The Patriot

The Patriot (2000)

7 mistakes since 24 Jul '19, 00:00

(15 votes)

Video

Visible crew/equipment: At the end of the movie when the family returns to their burned down home, they find their friends rebuilding it. After they all talk, the camera moves back slowly as the family walks forward. To the right, across the field, you can see a line of cars, trailers and tents for the cast and crew, all parked either on a road or amongst some trees.

Factual error: During his preparation for the final battle Benjamin is making a bullet using a pair of Rapine bullet mold pliers. According to their records the Rapine Mold Company was not established until 1964.

Bootcamp

Factual error: The scenes of the Battle of Yorktown are inaccurate. The view from the highest points of Yorktown is not of the ocean or even the Chesapeake Bay - it is of the York River. There would have been no way to see the French navy - they blockaded the entrance to the bay in early September (over 20 miles away), preventing resupply and reinforcement of the British forces. The French ships never fired on Yorktown. All of the artillery fired at Yorktown was land-based.

Revealing mistake: In the close-up on the three French officers directing the bombing of Yorktown, the one on the left is trying to hold a laugh. (02:33:47)

tcp-ip

Factual error: French navy officers arriving at Yorktown to bomb the city are wearing tricolor roundels on their hats. This is historically impossible as the three colours blue white red representing France is a result of the French revolution that took place later in 1789. Before the revolution, the flag of France was just white with the symbol of the king.

Factual error: Gabriel claims that Charlston fell to Lord Cornwallis, however the town fell to Sir Henry Clinton, as Benjamin Clinton surrendered it to him after a little over a month long siege.

Continuity mistake: During the final battle scene with Col. Tavington, a close up shot shows Ben Martin holding the last lead ball cast from his son's toy soldiers close to the muzzle of his pistol, about three inches away. The next longer shot of him shows him holding the ball about ten inches from the pistol.

Scott215

Colonel William Tavington: Kill me before the war is over, will you? It appears that you are not the better man.
Benjamin Martin: You're right. My sons were better men.

More quotes from The Patriot

Trivia: By the time Heath Ledger won this role, he was flat broke. He recalled, 'It came to the point where I had like, no money.' He was practically living on Ramen noodles by that time. This was because he 'got nothing offers to do these teen movies and television sitcoms', and he refused to do them due to the 'very little depth' of the scripts. By the time he was accepted for The Patriot, he said later, 'I guess I put myself in a situation where I didn't belong. But saying no turned out to be more valuable than saying yes.'

Allister Cooper, 2011

More trivia for The Patriot

Question: Whats the name of the theme when the trailer shows the tagline 'before they were soldiers, they were family'?

Answer: I think the one you want is 'Unseen' - By Craig Armstrong which is track 2 on the Plunkett and Macleane soundtrack.

More questions & answers from The Patriot

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.