I usually laugh-off minor inaccuracies and/or continuity failures in movies (i.e. police cars changing make mid-chase in a few B-movies), but for more modern fare on real budgets, I think folks should do better.
I've really been enjoying the "Dark Winds" series on Netflix, but this really bugged me:
The series is set in the early 70s, and this flat tire was on a Border Patrol Agent's Jeep Wagoneer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that there would have been a Hankook Optimo radial on a vehicle of that type (or any type, for that matter) at that time.
It's the little things...
This site lists cars used in movies and TV shows.
https://www.imcdb.org/
In reply to nlevine :
Attention to detail can be a gift ... and a curse. With movies and TV, definitely a curse at times. 
Rodan
UberDork
11/4/25 3:43 p.m.
In reply to nlevine :
There are quite a lot of continuity errors, editing errors as well as anachronistic equipment errors in S2 of Dark Winds. As a big fan of Hillerman's novels, I wanted to like it, but between what they've done with the characters and the shoddy work on S2 it's been quite a disappointment.
My favorite is actually one purpose. In Machete the car changes from a V220 to a W116 back to a V220
Historical mistakes are the ones that drive me to look the other way and suspend my disbelief.
Can we start with Brave Heart...?
Then there are all the yuppie liberals that show up in various movies placed in various time periods of the not "politically correct" past.
And my old favorite: Guns that never run out of ammunition. Especially those 10 shot 6-shooters.
Cars that obviously were totaled in one part of a stunt sequence that are fully operational in subsequent scenes.
Even my wife can spot the engineless cars when they explode and flip over....or drive off a cliff!
Wait, wasn't that hump on the other side?
What hump?
My dad was a fire protection engineer and it bugged him when something/someone sets off one sprinkler in a movie but they all go off soaking everything. 🔥
I stopped watching The Walking Dead years ago, but I sometimes wondered how they always seemed to have fresh gas in their vehicles. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Maybe not a historical inaccuracy per se, and it may have also been a case of "the lads" making fun of one of "their betters".
The Italian Job. Getting the Minis ready for the heist. A couple guys have the back end jacked up and are working under it.
(walking up trying to look important): "Right! What are you lads doing?"
"Repairing the differential, sir!"
"Right!" (walks away)
Even then, everyone knew that Minis were front wheel drive...
i.e. police cars changing make mid-chase in a few B-movies
Also very common in 70's TV shows, and not just cop cars, but the main characters starting out in a 4dr car, watching it change to a 2dr during drive/chase scenes, then back to a 4dr.
Top Gun couldn't fool 7 year old me with some of the bullE36 M3. Most historical movies with even a smidgen of aviation are hard to handle.
The original Day of the Jackal movie, like the book, is set in the summer of 1963. At one point, the hero drives his Alfa up to a fancy hotel that has a 1965 Cadillac parked in front. (imcdb tells me there's also a 1966 Simca somewhere in the movie, but I'll have to take their word for it.)
In reply to Appleseed :
Oh man, how about Flight, where the plane appears to have a horizontal stabilizer jack screw failure (like the Alaska 261 crash), which causes an uncontrollable pitch down. The solution is to roll the plan upside down making the pitch down the pitch up, which could be controlled with airspeed. Ignoring the lack of inverted fuel systems on airliners (!) the landing is done by rolling the plane back upright… which of course would still result in the uncontrollable pitch down into the ground.
As far as historical inaccuracy related to cars, I am always bugged by period pieces that use restored cars from that era, which are almost entirely fully restored perfect condition versions of cars from within a few years when of course the reality is even the newer cars would be dirty, the few year old versions showing wear and there should be a good number of clearly older cars. E.g. a show in the early 60’s should have a good number of 50’s cars in it.
ddavidv
UltimaDork
11/5/25 7:37 a.m.
The Denzel Washington movie about the train...don't even get me started. So glad I've forgotten the title. Hope to never see that mess again.
ddavidv said:
The Denzel Washington movie about the train...don't even get me started. So glad I've forgotten the title. Hope to never see that mess again.
Unstoppable, with an awesome gaff by the most excellent fat slacker Ethan Suplee. Who is now ripped.
ddavidv said:
The Denzel Washington movie about the train...don't even get me started. So glad I've forgotten the title. Hope to never see that mess again.
Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I don't know jack about trains, and I think that movie is a really good action thriller.
JG Pasterjak
Tech Editor & Production Manager
11/5/25 9:35 a.m.
I give film and tv a lot of leeway in historical accuracy because ultimately the context of what's on screen needs to make sense to the viewer, not the subjects of the film. So even when you look at stuff like clothing, hairstyles, speech patterns, smoking and the signals those elements send to an audience, they may have to be contextualized somewhat from the signals the way they had been perceived in the period being depicted.
Cars are always a fun anachronism to spot, but it's not going to pull me out of a story if a character in a film set in 1963 is driving a C2 with a non-split rear window.
The list starts and ends with the Fast and Furious franchise.
stuart in mn said:
The list starts and ends with the Fast and Furious franchise.
Honestly, those are basically live-action cartoons, so I don't count them.
To me, one of the biggest things that basically all movies get wrong is guns, specifically how loud they are, especially inside a building. Movies make it seem like a gunshot is just a little "pop", but in reality every action hero from James Bond to John Wick would have profound hearing loss after just a few years. And the idea that two people can have a conversation in somewhat normal tones in the middle of a gunfight is laughable. But, it's Hollywood, so I get it.
The CHiPS TV show. Ponch and Jon would be riding down some California freeway at speed, while having a conversation with each other in a normal tone of voice.
aircooled said:
As far as historical inaccuracy related to cars, I am always bugged by period pieces that use restored cars from that era, which are almost entirely fully restored perfect condition versions of cars from within a few years when of course the reality is even the newer cars would be dirty, the few year old versions showing wear and there should be a good number of clearly older cars. E.g. a show in the early 60’s should have a good number of 50’s cars in it.
Regarding the year-range, you are right. I have noticed that too in some movies and shows. Regarding the condition, I presume this is because when an automotive casting call is put out, say, for early-60's cars, the most likely candidates today are restored, and finding a whole bunch of functional, slightly-beat-up cars with average patina from sixty years ago is about impossible, and the owners or the restored cars probably don't want them dirtied up or beat up for the movie.
In reply to Appleseed :
Die Hard 2 had a pretty bad case of that— terrorists have taken over ATC and we don’t have any radios available to keep them from crashing jetliners! (by extremely dubious means).
Uhh, every airplane parked on the ramp has a radio in it.
stuart in mn said:
The CHiPS TV show. Porch and Jon would be riding down some California freeway at speed, while having a conversation with each other in a normal tone of voice.
And how about 99% of science fiction where apparently the sound of engines and laser canons travel quite well through the vacuum of space.
