The Thin Red Line

Other mistake: When the company makes its first advance up the grassy hill through mortar explosions and flying bodies, as the guy next to Captain Staros takes a turn with the binoculars, watch carefully. You'll see he has them pointed down into the grass, not up the hill where the fighting is occurring. Further, the field has zero visibility from gunsmoke, which would prevent him from seeing anything anyway, even if he did have them properly aimed. (00:47:35)

Visible crew/equipment: Pvt Bell is pausing during the charge up the hill. A camera crew is visible to the left of the screen for about 2-3 seconds. (00:55:00)

Continuity mistake: When that one captain is refusing to obey the orders of Nick Nolte he says the time is 13:21 but his watch says it's actually 14:31. Then a couple of seconds later the time is 14:45. Their whole conversation was shown and there was no time in between and it was much shorter than 15 minutes. (01:03:00)

Continuity mistake: When the seven soldiers go up the hill to attack the bunkers all soldiers are wearing shirts and carrying six rifles and one Thompson. In the middle of the fight one soldier is wearing a sleeveless shirt and wielding a shotgun. (01:27:46 - 01:35:36)

Visible crew/equipment: On the widescreen version of the film, near the beginning, Sean Penn is talking to a young G.I. that's worried. They are in the latrine area on the ship. While they talk, look in the mirror to the left. This is the most visible camera-on-film shot to date.

Factual error: In the entire movie it's quite obvious Sean Penn has a digital watch on, even though the face is on the inside of his wrist it is occasionally visible, and the modern rubber watch band also gives it away, especially in his close-ups.

Revealing mistake: During the scene in which the small group of GIs, led by the young go-getter officer played by John Cusack, attack the Japanese hilltop bunkers, they seemed to be equipped with magic bullets. The American soldiers are firing wildly in all directions but seem to drop an enemy soldier with every shot. In some shots, the GI's rifles are not pointing even near where the Japanese soldiers are but the latter obligingly fall dead nonetheless.

Continuity mistake: As Stavros talks to Lt. Col. Tall about the time, his watch jumps ahead by a couple of hours, and the time he states is not the time on the watch anyway.

Factual error: When Woody Harroldson pulls the pin on the grenade on his belt, it sits there by the spoon. A grenade is charged by the spoon flying off and the blast cap striking the top of the grenade lighting the fuse. If the spoon is still attached, it shouldn't go off.

Alex Fulle

Continuity mistake: When Woody Harrelson's character has been shot and is lying on the ground with his mates around him watch his dog tag. In the first shot it's on his chest, then it's off to the side then back again.

Colonel Gordon Tall: How many men is it worth? How many lives? One? Two? Twenty? Lives will be lost in your company, Captain. If you don't have the stomach for it, now is the time to let me know.

More quotes from The Thin Red Line

Question: When Witt is in the clearing surrounded by Japanese riflemen, does anybody know what the Japanese soldier was saying to Witt before he shot him?

Answer: He said "I don't want to kill you. Don't move."

Cubs Fan

Answer: And he said, "You killed my friends, but I don't want to kill you. Surrender."

More questions & answers from The Thin Red Line

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.