Factual error: When he is in the hospital room dying, a lock is visible on the inside of the door. No hospital room would ever have that.
Philadelphia (1993)
1 factual error - chronological order
Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Antonio Banderas, Roberta Maxwell, Buzz Kilman
Genres: Drama
Continuity mistake: When Joe and his wife are about to have dinner, he takes the salad bowls into the dining room and sets them on the corner of the table. He returns to the kitchen for a second and then when he enters the dining room again the bowls are on their plates. (00:30:20)
Dr. Armbruster: The HIV virus can only be transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids, namely blood, semen, and vaginal secretions.
Trivia: Daniel Day-Lewis was the first considered to play this role that would give Tom Hanks an Oscar, but he refused it.
Question: Philadelphia City Hall is a massive building with thick walls. Right after their arguments in the Kendall case Hanks and Washington are seen in the elevator using their cell phones. Cell phones didn't get great reception in 1993 anyway, so would they have worked at all in an elevator inside a massive building?
Chosen answer: Probably not. But occasionally phones have worked in places they shouldn't. a signal gets through, somehow. In the movies, anything is possible as long as it moves the plot along.