# Most incredible historical inaccuracies in movies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348 "2009-12-15T13:27:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/61 "2009-12-16T18:54:24Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > That’s not nearly as inaccurate as the idea of a lower middle-class gentlemen being able to afford to send five daughters to the far east for extensive martial arts & ninja assassin training in order to effectively combat the scourge of un-living, flesh-eating zombies. In fact, I’m fairly certain that attacks by Romero-style zombies were not especially common during the late 18th century… Especially since he sent them to _Japan_ 50 years before it was opened to outsiders and male Dutch merchants were the only Europeans allowed to set foot in the country (even then they were confined to their own island). If we consider TV series **Rome** took all sorts of liberties with the timeline, the Juli family, and Atia’s character in particular (the real life Atia Balboa was apparenly a shinging example of a virtuous Roman matron) ---
**Author:** ![Torpor\_Beast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@Torpor\_Beast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torpor_Beast)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/62 "2009-12-17T03:02:15Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Atia Balboa Thanks for the interesting visual of Atia beating up pig carcases. It’s Atia Balba Caesonia. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/63 "2009-12-17T03:05:26Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > If we consider TV series **Rome** took all sorts of liberties with the timeline, the Juli family, and Atia’s character in particular (the real life Atia Balboa was apparenly a shinging example of a virtuous Roman matron) Well. She was Augustus’s mother. They pretty much had to say that…😃 Then again, they said some pretty raunchy stuff about his daughter, so maybe they wouldn’t have left it out even if his mom had been a badass. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/64 "2009-12-17T07:54:28Z")
> [@](#): > > If it’s true, it CAN’T BE an inaccuracy. But what other sense would you prefer? Would you have prosecuted him simply because you knew what he meant? That was a major point of the play. Should we be doing that today? > [@](#): > > If he didn’t mention the King, that was not treason and he did NOT break the law. Suppose Congress passed a law making it illegal to advocate assassinating a President in any manner or encourage other people to do so. Not saying this would be a fair or just law but accept for the sake of argument that it is a law. Now suppose I wrote an article for publication in which I wrote: _“I think no elected official, even those in the highest of positions, is entitled to protection if he is disloyal. If that official is of questionable loyalty due to having spent years living in a foreign country (like Indonesia for example) and may have even been born in another country (like Kenya for example) and might thereby not be legally qualified for the office he holds, then Americans need to take action. In such a case, I think it is the duty of every American to do whatever it takes, even assassination, to right the great wrong that was done.”_ Following this I get arrested. In my defense I state, _“I can honestly state that I never wrote that people should assassinate President Obama. I never even mentioned his name.”_ But do you honestly think there’s any question of who I was talking about? ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/65 "2009-12-17T08:28:45Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > It also features a song which, over and over again, mispronounces “Copenhagen.” How is it pronounced? Is it with that long “ah” before the “g”? Like a Copenhaaaaahgen? Colbert did that the other week and it was an assault on my ears every time he did it. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/66 "2009-12-17T12:19:23Z")
Wild Wild West? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/67 "2009-12-17T13:04:53Z")
**Nemo** , if you think that **A Man for All Seasons** was about the railroading of an innocent, you don’t understand either the play or the character. It’s certainly implied, if not explicitly stated, that More disapproved of Henry’s actions and conveyed this in his writings and actions , short of actually explicitly saying or doing anything against the letter of the law – all of More’s statements about the law (“There I’m a forester” “A Technicality”“Yes, but it’s there, thank God”) point to that. Your example of writing about assassination is spot-on. Except that More wasn’t advocating killing anyone. He was protesti ng the action of a monarch that (at least in the play – I’m not certain of More’s real intent) he felt went directly against divine law, and that he was duty-bound to oppose to the best of his ability. _That_ is the point of the play – More’s person and soul were bound up in that belief. Bolt regarded that as somewhat ridiculous, saying that all More had to do was put his hand on a book and lie, and saying that the point of view of the Common Man (a character from the play absent from the movie), who certainly would have done so, was unassailable. But the headstrong yet witty More comes off as more admirable and honorable. And it’s precisely _because_ he opposed the king, and expressed this, yet avoided direct transgression. He was executed by the King’s side cheating which constitutes a victory of sorts. But the play and movie would be pretty meaningless if More _wasn’t_ issuing such protests. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/68 "2009-12-17T13:26:02Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Another thing they got wrong was that Rasputin wasn’t really an undead montser thingie from hell who tried to kill Anastasia from the grave. Damn - that’s _Hellboy_ ruined for me too. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/69 "2009-12-17T15:08:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Nemo, if you think that A Man for All Seasons was about the railroading of an innocent, you don’t understand either the play or the character. It’s certainly implied, if not explicitly stated, that More disapproved of Henry’s actions and conveyed this in his writings and actions , short of actually explicitly saying or doing anything against the letter of the law – all of More’s statements about the law (“There I’m a forester” “A Technicality”“Yes, but it’s there, thank God”) point to that. > > Your example of writing about assassination is spot-on. Except that More wasn’t advocating killing anyone. He was protesti ng the action of a monarch that (at least in the play – I’m not certain of More’s real intent) he felt went directly against divine law, and that he was duty-bound to oppose to the best of his ability. That is the point of the play – More’s person and soul were bound up in that belief. Bolt regarded that as somewhat ridiculous, saying that all More had to do was put his hand on a book and lie, and saying that the point of view of the Common Man (a character from the play absent from the movie), who certainly would have done so, was unassailable. But the headstrong yet witty More comes off as more admirable and honorable. And it’s precisely because he opposed the king, and expressed this, yet avoided direct transgression. He was executed by the King’s side cheating which constitutes a victory of sorts. But the play and movie would be pretty meaningless if More wasn’t issuing such protests. I feel I do understand the play and the character. But I feel that the character that Robert Bolt created was not an accurate reflection of Thomas More. Bolt’s More was somebody who held to a strong principle and was attempting to avoid dissent as much as possible while living inside that principle. He was portrayed as someone who was forced into a confrontation. The historical More did not do all he could to avoid the confrontation. He repeatedly made public statements of his beliefs, which were illegal. I’m not saying one situation is more moral than the other. But a person who is forced into a defiance he didn’t seek is different than a character who willingly defies something he feels is unjust. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/70 "2009-12-17T15:23:16Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > How is it pronounced? Is it with that long “ah” before the “g”? Like a Copenhaaaaahgen? Well, from what I understand, that Dutch “g” is a trick by itself. Dave Barry some years ago mentioned the Dutch “g,”, its awful sound, and how every Dutch word had at least three of them. I’ve heard that it was used as a shibboleth in WWII to smoke out Dutch-speaking Germans speakers from the natives. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/71 "2009-12-17T17:14:23Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > About the only positive thing I can say about _300_ is that they might have gotten pretty close to accurately representing the Spartan mind set. There’s a scene from Herodotus where the Spartans talk about how great it is to be free men, that people who are slaves just can’t appreciate how great it is to be free, and that they would be willing to use axes to defend their freedom. (Axes in war being something that barbarians use.) It seems rather hypocritical to us but there you go. Sounds like your typical Civil War Confederate. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/72 "2009-12-17T18:14:48Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Well, from what I understand, that Dutch “g” is a trick by itself. Dave Barry some years ago mentioned the Dutch “g,”, its awful sound, and how every Dutch word had at least three of them. I’ve heard that it was used as a shibboleth in WWII to smoke out Dutch-speaking Germans speakers from the natives. It would be a _horrible_ historical inaccuracy to put Copenhagen in the Netherlands. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/73 "2009-12-17T20:23:53Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > It would be a _horrible_ historical inaccuracy to put Copenhagen in the Netherlands. And ignoring that, the local pronunciation of the “g” isn’t really important seeing as the local (ie Danish) name for the city doesn’t have a “g” in it: Køpenhavn. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/74 "2009-12-17T21:58:07Z")
From [Merriam-Webster](http://m-w.com/dictionary/copenhagen): Pronunciation: \ˌkō-pən-ˈhā-gən, -ˈhä-; ˈkō-pən-ˌ Variant(s): or Danish Kö·ben·havn \ˌkœ-bən-ˈhau̇n\ So I guess the preferred pronunciation in American English would be something like coh-pun-HAY-gun, although I would have said COH-pun-hay-gun. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/75 "2009-12-17T22:51:54Z")
_Michael Collins_ has a number of inaccuracies, the most infamous being an incident involving a car bomb (which weren’t even invented until roughly half a century later). And while this mightn’t be an “inaccuracy”, strictly speaking, there is an intimation in the film that Eamon de Valera was behind his killing. No historian that I’m aware of seems to believe this. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/76 "2009-12-17T22:54:37Z")
[Walker](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096409/) is filled with anachronisms, by artisitc choice, of course. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/77 "2009-12-17T23:08:39Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > As much as I loved **Apollo 13** , I’ve always been annoyed by one glaring inaccuracy - made worse by the fact that it was almost certainly intentional despite the filmmakers knowing otherwise. > > Kevin Bacon played Jack Swigert, the astronaut from the backup crew who is assigned to fly the mission a few days before the launch. Swigert is portrayed as somehow not quite up to the task, and later participates in a shouting match during the flight. > > In reality, the backup crews were given identical training to the prime crews. Swigert was perfectly capable of flying the mission. What’s more, he had specialized in command module emergencies and written much of the training materials on the subject. In fact, they were lucky to have him on that flight. > > And according to Lovell, there was never any argument of the kind shown in the film. > > I would otherwise have let something like this slide, but have always felt the film did an injustice to Swigert, who died in 1982. The impression I got from the film was that Swigert was most definitely up to the task, but that there was some doubt in his abilities that proved unjustified. The argument was ahistorical, but as historical movies go, Apollo 13 was vastly more accurate than most. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/78 "2009-12-17T23:13:49Z")
_The Alamo_ with John Wayne had so many inaccurate that Historians J. Frank Dobie and Lon Tinkle demanded that their names be removed from the credits as historical advisors. > **[The Alamo (1960 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alamo_%281960_film%29)** > > The Alamo is a 1960 American epic historical war film about the 1836 Battle of the Alamo produced and directed by John Wayne and starring Wayne as Davy Crockett. The film also co-stars Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William B. Travis, and features Frankie Avalon, Patrick Wayne, Linda Cristal, Joan O'Brien, Chill Wills, Joseph Calleia, Ken Curtis, Ruben Padilla as Santa Anna, and Richard Boone as Sam Houston. Shot in 70 mm Todd-AO by William H. Clothier, it was released by ... ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/79 "2009-12-17T23:25:09Z")
**Little Nemo** , just out of curiosity, what books did More write condemning the King’s actions? ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348/80 "2009-12-17T23:34:51Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > [Krakatoa: East of Java](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064555/). > > Krakatoa was \*west \*of Java. Finally a thread where I can trot out my Sig for relevance, and I’m beaten to it. As for me, [Pirates of Silicon Valley](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/) remains the funniest movie I’ve ever seen in my life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-incredible-historical-inaccuracies-in-movies/521348.md?page=5)