Best drama movie factual errors of 2019

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

The Irishman picture

Factual error: While handling the ignition coil cable to the distributor cap, Joe Pesci tells De Niro that the timing chain needs adjustment in his truck. A truck of that year with an inline Chevy motor would not have a timing chain at all, instead this truck would be equipped with a direct drive timing gear. Even if it had a timing chain, it would be behind the water pump and a cover. It would have been a several hour job to replace, not possible to adjust it.

More The Irishman factual errors
1917 picture

Factual error: The strong current of the river the main character falls into carries him to a considerable waterfall. There is not, nor has there ever been, a river of that kind in the Ecoust front line area, let alone a waterfall. Anyone who has any insight into the geography of the region will tell you it is flat as can be. The largest body of water, the Yzer, gently meanders and flows into the Channel, even during really rainy times.

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

Suggested correction: I do not believe that either Ecoust or Croisilles Wood is in Flanders. Both are behind the old German lines at the Somme. That said, there are no bodies of water in that area.

Ecoust and Croissilles are in department Pas-De-Calais in the French Flanders, together with the Belgian flanders they are called Flanders Fields. It is indeed a flat area.

lionhead

Also, the message in ink delivered is legible, despite having been submerged in water. And don't get me started about the attack from ridiculous trenches and not a barbed wire in sight.

It's not. Even French Flanders is further north. But, even though there are some high points in the area, like Vimy Ridge that rises to about 500 feet above the surrounding plains, the slopes are quite gentle. And, as you say, wouldn't allow for the kind of drop seen in the movie.

There is a watercourse that goes through Croisilles... But it's basically a ditch.

More 1917 factual errors
Joker picture

Factual error: Based on the films being shown at the theater, the movie appears to be set in 1981. One of the TV commercials shows the Energizer Bunny, which didn't make its first appearance until 1988.

wizard_of_gore

More Joker factual errors
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood picture

Factual error: Twice in the movie a Jumbo Jet (a Boeing 747) from Pan Am appears. The movie is set in 1969, when that plane had its maiden journey, but it wasn't flown commercially until 1970.

More Once Upon a Time in Hollywood factual errors
Ad Astra picture

Factual error: It is not possible that Pitt could have gone up to the ship when it was already blasting off. There was literally fire in the tunnel.

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

Suggested correction: It was a bit confusing, but what I saw was a shower of sparks or hot particles and some fumes, and no fire in the tunnel until he was through the hatch. The makers may have been influenced by seeing vapour prior to a rocket launch, and then some rockets use a shower of electric sparks to ignite the engines. It was implausible, but no fire in the tunnel.

More Ad Astra factual errors
Midway picture

Factual error: During the battle at the Marshalls-Gilberts, the movie shows mountainous terrain. The real Marshalls and Gilberts are atolls with very little terrain.

Movie Medic

More Midway factual errors
Knives Out picture

Factual error: Opening the blank envelope, Marta finds the fragment of the toxicology report. It is signed "Office of the chief medical examiner, Norfolk County, Massachusetts." But then it writes also the address of said office, which is in Marlborough. Marlborough is also the city when Marta resides, and where the lawyers' letters we see come from. But Marlborough is also a city in the Middlesex county, not Norfolk. (01:28:25)

Sammo

More Knives Out factual errors
Ford v Ferrari picture

Factual error: During Lee Iacocca's slide presentation to Henry Ford II in 1963, there are two slides that reference James Bond. One shows him standing next to the Aston Martin DB5, which made its debut in "Goldfinger" in 1964, and another shows a still image from "Thunderball", which was released in 1965.

wizard_of_gore

More Ford v Ferrari factual errors
The Highwaymen picture

Factual error: A plastic bucket is seen. Plastic buckets were invented in the 60s. (00:50:05)

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

Suggested correction: There's no plastic bucket seen. If you're referring to the bucket cops are using at the crime, there's a shot of the bucket on its side and you can tell there's a metal bottom.

Bishop73

More The Highwaymen factual errors
The Dirt picture

Factual error: Tommy is wearing a Hulkamania shirt while the band is being assembled together. The band was formed in 1981. Hulkamania didn't start until 1984.

More The Dirt factual errors
Blinded by the Light picture

Factual error: The film is set in 1987 but most of the street lights seen throughout the movie are LED street lights and some high pressure sodium Philips lanterns (produced from the early 1990s to early 2000s), neither of which were around back then. Similarly many of the shots of the M1 motorway show modern cars and smart motorway/variable speed limits, which never existed at the time.

More Blinded by the Light factual errors
More Jojo Rabbit factual errors
47 Meters Down: Uncaged picture

Factual error: Like so many other films that take place underwater, this one makes the mistake of having characters who can hear each other underwater despite not wearing earpieces and having their ears exposed to the water.

wizard_of_gore

More 47 Meters Down: Uncaged factual errors
Motherless Brooklyn picture

Factual error: Alec Baldwin opens a pack of Chesterfield cigarettes and they have a filter. This is in the late 50's - Chesterfields did not have filters until 1966.

More Motherless Brooklyn factual errors
Rocketman picture

Factual error: When we see Elton John's father Stanley in RAF uniform at the beginning of the film he is wearing other ranks' uniform. Stanley was commissioned in 1944, three years before Elton was born, and served as a commissioned officer until his retirement as a squadron leader in 1963. He should be wearing officer's uniform.

Necrothesp

More Rocketman factual errors
Marriage Story picture

Factual error: In the courtroom scene, the seal behind the judge reads, "United States District Court for the Southern District of California." This is a mistake - the US District courts are federal courts, they have no jurisdiction to hear divorce cases. The proper venue for this case would be the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, which is the state court with jurisdiction to hear family law cases in Los Angeles, California. The seal should have the state court name, not the federal one. (01:30:34)

tinsmith

More Marriage Story factual errors
Radioactive picture

Factual error: Eve Curie is shown as having been born before the Curies are nominated for the Nobel Prize in physics, which they eventually won in 1903. However, Even Curie wasn't born until December 6th, 1904.

wizard_of_gore

More Radioactive factual errors
True History of the Kelly Gang picture

Factual error: As well as the sergeant's stripes on his cuff, Sergeant O'Neil wears three pips on his epaulettes, which would indicate a much more senior rank and would not be worn together with the stripes.

Necrothesp

More True History of the Kelly Gang factual errors
The Two Popes picture

Factual error: Pope Benedict and Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio are hanging out in the room by the Sistine Chapel having a pizza and a drink together. The drink of choice is Fanta, apparently Joseph Ratzinger's favourite beverage. The scene is supposed to happen in 2012, but the label of the bottle is a more modern one, introduced in 2016. (01:34:20)

Sammo

More The Two Popes factual errors
Fighting with My Family picture

Factual error: The scenes set at Wrestlemania XXX (2014) were filmed at a RAW show in 2018 - fans are visible in the background wearing wrestling merchandise more recent than 2014.

Jon Sandys

More Fighting with My Family factual errors

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.