Texijapi

Factual error: Virginia state troopers are seen at one point in the film wearing "Smokey-the-Bear"-style campaign hats. The Virginia State Police did not begin wearing this style of hat until the 1990s, but the film is set in 1971.

Texijapi

Factual error: As the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry lifts off from LZ X-Ray at the end of the battle, it can be seen that there are no more American troops left at the battlefield. However, by the time 1/7 CAV left LZ X-Ray, it had been relieved by two full battalions (2/7 CAV and 1/5 CAV). There were around 700 American soldiers occupying LZ X-Ray by the time 1/7 CAV lifted off.

Texijapi

Factual error: When Joe Galloway arrives at LZ X-Ray, he and LTC Moore greet each other as if they're meeting for the first time. However, Galloway had been on multiple patrols with Moore before, and the two were well acquainted by the time of the Ia Drang battle. Galloway also arrived at LZ X-Ray with his own M16, which had been given to him by another officer some time before. Ia Drang was not his first time firing a weapon in combat, and he was actually fairly used to it by that time (per his own account).

Texijapi

Factual error: Throughout the battle, the artillery rounds impact far too soon after they have been called in. While the artillery supporting 1/7 CAV at Ia Drang did have some pre-planned targets, it is impossible for any gun crew to receive a fire mission, adjust the gun, and fire the round as quickly as depicted (i.e., in a matter of seconds).

Texijapi

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Suggested correction: Several times you hear them say artillery at previously established coordinates...the guns were already dialled in to where they needed to be and all they had to do was shoot them.

Steve Kozak

15th Jan 2018

A Christmas Story (1983)

Factual error: Early in the film, while the kids are looking at the toys in the Higbee's store window, two uniformed soldiers are visible right behind the kids. The female soldier is wearing sergeant stripes on her sleeves, but the braid on her garrison cap is gold - a color reserved for commissioned officers.

Texijapi

1st Nov 2017

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

Factual error: When Sergeant Howell is first introduced, the corporal assisting him calls the barracks to attention. You do not call "attention" for an NCO, however - you call "at ease."

Texijapi

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Suggested correction: They are in boot camp. You stand at attention when they say you stand at attention. Especially when your Drill Sergeant walks in.

This is absolutely incorrect. In the United States Army, soldiers stand "at ease" in the presence of a non-commissioned officer (such as a drill sergeant). Soldiers only stand at "attention" when in formation or in the presence of a commissioned officer. Having served, I am very well acquainted with the appropriate procedure.

Suggested correction: When you are in basic training, if you are called to attention you come to attention...if you are told to bend over and scratch your 6, you do just that...these men are not yet soldiers.

Steve Kozak

Factual error: Sergeant Major Dickerson wears his blue infantry cord on his left shoulder. The cord is correctly worn on the right.

Texijapi

Character mistake: Right after the firefighters have removed Flick's tongue from the flagpole, notice the police officer on the left (Flick's right). He is wearing his sidearm on his right but his Sam Browne cross strap is attached to his belt on his left. The whole point of the cross strap is to support the weight of the sidearm, so the officer is wearing it backwards.

Texijapi

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: With exception of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Sam Browne belt shoulder strap is typically worn over the right shoulder and attached to the belt on the left side.

This is correct for military uniforms - once again, the Sam Browne is used to support the weight of a weapon (in the military, this would be an officer's sword, always worn on the left side). However, for police uniforms, the shoulder strap is worn over whichever is the non-dominant shoulder (usually the left). Once again, this is to support the weight of the duty weapon. If you look at agencies such as the Kansas Highway Patrol, New Mexico State Police, and various police honor guards throughout the U.S., you will see that the strap is worn primarily over the left shoulder, since most people are right-handed and therefore would wear a duty weapon on their right side.

Factual error: In the opening monologue, Sheriff Bell remarks that at one point his father was the sheriff in Plano, Texas. However, the seat of Collin County, in which Plano is located, is actually McKinney.

Texijapi

Trivia: The man whom Chigurh murders after killing the deputy was played by Chip Love, a banker in Marfa, Texas, where much of the film was shot. His only previous acting experience was in a high school play.

Texijapi

1st Jun 2016

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Factual error: During the bare-knuckle boxing match, Holmes uses the word "discombobulate" to describe one of his moves. Per Merriam-Webster, this word was first coined in 1916; the movie is set in the early 1890s.

Texijapi

27th May 2016

Need for Speed (2014)

Factual error: Though Maverick describes the helicopter he flies when he picks up the Mustang in Utah as an Apache, it is not one. The Apache is an attack helicopter, while the one flown is a cargo model discontinued in the 1970s. Furthermore, the livery of the aircraft has not been used by the Army for decades. Further still, the jets which intercept Maverick fly so close to the helicopter that their wake turbulence should have caused it to crash. A really heinous scene overall.

Texijapi

Factual error: The British warships in the film - and in the whole series, for that matter - are painted in a livery far too modern for the period in which the film is evidently set. The "Golden Age of Piracy," during which the movie takes place, occurred in the early 1700s, but the Royal Navy did not begin using the yellow-and-black "Nelson Chequer" on its vessels until the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Even if the film were actually set in the later period, there would still be an inaccuracy in that the Marines' headwear would be incorrect - they transitioned from the tricorne to a round hat in 1802.

Texijapi

22nd Mar 2016

Monsters, Inc. (2001)

Trivia: Sullivan was originally going to be called Johnson. The name change was suggested by an animator who had attended Texas A&M University, inspired by one of Texas A&M's historic icons, Lawrence Sullivan Ross, known affectionately by students as "Sully." Ross saved the school from closure in the 1890s and had previously been the Governor of Texas.

Texijapi

Trivia: The lieutenant colonel who gives Captain Miller his mission shortly after the D-Day landing is a representation of real-life figure James Earl Rudder. Following the war, Rudder served as president of Texas A&M University, his alma mater, where he oversaw racial and gender integration and transformed the school from an all-male military college to a co-educational research institution. Today, a special unit in the school's Corps of Cadets is known as "Rudder's Rangers" in his honor.

Texijapi

Factual error: Carla Jean says she works at the Walmart in Sanderson, Texas. There is no Walmart there, nor has there ever been. The nearest one is 65 miles away in Fort Stockton.

Texijapi

19th Mar 2016

Sicario (2015)

Factual error: Kate is said to have been on the FBI SWAT team since day one, and therefore has never worked a case from behind a desk. However, FBI SWAT teams are composed of regular field agents who respond to tactical scenarios only as needed, and otherwise carry out normal investigative duties. Unless this is the most overworked SWAT team in history, Kate would certainly have handled at least a few cases from a non-tactical perspective.

Texijapi

19th Mar 2016

Sicario (2015)

Factual error: The lightbars seen on the Mexican Federal Police trucks in Juárez are incorrect - they show both red and blue lights to the front, but actual MFP vehicles show only reds to the front. Also the uniform vests are in Portuguese, not Spanish - the accent is on the wrong "i."

Texijapi

10th Mar 2016

The Revenant (2015)

Factual error: Fitzgerald tells a story about his father setting out with a party of Texas Rangers across the Llano Estacado. There are two problems with this: first, the Texas Rangers were first formed in 1823, the same year the movie takes place, and consisted of around 10 men who were not yet known by that title. Second, the Llano Estacado is in the Texas panhandle, an area almost completely unexplored by Anglos at the time (and nowhere near the area where any rangers lived).

Texijapi

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Suggested correction: A couple of errors here, both possibly minor. He said it was in the San Saba hills, OK still Texas but not Llano. Also, yes 1823 was when the group of 10 was officially put together and offered payment as 'Rangers' but the same men, and more, had been operating unofficially as rangers in the same areas for several years. So, it may well be this which he is referring to in his 'story' passed down from his old man.

9th Jun 2015

The Longest Day (1962)

Factual error: As the British prepare to march inland following the capture of Sword Beach, Lord Lovat tells piper Bill Millin to play "The Bluebells of Scotland," but Millin instead plays "The Black Bear." Additionally, he can be heard playing the same tune during the landing, but the real Bill Millin did not play that song on D-Day.

Texijapi

Character mistake: At the gala, Ben describes to Abigail how the Founding Fathers would have been hanged, beheaded, drawn and quartered, and had their entrails burned had they lost the war. However, only hanging and beheading were acceptable practices in Britain at the time; Ben's information is off by several decades.

Texijapi

8th Apr 2015

True Grit (1969)

Factual error: LaBeouf is repeatedly said to be from El Paso, yet the crime for which he is pursuing Tom Chaney occurred in Waco - 547 miles away from El Paso.

Texijapi

1st Nov 2014

Amadeus (1984)

Factual error: The scene where Mozart is dictating the "Confutatis" to Salieri: though the real Salieri was, in truth, a very accomplished composer and musical expert, there is no way he could write down Mozart's melodies as quickly as he does in this scene. The ostinato string part is especially improbable - he writes down a combined 968 notes for four parts in less than 10 seconds. Obviously done for time purposes, but unrealistic all the same.

Texijapi

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