Question: Why didn't the Japanese just cut the rope net off the cliff side to prevent the Americans from climbing up and attacking? Common sense would have been to inhibit their advance any way they could.
Factual error: When Sergeant Howell is first introduced, the corporal assisting him calls the barracks to attention. You do not call "attention" for an NCO, however - you call "at ease."
Suggested correction: They are in boot camp. You stand at attention when they say you stand at attention. Especially when your Drill Sergeant walks in.
This is absolutely incorrect. In the United States Army, soldiers stand "at ease" in the presence of a non-commissioned officer (such as a drill sergeant). Soldiers only stand at "attention" when in formation or in the presence of a commissioned officer. Having served, I am very well acquainted with the appropriate procedure.
Suggested correction: When you are in basic training, if you are called to attention you come to attention...if you are told to bend over and scratch your 6, you do just that...these men are not yet soldiers.
Revealing mistake: When the stretcher is being lowered down on the line, the high tension steel wires can be seen under the hessian rope.
Suggested correction: I don't see this as an error, because just before they lower him down, it is obvious that they have rigged a tripod and cable at a much lesser angle than straight down the face of the cliff. Once the cleanup phase started, additions like this would have been normal to remove the dead and wounded.
I am 100% certain this is an error.
The stretcher is seen lowered down hung from ropes tied at each corner, which would have really happened. Obviously this wouldn't meet safety requirements for filming, so they've "hidden" steel cables in the rope. The error is that the cables and the screw-in anchors in the stretcher are visible. Also the rope on some of the corners is visibly slack as a result.
This doesn't refer to the tripod and cable rig. Just as the stretcher starts moving, the camera shows it moving off to the left with the other soldiers watching on. One of the soldiers is holding one of the ropes that attach to the stretcher. When he lets go, it reveals that the rope is frayed, revealing the steel wire that is threaded through the rope. It's the wire that's attached to the stretcher, not the rope.
Answer: I'd classify it as a deliberate mistake or choice on the moviemakers' part. It fit the plot to have it play out that way and have the Japanese being attacked.
raywest ★
A deliberate mistake is something like using an 8-month-old baby as a newborn, something done intentionally for filming purposes. Writing in a plot contrivance isn't a deliberate mistake. At best, it could be considered a character mistake if it's something a real person would do in the character's position or a stupidity, a stupid act by a character for the sake of the plot.
Bishop73
I have seen so many movies and TV shows where some contrived plot device is thrown in solely to make the story work, even though it makes little sense in a real-world context. If you're going to make an issue about it, you can call it whatever you want.
raywest ★
It was a plot mechanic. Unfortunately, resulting in a massive, obvious plot hole.