the windows of the school, when this happens the camera cuts to show all of the students in the room dropping down for protection, then the camera cuts back to the soldier firing again. The camera then once again cuts back to the students but now there is a dead student lying on the windows that had ducked in the prior cut before.
Correction: The Russians were shooting all through the scene. The kid who ducked down in the 1st cut could have easily stood up out of stupidity or an escape attempt and got shot.
I originally submitted the entry, and though I do agree that your correction could be plausible, in the time frame for the kids to duck down and when they show the kid dead in the window (it shows the kid lying through the window during the last part of the shot) I do not believe there would have been sufficient time for a kid to stand back up and try to climb through the window to be shot not after ducking as he did... him just standing or jumping up would not seem plausible either because if he did either then got shot you would logically think he would either fall straight back down or backwards not forwards through the window as he is shown... also (I actually have this froze on my television at the moment) the shots into the school are out of sync because when you can see the holes appearing in the windows on the left side the gunner has his gun pointed to the right.
It's more than one Russian soldier firing into more than one classroom. The soldier pointing his weapon to the right is shooting to the right but could have been any other member of his company firing at the windows to his left.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Darryl and the Russian soldier get executed, Darryl gets shot 3 times at point blank range with an AK-47. At that range the bullets should have passed through his body and exited out of his back.
Correction: You can see at least one bullethole in Darryl's back as he's executed.
Correction: It is the intention of the scene that the Russian soldier who "supposedly" knows English and can translate is faking that he can read the English.