History AluminumChristmasTrees / LiveActionFilms

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'':
** As Marty tries to convince his father George to take Lorraine to the dance, George refuses because that would mean that he'd miss his favorite show ''Science Fiction Theatre''. ''Science Fiction Theatre'' was an actual sci-fi show from TheFifties, a spiritual predecessor to both ''Series/{{The Outer Limits|1963}}'' and ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}'' (in an extended version of the "Darth Vader" scene, Marty name-drops both shows). Coincidentally, one castmember was a Michael Fox, and [[OneSteveLimit because he was already in the Screen Actor's Guild]], Creator/MichaelJFox had adopted the middle initial "J" to distinguish himself from the elder Fox.
** Younger viewers might be confused by the gag where Marty struggles to get a drink at the diner, first ordering a "Pepsi Free" and then a "Tab". Pepsi Free was a real beverage created in 1982, and in fact still exists under the name "Caffeine Free Pepsi". Tab was the Coca-Cola Company's first diet cola, introduced in 1963, and was so named because the company used to have a strict rule reserving "Coca-Cola" and "Coke" to ''only'' the flagship drink. They finally broke that rule in 1983 with the introduction of Diet Coke, which instantly surpassed Tab in sales, though Tab remained on the market until 2019.
** The [=DeLorean=] is now almost universally recognised as "the car from ''Back to the Future''," but it's a real vehicle, made by the [=DeLorean Motor Company=]. It's become synonymous with this film franchise, and is probably the only one viewers too young to remember the '80s will see, so lots of people assume it's another of Doc's inventions. The car's inclusion was actually a joke: it was considered monstrously ugly and unreliable, and Doc's line about how he wanted it to "travel in style" was meant to demonstrate how eccentric and out-of-touch he is. It was also chosen because the distinctive gull wing doors contributed to the gag of the 1950s family mistaking it for a spaceship. Of course, the movie actually helped its reputation and image.

*** Doc Brown memorably pronounces the word "gigawatt" with a soft "g", like "jigawatt". The director's commentary notes that the filmmakers were unaware that the word is pronounced with a hard "g" sound. However, "jigawatt" ''was'' the accepted pronunciation of the word at the time –- the prefix "giga-" just wasn't used very often, and didn't get cemented as starting with a hard "g" until people started regularly talking about gigabytes. Other words in English also derived from the Ancient Greek word "gigas" are pronounced with a soft "g", such as "gigantic". Screenwriter Bob Gale used the pronunciation after he attended a physics lecture for research and heard the professor pronounce it the same way.

* ''Film/OutlawKing'': Depicts Robert the Bruce as being crowned by a woman, which he really was in real life. Kings of Scotland were traditionally crowned by a representative of Clan [=MacDuff=], but the head of the clan was in enemy hands and underage. The Scots held an initial crowning without him, but re-did it a day or two later when Isabella [=MacDuff=] arrived to ensure that Robert was crowned by a [=MacDuff=]. Interestingly, her own husband was fighting on the English side.

** It's easy to assume that Kate, the female medieval blacksmith, is just another piece of the movie's deliberate AnachronismStew and PoliticallyCorrectHistory. But, according to the law of the Blacksmith's Guild of the time, if a blacksmith died and his widow was trained in the profession[[note]]This was actually very common as well. Since local blacksmiths paid their taxes to a local lord in arrowheads instead of gold, they often trained their wives to do simple blacksmithing jobs like arrowheads and nails so they could take on the bigger moneymaking jobs themselves.[[/note]], then she was allowed to work as a blacksmith to support herself and any children from the marriage unless she remarried[[note]]There still survive examples of medieval craft works that were made by widows of guild members (we know this because in addition to their late husband's craft marks, which they were allowed to use, these women added a lozenge -- the heraldic symbol for "female" -- to assert their identity).[[/note]] -- and Kate ''is'' a widow, with one scene where she talks about her late husband.

* ''Film/{{Kenau}}'': That a whole lot of women knew how to ice-skate in the 16th century, might seem unrealistic. However, The Netherlands was even more filled with water than it is now and ice-skating was a common skill for both women and men. ''Literature/HansBrinkerOrTheSilverSkates'' is very realistic about this, even going into detail about skating toddlers' safety gear.

* ''Film/LaLaLand'' has a plot point where [[spoiler:one of the few people that come to Mia's play is a casting director who wants to audition her straight away]]. It seems like a ContrivedCoincidence but [[spoiler:casting directors are often looking out for new talent, and encourage aspiring actors to invite them to plays and screenings -- stating that their time often is spent going to these events in search of new talent to bring in]].

* ''Film/LoverComeBack'': The advertising agency does an ad campaign for an alcoholic mint candy. Fantasy? Not hardly. Booze-infused or liqueur-filled confectionery is indeed a real thing, although spirited sweets are usually chocolates rather than hard candies and it would take a truck-ton of them to get a person hammered. They are most commonly sold around winter holiday time for gifting or entertaining.
* ''Film/TheManInTheIronMask'': Many viewers probably laughed at the "anachronistic" fountains on the grounds of the French royal palace in the 1998 movie version of Creator/AlexandreDumas' novel. Truth is, not only were they real, but they're also OlderThanTheyThink: the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, has fountains powered not by electricity, but by gravity, with an aqueduct that brings water from the uphill Darro river. The very idea of gravity-powered fountains, in fact, dates back at least [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain#Ancient_Roman_fountains to the ancient Romans]]. Pre-electricity fountains were to be found in parks and ornamental gardens throughout Europe at one point. They've mostly been replaced or fallen out of use now, though.

* ''Film/MissileXTheNeutronBombIncident'': Modern audiences would not associate Tehran with swanky casinos, but prior to the Islamic Revolution, Iran was indeed ruled by a pro-western regime which welcomed foreign high-rollers and bon vivants.

* ''Film/TheMuppetChristmasCarol'': Anyone watching this more comedic adaptation of the story, without reading the book or watching any of the more serious adaptations, might be surprised to learn that Scrooge's "more of gravy than of grave" pun was in [[Literature/AChristmasCarol the original novel]].

** This franchise and some other pirate movies feature female pirates. HollywoodHistory? Not so! There were {{Pirate Girl}}s, notably Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Jeanne de Clisson and Grace O'Malley. Zheng Yi Shao ended up being one of the most successful pirates ''ever'' and Mistress Ching from ''At World's End'' is in fact an {{Expy}} of her.

* ''Film/ReeferMadness'': To a modern viewer, the "anti-drug" message is assumed to be straightforward. Not quite: that movie, and others like it, were made under the strict censorship of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode, which didn't allow lurid material unless some kind of moral statement was made. Adultery? Murder? No problem; filmmakers could tack on some kind of token "moral message", and stay within the rules of the game. Another infamous example is ''Child Bride'', which includes an extended scene of a 12-year old skinny-dipping by claiming to draw attention to the problem of child marriage.

* ''Film/TheSantaClause1'': Tim Allen's character sarcastically tells his ex-wife that if he wants to reach her new mother-in-law, he should call 1-800-SPANK-ME. At the time, that was a real number for a phone sex hotline. Disney found out the hard way when parents complained about their kids allegedly racking up huge phone bills. The offending scene was edited out on the DVD release.
* ''Film/SchindlersList'': Some assume that Amon Goeth is so evil that he's made up or exaggerated. Sadly, this is not the case and he actually was toned down because Creator/StevenSpielberg thought that if he pushed the envelope just a bit further, it'd take people out of the movie. He's believed to have killed at least 500 people personally. He was so bad that a survivor that Spielberg had consulted on the project started shaking and crying uncontrollably when she saw Creator/RalphFiennes in costume. In fact, he was fired by the SS the Fall before the war ended because he treated the prisoners so badly. They had him put in an asylum where he was awaiting trial for his crimes against the prisoners and embezzlement when the Allies won in the Spring. You don't get more evil than [[EvenEvilHasStandards being fired and put in an asylum by Nazis for abuse in a concentration camp]].
* ''Film/SchoolDaze'': Features characters "stepping". It's a real dance form created by all-black American fraternities in the 1900s and is inspired by African dances.

* ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'': In the "Dixon Hill" holoprogram, Hill's arch-nemesis is the gangster Nicky the Nose, [[MeaningfulName who has a metallic prosthetic nose]]. Sounds like a strange twist on the RedRightHand, but prosthetic noses are a real thing, and have been for centuries; for example, 16th-century nobleman and astronomy pioneer Tycho Brahe lost his nose in a duel and wore a prosthetic made of brass.

* ''Film/ATaleOfTwoSisters'': Is extremely symbolic, and there is a lot of stuff that goes on that doesn't immediately make sense and you have to think about it in order to get what is going on. Therefore, Western viewers can be forgiven for the EpilepticTrees they come up with in trying to deduce the symbolism of the tents right by the road in a scene where two characters are driving at night. These tents are actually a common sight in rural areas of Korea as they serve an agricultural purpose.
* ''Film/TerrorBirds'': The titular birds? [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer They weren't made up for the movie.]] Terror Birds, aka "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phorusrhacidae Phorusrhacidae]]", were actual predatory creatures that were alive in South America back in the Cenozoic era.

* ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'': Apparently, some people aren't entirely convinced that the ''Titanic'' [[http://twistedsifter.com/2012/04/people-who-didnt-know-the-titanic-was-real/ was a real ship]]. Presumably this is how we got not [[WesternAnimation/TitanicTheLegendGoesOn one]], but ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTheTitanic two]]'' unrelated animated films about it from UsefulNotes/{{Italy}} that gave it the full [[{{Disneyfication}} Disneyfied Fairy Tale]] treatment complete with {{Funny Animal}}s, HappilyEverAfter endings, and most infamously, [[ItMakesAsMuchSenseInContext a rapping dog in one and a giant octopus who saves the ship in the other]].