# Movies/Shows with glaring errors. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422 "2012-10-11T15:17:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/161 "2012-12-01T07:30:54Z")
> [@Ephemera](#): > > Iowa’s in Florida now? It winters there, yes. ---
**Author:** ![slitterst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@slitterst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slitterst)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/162 "2012-12-03T15:35:15Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > Isn’t there an old film titled “Krakatoa, East of Java” - When actually Krakatoa was West of Java. I think that would be an example. That’s just how big the explosion was. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/163 "2012-12-03T22:17:12Z")
In _The Green Berets_, at the end of the film, the sun sets in the east. You don’t get much more glaring than that one. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/164 "2012-12-03T22:38:26Z")
_Godzilla_ has a giant lizard stomping around NYC yet somehow does not set off car alarms. > [@TV\_time](#): > > In _The Green Berets_, at the end of the film, the sun sets in the east. [Watching the sun setting over water is not impossible in certain areas.](http://community.middlebury.edu/~scs/corbis_big/10382513.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/165 "2012-12-03T22:45:14Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > Another one that really pissed me off: _Mrs. Doubtfire_. In the first scene, Robin Williams is post-syncing dialogue on an animated cartoon. In animation, the voices are recorded first and the animation drawn to match. Not if it’s a foreign cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/166 "2012-12-03T22:58:28Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > _Godzilla_ has a giant lizard stomping around NYC yet somehow does not set off car alarms.[Watching the sun setting over water is not impossible in certain areas.](http://community.middlebury.edu/~scs/corbis_big/10382513.jpg) Definitely happens in California. Vietnam, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/167 "2012-12-04T00:10:05Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Definitely happens in California. Vietnam, not so much. That is Vietnam in the photo. Specifically the Vung Tau Peninsula, southeast of Ho Chi Mihn City. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/168 "2012-12-05T18:13:06Z")
“Drive” the TV show. Cool concept but horrible execution. Driving through arid mountain scenery in “Florida”. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/169 "2012-12-05T19:08:16Z")
I’m not certain this counts as “glaring” to anyone else, but…in _So I Married An Axe Murderer_, Mike Myers marries a lovely young woman. Being the son of a Scottish immigrant, he wears Scottish dress - philabeg, hose, sporran, the full monty. So does his Scottish father. And so does the _maid of honor_ - a kilt, sporran and even a Balmoral bonnet! Okay, I know it _looks_ like a skirt, but it is in fact _men’s_ clothing. So Mike’s new sister in law came to his wedding in drag. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/170 "2012-12-06T00:53:50Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > John McClane in _Die Hard 2_: > **That punk pulled a Glock 7 on me. You know what that is? It’s a porcelain gun made in Germany. Dosen’t show up on your airport X-ray machines, here, and it cost more than you make in a month.** > > There is no Glock 7, Glocks are manufactured in Austria and a gun made of porcelain is ridiculous. Far from the biggest problem with Die Hard 2 (which is that all the airplanes _on the ground_ have radios in them), and I don’t think it’s unreasonable as far as the movies go. The writer wanted a gun that would get through security, so he made up a plausible-sounding one. Clearly, the Die Hard universe is at least a little different from ours. There’s no Nakatomi building in LA either. ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/171 "2012-12-06T01:29:44Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I’m not certain this counts as “glaring” to anyone else, but…in _So I Married An Axe Murderer_, Mike Myers marries a lovely young woman. Being the son of a Scottish immigrant, he wears Scottish dress - philabeg, hose, sporran, the full monty. So does his Scottish father. And so does the _maid of honor_ - a kilt, sporran and even a Balmoral bonnet! Okay, I know it _looks_ like a skirt, but it is in fact _men’s_ clothing. So Mike’s new sister in law came to his wedding in drag. Given what we find out about that sister by the end of the movie, this may not have been a mistake. She was clearly not playing with a full deck. ---
**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, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/172 "2012-12-16T22:01:20Z")
I’m watching **Land of the Dead** on DVD right now, and I’ve noticed a few. The film is set in Pittsburgh. In the opening Riley & co are raiding a small town for supplies. They raid a liquor that; a) also sells cigars, and b) has a sign saying "We accept Foodstamps. Neither of which is possible in Pennsylvannia; liquor stores are all government run, don’t sell tobacco (just booze, mixers, & corkscrews), and don’t accept Foodstamps or EBT. This really stands out because I’m also listening to the commentary & during the scene Romero talks about how they keep having to travel further & further to find supplies to scavenge. Then you see a light-up skyscraper in the background (ie Fiddler’s Green). Which means the small town they’re raiding is only a suburb of Pittsburgh. :smack: There’s also some major plot holes regarding how the local economy seems to be working. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/173 "2012-12-17T01:36:36Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Far from the biggest problem with Die Hard 2 (which is that all the airplanes _on the ground_ have radios in them), and I don’t think it’s unreasonable as far as the movies go. The writer wanted a gun that would get through security, so he made up a plausible-sounding one. > > Clearly, the Die Hard universe is at least a little different from ours. There’s no Nakatomi building in LA either. As an air traffic controller, Die Hard 2 is almost a wacky comedy, at least as it deals with absolutely anything related to aviation and air traffic. Not only do all the planes on the ground have radios, as you mentioned, if planes in the air lose radio contact they won’t simply fly in circles until they run out of gas and fall out of the sky. They have to have alternate airports in their flight plan. There are dozens of ATC facilities in the area of Dulles that the pilots could talk to. You can’t reset the ILS glide slope to “below ground” to force an aircraft on approach to fly into the ground - even if you could, approach procedures have a minimum altitude that pilots can’t go below, regardless of what the glide slope says. Runway lights don’t go off one-by-one like that; the entire runway goes on and off at once. What was Fred Thompson supposed to be, exactly? Dulles ATC Tower chief? Airport manager? And, most hilarious of all for us in the controller brotherhood, we wouldn’t all just stop working our airplanes and silently gaze at our tower chief as he gave us a pep talk. Yeah, that isn’t happening. Still a rousing action flick, though, if I turn off the ATC portion of my brain and go along for the ride. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/174 "2012-12-17T02:16:15Z")
At the start of the Clint Eastwood movie _Hang 'em High_ after the lynching when his character is being cut down there is clearly a road in the background with a white van driving along it. I was watching an episode of Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett), _The Dancing Men_ last night and the same thing, the very last scene shows a wide shot of the country manor-house involved. Top left of the screen in the background, at least two large trucks with white containers drive down a road. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/175 "2012-12-17T03:15:56Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Sounds about right. > > Seriously, though, a granite quarry in _Iowa_? Is it supposed to have used up all its topsoil in the future? Since someone has resurrected this zombie, there are quarries in Iowa - [Iowa](http://quarriesandbeyond.org/states/ia/iowa.html) I only looked that up because I grew up in southern MN, and we went swimming in a quarry there, so I assumed that Iowa would have them also. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/176 "2012-12-17T04:22:40Z")
Regarding the _Die Hard_ franchise, Hans Gruber’s goal made no sense either - they hit the Nakatomi building so they could rob them of hundreds of millions of dollars of bonds, “earning 20%”(!) But all they stole were the certificates - the bond owner of record is still Nakatomi, all principle and interest payments will still go to Nakatomi, etc. What the hell is Hans Gruber going to do next - call up the company who issued the bonds and say "You know all those P&I payments you were making to Nakatomi, Inc? You need to send them to this address, care of Hans, er, John Gruber… "? In other words, if you have your mortgage with Wells Fargo, and some idiot breaks into the bank and steals your original, signed mortgage paperwork, you don’t start sending _him_ the checks, do you? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/177 "2012-12-17T04:37:26Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Regarding the _Die Hard_ franchise, Hans Gruber’s goal made no sense either - they hit the Nakatomi building so they could rob them of hundreds of millions of dollars of bonds, “earning 20%”(!) > > But all they stole were the certificates - the bond owner of record is still Nakatomi, all principle and interest payments will still go to Nakatomi, etc. What the hell is Hans Gruber going to do next - call up the company who issued the bonds and say "You know all those P&I payments you were making to Nakatomi, Inc? You need to send them to this address, care of Hans, er, John Gruber… "? > > In other words, if you have your mortgage with Wells Fargo, and some idiot breaks into the bank and steals your original, signed mortgage paperwork, you don’t start sending _him_ the checks, do you? 😉 > **[Bearer bond](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearer_bond)** > > A bearer bond or bearer note is a bond or debt security issued by a government or a business entity such as a corporation. As a bearer instrument, it differs from the more common types of investment securities in that it is unregistered—no records are kept of the owner, or the transactions involving ownership. Whoever physically holds the paper on which the bond is issued is the presumptive owner of the instrument. This is useful for investors who wish to remain anonymous. > Recovery of the value... ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/178 "2012-12-17T04:52:19Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Since someone has resurrected this zombie… I don’t think 6-week lapse qualifies this as a zombie. It was only mostly dead. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/179 "2012-12-17T05:12:16Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > [Bearer bond - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearer_bond) Gotcha. Didn’t realize the difference, and the 1982 act was recent enough for there to still be hundreds of billions of dollars of the things on the market. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/180 "2012-12-17T07:32:02Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Gotcha. Didn’t realize the difference, and the 1982 act was recent enough for there to still be hundreds of billions of dollars of the things on the market. Glad to help. Also note that the 1982 law only applied to bonds issued in the US. There are many entities outside the US still issuing bearer bonds. For example, Eurobonds are often issued as bearer bonds payable in yen. It’s not unlikely that Nakatomi held non-US bonds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422.md?page=8)