Corrected entry: When the truck is straddling the gap of the halves of the drawbridge in the beginning, the rear axle falls off and rolls down the slope. While funny, this is mechanically impossible.
Movie Nut
24th Jun 2014
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
7th May 2010
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
Corrected entry: The comet entity can make weaponry operate/shoot like the machine gun and electric knife. The arsenal of guns in the basement and rocket launcher doesn't work, however.
Correction: The machine gun was mounted on a mobile platform, and the knife was the first sign that electric appliances were affected at the truck stop. The cache of weapons did work, as evidenced by Bill and company using them to get to the sailboat.
17th Dec 2004
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
Corrected entry: It becomes obvious that some degree of electricity needs to be present for the comet-entity to activate machinery, and we see evidence of comparatively large physical objects moving telekinetically - the large switches moving to raise the bridge, the floating hair dryer that used its own cord to strangle the girl hanging out the window. Anything from a domestic appliance to a truck is affected, even the lawn mower was turning all by itself and it doesn't have a steering wheel! How come standard motor cars, trains, or boats weren't?
Correction: If you remember that as Deke rode through the neighborhood, there was a VW Beetle crashed into a tree with the dead driver hanging out the window, as the Ice Cream truck was going by itself. So, regular cars were affected, just Curt and Connie's car wasn't as part of the story. Also, the kid's bike on the ball field malfunctioned to toss the kid into the roller to kill him.
6th May 2014
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
Corrected entry: When the truck stops big bossman fires the rocket launcher at the trucks, the rockets are never seen going towards the trucks at all. The only thing we see is them exploding.
Correction: Having fired the weapon in question, I can say that there is the occasional time you can see a trail from the rocket. However, this is not always the case. The L.A.W. (Light Anti-tank Weapon) rockets travel at such a rate as to be difficult to track with camera or eyesight.
1st Oct 2015
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
Corrected entry: When the drawbridge is raised at the beginning of the movie, the comet should have changed the traffic light to red and lowered the gates.
Correction: If the comet changed the lights to red and lowered the bars, there would have been no damage or threat. The movie's plot is that the effect of the comet causes machinery and equipment to act independently, out of human control, and that allows them to kill and maim without warning.
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.
Correction: This is an absolutely possible mechanical failure. When the momentum of the rotating mass of the wheels is suddenly stopped by coming into contact with the bridge it sheers the bolts off the springs and the continued rotating energy backed by the momentum of the weight of the axle could easily break the universal joint in turn separating the axle from the truck body. Failures like this can also be seen in drag racing where sudden changes in directional motion are extremely prevalent.
I stand corrected. I should have remembered from High School Auto Mech class. Thank you.
Movie Nut