Corrected entry: When Hummel's marines are breaking into the naval weapons depot, the guard inside the control tower isn't wearing a hat. When he falls through the window, he is.
Corrected entry: Ranger Bob said that he spent a couple years in Alcatraz. If the prison is closed since 1963, he must have been a baby when he was arrested. (00:15:30)
Correction: He doesn't say "I spent a couple of years in there", he says "Spend a couple of years in there..." and is then interrupted. He would presumably have continued to say what sort of effect spending all that time locked up would have on a person.
Corrected entry: When the Thermite Plasma bomb is dropped accidentally and Nicholas Cage is flying through the air because of the detonation, you can see that he (the stuntman) is hung up on the hips. Maybe you can only see this one in the DVD version, frame by frame.
Correction: If it's only visible in slow motion it's not a movie mistake.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Nicholas Cage is supposedly making love to his girlfriend on the rooftop, Cage gets a phone call and has to leave. When his girlfriend gets up you can see her underwear.
Correction: It is called simply pushing the panties to the side. I am sure that it has been done many times.
Corrected entry: Everyone in the Seal team is wearing dark clothing in order to be "invisible", and therefore they have also painted their faces in camouflage colours, all but Goodspeed and Mason. They are happily sitting there with their white uncamouflaged faces. What's the point of the rest being camouflaged then?
Correction: I believe that Mason is there to show the way and Goodspeed to defuse the bombs. The Seals are there to take back control of the Rock. Wouldn't it be logical then that Mason doesn't need camouflage for just showing the way and that Goodspeed doesn't wear any camouflage because he will defuse only after the Seals have taken over. He isn't supposed to take part in the action.
Corrected entry: Close to the beginning when Ed Harris and his team are stealing the rockets one of his team members smashes through a watch tower, as he shoots the guard with a shotgun you can clearly see a squishy ball hit the guard and rebound off him.
Correction: They said they were going to take the island using non-lethal force.
Corrected entry: Alcatraz does not have narrated tours by guides. They use a self guided tour where you get a walkman and listen to a tape.
Correction: However, it is possible to arrange a tour through the park system for a specific large group. My high school did that.
Corrected entry: At the end of the movie, Mason tells Goodspeed, "It's been a long time since I've said thank you to anybody, but, thank you." However, he said thank you to Goodspeed earlier in the movie, after Goodspeed told Mason's daughter that he was helping the FBI.
Correction: Technically, Mason has said thank you twice before the end of the movie: the first time is to Goodspeed (as you have pointed out) and the second time is to the Marine Commander (stated sarcastically) just before he goes into the boiler and opens the door to Alcatraz from the inside. The first time was to Goodspeed for allowing him to save face with his daughter, but this really didn't buy him much because he went back into custody of the FBI anyway. The second time was a sarcastic remark to the Marine Commander (i.e., not stated seriously). At the end of the movie, Goodspeed has told the FBI that Mason is dead, thus allowing Mason to get away and live a new life with a new identity, one that the FBI cannot track. So, at the end of the movie, Mason acknowledges that he is truly indebted in gratitude to Goodspeed, something he hasn't experienced in years, just before saying thank you to Goodspeed. So, this is not a mistake.
Corrected entry: Why does Goodspeed ask for a gun at the Fairmont Hotel? At that time he couldn't be aware that he was going to join the SEALs later in the movie...?
Correction: He was asking for the gun in the case that the situation with Mason at the public hotel becomes dangerous. It has nothing to do w/joining the SEALs later. He ends up with a different gun then, anyways. When the situation w/Mason at the hotel actually DOES become dangerous, Goodspeed uses the gun, so its a good thing he asked for one.
Corrected entry: When Mason and Goodspeed are locked in the cells together Goodspeed asks Mason what he did to pass the time when locked in the cells on Alcatraz. Mason mentions he dreamt of meeting his daughter one day. However it has previously been stated that Mason was in the rock 1962-63 but his daughter wasn't born until the 1970s.
Correction: The question was more of a "what did you think about while being locked-up" since Goodspeed knows that he's been locked up for the past 2 decades, and time before that. He wasn't asking specifically about being only in Alcatraz.
Corrected entry: Alcatraz has been de-commissioned for many, many years when this movie takes place. Why then are there still active flamethrowers with the randomly rotating gears? Why were they there in the first place? It couldn't have been to prevent inmates from escaping. The whole flamethrower part is completely absurd.
Correction: The electronic locks on the cells still work, since the guide shuts everybody into the cells as part of the tour. It isn't unreasonable to think that more parts of Alcatraz have been maintained in working order as part of the tour.
Corrected entry: The helicopter used to drop the US Navy Seals in the water is a CH-3, this US Air Force helicopter retired a few years before. More realistic would have been a US Navy CH-53E.
Correction: The SH-3 (or its variant the CH-3) were used by the Navy up until the early 2000's. In the mid 90's (when the movie was filmed and takes place) the H-3 was used operationally by the Navy.
Corrected entry: Just after the scene where Ed Harris is shot, there is a scene where Sean Connery is firing a machine gun. If you look closely you can see a cameraman running in the background.
Correction: Just looked through it several times in slo mo and didn't see anything.
Corrected entry: At the start of the movie where Goodspeed is collected by Womack, he states that VX gas was "invented accidentally". Later on, in the war room, one of the army experts around the table describes VX as "specifically designed to withstand napalm". So, designed, or accidental?
Correction: Could easily be both. The precursor of VX gas was originally developed as a pesticide called Amiton. It was withdrawn by its manufacturer, Imperial Chemicals, due to its toxicity. Several samples were sent to the British Army, who used the precursor to develop a series of agents called the V series. The best known one of which is VX nerve gas.
Corrected entry: Quentin Tarantino is one of the uncredited scriptwriters on this film, which could explain the "plunging the syringe into your heart" thing which was also done in his film Pulp Fiction.
Correction: While I understand the suppposed connection between movies, I think the reason this method was used in these movies was because it is a common misconception that this particular medicine must be administered this way. Not true at all. It is delivered through a shot to the rear or thigh, as described in military "self aid buddy care" handbooks. The needle on the device is FAR too short to penetrate below the ribs, let alone into the heart. Its just more dramatic this way.
Corrected entry: As Mason is interrogated, he breaks the window. Prior to that he takes a coin and draws a circle on the window. The purpose of that must be that when he uses force the window will break where he has made the circle. That does not happen. The window breaks in the center of the circle, not at the rim as intended.
Correction: Mason also draws an "X" in the circle while the camera focuses on Womack and Goodspeed. The glass shatters at the weak point in the center of the "X".
Corrected entry: In the beginning when Hummel is talking to his wife's gravestone, the emblem on his hat is broken.
Correction: Actually, the United States Marine Corps insignia is not broken, it is perfectly intact. The USMC seal is of an 'eagle' perched atop a 'globe' with a diagonal 'foul anchor' running through it. The same Marine Corps emblem is on his dress uniform's collars (with left and right facing anchors).
Corrected entry: When they are in the chamber defusing the bomb we see the timer at 1:10, there is no slow motion in the movie, however the timer arrives at 0:04 after 1 minute and 14 seconds not after 1:06 as it should. (00:10:00)
Correction: Very few films are shot in real time. Much like most films, many of the shots during that scene are supposed to be happing simultaniously. e.g. while Cage is defusing, the other guys are trying to turn the water on, and his partner is panicking, and the cockroaches are dying etc.
Corrected entry: In the scene where all of the men are being taken by helicopter to Alcatraz, a soldier hands Goodspeed a syringe and says something along the lines of 'if you come in contact with the chemical, inject this into your heart.' If Mason was sitting with the men on the helicopter, why was he so surprised when Goodspeed stops him in the tunnel and tells him that the terrorists have chemical weapons. Was he not paying attention on the helicopter?
Correction: He is not surprised that they have chemicals, he is surprised that they have missiles aimed at San Francisco (where his daughter lives).
Corrected entry: After the first rocket is launched, Cpt. Frye says 'let's be all we can be'. That was the Army slogan. No Marine would say that. (01:45:05)
Correction: He is probably mocking since "The Few, The Proud" wouldn't really fit in right here.
Correction: It does not appear to be the same guy. He looks to be from a different race.
It definitely is two different characters. The first guy, without the hat, is attacked first and kicked down, you see him fall down without a hat on. When the second attack is shown, it's a different tower and guard. The second guard has his hat on and is standing before getting shot and falling out the window.
Bishop73
Then this is not a mistake. Clearly 2 different characters.