Historical inaccuracies in movies

[Knightmare]

For some reason it peeves me when you are watching a movie set some time in the past and it becomes apparent that whoever did research for the movie didn't do their job. This sort of thing is probably rampant in movies like 'Gladiator', 'Tha Patriot' and most westerns, but when I think of people getting the timeline wrong in movies, these two spring to mind straight away:

- In '8 Mile', set in 1995, Rabbit (Eminem) and his crew burn down an abandoned house one night. As the flames go up, they all start singing the chorus to 'Fire Water Burn' by the Bloodhound Gang, even though that song wasn't released until 1996- a whole year later.

- In 'The Final Winter', set in the early 80's, when Newtown play St George, the Dragons jerseys have the old logos on them, which they stopped wearing in about 1977. Not sure if this had to do with a licensing issue considering the Dragons are still sporting practically the same logo they had in the early 80's?

I could mention the fact that in 'A Knights' Tale' the beat for 'We will rock you' wasn't though of for another 500 years or so, but that would be just too obvious!

 

[Munky]

Pearl Harbour anyone?

 

[Danish]

- In '8 Mile', set in 1995, Rabbit (Eminem) and his crew burn down an abandoned house one night. As the flames go up, they all start singing the chorus to 'Fire Water Burn' by the Bloodhound Gang, even though that song wasn't released until 1996- a whole year later.

Those lyrics are from "The Roof is on Fire" by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three. Release date 1984.


Bloodhound Gang just used them in their song.

 

[Danish]

My all time most hated historical movie failures are all from titanic. That movie is just littered with them, the worst of which is the impressive art collection.

She has a picasso on board which is still located in a museum in New York, and even has Monet's famous waterlilies painting, which was not even completed for another decade.

Another one which I was told about is Jack talking about fishing in some lake which apparently is a man-made lake built in 1918.... so 6 years after the boat sank.

 

[CC_Eagle]

Inglorious Basterds.;-)

 

[billy2]

That Russel Crowe version of 'Robin Hood' where they had psuedo WW II style landing craft invading England in the final scene was funny, especially since they were trying to 'sell' the movie as more historically based than other versions.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

Those lyrics are from "The Roof is on Fire" by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three. Release date 1984.


Bloodhound Gang just used them in their song.

Eminem is a huge Rock Master Scott fan.

Inaccuracies...X-Men: First Class...

 

[umina panther]

Braveheart

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Lol @ the historical inaccuracy in post 1. Dude gets peeved at 8 mile for no reason.

300 aswell

I've never watched it but isn't Pacific just an American lie? My friend rips on it all the time

 

[Munky]

Inaccuracies...X-Men: First Class...

I'm pretty sure no one thought a mutant former nazi was respnsible for the Cuba missile crisis.

 

[Apey]

300 aswell

You could almost write a book about them all if you wanted to.

The battle uniforms, the Ephors being deformed creatures, Battle of Artemisium being so visible and more obvious things like massive mutants being controlled by Xerxes' men.

To be fair, it is obvious that the film was never intended to be a documentary on the subject.

My favourite of them all though, one that seems to upset some people; there was no bottomless well bang in the middle of Sparta :lol:

Some of the things you have mentioned are anachronisms, where in any form of artwork (Movies, paintings etc) you see objects appearing or references to objects in particular time periods where they would not have come into existence. Of course, sometimes they can be intentional.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anachronism

Has some good examples through the article, not just for movies, if you're interested.

 

[Parra Pride]

Inglorious Basterds.;-)

This is what popped into my head as soon as I read the title. :lol:

 

[El Diablo]

The Hurricane http://www.graphicwitness.com/carter/

 

[Danish]

I always thought the whole hurricane story was a joke.

The man was found guilty in 3 different decades FFS. At every single stage of appeal the verdict was upheld. He was only released after the prosecution of the day refused a retrial given the massive costs the case had already soaked up.

He was essentially the original OJ

 

[nqcowboy87]

i know its a nothing issue, but when people use american accents in movies based in rome or medieval england, i know theyre trying to market the film and no-one can really be sure what accents where used, but when most of medieval england sounds like the cast of greys anatomy it kinda bugs me

 

[Danish]

i know its a nothing issue, but when people use american accents in movies based in rome or medieval england, i know theyre trying to market the film and no-one can really be sure what accents where used, but when most of medieval england sounds like the cast of greys anatomy it kinda bugs me

The accent thing doesn't always shit me, but it REALLY pisses me off when a movie is supposed to be an historical recount.

Perfect example was the Hitler mini-series the poms made a few years ago. Could not believe it when the actor playing hitler (guy from full Monty) just spoke in his thick british accent, along with all the other poms playing his generals and offsiders.

Completely ruined the entire thing

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

These things used to bug me, but most of the time it isn't due to people not doing the research, it's to do with leaving out or adding what's needed to get the desired result in the film. Whether people like it or not (and I for one, don't) Hollywood scripts are based around the same formula, which is why movies all lseem the same after awhile.

Unfortunately real life doesn't follow a repetitive beat which is why we have so many historical movies that are historically flawed.

Most movies are actually saved by historically inaccurate scripts.

Some things though, are unforgiveable such as the English accent on Hitler. lol. Hard to believe there wasn't a single actor out there who could pass as Hitler and still have a decent accent.

 

[PJ]

300 Spoiler

I thought the inaccuracies in this were fine. Remember the whole movie is a veteran telling the story to the troops to fire them up for battle which is why it was overblown.

 

[CC_Eagle]

The accent thing doesn't always shit me, but it REALLY pisses me off when a movie is supposed to be an historical recount.

Perfect example was the Hitler mini-series the poms made a few years ago. Could not believe it when the actor playing hitler (guy from full Monty) just spoke in his thick british accent, along with all the other poms playing his generals and offsiders.

Completely ruined the entire thing

Hitler : The Rise Of Evil.

I thought it was quite good tbh. Robert Carlyle was brilliant.

 

[Mr Angry]

Bill and Teds excellent adventure.

Rufus was not real.