Corrected entry: In the beginning of the film, the secret service agents are forced to kill the woman with the President (Hackman). In his stupor he is laid on the bed while others begin a cover up. Hackman is laid on the left side of the bed. Subsequent shots from different angles show his placement on the bed alternating from the left side to the right side. He is even removed from the bed from the right side.
Corrected entry: When the 2 Secret Service agents are chasing Clint Eastwood down the hill from the Sullivan house, they put on night vision goggles or binoculars. Clint Eastwood could see just fine without any aids, as so could we. When Clint Eastwood reached his vehicle and drove away, there was a POV shot from one of the Secret Service men of the rear of the vehicle. The license plate was too bright to see any characters yet one of the agents told the other one (Scott Glen) that he saw the license plate number, so why were they used and are they standard equipment carried by the Secret Service?
Correction: Eastwood didn't need the goggles because he was already familier with the route from his previous research and staking out the house. The agents used the goggles to keep from taking a header on the unfamilier terrain under the trees where it is darker, once they were out on the road it was easier to see Clint's plates.
Corrected entry: When Clint Eastwood calls Ed Harris (the detective) right after the terrace scene where he was shot at, he states that Ed shouldn't bother tracing the call, for he won't be hanging that long. However, when Ed tells him the Secret Service is taking care of his daughter, Clint DOES NOT hang up the phone, but drives away immediately. Thus, if Ed would have kept the connection alive, he could have traced the call in a second.
Correction: Clint isn't INTENDING to stay on the phone long enough to be traced, but when he finds out his daughter is in danger he panicks and rushes to her aid, dropping the phone in the process.
Corrected entry: When Clint Eastwood had to get out of the that room in the Sullivan house quickly, he pulls climbing out equipment from his bag and goes out the window. Yet he came in the front door using a key, then disabled the security system. Did he expect to be making a hasty escape?
Correction: Yes. He comes prepared for all possible problems.
Corrected entry: When the bad guys start to push the daughter's car toward the edge of the cliff, we see her stepping on the brakes, trying to stop. A few more seconds pass as her car continues toward the edge. Why didn't she just open the door and get out of the car when it was obvious that she was going over the edge? It seems like there was plenty of time to bail out.
Correction: It is rather difficult for many people to think rationally when they are mortally endangered. In this case, she spent all of her concentration maintaining the pressure on the brakes, leaving her no opportunity to make another decision.
Corrected entry: In the scene where the President and his crew are getting back in the car to leave after the coverup, the President's advisor panics when she discovers she's left the letter opener in the house, and the Secret Service agents run back up the stairs to get it at full speed. They've spent hours covering up the crime, and the letter opener is just upstairs in the bedroom. They don't know that Luther is there, so why the urgency? Also, if they're covering up the crime, why bag up the letter opener like evidence in the first place?
Correction: They DO know "someone" is on the crime scene. When the advisor freaks out, she and the two agents take a look to the window on the room where the crime was committed, and they can see Luther closing the curtains where he was taking a peek at them. So that's why the agents rush to the room again.
Corrected entry: Luther is in his home and he opens his safe with his left hand turning the knob for the combination. When he's in the hospital sketching his daughter, he's drawing with his right hand.
Correction: Safecrackers will use their "weak" hand for tumblers because it is usually more sensitive to small changes. If you try writing with the "wrong" hand you will suddenly realise all the muscles and movements you take for granted in your other hand. By using the weak hand, these muscles are very sensitive to any and all movements you will feel]. [An addition to that: apparently there hasn't been a safe made in 100 years that can be opened by anyone "feeling" the tumblers. Safes are broken into with hatchets, explosives, or torches for this very reason. "Feeling" tumblers is a fallacy.
Correction: These are alternate views through the back and front of the mirror on the vault door. The back shot through the mirror is Clint's view while the reverse images are looking at the reflection in the mirror. There is no mistake.