Corrected entry: When the DSRV docks to the Red October, the crew let the October know they are docked by hitting the hatch with a hammer. However, the hammer used is a normal wood and steel hammer, the kind you could buy in any hardware store. Hammers, indeed, all tools on board submarines, are coated with a thin layer of plastic so as to minimize the amount of sound they make if they get banged around.
Corrected entry: Gates McFadden speaks with a British accent when addressing the off stage character about her daughter's bedtime rules, but in the next breath, speaks to her husband with no trace of any sort of accent. "...two bedtime stories, two glasses of water" - (with accent)..."Jack, you're going to miss your plane" - (no accent).
Correction: It is not unusual for people to be able to speak with different accents. Cathy Ryan has learnt the English accent and uses it when speaking to the locals, but reverts to American when speaking to Jack & other Americans.
Corrected entry: Ryan says he doesn't know how long he has been without sleep because his watch is still on London time. If it's still on London time, then provided he can remember the simple fact of what time he got up the previous morning - which would also have been London time - shouldn't he know exactly how long it's been since he slept?
Correction: What he is saying is that lack of sleep is driving him crazy. Of course he knows how long it's been, when he says, "I don't remember how long it's been since I ..." is just an expression. He is making a joke about his watch being on London time, as if that explained his mental befuddlement. This is not a mistake.
Corrected entry: When Jack is chasing the cook in the missile area he climbs a ladder using both hands, in the next scene he flips himself onto a scaffold with a gun in his hand.
Correction: Actually the gun was tucked in the front of Ryan's pants, and when he lands on the scaffold he lands with one hand near his waist and immediately pulls the gun out.
Corrected entry: The scene-setting type at the start of the film identifies the events as happening in November 1984. However, the character Jack Ryan is dropped off at Heathrow Airport by a Range Rover clearly sporting a number plate identifying it as a 'C' registration car. 'C' registrations were not issued until August 1985.
Correction: The C plate on the range rover could be right,'C'plates were actualy issued on 1984/85 vehicles-depending when the vehicle was built/registered.
A construction date in the UK is irreverent to the registration plate. A car can be built in December 1984 (B registration at the time) and first registered in December 1986 and thus given a D registration as that's what was being issued at the time, depending on when someone buys it. The DVLA in the UK will never release a registration early. So the vehicle shown, was registered after 1st August 1985. The film is set in 1984, so should show a B registration number plate.
Corrected entry: In the scene where the chief, Jonesy and Beaumont are training, the chief refers to Jonesy as a seaman. In the navy, a seaman is E-3. When the XO takes Jonesy to see the captain about the noise he washed through the computer, Jonesy is wearing a shirt that has a bird and 2 chevrons on it. That means Jonesy is a second class petty officer (that is an E-5).
Correction: I disagree with the correction. The Chief would not call Jonesy "seaman" just because he was referring to a story in the past. He would call him "Petty Officer Jones", or "Mr. Jones" or "ST2 Jones", but not "Seaman Jones." In the credits, they list Courtney B. Vance as Seaman Jones. This is a mistake. He has the insignia of a Petty Officer 2nd Class on his sleeve.
Correction: The Chief is telling Seaman Beaumont a story about Jonesy's past in effort to indicate that Jonesy was not always so "know it all" and was once in Seaman Beaumont's shoes. His statement "Seaman Jones here." was clear navy jargon to tell Beaumont of when the story occured, not what Jones' current rank is.
This is still a valid mistake. Later in the movie one of the other officers refers to Jones as Seaman Jones again. They would never call him Seaman as a Second Class.
Correction: Not true. I had a friend stationed on the very DSRV used in the movie, and I have been in it myself. Since this type of vehicle is used for rescue the hammer is not coated. They want to make noise.
papajim