JFK

Factual error: In the scene where police officers arrest Lee Harvey Oswald in the movie house, the movie that is playing is "Night Of The Living Dead." However, that movie wasn't released until about five years after the Kennedy assassination. (02:58:00)

Factual error: In the scene where there is a train passing, the cars are marked "Burlington Northern." There was NO Burlington Northern until 1970, 7 years AFTER the shooting.

Factual error: When Lee Bowers' accident scene is shown, a train is passing in the background. Unfortunately, the type of train passing did not come into being until after 1980 - the scene took place in the mid-1960's.

Factual error: In the aerial shot where they are driving over the Lake Pontchartrain Bridge two spans are depicted. In 1963 there was only one span. I know this to be true because I lived in New Orleans/Mandeville at the time. Anybody in NOLA could verify this.

Factual error: In one of the scenes where Costner is interviewing the witnesses in Dallas. One old guy says he was standing on the overpass and saw a man running back toward the railroad area behind the Grassy Knoll. There is then a shot, back in time, to the day of the assassination, where the shot of the man running is re-enacted. You can see him running by a Ford Mustang. The first Ford Mustangs were not released until April 1964. The man was running by it on November 22, 1963.

Factual error: About two thirds into the film, in a flashback scene, a military-uniformed man is at an airport in New Zealand. In the background the silhouette of a 737-300 is seen landing. The film is set in the early 1960s, but the 737 did not enter service until 1967, and the -300 series not until the mid 1980s.

Factual error: The day of the assassination, Guy Bannister, thrilled with Kennedy's death, sits in a bar with Jack toasting "Camelot in smithereens." The Kennedy administration did not come to be known as Camelot until Jackie Kennedy mentioned her husband's fondness for the musical in interviews several weeks after the assassination.

Factual error: Throughout the movie, it's been said that President John F. Kennedy's motorcade route had been changed at the last minute. This is not true. The route was set in stone for days. In fact, assassin Lee Harvey Oswald supposedly found out that Kennedy was going to ride right past Oswald's work building from a newspaper days before. He rode the same route the newspaper published.

Factual error: In the aerial shot where they are driving over the Lake Pontchartrain Bridge two spans are depicted. In 1963 there was only one span. I know this to be true because I lived in New Orleans/Mandeville at the time. Anybody in NOLA could verify this.

More mistakes in JFK

Jim Garrison: About as subtle as a cockroach crawlin' across a white rug.

More quotes from JFK

Trivia: In the scene where an FBI agent is harassing one of Garrison's investigators, Bill Brousard, the FBI agent bears a striking resemblance to the real police officer who was also "assassinated" on the same day in Dallas as JFK, Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippet. It turns out that the actor is Tippet's brother in real life.

More trivia for JFK

Question: Was the head movement argument to the jury verbatim from the transcript of the actual trial of Clay Shaw?

Answer: No. The argument which mentions was the first closing argument by an assistant to Garrison and in it he mentions "back and to the left" once but not the multiple statements shown in the movie. The actual transcripts are available on line.

More questions & answers from JFK

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