Sammo

Factual error: In the second case, Phoenix arrives on the scene of the crime just 11 minutes after the murder occurred, but examining the body, he finds the murder weapon "encrusted with dried blood." In that short of a timespan, the blood would be anything but crusty - especially considering that the smell of blood is so strong that Phoenix can feel it from the corridor.

Sammo

4th Oct 2023

Kojak (1973)

Siege of Terror - S1-E1

Factual error: The armed robbery is reported by the radio call as happening in "4014 Nostrand Avenue", which is a real street in Brooklyn. However, the first detectives to respond to the dispatch identify themselves as being from "Manhattan South" (makes sense, Kojak being a Lieutenant of the fictional 11th Manhattan South precinct), and the rest of the episode is set obviously in Manhattan. That's many miles away.

Sammo

Factual error: Poirot's bodyguard announces that the palace where the movie mostly takes place is called "Palazzo Lacrime dei giovani." No such palace exists in Venice, but that's obviously not a mistake per se; the problem is, such a name does not fit a Venetian palace. The word "Giovani" has a modern ring to it and wouldn't have been used for the orphan children of the story, considering that it's the equivalent of "young adults" rather than "children" - and regardless, it's just as awkwardly sounding as an imaginary "Castle Tears of the Youngs" in Britain.

Sammo

Factual error: Poirot attends a Halloween party in Venice in 1947. Halloween was never publicly recognized as a holiday in Venice or Italy in general in the XX century, especially with the traditional pumpkin-centered iconography. One could argue that, for the most part, Poirot is attending a private party organized by an American soprano. But, besides how unlikely it would be for 1947 Catholic nuns to take part in such a pagan-themed event, there are scenes showing Halloween decorations in the streets of Venice far away from the party location, as if it were a public holiday and not a private gathering from an eccentric foreigner.

Sammo

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

Suggested correction: Besides what Oliver says to Poirot in the beginning about Americans bringing over Halloween to Italy, it's not true. Halloween has a European and Christian origin. A day called All Hallow's Day on November 1st has been a national holiday in Italy since the 9th century. There have always been activities in Italy the evening prior to All Hallow's day. This includes games, themes of death, carved pumpkins (turnips before), and masks ("guising"), all of which are very old traditions done all over Europe.

lionhead

Being Italian and having lived in Italy for the past decades, may not make me an authority over all things Italian, but I can assure you that Ognissanti (which is what you quote as being "All Hallow's Day," since we obviously haven't been borrowing English names for our festivities) has never been observed as a national holiday with anything remotely close to what is shown here, which is, like Ariadne Oliver says, plain and simple Halloween. Like I said in the entry, it'd be perfectly fine for Americans to celebrate it, but no pumpkin banners in the public streets and parades with people shouting "Happy Halloween!" with nuns in full garb, no less! Halloween has never been celebrated here with any mainstream fanfare until the very, very recent years.

Sammo

12th Jan 2023

Inspector Ike (2020)

Factual error: The movie is set in the 80s (you can see tell for instance by the driving license of the old woman, which uses the 80s template and has a 1985 date), but the police plays the suicide tape on a Panasonic PV-4614, which is a late 90s model of VHR. Same goes for the Sony video camera used to tape the murder, definitely from the 90s. (00:19:00)

Sammo

Factual error: A major plot point revolves around the fact that the police and medical staff can't reach the island because the "Pisceshite" dock is non-buoyant and they need to wait for the low tide. While we do not know exactly where the fictional island is, other than the fact that it's 2 hours off the coast of Greece and Blanc mentions (correcting Miles Bron) that it's in the Aegean sea and not the Ionian sea, it's fair to say that the tides in that area of the Mediterranean are negligible, not reaching even a meter in very selected spots, and averaging at mere centimeters. It's nothing that would impede navigation and police or medical team to arrive. (01:02:30)

Sammo

Factual error: Birdie tries to use the tune recognizing app Shazam speaking to the wrong device. When she does that, the TV in the background plays footage from CNN, with the coronavirus epidemic, featuring Dr. Fauci. However, in that particular part of the scene they also show a map of the US that displays the states with no mask mandate. The chart can't be a May 13, 2020 one (supposed date of the scene), since it shows the situation at the end of the year. Several states in white like Washington, Nevada, Oregon adopted it only in the summer. (00:08:20)

Sammo

6th Jan 2023

Hard Times (1975)

Factual error: As the protagonists say goodbye at the end of the movie, Speed pulls over in a railroad deposit. The wagon he stops by shows an odd graffiti. Upon further inspection, you can tell that it's actually an attempt to conceal the giant logo (the so called "split rail" logo) of the Illinois Central Railroad, a logo used by the company between 1966 and 1972, way after the period the movie is set, in the 30s, when the logo would have been the green and yellow diamond one. (01:28:30)

Sammo

13th Nov 2022

Ride Lonesome (1959)

Factual error: When Mrs. Lane screams at the sight of the horse, on the back of Karen Steele you can see the outline of a modern bra under the shirt. (00:23:30)

Sammo

10th Nov 2022

Hard Times (1975)

Factual error: To get back the money they (il)legitimately won, Chaney fights with Pettibon's men inside a bar. They brawl near a pinball machine identifiable as a modified version of "Majors - 1941" (you can see its logo distinctly), which was manufactured, obviously, in 1941. The movie is supposed to be set in 1933. (00:37:10)

Sammo

10th Nov 2022

Hard Times (1975)

Factual error: Chaney vandalizes Pettibon's bar shooting 8 times from the 6 rounds cylinder revolver he pilfered. (00:39:00)

Sammo

10th Nov 2022

Hard Times (1975)

Factual error: In the establishing shot of the street where Chaney rents in 1930s New Orleans, you can see the sign for Angel Sheet Metal Works, which was created in 1968. (00:13:15)

Sammo

10th Nov 2022

Hard Times (1975)

Factual error: When Chaney shoots towards the bar counter, the bar sports a calendar that shows exactly 29 days in the month. The only possible month with 29 days the first being on a Sunday would be February of the leap year 1930, but the movie is set post-prohibition. The scene is not set in February anyway - minutes later they show up at Lucy's home at 5 am and the sun shines.

Sammo

8th Nov 2022

Hard Times (1975)

Factual error: When Bronson is walking into the city through the railroad deposit, he walks by unused wagons branded Missouri Pacific Lines. The wagon bears the slogan "Route of the Eagles" which was coined and standardized on wagons only in the late 40s. The movie is set in the depression years. (00:02:45)

Sammo

30th Jul 2022

Hard Times (1975)

Factual error: The movie is set during the Great Depression, in 1933, but Charles Bronson gets in town aboard of a freight train pulled by an EMD NW5 diesel locomotor, introduced over a decade later. (00:01:15)

Sammo

30th Jul 2022

Cyrano (2021)

Factual error: The morning after the ambush, Cyrano meets with the baker asking for a private spot. Ragueneau is an amateur poet, and he reads his composition. When Cyrano asks for a place more private than the oven surrounded by men, the baker recites "Jupiter and Pluto are planets, revolving like us, far apart." The story is set in the 1600s, and Pluto hadn't yet been identified as a planet nor sighted, let alone named. It happened in 1930. (00:28:40)

Sammo

28th Jul 2022

The Intern (2015)

Factual error: The movie is set in 2015 as clearly stated. When Ben reads the newspaper waiting for Jules' first mail after their meeting, the newspaper he's holding shows the headline "NFL Revises Settlement, Making Open-Ended Pledge", which was from the New York Times of June 26, 2014, and when his co-workers helpfully cover his obviously portentous erection with the newspaper, they do it using a page from July 7, "The Fallacy of Balanced Literacy" (this one detail is helped by freeze-frame, since the page is upside-down). Moreover, when Jules joins Matt in the bedroom after she fell asleep herself with Paige, the TV in the room is playing Jimmy Fallon's show from March 5th, again of 2014. (00:20:05 - 00:38:40)

Sammo

24th Jul 2022

X-Ray (1981)

Factual error: Right after the opening credits, captions say "Susan's house - 1961." And right afterwards, the model train runs by two cigar boxes, one of Dunhill n.25 (seemingly one of the later designs of the box) and the other of "Joya de Nicaragua", a brand founded in 1968. (00:01:25)

Sammo

21st Jul 2022

Death on the Nile (2022)

Factual error: When Linnet walks to her room never to wake up again, she walks past a newspaper ("Daily Sketch") with the date of Monday, May 17, 1937. Since the cover story is the opening scene in the night club, and the wedding happens exactly six weeks after that scene, the movie has to take place in July at most. However, in the hotel lobby in Aswan, during the introduction of Ms. Van Schuyler and her companion (right after cousin Andrew tells the clerk that "not a soul" must see the telegram), one of the guests is reading issue 700 of the French magazine Candide, which came out only mid-August of the same year. (00:20:30 - 01:00:10)

Sammo

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