On the Beach

Factual error: The USS Sawfish is supposedly a nuclear powered submarine, but the shots of her entering Williamstown show diesel exhaust coming from her. (Apparently they had to substitute an Australian diesel-electric submarine).

Other mistake: According to the plot, no life is possible in the Northern Hemisphere by the time the film is set. Yet, when the sailor who has been sent ashore to look around the San Diego refinery enters the premises (more precisely, when we see the smoking-prohibited sign on our right and his left) a bird can be seen flying in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.

More mistakes in On the Beach

Moira Davidson: All I want to know is: if everybody was so smart, why didn't they know what would happen?
Dwight Towers: They did.
Moira Davidson: Well, I - I can't take it. I - oh, yes, I can take it! But, it's unfair. It's unfair because I didn't do anything. And nobody I know did anything.

More quotes from On the Beach

Trivia: When Moira and Bill Davidson are strolling in the pasture, they pause to admire a beautiful mare that is posing for them, and Bill offers the horse something to eat from the palm of his hand (sugar cubes or some other treat, presumably, but it's not visible). However, the horse does not react to the treat nor eat anything that Bill offers, because the actor's hand was actually empty. The trained horse was obeying cues from her trainer, off-camera, and only her trainer carried the real treats.

Charles Austin Miller

More trivia for On the Beach

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