# Inaccuracies that bother you most and least **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2022, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050 "2022-06-28T16:04:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/161 "2022-06-30T19:15:05Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Speaking of inaccuracies with passenger jets I think there might be some scientific inaccuracies in this scene: - > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I16\_8l0yS-g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I16_8l0yS-g) Yeah, no way that guy is two days away from getting married. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/162 "2022-06-30T19:15:10Z")
Funny you should mention this. I was watching **this clip** earlier today and thinking “Is _that_ how Alaska looks? Looks more like California to me.” [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO6IU9RpjS8) ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/163 "2022-06-30T19:16:09Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Something that bothers me a lot (and probably unreasonably so) are movies that are supposedly taking place in Alaska. Yeah, there was some Romantic Comedy set in Sitka that so clearly wasn’t Sitka, or anywhere in Alaska. On the other coast, a show called Chesapeake Shores was _obviously_ filmed in the Pacific Northwest. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/164 "2022-06-30T19:22:41Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > TOPGUN hasn’t been at North Island in 25 years. Was TOPGUN at NAS North Island? I thought they transferred to NAS Fallon after NAS Miramar became MCAS Miramar. > [@terentii](#): > > Looks more like California to me. It’s amazing how many places look like Southern California. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/165 "2022-06-30T19:25:15Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Neither do pre-CGI movies with Pattons playing Tigers and F-5s playing MiGs. I can live with that. What is annoying is when they use the SAME plane. There was an early Magnum PI that had a Soviet pilot defect in his MiG. He was escorted in by two American Phantoms. In real life, all three were Phantoms. They couldn’t have found ANY different plane to play the MiG? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/166 "2022-06-30T19:25:28Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Was TOPGUN at NAS North Island? Yeah, I caught that too late. Should have said “San Diego” instead. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > They couldn’t have found ANY different plane to play the MiG? See? **Lazy.** ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/167 "2022-06-30T19:29:23Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Again with DHII as an example, and I’m not sure this is technically an “inaccuracy”, but in DHII, the (not yet revealed to be) bad guys, when not in front of anyone except the camera, do “good guy” things. Why are they pretending to be good guys when they all know they are not. No one can see them. The Army unit which is sent to the airport turns out to be working with Colonel Stewart. Those are probably the bad-guys-acting-as-good-guys you’re thinking of. I don’t recall any scenes where they’re alone and could drop the facade. Plus, there was one new guy who was just assigned, and wasn’t in on the conspiracy. They had to maintain their cover in front of him, lest he blow the whistle. The whole unit is revealed to be bad guys when one of them slits the new guy’s throat. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/168 "2022-06-30T19:29:33Z")
The F-5s in _ **Top Gun** _ didn’t bother me that much, since so many different countries use it. (The ones in the movie were from some unidentified Third-World country, not the Soviet Union.) I read somewhere that after 1975, Vietnam had the fourth largest air force in the world because of all the American aircraft that were left behind. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/169 "2022-06-30T19:33:29Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > This scene, which is absolutely hilarious if you (a) speak Japanese and understand all the translator is leaving out, (b) have ever worked in a cross cultural situation where people are not getting each other and (c) experienced that frustration first hand. > > The director had a particular vision, expressed it articulately and then the translator completely blew it off. > > The scene was well done in terms of the Japanese culture, which I really enjoyed. I still find the scene hilarious, and I don’t know a lick of Japanese. Especially, when Murray’s line is “for a relaxing time” and the translator kept repeating instructions to use more intensity. The director was definitely passionate, but I couldn’t tell if he was angry or being motivational. Was the translator not associated with the studio and just wanting to get the ordeal over with, or was she sandbagging the director because she thought he was an asshole? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/170 "2022-06-30T19:35:55Z")
The 4077th was stationed there for 11 years! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/171 "2022-06-30T19:43:26Z")
An A-5 Vigilante might have made a good substitute for the Foxbat, or maybe an AVRO Arrow. The trouble is finding one. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/172 "2022-06-30T19:47:05Z")
Especially since the MiG-25 ‘borrowed’ a lot from the A-5. Unfortunately, the A-5 was retired in 1979. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/173 "2022-06-30T19:56:46Z")
Yes. Yes it is! (By the way, I ADORE this movie. And Die Hard OG. And I don’t care who knows it!) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/174 "2022-06-30T19:57:43Z")
The whole Soviet defector thing made me think about that made-for-TV movie in which Alan Arkin played the Lithuanian seaman who asked for asylum on board a US naval vessel in the '70s. The whole time he was talking to other Soviets on his own ship, his language (Russian or Lithuanian, translated into English for the viewer) was impeccable. The moment he got onto the bridge of the American ship (“I’m so happy to _be_ here!”) he sounded like one of the Gumbys on Monty Python. I kept expecting him to say “My brain hurts!” at any moment. Moral to the story: If you’re going to do an accent, try not to talk like an idiot! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/175 "2022-06-30T19:59:24Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Something that bothers me a lot (and probably unreasonably so) are movies that are supposedly taking place in Alaska. Now most people wouldn’t notice things that someone like me would, because most people didn’t grow up there, but for me it’s instantly obvious that the scenery is wrong and that the movie was filmed elsewhere. You don’t have to be born in Alaska for this one. It’s pretty much a universal experience to be watching a movie set in a location you’re familiar with, which is obviously not that location. The only people who don’t experience this regularly are people in Vancouver. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/176 "2022-06-30T20:09:23Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > It’s amazing how many places look like Southern California. And then there was the show _Psych_, in which Santa Barbara looks an awful lot like the Pacific Northwest. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/177 "2022-06-30T20:17:41Z")
It occurs to me most people wouldn’t know that episode of _ **Magnum** _ was based on a true story, also from.the '70s. (The defector flew his MiG to Japan, not Hawaii.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/178 "2022-06-30T20:26:41Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Speaking of inaccuracies with passenger jets I think there might be some scientific inaccuracies in this scene: Yes. As a marine biologist I can tell you that particular species of giant flying shark has it’s teeth arranged in a different dentition, and the dorsal fin is slightly wrong. 🤪 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/179 "2022-06-30T20:26:45Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > You don’t have to be born in Alaska for this one. It’s pretty much a universal experience to be watching a movie set in a location you’re familiar with, which is obviously not that location. The only people who don’t experience this regularly are people in Vancouver. I think being in Vancouver would be jarring the first few times I experienced something that is filmed in a location I am familiar with, but is obviously not the location it purportedly is, but would get over it after awhile. I experience this phenomenon more often than the reverse, but the only one I can think of now is when, in the Last of the Mohicans, the waterfall at the film’s climax is Chimney Rock in North Carolina instead of some place in New York. This was distracting to me only because my roommate whom I was seeing the film with didn’t believe me when I told him this. In this particular instance, the waterfall doesn’t totally look out of place for NYS. Waterfalls of similar size can look pretty similar to each other from far away. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/180 "2022-06-30T20:29:58Z")
See, if I’d ever seen that particular episode the range would have been the thing that bugged me, even more than all the planes being Phantoms. The longest ranged MiG could fly about 3300km with drop tanks, or about _halfway_ there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050.md?page=10)