Best history movie mistakes of all time

Deliberate mistake: The me-109 have painted yellow fronts, this wasn't done by the Germans until after Dunkirk. Christopher Nolan has admitted doing this deliberately so the audience could tell the difference between the spitfire and the me-109 during the combat scenes.

Add time

Other mistake: When the Japanese planes take off for Pearl Harbor, some of the 3 man torpedo planes only have a pilot.

Add time

Continuity mistake: When Eliot Ness is at Jim Malone's house for the first time, Malone's collar is opened, then buttoned, then open again.

Add time

Factual error: Me 262's were armed with 30 mm cannon in the nose, a round penetrating a canopy would leave a hole much larger than was depicted, and being high-explosive, once it detonated inside the cockpit, the pilot was toast. One of the red tails had a number of holes in his canopy.

Add time

Visible crew/equipment: Near the end of the movie when the convoy is heading back to the Pakistan Stadium, a Humvee stops briefly to allow a man to walk across the street with a child in his arms. When the shot changes and the Humvee begins driving again, a crew member or cameraman is seen inside the Humvee wearing a white shirt. All of the men who entered the Humvee were wearing fatigues.

02:05:27

Factual error: When the map of the German advance is shown, Switzerland is shown to be taken over. Switzerland was never invaded by the Germans.

00:05:10

Revealing mistake: At the beginning of the film where Robert De Niro gets into his car and it explodes, you can clearly see the cut where they have replaced him with a dummy.

Add time

Visible crew/equipment: As Achilles' ship nears the Trojan shores, Agamemnon snidely asks, "What's the fool doing? He's going to take the beach of Troy with fifty men?" At the start of the next shot, as the camera begins to pan down, on the far right, just beside a person's (who is dressed in blue) head is a metal bullhorn (ie. used to give instructions to cast/crew, and which definitely doesn't belong in this time period).

00:36:35

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When Eduardo finds the letter on the mantlepiece about them apparently stealing the idea for Facebook and asks Mark if they did or not, he places a bottle on the mantlepiece just before he finds the letter. This bottle rotates slightly between shots without him touching it after placing it down.

00:49:15

Continuity mistake: When the police are moving in to arrest Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the shot shows an FBI SWAT officer grabbing him. But in the next cut, the officer changes to a Boston Police Officer while changing back to a FBI Officer in the following shot.

Add time

Revealing mistake: When Mr Witt rides out of the Zulu camp in a 2 horse cart at the beginning of the movie, just before it exits, you can see it's a stunt double at the reins.

Add time

Revealing mistake: When the 54th Mass. marches past a liberated plantation some black children wave them on. One of them is wearing a digital wristwatch.

Add time

Visible crew/equipment: In the fight scene on the stairs near the end of the movie, the camera shot looks up and there is a security camera mounted up in the corner.

01:29:40

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Avner shoots the first Palestinian, the dead man falls forward onto his groceries, but the next time the body is seen, he is lying on his back.

Add time

Factual error: The ribbon of Richard Burton's Distinguished Flying Cross is on upside down. The Air Force Cross following it is the right way up. The stripes on both should point the same way, as they do on the uniform of his colleague in the mess. Nobody would be allowed to get away with a mistake like this - another officer or senior NCO would soon point it out. In addition, as a long-service veteran (his colleague says he served in the Battle of Britain) he should be wearing the ribbon of the 1939-1944 Star (as it was then), which was issued to all qualified personnel from 1943.

Add time

Revealing mistake: In the final scene where Fonda and Holbrook are looking over the carrier at the crowds on the dock you can see that only the first rows of people are dressed in period clothes, the rest of the crowd are dressed as they would have in 1976 when the film was made.

Add time

Visible crew/equipment: When the Muslim armies approach Brendan Gleason's castle there is a side shot of the Muslims army coming to a halt. You can see the marker stake with yellow tape at the top (used during production as a mark).

01:10:10

Factual error: The movie is set in the 1860s. During a performance for English guests, Anna has the King's children perform "Bicycle Built For Two". That song, otherwise known as "Daisy Belle" was written by Harry Dacre in 1892.

00:57:50

Continuity mistake: When the members of the brotherhood beat up Mani until he is dead, they pick him up above their heads. The tattoo on his torso appears to be on his right side, whereas in previous and following scenes the tattoo is on his left side. That shot is flipped.

Add time

Factual error: It is said in the film that Ice Cube's character works in an airport in Detroit. When the scene shows Ice Cube at work as a baggage handler, there are mountains in the background. There are no mountains in the Detroit area.

00:14:10

Factual error: Here's a big historical mistake. The character of German Admiral Lütjens is depicted overall in this film as a wild-eyed Nazi fanatic. In real life, he was distinctly anti-Nazi, vehemently protested the anti-Semitic actions of Hitler's regime, and was himself subject to intense Nazi scrutiny as he was a quarter Jewish and his wife was half Jewish. He was one of many German naval officers who fought only for their country, not Hitler.

Add time

Factual error: Robert McNamara is wearing a multi colored Polo shirt talking to Mrs. Graham in 1971. The Ralph Lauren Company did not make the shirts until 1972.

Add time

Continuity mistake: When Jesus tells Peter to stop fighting against the temple guards when in the garden, you can see the background behind him: a small tree by a large one. The shot cuts to Peter and then back to Jesus telling him to again stop. The background is now reversed.

Add time

Factual error: Mel Gibson sits around the campfire at the railway camp with the lads, reading newspaper reports of the April 25, 1915 landing at Gallipoli. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade (including the 10th Light Horse Regiment from Western Australia) landed at Gallipoli on 20 May 1915. This would have given him less than 3 weeks to enlist, train, travel to Egypt by ship and land on the Peninsula. A bit of a stretch. In reality, the 10 Light Horse regiment was raised in October 1914, with the 1st-3rd reinforcements departing Fremantle February 19-22, 1915.

Add time

Factual error: Louis Simo gives his son an Etch-A-Sketch while taking him to school, and later when Louis stops by to see his son at his ex-wife's house, his son is playing with the Etch-A-Sketch in his bedroom. Both incidents take place in the summer of 1959. George Reeves died June 16, 1959, hence the investigation. The first Etch-A-Sketch toys were produced on July 12, 1960 and Ohio Art launched the toy in the United States in time for the 1960 holiday season.

Add time

Continuity mistake: During the briefing Alexei Vostrikov was receiving from the Generals, he has three stars on his shoulders, but for the most of the rest of the movie he only has two stars on his shoulders.

Add time

Factual error: When Wyatt (Kevin Costner) becomes the sheriff/deputy/policeman of Wichita, Kansas, you can plainly see mountains in the background - there aren't any around there.

Add time

Visible crew/equipment: In all the President Kennedy White House shots, you can see the boom mic peak down several times. Look for the group shots, and the boom mic will be there.

Add time

Revealing mistake: In one of Pickett's charge scene the bayonets are obviously rubber.

Add time

Factual error: There is a theater showing 'La Dolce Vita.' That movie came out in 1960, but this film takes place in 1957 or 58 (since there is a reference to new 1958 model car).

Add time