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** Tanis, Egypt from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' is a real place. It could not have been rediscovered by the Nazis in 1936 because ''it was never lost in the first place''. In fact, there were numerous archaeological digs in Tanis before the Nazis even came to power. Egypt was also under British influence in 1936, when the movie is supposedly set.
** Playing loose with locations is common through the franchise. The tiny village Marion's bar is in is identified in the novelization as Patan, the second biggest city in Nepal. The third act of ''Raiders'' takes place in a secret Nazi submarine base in Greece, which would have been objected to by the Greeks in real life, naturally[[note]]Or it might have been in the Dodecanese, which was Italian at the time; however, the adventure map implies the contrary, and Italy and Germany had not become allies yet at the time anyway[[/note]].
** In ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Last Crusade]]'', set in 1938, Indy and his father drive from Venice to Berlin (passing a road sign with these two names on and [[ArtisticLicenseGeography no other place]] in between) to retrieve a book from a Nazi book burning (based on the one from 1933) and escape Germany in a commercial Zeppelin flight (all canceled after the Hindenburg's disaster in 1937). The third act takes them to Hatay, a short lived ([[AluminiumChristmasTrees but real]]) Turkish republic that is portrayed as an Arab monarchy. Even the Hatay flag is fictional.
** Playing loose with locations is common through the franchise. The tiny village Marion's bar is in is identified in the novelization as Patan, the second biggest city in Nepal. The third act of ''Raiders'' takes place in a secret Nazi submarine base in Greece, which would have been objected to by the Greeks in real life, naturally[[note]]Or it might have been in the Dodecanese, which was Italian at the time; however, the adventure map implies the contrary, and Italy and Germany had not become allies yet at the time anyway[[/note]].
** In ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Last Crusade]]'', set in 1938, Indy and his father drive from Venice to Berlin (passing a road sign with these two names on and [[ArtisticLicenseGeography no other place]] in between) to retrieve a book from a Nazi book burning (based on the one from 1933) and escape Germany in a commercial Zeppelin flight (all canceled after the Hindenburg's disaster in 1937). The third act takes them to Hatay, a short lived ([[AluminiumChristmasTrees but real]]) Turkish republic that is portrayed as an Arab monarchy. Even the Hatay flag is fictional.
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** Tanis, Egypt from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' is a real place. It could not have been rediscovered by the Nazis in 1936 because ''it was never lost in the first place''. In fact, there were numerous archaeological digs in Tanis before the Nazis even came to power. Egypt was also under British influence rule in 1936, when the movie is supposedly set.
set, and thus the Germans could never have just gone in to dig it up.
** Playing loose with locations is common through the franchise. The tiny village Marion's bar is in is identified in the novelization as Patan, the second biggest city in Nepal. The third act of ''Raiders'' takes place in a secret Nazi submarine base in Greece, which would have been objected to by the Greeks in real life,naturally[[note]]Or naturally.[[note]]Or it might have been in the Dodecanese, which was Italian at the time; however, the adventure map implies the contrary, and Italy and Germany had not become allies yet at the time anyway[[/note]].
anyway.[[/note]]
** In ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Last Crusade]]'', set in 1938, Indy and his father drive from Venice to Berlin (passing a road sign with these two names on and [[ArtisticLicenseGeography no other place]] in between) to retrieve a book from a Nazi book burning (based on the one from 1933) and escape Germany in a commercial Zeppelin flight (all canceled after the Hindenburg's disaster in 1937). The third act takes them to Hatay, ashort lived short-lived ([[AluminiumChristmasTrees but real]]) Turkish republic that is portrayed as an Arab monarchy. Even the Hatay flag is fictional.
** Playing loose with locations is common through the franchise. The tiny village Marion's bar is in is identified in the novelization as Patan, the second biggest city in Nepal. The third act of ''Raiders'' takes place in a secret Nazi submarine base in Greece, which would have been objected to by the Greeks in real life,
** In ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Last Crusade]]'', set in 1938, Indy and his father drive from Venice to Berlin (passing a road sign with these two names on and [[ArtisticLicenseGeography no other place]] in between) to retrieve a book from a Nazi book burning (based on the one from 1933) and escape Germany in a commercial Zeppelin flight (all canceled after the Hindenburg's disaster in 1937). The third act takes them to Hatay, a
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* In-universe example in ''Film/IronSky'', Renate uses a heavily edited version of ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' to teach schoolchildren that Hitler was a kind and grand man who only wanted the best for the world. Renate herself has been fooled by the same propaganda and is utterly crushed when she later sees the full version.
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* In-universe example in ''Film/IronSky'', where Renate uses a heavily edited version of ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' to teach schoolchildren that Hitler was a good and kind and grand man who only wanted the best for the world. Renate herself has been fooled by the same propaganda and is utterly crushed when she later sees the full version.
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* ''Film/HussarBallad'': When Shura meets the wounded messenger in the beginning of her army career, he tells her that the message he carries is sent by Field Marshal. At this time, there were no Field Marshals in Russian army; both army leaders in this war, Kutuzov and de Tolly, would be promoted to this rank later.
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* ''Film/HussarBallad'': When Shura meets the wounded messenger in the beginning of her army career, he tells her that the message he carries is sent by a Field Marshal. At this time, there were no Field Marshals in the Russian army; both army leaders in this war, Kutuzov and de Tolly, would be promoted to this rank later.
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Changed line(s) 81 (click to see context) from:
* ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'': The US Navy fires cannons at the US.
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* ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'': ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'':
** The New York City Draft Riot scene takes a few liberties with the events that actually transpired. The film exaggerates the extent of the riot and the sort of events that took place.
** It is not known whether or not [[spoiler:the US Navyfires cannons at the US.actually fired artillery on Paradise Square]], but it's probable that it didn't actually happen, though some historical evidence suggests [[spoiler:artillery was used, albeit on land]].
** The New York City Draft Riot scene takes a few liberties with the events that actually transpired. The film exaggerates the extent of the riot and the sort of events that took place.
** It is not known whether or not [[spoiler:the US Navy
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** Power passes automatically to Commodus on Marcus Aurelius' death in the film. In reality, there was no official line of succession, since the state was not officially monarchist. In fact, before Marcus Aurelius there had been a longstanding tradition of emperors hand-picking their successors from outside their biological families. The historical Commodus was in fact the first emperor "born to the purple", i.e. born during his father's reign, and did indeed break the usual tradition by succeeding his father. He also became sole emperor after Marcus Aurelius' death because he had ruled jointly with him for four years. Even in the film, Marcus Aurelius tries to make someone other than his son emperor; the only oddity is the assumption that Commodus would otherwise naturally be the successor to the throne. There is no evidence he killed his father to get the position.
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** Power passes automatically to Commodus on Marcus Aurelius' death in the film. In reality, there was no official line of succession, since the state was not officially monarchist. In fact, before Marcus Aurelius there had been a longstanding tradition of emperors hand-picking their successors from outside their biological families. The historical Commodus was in fact the first emperor "born to the purple", i.e. born during his father's reign, and did indeed break the usual tradition by succeeding his father. He also became sole emperor after Marcus Aurelius' death because he had ruled jointly with him for four years. Even in the film, Marcus Aurelius tries to make someone other than his son emperor; the only oddity is the assumption that Commodus would otherwise naturally be the successor to the throne. There is also no evidence he killed his father to get the position.
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Changed line(s) 110 (click to see context) from:
* The movie's claim to be the [[{{Demythtification}} true story]] behind the King Arthur legends is best taken with a grain of salt. For a start, the claim the film opens with, saying most historians agree Arthur is based on a real man, isn't true. It's highly disputed if there is any historical basis for Arthur at all, and if so, what the details were. There is also no archaeological evidence recently discovered about him.
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* ''Film/KingArthur'': The movie's claim to be the [[{{Demythtification}} true story]] behind the King Arthur legends is best taken with a grain of salt. For a start, the claim the film opens with, saying most historians agree Arthur is based on a real man, isn't true. It's highly disputed if there is any historical basis for Arthur at all, and if so, what the details were. There is also no archaeological evidence recently discovered about him.
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* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' is full of this: Renaud de Châtillon was never a [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar Templar]], nor was Guy de Lusignan. The latter was actually the king of Jerusalem when Renaud launched his attack on the caravan, King Baldwin having been dead for several years. Sybille's marriage with Guy was not an arranged one: her family was actually opposed; and it goes on and on...
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* The movie's claim to be the [[{{Demythtification}} true story]] behind the King Arthur legends is best taken with a grain of salt. For a start, the claim the film opens with, saying most historians agree Arthur is based on a real man, isn't true. It's highly disputed if there is any historical basis for Arthur at all, and if so, what the details were. There is also no archaeological evidence recently discovered about him.
** It's based on the theory that the "real King Arthur" was a Roman officer named Artorius Castus who may have led cavalry in Britain. The real Artorius in question lived during the 2nd century AD while this is set in 467 AD, and it's not even certain whether he even set foot in Britain. The movie acknowledges the gap by making the current Arthur a descendant of the original Artorius, but it's yet another assumption that his name was passed down in Britain. The real Artorius is buried in Croatia.
** The movie combines this theory (sometimes called the "Sarmatian hypothesis" after the troops that Artorius supposedly led, who were from Sarmatia - a region including modern Ukraine, the Balkans and southern Russia) with the "traditional origin" of the Arthurian legend where he leads the British against the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Historically, the British did oppose the Anglo-Saxons under a leader named Ambrosius Aurelianus, who becomes Arthur's uncle Aurelius in the legends.
** The Celtic Briton tribes still resisting Roman rule are meant to be the historical Picts, but they are called "Woads". The filmmakers said this was partly due to RuleOfCool and partly to denote a FantasticSlur. Picts were well known, accurately or not, for tattooing themselves with woad, a plant dye (but the film doesn't explain it that way).
** The exact date of 467 AD causes more problems. The Romans actually left Britain in 410. [[HistoricalDomainCharacter The real Cerdic and Cynric]] arrived in Britain around 495. The bishop Germanius was also a real person and he went to Britain twice, the last time being 447. The climactic battle is called the Battle of Badon Hill. In the real battle, the British defeated the Saxons (and legend says the British were led by Arthur), but it's dated to between 490 to 516.
** Cerdic and Cynric did not die in the real battle of Badon, and may not even have participated since there was more than one group of Anglo-Saxons expanding in Britain.
** While Pelagius was indeed a British cleric who was branded a heretic he was not executed, only exiled. His teaching was not about political freedom (inspiring the movie's Arthur that all men are free and equal, hence the Round Table) but about religious doctrine which we don't need to get into here. Also he died decades before 467 AD.
** AnachronismStew abounds also. Apart from the far-too-early trebuchets, there are also swords held together with screw heads.
** Stirrups were not invented for another couple of centuries.
** There's a castle that would have had King Edward I of England (died 1307) saying to his architect, "There! That's the sort of thing I had in mind!" The motte and bailey fortification, a considerably more primitive version of that sort of castle, would not be invented for another 500 years.
** The Saxons also use crossbows as their signature weapon. While crossbows already existed during the Roman Empire, they didn't become widespread until centuries later.
** The Saxons landing north of Hadrian's Wall instead of south of it. In real life the Saxons were not dumb enough to land their invasion in a way so they had to cross a large wall in order to get where they wanted instead of just sailing around it.
** Another common anachronism in Arthurian adaptations is the usage of plate armor, despite this film's attempts to ground the legend in history. This was supposed to be a nod [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality to the viewers' expectations for a King Arthur film]], quite apparently a failed one.
** While Arthur gets his name rendered into Artorius, the rest of the characters keep the traditional spellings of their names. This is because...
** The knights used in the movie are almost all inventions of the Arthurian romances from France and elsewhere with no roots in Welsh mythology and thus relations to possible British history, except Tristan and Gawain who are those guys InNameOnly. (Period-appropriate versions of those names would be Drustan and Gwalchmai.) So you have characters who are supposedly Eastern European with French names.
** Cerdic stops a Saxon warrior from raping a woman because he claims it would dilute their "pure German blood". As genetic studies show, the British and the Anglo-Saxons had no problem interbreeding, and this seems to be added in for the sake of DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything. Historians note Cerdic's own name is Celtic, not Germanic, which may suggest he himself had mixed heritage. [[note]]Before the advent of genetics as a tool of historical research this was a relatively well-known theory, so in this case Artistic License involves not as much made-up stuff, as just outdated.[[/note]]
** The late Roman Church is depicted more like the medieval one, punishing heretics with death. At the time however, they did not do this (though some advocated it). Thus the real Pelagius was merely exiled. Also, pagans in Britain at the time were few, as the country was heavily Christianized. Though pagans were sometimes persecuted, it was not in the systematic way we see of torture and imprisonment, again more like heretics later.
* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' is full of this: Renaud de Châtillon was never a [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar Templar]], nor was Guy de Lusignan. The latter was actually the king of Jerusalem when Renaud launched his attack on the caravan, King Baldwin having been dead for several years. Sybille's marriage with Guy was not an arrangedone: one, her family was actually opposed; and it goes on and on...
** It's based on the theory that the "real King Arthur" was a Roman officer named Artorius Castus who may have led cavalry in Britain. The real Artorius in question lived during the 2nd century AD while this is set in 467 AD, and it's not even certain whether he even set foot in Britain. The movie acknowledges the gap by making the current Arthur a descendant of the original Artorius, but it's yet another assumption that his name was passed down in Britain. The real Artorius is buried in Croatia.
** The movie combines this theory (sometimes called the "Sarmatian hypothesis" after the troops that Artorius supposedly led, who were from Sarmatia - a region including modern Ukraine, the Balkans and southern Russia) with the "traditional origin" of the Arthurian legend where he leads the British against the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Historically, the British did oppose the Anglo-Saxons under a leader named Ambrosius Aurelianus, who becomes Arthur's uncle Aurelius in the legends.
** The Celtic Briton tribes still resisting Roman rule are meant to be the historical Picts, but they are called "Woads". The filmmakers said this was partly due to RuleOfCool and partly to denote a FantasticSlur. Picts were well known, accurately or not, for tattooing themselves with woad, a plant dye (but the film doesn't explain it that way).
** The exact date of 467 AD causes more problems. The Romans actually left Britain in 410. [[HistoricalDomainCharacter The real Cerdic and Cynric]] arrived in Britain around 495. The bishop Germanius was also a real person and he went to Britain twice, the last time being 447. The climactic battle is called the Battle of Badon Hill. In the real battle, the British defeated the Saxons (and legend says the British were led by Arthur), but it's dated to between 490 to 516.
** Cerdic and Cynric did not die in the real battle of Badon, and may not even have participated since there was more than one group of Anglo-Saxons expanding in Britain.
** While Pelagius was indeed a British cleric who was branded a heretic he was not executed, only exiled. His teaching was not about political freedom (inspiring the movie's Arthur that all men are free and equal, hence the Round Table) but about religious doctrine which we don't need to get into here. Also he died decades before 467 AD.
** AnachronismStew abounds also. Apart from the far-too-early trebuchets, there are also swords held together with screw heads.
** Stirrups were not invented for another couple of centuries.
** There's a castle that would have had King Edward I of England (died 1307) saying to his architect, "There! That's the sort of thing I had in mind!" The motte and bailey fortification, a considerably more primitive version of that sort of castle, would not be invented for another 500 years.
** The Saxons also use crossbows as their signature weapon. While crossbows already existed during the Roman Empire, they didn't become widespread until centuries later.
** The Saxons landing north of Hadrian's Wall instead of south of it. In real life the Saxons were not dumb enough to land their invasion in a way so they had to cross a large wall in order to get where they wanted instead of just sailing around it.
** Another common anachronism in Arthurian adaptations is the usage of plate armor, despite this film's attempts to ground the legend in history. This was supposed to be a nod [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality to the viewers' expectations for a King Arthur film]], quite apparently a failed one.
** While Arthur gets his name rendered into Artorius, the rest of the characters keep the traditional spellings of their names. This is because...
** The knights used in the movie are almost all inventions of the Arthurian romances from France and elsewhere with no roots in Welsh mythology and thus relations to possible British history, except Tristan and Gawain who are those guys InNameOnly. (Period-appropriate versions of those names would be Drustan and Gwalchmai.) So you have characters who are supposedly Eastern European with French names.
** Cerdic stops a Saxon warrior from raping a woman because he claims it would dilute their "pure German blood". As genetic studies show, the British and the Anglo-Saxons had no problem interbreeding, and this seems to be added in for the sake of DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything. Historians note Cerdic's own name is Celtic, not Germanic, which may suggest he himself had mixed heritage. [[note]]Before the advent of genetics as a tool of historical research this was a relatively well-known theory, so in this case Artistic License involves not as much made-up stuff, as just outdated.[[/note]]
** The late Roman Church is depicted more like the medieval one, punishing heretics with death. At the time however, they did not do this (though some advocated it). Thus the real Pelagius was merely exiled. Also, pagans in Britain at the time were few, as the country was heavily Christianized. Though pagans were sometimes persecuted, it was not in the systematic way we see of torture and imprisonment, again more like heretics later.
* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' is full of this: Renaud de Châtillon was never a [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar Templar]], nor was Guy de Lusignan. The latter was actually the king of Jerusalem when Renaud launched his attack on the caravan, King Baldwin having been dead for several years. Sybille's marriage with Guy was not an arranged
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** Salidan was somewhat harsher in real toward the Christians of Jerusalem. He allowed most leave in return for a large sum, while the rest were enslaved. Some who remained were freed by him, but not all.
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** Salidan was somewhat harsher in real reality toward the Christians of Jerusalem. He allowed most leave in return for a large sum, while the rest were enslaved. Some who remained were freed by him, but not all.
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Changed line(s) 83 (click to see context) from:
** Subversion: A Roman senator claims, "Rome was founded as a republic!" It was founded as a kingdom. Although the Romans didn't want to think of Rome ever having been a kingdom. As far as the Romans were concerned, the ''real'' Rome was founded when they kicked the asses of the Etruscan kings and established the republic. Furthermore, the character is a politician trying to push his political agenda. WordOfGod claims this was meant to be inaccurate in-universe.
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** Subversion: A a Roman senator claims, "Rome was founded as a republic!" It was founded as a kingdom. Although the Romans didn't want to think of Rome ever having been a kingdom. As far as the Romans were concerned, the ''real'' Rome was founded when they kicked the asses of the Etruscan kings and established the republic. Furthermore, the character is a politician trying to push his political agenda. WordOfGod claims this was meant to be inaccurate in-universe.
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** ** The three "Templar knights" who ambush Balian shortly before Guy's coronation actually wear the black cross of UsefulNotes/{{the Teutonic Knights}}, which were founded only after the events depicted in the film (all other scenes portray the Templars uniforms accurately, so it's a mystery why these are used here). Also their attack never happened.
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* 1978's ''The Norseman'' mangles history on a level few others could touch. Even ignoring the HornyVikings outfits and [[Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan Lee Majors]] as a Leif Erikson {{Expy}} with a Kentucky drawl, the film's depiction of the failed settlement of Vinland is way, way off. Given that the one confirmed Viking site in America was in Newfoundland, the Florida location for the film seems way too sunny and tropical. Also, the film's promo material says the Vikings fought against "the savage warriors of the Iroquois Nation." The actual Skraelings were ancestors of the modern Inuit people. Also, there's no such thing as "the Iroquois Nation"; the Iroquois is a confederacy of several different nations, located in modern-day New York state, that formed long after the Vikings left Vinland. And those are just scratching the surface of the film.
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* ''Film/TheNameOfTheRose'': Pretty much the only thing the film version gets right about the historical Bernardo Gui is that he was an Inquisitor during the fourteenth century. While Gui did convict large numbers of heretics during his tenure, only about five percent of them were executed; he far preferred to prove heresies wrong and to reconcile heretics with the church rather than kill them, and he was always more scholar and administrator than zealot and crusader. He's less of a cackling arch-villain in the novel, but not by much. Neither he nor the Inquisition accused people of witchcraft either, for at the time the Church officially disbelieved it existed. Even later, the Inquisitions dealt mainly with heresy.
* 1978's ''The Norseman'' mangles history on a level few others could touch. Even ignoring the HornyVikings outfits and [[Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan Lee Majors]] as a Leif Erikson{{Expy}} {{expy}} with a Kentucky drawl, the film's depiction of the failed settlement of Vinland is way, way off. Given that the one confirmed Viking site in America was in Newfoundland, the Florida location for the film seems way too sunny and tropical. Also, the film's promo material says the Vikings fought against "the savage warriors of the Iroquois Nation." The actual Skraelings were ancestors of the modern Inuit people. Also, there's no such thing as "the Iroquois Nation"; the Iroquois is a confederacy of several different nations, located in modern-day New York state, that formed long after the Vikings left Vinland. And those are just scratching the surface of the film.
* 1978's ''The Norseman'' mangles history on a level few others could touch. Even ignoring the HornyVikings outfits and [[Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan Lee Majors]] as a Leif Erikson
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* ''Film/{{U571}}'' caused some controversy in the UK as it portrays an American submarine crew capturing a German Enigma code machine from a stranded U-Boat. In reality the British Royal Navy were the ones to board a sinking U-boat and capture the device. Also the depiction of German destroyers in the Atlantic hunting US and UK submarines is inaccurate as the German navy concentrated their resources on U-Boats, their surface fleet was unable to maintain any kind of presence in the Atlantic. The fact the British captured the Enigma code machines rather than the US is acknowledged just prior to the credits.
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* ''Film/{{U571}}'' caused some controversy in the UK as it portrays an American submarine crew capturing a German Enigma code machine from a stranded U-Boat. In reality the British Royal Navy were the ones to board a sinking U-boat and capture the device. [[note]]Although the US Navy [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-505 did capture a U-boat and all of its code equipment intact]], it wasn't until 1944, and that capture occurred in battle in the open sea, with no further incidents after the German crew abandoned ship.[[/note]] Also the depiction of German destroyers in the Atlantic hunting US and UK submarines is inaccurate as the German navy concentrated their resources on U-Boats, their surface fleet was unable to maintain any kind of presence in the Atlantic. The fact the British captured the Enigma code machines rather than the US is acknowledged just prior to the credits.
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* ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'' has many inaccuracies concerning World War II, for example, the [[FontAnachronism Fraktur type]] font used on a banner would have been banned in Nazi Germany.
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* ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'' has many inaccuracies concerning World War II, for example, ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'': A banner uses the [[FontAnachronism Fraktur type]] font used on a banner would have been typeface]], which was very popular in early Nazi Germany, but was banned by the Nazis in Nazi Germany.1941, before the events of the film.
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* ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave'': Mostly averted; the movie is a ''very'' accurate retelling of Northup's story (it should be noted that historical research has confirmed a great deal of the story) and a brutal and unflinching look at the realities of Southern slavery. That said, it does take a handful of liberties.
** Solomon Northup had three children when he was kidnapped, not two. The film omits his eldest daughter, Elizabeth. He was a carpenter by trade, not a musician, although he did play the violin and was indeed lured to Washington with promises of getting paid to do so, exactly like in the film. Also, it was not until after the book was published that he learned for certain that the two men he met at the start really had drugged and kidnapped him-he'd thought of it, certainly, but he always had doubts until a judge read his book and recognized them (and it was subsequently found that they had used false names and were actually a pair of known/suspected con men).
** Epps also had children; they are not shown in the movie.
** No sailor raped or tried to rape Eliza or a female slave on the barge to New Orleans-apart from anything else, that would have been considered "vandalism /destruction of property" and could see the sailor fired at the very least. The slave-to-be Robert was not stabbed either; he died of smallpox. He, Northup and Andrew really ''did'' consider fighting the crew for the ship, but as in the movie, Robert's death scuppered that plan. Northup himself caught smallpox while on the boat and [[HistoricalBeautyUpdate his face was permanently scarred afterwards.]] It should be noted this event was included in the screenplay by John Ridley, but was possibly cut and simplified for time or budget reasons.
** The film makes it appear that Northups' family had no idea what happened to him until near the end of the movie; in fact, Northup got a sympathetic sailor to deliver a letter to them explaining his abduction. They weren't able to find him because they had no idea what barge he was on or where it took him. There was also a lengthy and complicated legal process they underwent offscreen to prove that Platt was really Northup, and Bass had to post several letters, not just one.
** Northup wasn't resold by Ford after the assault and hanging by Tibeats; in fact, Tibeats was a slave owner himself and Ford sold Northup to ''him'' to repay a debt. Keeping Northup safe from Tibeats was thus not Ford protecting his property (somewhat-Tibeats had not paid Ford the full price for Northup), and Ford sent Northup to his brother-in-law to keep him safe and tried to convince Tibeats that killing Northup would gain him nothing. A second, later attack by Tibeats, who ended up chasing Northup with an axe, led to Northup running from the plantation, but couldn't survive the swamps and returned to Ford some time later. Ford didn't sell him to Epps, either-it was ''Tibeats'' who sold him.
** Epps was, if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade far, far worse]] in RealLife than he was in the movie. For a start, in addition to his "dancing moods", he also had ''whipping'' moods where he would start whipping and chasing his slaves randomly for no reason. He was much more abusive to Patsey as well, and the savage whipping he gives her (and makes Northup give her) lasted even ''longer'' than it did in the movie. In addition, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Epp's didn't slip in the mud]] when chasing Northup.
** Patsey never had tea with Mistress Shaw; she also never tried to bribe Northup to kill her. The latter is based on a misreading of the book- in fact, ''Mrs. Epps'' tried to bribe Northup to kill Patsey and dump her body in the swamp, though Northup muses that had Patsey known about this murderous request, she might have considered it. Ultimately, though, what Patsey wanted was to escape.
** Northup never had sex with another woman while in slavery (or if he did, he never mentioned it in the book); the film also downplays how devoutly Christian he was. Also, although the men who kidnapped him did indeed get away with their crime, he managed to publicly draw attention to the illegal slave trade in the North; and though Northup was forbidden to testify against Burch and co. in Washington (for the record, he was suing them), he did in fact later testify against the two con men (as did a judge who had met the three of them at the time of the abduction and personally knew both men). In the latter case, there were simply several legal complications, such as a lengthy argument about whether they should be tried in Washington or New York, i.e. a place a black man could testify against them versus a place he could not - it was decided it would be tried in New York, where he could and did (albeit at a hearing, they never got a trial), but this meant that three of the four charges against them were dropped as they took place in Washington. There were a number of arguments in their favor such as the plain and simple difficulties that come with the fact that the crime was committed over a decade before; in the event, the two men appealed which ended up going through the lower courts, to the New York Supreme Court, and finally to the New York Court of Appeals. Ultimately the case was simply dropped due to the legal difficulties and insufficient evidence. Had he been allowed to testify against Burch and co., he might have still faced these same legal problems.
* ''Film/ThreeHundred'' is so obviously not meant to reflect actual history. In fact, historical records of the event are already believed to be rather sensationalized and greatly embellished. Creator/ZackSnyder and Creator/FrankMiller also drew inspiration from ancient artwork, which, much like Hollywood, glamorize battles of the past. Audiences have loved muscle-bound, half-naked supermen kicking the snot out of each other for [[OlderThanTheyThink quite a while]]. It's fairer to say that ''300'' didn't ''fail'' history so much as kick it into a well and give it the finger. The embellishment is heavily implied as part of the Greek propaganda even during the film. On the other hand, Zack Snyder did state rather audaciously that the history presented in the film is "[[DanBrowned 90% accurate, although the visuals are pretty crazy]]."
** Particularly egregious was how the film ignores the fact that Sparta, far from being an ancient bastion of democracy, had the most brutal caste system in Greece with the helots. Also there's a line contemptuously referring to the ''boy-lovers'' in Athens, when records suggest that Sparta was well-known for its own traditions of pederasty.
** The army that fought against the Persians was actually at least five or six thousand strong, with units from all over Greece. The 300 refers to the number of Spartan hoplites in the pan-Greek army.
** ''300'' propagated the image of an army of bare-chested soldiers, further copied by others attempting be "authentic", when the soldiers would have been wearing leather armor at the time.
* A minor example in the 2011 film ''The 5th Quarter'', an UsefulNotes/{{American football}} flick based on the true story of linebacker Jon Abbate and the 2006 Wake Forest team for which he was one of the central figures. In the film, Wake ties for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. The real Demon Deacons team won the title outright.[[note]]Since 2005, the ACC has held an annual football championship game between the winners of its two divisions. Wake beat Georgia Tech in the 2006 title game. Cool fact: One of Georgia Tech's defensive stars that season was one Joe Anoa'i, now better known to Wrestling/{{WWE}} fans as Wrestling/RomanReigns.[[/note]]
* 1930 biopic ''Film/{{Abraham Lincoln|1930}}'' is just full of this. It includes Lincoln dramatically collapsing on Ann Rutledge's grave during a thunderstorm, while historians still aren't sure just how serious Lincoln's thing with Rutledge was; and Lincoln ''giving a speech'' from his box at Ford's Theatre, right before he gets shot, and the speech itself is a mashup of the Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address.
* ''Film/{{Agora}}'' repeats [[http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2009/05/agora-and-hypatia-hollywood-strikes.html popular]] [[http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2010/05/hypatia-and-agora-redux.html myths]] about Hypatia and the Library of Alexandria to preach about atheism and rationalism vs. religious fanaticism. To what degree the movie does so is, however, somewhat [[http://richardcarrier.blogspot.com/2010/08/agora-review.html open to debate]]. In RealLife, as you might expect, Hypatia was not atheist but a pagan. She was also a pure philosopher more than a scientist.
* Numerous movies have inaccurately portrayed [[RememberTheAlamo The Alamo]] with the curved roof at the time of the eponymous battle--in truth, the roof had crumbled due to neglect, and it was ''1912'' before the familiar facade was restored.
Deleted line(s) 13,19 (click to see context) :
* ''Film/TheLastCommand'': The film seems to be conflating the February revolution (which toppled the Romanovs) and the [[RedOctober October Revolution]] (in which the Bolsheviks seized power). In the movie the Tsar's government is apparently directly replaced by the Bolsheviks, which did not happen in RealLife.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
** The East India Trading Company had no authority in the West Indies. The name is a clue. The real company the EITC was based on was the East India Company (notice the lack of the word 'Trading'). "Authority" in the West Indies in the film seemed to stem more from political connections of the head of the company (Lord Becket) than any authority of the company.
* In ''Film/TeachingMrsTingle'', one of the main characters is a girl we're [[InformedAbility constantly told]] is a great brain, and she produces a final project for her History class that's an "authentic recreation" of the diary of a girl who was killed during the Salem Witch Trials, right down to the book being authentically aged to resemble a diary that had survived the period. The eponymous teacher opens the diary at random, and finds an entry on how the fictional girl fears she'll be burned at the stake tomorrow. ''[[BurnTheWitch No one was burned at the stake in the Salem Witch Trials]]'', and a person of that time period would have known this. They ''hanged'' those convicted, while one was ''crushed'' under weights for declining to enter a plea, and while people were burned in Europe, it was usually for heresy, not witchcraft (though, to be sure, the two were sometimes linked). The student gets a C, though not for this mistake.
* ''Fist of Fear, Touch of Death'', possibly the most awful of all awful Brucesploitation films, states during a biographical sequence that Bruce Lee's grandfather was 19th Century China's greatest ''samurai''.
* 1930 biopic ''Film/{{Abraham Lincoln|1930}}'' is just full of this. It includes Lincoln dramatically collapsing on Ann Rutledge's grave during a thunderstorm, while historians still aren't sure just how serious Lincoln's thing with Rutledge was; and Lincoln ''giving a speech'' from his box at Ford's Theatre, right before he gets shot, and the speech itself is a mashup of the Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address.
* Numerous movies have inaccurately portrayed [[RememberTheAlamo The Alamo]] with the curved roof at the time of the eponymous battle--in truth, the roof had crumbled due to neglect, and it was ''1912'' before the familiar facade was restored.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
** The East India Trading Company had no authority in the West Indies. The name is a clue. The real company the EITC was based on was the East India Company (notice the lack of the word 'Trading'). "Authority" in the West Indies in the film seemed to stem more from political connections of the head of the company (Lord Becket) than any authority of the company.
* In ''Film/TeachingMrsTingle'', one of the main characters is a girl we're [[InformedAbility constantly told]] is a great brain, and she produces a final project for her History class that's an "authentic recreation" of the diary of a girl who was killed during the Salem Witch Trials, right down to the book being authentically aged to resemble a diary that had survived the period. The eponymous teacher opens the diary at random, and finds an entry on how the fictional girl fears she'll be burned at the stake tomorrow. ''[[BurnTheWitch No one was burned at the stake in the Salem Witch Trials]]'', and a person of that time period would have known this. They ''hanged'' those convicted, while one was ''crushed'' under weights for declining to enter a plea, and while people were burned in Europe, it was usually for heresy, not witchcraft (though, to be sure, the two were sometimes linked). The student gets a C, though not for this mistake.
* ''Fist of Fear, Touch of Death'', possibly the most awful of all awful Brucesploitation films, states during a biographical sequence that Bruce Lee's grandfather was 19th Century China's greatest ''samurai''.
* 1930 biopic ''Film/{{Abraham Lincoln|1930}}'' is just full of this. It includes Lincoln dramatically collapsing on Ann Rutledge's grave during a thunderstorm, while historians still aren't sure just how serious Lincoln's thing with Rutledge was; and Lincoln ''giving a speech'' from his box at Ford's Theatre, right before he gets shot, and the speech itself is a mashup of the Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address.
* Numerous movies have inaccurately portrayed [[RememberTheAlamo The Alamo]] with the curved roof at the time of the eponymous battle--in truth, the roof had crumbled due to neglect, and it was ''1912'' before the familiar facade was restored.
* ''Film/{{Australia}}''. In reality, the Japanese never set foot on the Australian mainland. (The famous battles along the Kokoda Track were what is now Papua New Guinea, which at the time was two separate territories administered by Australia.) They bombed Darwin, then left. The bombing also actually occurred in 1942, not 1941.
** Japanese Sub Crews did occasionally go ashore in remote locations along the coast to gather fresh water, and float planes landed on the northern islands after the raid in an unsuccessful attempt to find and rescue downed Japanese aircrew. The large landing party shown exploring the beach for no logically explained reason in the movie was pure fiction.
** Darwin was never ordered to be evacutated. After the end of the first raid (the Japanese carriers), the RAAF base commander ordered his command to muster outside of the base in order to prevent further unnecessary casualities. It was while exiting the base that some troops encounted civilians leaving Darwin and, from lack of clear orders, 'hitched lifts'. It was while this troop movement was happening that the second raid (54 Japanese land based Nell and Betty twin engined bombers - also not shown in the movie) arrived and carpet bombed the RAAF base with some 530 60kg bombs, causing a massive morale effect but little to no extra damage or casualities.
** Zero fighters carried drop tanks, not the bombs that were shown attacking the mission station.
** Bathust Island was straffed by Zeros, not bombed. Their target was the American transport aircraft that had previously forced landed on the RAAF Advanced Operational Base (read 'basic airstrip') there.
* ''Film/{{Batman}}'': When looking at a collection of armor suits:
-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' It's Japanese.\\
'''Knox:''' How do you know?\\
'''Bruce Wayne:''' Because I bought it in Japan.
* ''Film/BridgeOfSpies'':
** When attorney James Donovan is recruited to defend accused spy Rudolf Abel, he protests that he is primarily an insurance lawyer. However, the film does not mention that he was also General Counsel for the Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner to the CIA) during World War II (between 1943 to 1945, to be exact) and so was fully experienced dealing with spies.
** Donovan was also fully experienced in dealing with big, controversial cases: he became assistant to Justice Robert H. Jackson at the Nuremberg trials. While he prepared for the trials, he was also working as an adviser for the documentary feature ''The Nazi Plan''. Donovan was the presenter of visual evidence at the trial.
** The RealLife Frederic Pryor has noted that his movie counterpart's romance with a German girl was created out of whole cloth, and that his arrest had more to do with genuine confusion than helping out dissidents. More importantly, his East German lawyer wasn't an AmoralAttorney, but did his best to represent Pryor's interests.
* The opening narration for ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'' goes thusly: "In 1944, the Second World War was in its fifth year and still going Hitler's way. German troops controlled most of Europe. D-Day changed all that." By 1944, the war was quite definitely ''not'' going Hitler's way anymore. A constant barrage of defeats on the Eastern Front and Anglo-American air raids over German cities meant that, by the time D-Day happened, Hitler's defeat was only a matter of time. It was launched to help accelerate the end of the war in Europe. And at no point during the war did German troops control "most" of Europe. If you count countries that were ''allied'' with Germany (such as Italy, Hungary, and Finland), sure, but they weren't being controlled by German troops.
* ''Film/DancesWithWolves'': Although more accurate than previous films in its depiction of the West and native peoples, it still has inaccuracies. First, the whites are shown as hunting buffalo solely to take skins. This was not yet the case in 1865, and would only begin in 1871. At that point buffalo were still hunted by the whites for meat. Secondly, the Lakota are portrayed as simply defending themselves, and the Pawnee are evil allies of the US government. However, it was actually the Lakota who had been the aggressors against the Pawnee, moving into the Plains in the late 1700s from the northeast. This is ''why'' tribes such as the Pawnee, Arikara and Crow were allies of the US government against the Lakota (not that it helped them later, of course), since the Lakota had been pushing them out of their land. While the Pawnee could be brutal, they were no more so than the Lakota. Of course, this is simply to show the viewer who the good and bad guys are, without complicating matters.
* ''{{Film/Defiance}}'': The real Bielski Partisans simply hid in the forest protecting Jews, and never fought the Germans openly.
* ''Film/DonovansReef'' takes place on an island in French Polynesia where there had been fighting between US and Japanese forces during World War II, only French Polynesia was some 2,200 miles away from the actual Pacific campaign and did not see any battles.
** Japanese Sub Crews did occasionally go ashore in remote locations along the coast to gather fresh water, and float planes landed on the northern islands after the raid in an unsuccessful attempt to find and rescue downed Japanese aircrew. The large landing party shown exploring the beach for no logically explained reason in the movie was pure fiction.
** Darwin was never ordered to be evacutated. After the end of the first raid (the Japanese carriers), the RAAF base commander ordered his command to muster outside of the base in order to prevent further unnecessary casualities. It was while exiting the base that some troops encounted civilians leaving Darwin and, from lack of clear orders, 'hitched lifts'. It was while this troop movement was happening that the second raid (54 Japanese land based Nell and Betty twin engined bombers - also not shown in the movie) arrived and carpet bombed the RAAF base with some 530 60kg bombs, causing a massive morale effect but little to no extra damage or casualities.
** Zero fighters carried drop tanks, not the bombs that were shown attacking the mission station.
** Bathust Island was straffed by Zeros, not bombed. Their target was the American transport aircraft that had previously forced landed on the RAAF Advanced Operational Base (read 'basic airstrip') there.
* ''Film/{{Batman}}'': When looking at a collection of armor suits:
-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' It's Japanese.\\
'''Knox:''' How do you know?\\
'''Bruce Wayne:''' Because I bought it in Japan.
* ''Film/BridgeOfSpies'':
** When attorney James Donovan is recruited to defend accused spy Rudolf Abel, he protests that he is primarily an insurance lawyer. However, the film does not mention that he was also General Counsel for the Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner to the CIA) during World War II (between 1943 to 1945, to be exact) and so was fully experienced dealing with spies.
** Donovan was also fully experienced in dealing with big, controversial cases: he became assistant to Justice Robert H. Jackson at the Nuremberg trials. While he prepared for the trials, he was also working as an adviser for the documentary feature ''The Nazi Plan''. Donovan was the presenter of visual evidence at the trial.
** The RealLife Frederic Pryor has noted that his movie counterpart's romance with a German girl was created out of whole cloth, and that his arrest had more to do with genuine confusion than helping out dissidents. More importantly, his East German lawyer wasn't an AmoralAttorney, but did his best to represent Pryor's interests.
* The opening narration for ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'' goes thusly: "In 1944, the Second World War was in its fifth year and still going Hitler's way. German troops controlled most of Europe. D-Day changed all that." By 1944, the war was quite definitely ''not'' going Hitler's way anymore. A constant barrage of defeats on the Eastern Front and Anglo-American air raids over German cities meant that, by the time D-Day happened, Hitler's defeat was only a matter of time. It was launched to help accelerate the end of the war in Europe. And at no point during the war did German troops control "most" of Europe. If you count countries that were ''allied'' with Germany (such as Italy, Hungary, and Finland), sure, but they weren't being controlled by German troops.
* ''Film/DancesWithWolves'': Although more accurate than previous films in its depiction of the West and native peoples, it still has inaccuracies. First, the whites are shown as hunting buffalo solely to take skins. This was not yet the case in 1865, and would only begin in 1871. At that point buffalo were still hunted by the whites for meat. Secondly, the Lakota are portrayed as simply defending themselves, and the Pawnee are evil allies of the US government. However, it was actually the Lakota who had been the aggressors against the Pawnee, moving into the Plains in the late 1700s from the northeast. This is ''why'' tribes such as the Pawnee, Arikara and Crow were allies of the US government against the Lakota (not that it helped them later, of course), since the Lakota had been pushing them out of their land. While the Pawnee could be brutal, they were no more so than the Lakota. Of course, this is simply to show the viewer who the good and bad guys are, without complicating matters.
* ''{{Film/Defiance}}'': The real Bielski Partisans simply hid in the forest protecting Jews, and never fought the Germans openly.
* ''Film/DonovansReef'' takes place on an island in French Polynesia where there had been fighting between US and Japanese forces during World War II, only French Polynesia was some 2,200 miles away from the actual Pacific campaign and did not see any battles.
Changed line(s) 23,24 (click to see context) from:
* ''Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture'' starts off 35,000 years ago in North Texas, and depicts a pair of Neanderthals running through the snow. Evidence of humans in the New World so early is thin and disputed; if they were there, they were certainly not Neanderthal, who never ranged outside Eurasia.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'' (where the entire [[PlanetOfHats world]] has become [[IdiotBall less intelligent]]) a theme park of the future thought that UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and Creator/CharlieChaplin were the same person, and both sides rode dinosaurs. "And then the UN un-Nazied the world forever."
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'' (where the entire [[PlanetOfHats world]] has become [[IdiotBall less intelligent]]) a theme park of the future thought that UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and Creator/CharlieChaplin were the same person, and both sides rode dinosaurs. "And then the UN un-Nazied the world forever."
to:
* ''Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture'' starts off 35,000 ''{{Film/Elizabeth}}'': Good God, where to begin? WordOfGod states that their original intent was to make a film about a conspiracy in Elizabeth's court, rather than an accurate biopic.
** William Cecil was not even forty by the time Elizabeth came to the throne, and she did not retire him by making him Lord Burghley: she ennobled him as a reward for his services and he remained her most loyal advisor until his death a few yearsago before the queen's. Similarly, Francis Walsingham was only a few years older than Elizabeth. In the second film, Elizabeth visits him when he is dying. In real life she simply let him die in North Texas, poverty and didn't go to see him.
** Henri of Anjou was probably not a crossdresser and he wasn't homosexual - the number of his ''female'' mistresses is almost uncountable; in addition, he and Elizabeth never met. Also, his aunt Mary of Guise died of dropsy (in June 1560, after realizing she had it the previous ''April'') rather than any foul play; this was confirmed by autopsy the day after her death. It is highly unlikely that the two of them were in a sexual relationship.
*** Nor was Mary of Guise his aunt, or related to him by blood - her daughter [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary I of Scotland]] was married to Henri's eldest brother, Francis II of France (married from 1558 until his death in 1560 - ''childless'', in fact); in fact, Henri's family, the House of Valois, were long-time rivals with Mary's House of Guise, and Henri never even ''met'' Mary of Guise in his lifetime.
*** He is also a CompositeCharacter: in RealLife, Elizabeth's French suitor was his ''younger brother'', Hercule Francis, who ''became'' Duke of Anjou - but not until 1576. Henri became King Henri III of France after their brother, Charles IX died in 1574, and the duchy of Anjou went to Francis as a result. He courted Elizabeth in 1579, when he was 24 and she 46 (and still capable of bearing children). Although this didn't pan out due to the complex politics of the time (and fear that Elizabeth would be at risk if she tried to bear children at her age), she was by all accounts genuinely fond of him despite the age gap, and the match was given far more serious consideration than the film depictsa pair of Neanderthals running through the snow. Evidence of humans (even reaching an actual betrothal at one point).
** Mary I was actually very skinny rather than overweight in theNew World so early is thin film and disputed; if they were there, they were certainly Norfolk was a weak and easily-manipulated man rather than the film's powerful and scheming counterpart. Mary's tumour also killed her 3 years after the phantom pregnancy.
** Elizabeth knew that Leicester was already married ''because she had attended his wedding'' - his second, that is, the first wife died under suspicious circumstances (and Elizabeth knew of her as well). Moreover, he wasn't banished for being involved in a Catholic plot (because he was a Puritan) but instead because of a scandal over the mysterious death of his second wife.
** Bishop Stephen Gardiner died before Elizabeth came to the throne and thus could notNeanderthal, possibly have been involved in any plots. The Earl of Arundel was not executed for his role but was instead imprisoned in the Tower of London where he died as a prisoner and the Earl of Sussex was actually a loyal supporter of Elizabeth who never ranged outside Eurasia.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'' (wherewould not have tried to overthrow her.
** Elizabeth may not have actually had a sexual encounter with theentire [[PlanetOfHats world]] has become [[IdiotBall less intelligent]]) a theme park Earl of the future Leicester and she did not cut her hair to show that she was a virgin. The wig is thought to have been to hide her greying hair and the white make-up to hide scars she got from smallpox.
** Throughout the film, bishops are shown wearing black mitres thatUsefulNotes/AdolfHitler they never would have worn in real life.
** Elizabeth reprimands one of her council members for divorcing twice. In reality, it was more or less impossible to obtain a divorce at this time - something that Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, knew very well.
** At the start of the film, the execution of Nicholas Ridley is shown with two other people, of which one must be Hugh Latimer. However, their companion, an unnamed woman, is made up because Ridley andCreator/CharlieChaplin were Latimer weren't burnt with anyone else.
** Sir Thomas Elyot is beaten to death with a rock and drowned by Ballard for being a ReverseMole. However, the real Elyot died at his estates in Cambridgeshire ''in 1546''. He was also in his fifties.
** In the second film, Elizabeth frequently consults Dr. John Dee over various matters. However, Dee was abroad at this time and didn't return to England until more than a year after the Spanish Armada.
** In the second film, nearly everything that Walter Raleigh does was actually done by Sir Francis Drake. Raleigh was kept in England when the Armada attacked because the Queen did not want him to be killed. Defeating the Armada was Drake's moment of triumph but he is hardly in the film.
** The Earl of Nottingham states that the Spanish Armada have destroyed several English ships. In reality the English didn't lose a single ship.
** Philip II of Spain is shown as a hunched and shadowy figure with a dark beard who is an incompetent king and a religious fanatic. The real Philip was known as being highly intelligent and had several successes with his foreign policies. He was also tall, blond and handsome.
** The Infanta of Spain was not a child at the time of the Armada but was in fact twenty-one.
** Sir Walter Raleigh was not knighted to keep him in England but to reward his services. He was also knighted on his ship and not against his will. Also, although Raleigh ''was'' imprisoned by Elizabeth, it didn't happen until several years after the Armada.
** Raleigh was not a pirate, Drake was.
** Mary, Queen of Scots's gaoler, Amyas Paulet, actually treated her rather well.
** Walter Raleigh quite famously had a strong West Country accent that meant some courtiers had difficulty understanding him. Francis Drake also had the sameperson, accent. In the second film, Mary, Queen of Scots is portrayed with a Scottish accent, when she would have had a French one as a result of living in France for years since she was a child.
** Frequently men at court are shown wearing long cloaks andboth sides rode dinosaurs. "And then carrying swords in the UN un-Nazied Queen's presence. Swords weren't allowed in court and the world forever."real Elizabeth actually banned long cloaks in case an assassin was hiding a weapon under it.
** At one point a man is hanged using the 'long drop' method with a trapdoor. This method of execution was not invented until the Nineteenth Century.
** Raleigh did not have an affair with Bess Throckmorton until three years after the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
** The film ends with the captions "Elizabeth reigned for another 40 years" (her full reign was almost 45, so the movie crams almost 20 years of anachronistic history into just under 5); "Walsingham remained her most trusted and loyal advisor to the end" (VERY arguable, as the likes of Dudley and Cecil probably have better claims) and "She never married and never saw Dudley in private again" (she and Dudley remained close friends until his death, so this is an outright lie).
* ''The Experiment'': Depicting a fictionalized account of the StanfordPrisonExperiment, the organization responsible for conducting the experiment is the "Monad Corporation"; the word Stanford is never used.
* ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore'' is set during the American Civil War, as shown by a safe full of Confederate money. One character comments that the bank's vault "weighs three tons and can't be opened with dynamite." Indeed it couldn't -- dynamite wasn't invented, patented, or named until after the Civil War was over. But the line is delivered so effectively it's hard to picture it working as well with any other word.
** William Cecil was not even forty by the time Elizabeth came to the throne, and she did not retire him by making him Lord Burghley: she ennobled him as a reward for his services and he remained her most loyal advisor until his death a few years
** Henri of Anjou was probably not a crossdresser and he wasn't homosexual - the number of his ''female'' mistresses is almost uncountable; in addition, he and Elizabeth never met. Also, his aunt Mary of Guise died of dropsy (in June 1560, after realizing she had it the previous ''April'') rather than any foul play; this was confirmed by autopsy the day after her death. It is highly unlikely that the two of them were in a sexual relationship.
*** Nor was Mary of Guise his aunt, or related to him by blood - her daughter [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary I of Scotland]] was married to Henri's eldest brother, Francis II of France (married from 1558 until his death in 1560 - ''childless'', in fact); in fact, Henri's family, the House of Valois, were long-time rivals with Mary's House of Guise, and Henri never even ''met'' Mary of Guise in his lifetime.
*** He is also a CompositeCharacter: in RealLife, Elizabeth's French suitor was his ''younger brother'', Hercule Francis, who ''became'' Duke of Anjou - but not until 1576. Henri became King Henri III of France after their brother, Charles IX died in 1574, and the duchy of Anjou went to Francis as a result. He courted Elizabeth in 1579, when he was 24 and she 46 (and still capable of bearing children). Although this didn't pan out due to the complex politics of the time (and fear that Elizabeth would be at risk if she tried to bear children at her age), she was by all accounts genuinely fond of him despite the age gap, and the match was given far more serious consideration than the film depicts
** Mary I was actually very skinny rather than overweight in the
** Elizabeth knew that Leicester was already married ''because she had attended his wedding'' - his second, that is, the first wife died under suspicious circumstances (and Elizabeth knew of her as well). Moreover, he wasn't banished for being involved in a Catholic plot (because he was a Puritan) but instead because of a scandal over the mysterious death of his second wife.
** Bishop Stephen Gardiner died before Elizabeth came to the throne and thus could not
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'' (where
** Elizabeth may not have actually had a sexual encounter with the
** Throughout the film, bishops are shown wearing black mitres that
** Elizabeth reprimands one of her council members for divorcing twice. In reality, it was more or less impossible to obtain a divorce at this time - something that Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, knew very well.
** At the start of the film, the execution of Nicholas Ridley is shown with two other people, of which one must be Hugh Latimer. However, their companion, an unnamed woman, is made up because Ridley and
** Sir Thomas Elyot is beaten to death with a rock and drowned by Ballard for being a ReverseMole. However, the real Elyot died at his estates in Cambridgeshire ''in 1546''. He was also in his fifties.
** In the second film, Elizabeth frequently consults Dr. John Dee over various matters. However, Dee was abroad at this time and didn't return to England until more than a year after the Spanish Armada.
** In the second film, nearly everything that Walter Raleigh does was actually done by Sir Francis Drake. Raleigh was kept in England when the Armada attacked because the Queen did not want him to be killed. Defeating the Armada was Drake's moment of triumph but he is hardly in the film.
** The Earl of Nottingham states that the Spanish Armada have destroyed several English ships. In reality the English didn't lose a single ship.
** Philip II of Spain is shown as a hunched and shadowy figure with a dark beard who is an incompetent king and a religious fanatic. The real Philip was known as being highly intelligent and had several successes with his foreign policies. He was also tall, blond and handsome.
** The Infanta of Spain was not a child at the time of the Armada but was in fact twenty-one.
** Sir Walter Raleigh was not knighted to keep him in England but to reward his services. He was also knighted on his ship and not against his will. Also, although Raleigh ''was'' imprisoned by Elizabeth, it didn't happen until several years after the Armada.
** Raleigh was not a pirate, Drake was.
** Mary, Queen of Scots's gaoler, Amyas Paulet, actually treated her rather well.
** Walter Raleigh quite famously had a strong West Country accent that meant some courtiers had difficulty understanding him. Francis Drake also had the same
** Frequently men at court are shown wearing long cloaks and
** At one point a man is hanged using the 'long drop' method with a trapdoor. This method of execution was not invented until the Nineteenth Century.
** Raleigh did not have an affair with Bess Throckmorton until three years after the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
** The film ends with the captions "Elizabeth reigned for another 40 years" (her full reign was almost 45, so the movie crams almost 20 years of anachronistic history into just under 5); "Walsingham remained her most trusted and loyal advisor to the end" (VERY arguable, as the likes of Dudley and Cecil probably have better claims) and "She never married and never saw Dudley in private again" (she and Dudley remained close friends until his death, so this is an outright lie).
* ''The Experiment'': Depicting a fictionalized account of the StanfordPrisonExperiment, the organization responsible for conducting the experiment is the "Monad Corporation"; the word Stanford is never used.
* ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore'' is set during the American Civil War, as shown by a safe full of Confederate money. One character comments that the bank's vault "weighs three tons and can't be opened with dynamite." Indeed it couldn't -- dynamite wasn't invented, patented, or named until after the Civil War was over. But the line is delivered so effectively it's hard to picture it working as well with any other word.
Changed line(s) 26 (click to see context) from:
* ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore'' is set during the American Civil War, as shown by a safe full of Confederate money. One character comments that the bank's vault "weighs three tons and can't be opened with dynamite." Indeed it couldn't -- dynamite wasn't invented, patented, or named until after the Civil War was over. But the line is delivered so effectively it's hard to picture it working as well with any other word.
to:
* ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore'' is set ''Fist of Fear, Touch of Death'', possibly the most awful of all awful Brucesploitation films, states during the American Civil War, as shown by a safe full of Confederate money. One character comments biographical sequence that the bank's vault "weighs three tons and can't be opened with dynamite." Indeed it couldn't -- dynamite wasn't invented, patented, or named until after the Civil War Bruce Lee's grandfather was over. But the line is delivered so effectively it's hard to picture it working as well with any other word.19th Century China's greatest ''samurai''.
Deleted line(s) 28,33 (click to see context) :
* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' is full of this: Renaud de Châtillon was never a [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar Templar]], nor was Guy de Lusignan. The latter was actually the king of Jerusalem when Renaud launched his attack on the caravan, King Baldwin having been dead for several years. Sybille's marriage with Guy was not an arranged one: her family was actually opposed; and it goes on and on...
** Indeed, the Knights Templar were explicitly forbidden from marrying, as well as owning land. Crowning a Templar as a King would have been a legal impossibility at the time.
** ** The three "Templar knights" who ambush Balian shortly before Guy's coronation actually wear the black cross of UsefulNotes/{{the Teutonic Knights}}, which were founded only after the events depicted in the film (all other scenes portray the Templars uniforms accurately, so it's a mystery why these are used here). Also their attack never happened.
** The actual Balian was not born out of wedlock. He was a nobleman, and native to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Rather than an enemy, he was Guy's adviser (although they disagreed at times). Balian also broke an oath made to Salidan that he wouldn't take arms against him any further if his wife and children were allowed safe passage for Tripoli. His oath also included leaving Jerusalem-he didn't do this either. The Patriarch of Jerusalem absolved him, saying the needs of the city were more important than an oath made to a Muslim. His family, and close alliance with the Patriarch, also aren't in the film.
** Salidan was somewhat harsher in real toward the Christians of Jerusalem. He allowed most leave in return for a large sum, while the rest were enslaved. Some who remained were freed by him, but not all.
** Sybilla was actually one of the extremists who (like Guy) wanted war with the Muslims. She was genuinely devoted to him by all accounts (however, there were claims saying she did indeed have an affair with Balian). Sybilla and Balian never married either (he had a wife).
** Indeed, the Knights Templar were explicitly forbidden from marrying, as well as owning land. Crowning a Templar as a King would have been a legal impossibility at the time.
** ** The three "Templar knights" who ambush Balian shortly before Guy's coronation actually wear the black cross of UsefulNotes/{{the Teutonic Knights}}, which were founded only after the events depicted in the film (all other scenes portray the Templars uniforms accurately, so it's a mystery why these are used here). Also their attack never happened.
** The actual Balian was not born out of wedlock. He was a nobleman, and native to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Rather than an enemy, he was Guy's adviser (although they disagreed at times). Balian also broke an oath made to Salidan that he wouldn't take arms against him any further if his wife and children were allowed safe passage for Tripoli. His oath also included leaving Jerusalem-he didn't do this either. The Patriarch of Jerusalem absolved him, saying the needs of the city were more important than an oath made to a Muslim. His family, and close alliance with the Patriarch, also aren't in the film.
** Salidan was somewhat harsher in real toward the Christians of Jerusalem. He allowed most leave in return for a large sum, while the rest were enslaved. Some who remained were freed by him, but not all.
** Sybilla was actually one of the extremists who (like Guy) wanted war with the Muslims. She was genuinely devoted to him by all accounts (however, there were claims saying she did indeed have an affair with Balian). Sybilla and Balian never married either (he had a wife).
Deleted line(s) 42,66 (click to see context) :
* ''Film/ThreeHundred'' is so obviously not meant to reflect actual history. In fact, historical records of the event are already believed to be rather sensationalized and greatly embellished. Creator/ZackSnyder and Creator/FrankMiller also drew inspiration from ancient artwork, which, much like Hollywood, glamorize battles of the past. Audiences have loved muscle-bound, half-naked supermen kicking the snot out of each other for [[OlderThanTheyThink quite a while]]. It's fairer to say that ''300'' didn't ''fail'' history so much as kick it into a well and give it the finger. The embellishment is heavily implied as part of the Greek propaganda even during the film. On the other hand, Zack Snyder did state rather audaciously that the history presented in the film is "[[DanBrowned 90% accurate, although the visuals are pretty crazy]]."
** Particularly egregious was how the film ignores the fact that Sparta, far from being an ancient bastion of democracy, had the most brutal caste system in Greece with the helots. Also there's a line contemptuously referring to the ''boy-lovers'' in Athens, when records suggest that Sparta was well-known for its own traditions of pederasty.
** The army that fought against the Persians was actually at least five or six thousand strong, with units from all over Greece. The 300 refers to the number of Spartan hoplites in the pan-Greek army.
** ''300'' propagated the image of an army of bare-chested soldiers, further copied by others attempting be "authentic", when the soldiers would have been wearing leather armor at the time.
* ''Film/{{Agora}}'' repeats [[http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2009/05/agora-and-hypatia-hollywood-strikes.html popular]] [[http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2010/05/hypatia-and-agora-redux.html myths]] about Hypatia and the Library of Alexandria to preach about atheism and rationalism vs. religious fanaticism. To what degree the movie does so is, however, somewhat [[http://richardcarrier.blogspot.com/2010/08/agora-review.html open to debate]]. In RealLife, as you might expect, Hypatia was not atheist but a pagan. She was also a pure philosopher more than a scientist.
* ''Film/{{Batman}}'': When looking at a collection of armor suits:
-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' It's Japanese.\\
'''Knox:''' How do you know?\\
'''Bruce Wayne:''' Because I bought it in Japan.
* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'':
** Judge Doom's ultimate goal is to build the Pasadena Freeway on the land where Toontown stands; his shutting down LA's trolleys is a Shout Out to the Great American Streetcar Scandal. However, the film is set in 1947 - the Pasadena Freeway was already built in 1940.
** In that same film Eddie and Roger watch the Goofy cartoon "Goofy Gymnastics", which was released in 1949.
** Several cartoon characters in the movie would only make their debut several years later: WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner ("Fast and Furry-ous", 1949), Tinkerbell (''Disney/PeterPan'', 1953), the penguin waiters (''Film/MaryPoppins'', 1964)... However, the makers defended themselves by saying that these characters were simply not employed yet by their studios in those years.
* ''The Experiment'': Depicting a fictionalized account of the StanfordPrisonExperiment, the organization responsible for conducting the experiment is the "Monad Corporation"; the word Stanford is never used.
* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' plays fast and loose with facts quite often, although this was typical of the old adventure movies that [[GenreThrowback served as the franchise's inspiration]].
** Tanis, Egypt from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' is a real place. It could not have been rediscovered by the Nazis in 1936 because ''it was never lost in the first place''. In fact, there were numerous archaeological digs in Tanis before the Nazis even came to power. Egypt was also under British influence in 1936, when the movie is supposedly set.
** Playing loose with locations is common through the franchise. The tiny village Marion's bar is in is identified in the novelization as Patan, the second biggest city in Nepal. The third act of ''Raiders'' takes place in a secret Nazi submarine base in Greece, which would have been objected to by the Greeks in real life, naturally[[note]]Or it might have been in the Dodecanese, which was Italian at the time; however, the adventure map implies the contrary, and Italy and Germany had not become allies yet at the time anyway[[/note]].
** In ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Last Crusade]]'', set in 1938, Indy and his father drive from Venice to Berlin (passing a road sign with these two names on and [[ArtisticLicenseGeography no other place]] in between) to retrieve a book from a Nazi book burning (based on the one from 1933) and escape Germany in a commercial Zeppelin flight (all canceled after the Hindenburg's disaster in 1937). The third act takes them to Hatay, a short lived ([[AluminiumChristmasTrees but real]]) Turkish republic that is portrayed as an Arab monarchy. Even the Hatay flag is fictional.
** ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull Crystal Skull]]'' has a [[{{Mayincatec}} Mayan-speaking civilization]] [[LatinLand in the Amazon]] and Indy claiming that he learned Quechua (Peru) from two guys in Pancho Villa's army (Mexico).
* WebVideo/ConfusedMatthew went to great lengths to explain how ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' went beyond Artistic License and outright falsified what happened on the Titanic to make the upperclassmen on the ship as unsympathetic as possible and thus try and make the main characters more sympathetic. His two biggest beefs seem to be: Falsely portraying First Officer (third in command of the ship, Chief Officer is 2nd in command) William Murdock as a corrupt individual who took bribes and shot people to ensure certain people spots on the lifeboats, and making up the idea that the ship's crew tried to keep the lower class men down in third class to let them all die.
* ''Film/{{Australia}}''. In reality, the Japanese never set foot on the Australian mainland. (The famous battles along the Kokoda Track were what is now Papua New Guinea, which at the time was two separate territories administered by Australia.) They bombed Darwin, then left. The bombing also actually occurred in 1942, not 1941.
** Japanese Sub Crews did occasionally go ashore in remote locations along the coast to gather fresh water, and float planes landed on the northern islands after the raid in an unsuccessful attempt to find and rescue downed Japanese aircrew. The large landing party shown exploring the beach for no logically explained reason in the movie was pure fiction.
** Darwin was never ordered to be evacutated. After the end of the first raid (the Japanese carriers), the RAAF base commander ordered his command to muster outside of the base in order to prevent further unnecessary casualities. It was while exiting the base that some troops encounted civilians leaving Darwin and, from lack of clear orders, 'hitched lifts'. It was while this troop movement was happening that the second raid (54 Japanese land based Nell and Betty twin engined bombers - also not shown in the movie) arrived and carpet bombed the RAAF base with some 530 60kg bombs, causing a massive morale effect but little to no extra damage or casualities.
** Zero fighters carried drop tanks, not the bombs that were shown attacking the mission station.
** Bathust Island was straffed by Zeros, not bombed. Their target was the American transport aircraft that had previously forced landed on the RAAF Advanced Operational Base (read 'basic airstrip') there.
** Particularly egregious was how the film ignores the fact that Sparta, far from being an ancient bastion of democracy, had the most brutal caste system in Greece with the helots. Also there's a line contemptuously referring to the ''boy-lovers'' in Athens, when records suggest that Sparta was well-known for its own traditions of pederasty.
** The army that fought against the Persians was actually at least five or six thousand strong, with units from all over Greece. The 300 refers to the number of Spartan hoplites in the pan-Greek army.
** ''300'' propagated the image of an army of bare-chested soldiers, further copied by others attempting be "authentic", when the soldiers would have been wearing leather armor at the time.
* ''Film/{{Agora}}'' repeats [[http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2009/05/agora-and-hypatia-hollywood-strikes.html popular]] [[http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2010/05/hypatia-and-agora-redux.html myths]] about Hypatia and the Library of Alexandria to preach about atheism and rationalism vs. religious fanaticism. To what degree the movie does so is, however, somewhat [[http://richardcarrier.blogspot.com/2010/08/agora-review.html open to debate]]. In RealLife, as you might expect, Hypatia was not atheist but a pagan. She was also a pure philosopher more than a scientist.
* ''Film/{{Batman}}'': When looking at a collection of armor suits:
-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' It's Japanese.\\
'''Knox:''' How do you know?\\
'''Bruce Wayne:''' Because I bought it in Japan.
* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'':
** Judge Doom's ultimate goal is to build the Pasadena Freeway on the land where Toontown stands; his shutting down LA's trolleys is a Shout Out to the Great American Streetcar Scandal. However, the film is set in 1947 - the Pasadena Freeway was already built in 1940.
** In that same film Eddie and Roger watch the Goofy cartoon "Goofy Gymnastics", which was released in 1949.
** Several cartoon characters in the movie would only make their debut several years later: WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner ("Fast and Furry-ous", 1949), Tinkerbell (''Disney/PeterPan'', 1953), the penguin waiters (''Film/MaryPoppins'', 1964)... However, the makers defended themselves by saying that these characters were simply not employed yet by their studios in those years.
* ''The Experiment'': Depicting a fictionalized account of the StanfordPrisonExperiment, the organization responsible for conducting the experiment is the "Monad Corporation"; the word Stanford is never used.
* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' plays fast and loose with facts quite often, although this was typical of the old adventure movies that [[GenreThrowback served as the franchise's inspiration]].
** Tanis, Egypt from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' is a real place. It could not have been rediscovered by the Nazis in 1936 because ''it was never lost in the first place''. In fact, there were numerous archaeological digs in Tanis before the Nazis even came to power. Egypt was also under British influence in 1936, when the movie is supposedly set.
** Playing loose with locations is common through the franchise. The tiny village Marion's bar is in is identified in the novelization as Patan, the second biggest city in Nepal. The third act of ''Raiders'' takes place in a secret Nazi submarine base in Greece, which would have been objected to by the Greeks in real life, naturally[[note]]Or it might have been in the Dodecanese, which was Italian at the time; however, the adventure map implies the contrary, and Italy and Germany had not become allies yet at the time anyway[[/note]].
** In ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Last Crusade]]'', set in 1938, Indy and his father drive from Venice to Berlin (passing a road sign with these two names on and [[ArtisticLicenseGeography no other place]] in between) to retrieve a book from a Nazi book burning (based on the one from 1933) and escape Germany in a commercial Zeppelin flight (all canceled after the Hindenburg's disaster in 1937). The third act takes them to Hatay, a short lived ([[AluminiumChristmasTrees but real]]) Turkish republic that is portrayed as an Arab monarchy. Even the Hatay flag is fictional.
** ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull Crystal Skull]]'' has a [[{{Mayincatec}} Mayan-speaking civilization]] [[LatinLand in the Amazon]] and Indy claiming that he learned Quechua (Peru) from two guys in Pancho Villa's army (Mexico).
* WebVideo/ConfusedMatthew went to great lengths to explain how ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' went beyond Artistic License and outright falsified what happened on the Titanic to make the upperclassmen on the ship as unsympathetic as possible and thus try and make the main characters more sympathetic. His two biggest beefs seem to be: Falsely portraying First Officer (third in command of the ship, Chief Officer is 2nd in command) William Murdock as a corrupt individual who took bribes and shot people to ensure certain people spots on the lifeboats, and making up the idea that the ship's crew tried to keep the lower class men down in third class to let them all die.
* ''Film/{{Australia}}''. In reality, the Japanese never set foot on the Australian mainland. (The famous battles along the Kokoda Track were what is now Papua New Guinea, which at the time was two separate territories administered by Australia.) They bombed Darwin, then left. The bombing also actually occurred in 1942, not 1941.
** Japanese Sub Crews did occasionally go ashore in remote locations along the coast to gather fresh water, and float planes landed on the northern islands after the raid in an unsuccessful attempt to find and rescue downed Japanese aircrew. The large landing party shown exploring the beach for no logically explained reason in the movie was pure fiction.
** Darwin was never ordered to be evacutated. After the end of the first raid (the Japanese carriers), the RAAF base commander ordered his command to muster outside of the base in order to prevent further unnecessary casualities. It was while exiting the base that some troops encounted civilians leaving Darwin and, from lack of clear orders, 'hitched lifts'. It was while this troop movement was happening that the second raid (54 Japanese land based Nell and Betty twin engined bombers - also not shown in the movie) arrived and carpet bombed the RAAF base with some 530 60kg bombs, causing a massive morale effect but little to no extra damage or casualities.
** Zero fighters carried drop tanks, not the bombs that were shown attacking the mission station.
** Bathust Island was straffed by Zeros, not bombed. Their target was the American transport aircraft that had previously forced landed on the RAAF Advanced Operational Base (read 'basic airstrip') there.
Changed line(s) 68,95 (click to see context) from:
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'': The movie claims to start in 1845 Northwest Territories, Canada... Except that the Northwest Territories would not become a part of Canada until 1870 (and the borders of the vast area were gradually changed until 1905, which resulted in the creation of 4 provinces and 2 territories). Canada itself was only granted Dominion status in 1867.
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'':
*** RFK Stadium is shown with a baseball diamond, when in real life the Washington Senators baseball team had moved to Texas in 1971, two years before this film is set.
*** Hank tells Logan that most of the students and teachers were drafted for the UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, which is why Charles had shut down the school. In real life, most--if not all--of them could have stayed through a student deferment, and it's hard to believe that Xavier couldn't push such a thing through if he really wanted to.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'':
*** It is nigh-impossible that a CNN reporter would have been allowed to film in a Polish town, especially given that Poland in 1983 was under martial law.
*** When Apocalypse is addressing the world, he speaks in Russian to a large group of churchgoers at a solemn Russian Orthodox Christian service. It is also highly improbable that the church would have that much attendance (religious life in the USSR was very strictly policed).
* In ''Film/TheOutlawJoseyWales'', character Lone Watie (implied to be a relative to Confederate general Stand Watie), tells the title character that, when the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar broke out, the Cherokee chiefs declared war on the Union due to their mistreatment on the Trail of Tears and on the reservation. Actually the real Watie family was in favor of removal to Oklahoma, and settled there voluntarily before troops were sent in to force the matter. In addition, the Cherokee tribe was split on the matter; despite being slaveholders, many of them remembered that they were forced out from a Southern state by a Southern president. Principal Chief John Ross (who had always been opposed to removal) paid lip service to the Confederates at first, then emphatically threw his weight behind the Union as soon as he could without fear of reprisal.
* ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' claims to be the [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory real life story]] of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, but most of the scenes are made up for the film. There are several anachronisms with the 2003 time period: the Samsung [=SyncMaster=] 941BW was not available in 2003, Serato Scratch Live wasn't released until 2004, a can of Mountain Dew uses a newer logo introduced in 2005, the site "Cats That Look Like Hitler" wasn't there until 2006, Windows XP Service Pack 3, ''[[{{Fallout3}} Fallout 3]]'', and Dennis de Laat's "The Sound Of Violence" weren't released until 2008, Bing wasn't around until 2009, traffic to Facemash slowed down Harvard's network but did not cause a "network crash", Harvard had a "@fas.harvard.edu" e-mail address instead of "@harvard.edu", Harvard dorms at the time required swiping a keycard instead of keyless entry. The film's ending claims Facebook is available in [[WritersCannotDoMath 207 countries]]; the last count has been no greater than 196 countries. The film depicts Mark as creating Facemash and Facebook as payback and an appeal to an ex-girlfriend, when he had a girlfriend (now his wife) during most of the film's events. Mark Zuckerberg reportedly spent the time sitting, programming and eating pizza with friends during Facebook's development.
* In ''Film/UndercoverBlues'', it is said that Paulina Novacek (villain of the movie and former STB agent) "left Prague two jumps ahead of the firing squad." There were no executions in Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution (Czechoslovakia abolished the death penalty in 1990); before the revolution, executions were carried out by hanging.
* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' claims that many of the advancements in technology in the 20th century were a result of reverse-engineering [[spoiler:Megatron]], who had been hidden under the Hoover Dam by the US government. The filmmakers include cars in this list of technologies. Apparently Creator/MichaelBay hasn't heard of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Benz Karl Benz]] (as in Mercedes-Benz), who patented the first internal combustion-powered car in ''1895'', thirty years before the Hoover Dam was even thought of.
* ''Film/SevenSamurai'' played with this trope both ways. It portrayed the main samurai of the cast as all being brave and noble, but also acknowledges that the majority of them were brutal thugs who uses their power of higher social class to oppress the weak. Kurosawa said he did this because he's descended from a samurai family, and wanted in some way to apologize for his ancestor's actions. The Japanese still regard this film as a classic, but they were ''not'' happy with him deciding to speak the truth on this historical matter.
* In-universe example in ''Film/IronSky'', Renate uses a heavily edited version of ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' to teach schoolchildren that Hitler was a kind and grand man who only wanted the best for the world. Renate herself has been fooled by the same propaganda and is utterly crushed when she later sees the full version.
* ''Film/SergeantYork'', while mostly accurate, takes some liberties with the real events of Alvin York's life:
** York's friend "Pusher" Ross is killed by a captured German soldier who managed to get hold of a grenade. York then shoots the German in revenge. Pusher is fictional, and although one German ''did'' refuse to surrender, threw a grenade and was shot by York in response, the grenade didn't kill any Americans.
** The German troops are shown being commanded by a major. They were actually commanded by Paul Vollmer, who was only a lieutenant. The fictional major in the movie isn't named.
** York is seen using a Luger he takes from a captured German after losing his US Army Colt M1911. In truth, he never took a gun from a prisoner to use, and kept hold of his Army Colt for the entire battle. This was changed because the Luger the armorers provided was the only blank-adapted handgun available on the set. He is also seen using an M1903 Springfield, as opposed to the M1917 Enfield he had in real life.
** The battle occurs in a very open and frankly desert-like environment, as compared to the thickly-wooded hills of the actual ravine in France. It's possible the filmmakers wanted to give the battlefield a more harsh and desolate-looking appearance in order to add tension.
* An egregious example in ''Film/{{Seabiscuit}}'', though only to those who read Laura Hillenbrand's original book. The film depicts Seabiscuit's jockey, Red Pollard, as having been raised in an affluent family that lost its fortune in the 1929 Wall Street crash. While the real Pollard was indeed born into a wealthy family that lost its fortune, he had left home to become a jockey back in 1922, and the family had lost its fortune when a major flood of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton destroyed the family business ''in 1915''. A notable example both for readers of the book and informed horseracing fans in general, in the book's discussion of the match race, War Admiral is correctly described as being on the small side and a plain dark bay, who of similar breeding to Seabiscuit (War Admiral was sired by Man o' War out of a Ben Brush-line mare, Seabiscuit was sired by Hard Tack, a son of Man o' War, out of a Ben Brush mare, making him more or less War Admiral's "nephew" and related on the female line, too.) In the movie, War Admiral is depicted as a gigantic coal-black horse and his 'superior' breeding is played up.
* ''Film/TheHurricane'' starring Creator/DenzelWashington portrays boxer Rubin Carter as a totally innocent man who is wrongly convicted of two murders thanks largely to a racist cop who's had it out for him since his boyhood. No evidence exists that the lead detective held any grudge against Carter, and he was described as a jovial man, very different from Dan Hedaya's scowling, tight-lipped portrayal. The film whitewashes Carter's criminal history, depicting Carter as defending himself in boyhood against a pedophile, then being arrested and sent to a juvenile facility by this same racist detective. In reality, Carter was arrested for assaulting and robbing a man, a crime that is not disputed. This was only one of many offenses he committed. Moreover, while Carter's actual guilt or innocence continues to be debated, the film portrays him as having been exonerated by the efforts of three Canadian activists and a young African-American who wrote to him in prison. They did not find evidence showing he was innocent, however, but only some that had not been presented by the prosecution. He was ordered released or retried-New Jersey appealed this ruling, lost, and chose to not retry him again (he had already been retried before in 1976, with another guilty verdict resulting). Carter was thus never exonerated, or even acquitted. On a lesser note, to build up the idea of Carter being victimized by racism in the 1960s, he is shown defeating white boxer Joey Giardello, who is then declared to have won anyway. Carter himself agreed Giordello beat him, and he sued the film producers over this portrayal, settling for a hefty sum.
* ''Film/MemoirsOfAGeisha'': Though set in 1930's-40's Japan, the Geisha's traditional attention to detail given to kimonos is not present, some scenes are clearly CaliforniaDoubling, and the "Snow Dance" performed is not accurate to any Japanese traditional dance.
* In ''Film/MyWay'' during the climax D-Day scene
** D-Day at Normandy was cloudy with rough waves and almost non-ideal weather for an amphibious landing. The movie depicts D-Day with clear, sunny skies and relatively calm waves.
** [[spoiler: Tatsuo at the end]] is captured by recently landed American paratroopers; no paratroopers landed on the beach during the invasion, only at pre-dawn and evening.
* ''Film/TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'' brings up this trope InUniverse when a newspaper refuses to print the truth of the eponymous event even after Ransom told them what really happened.
-->"This is the west. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
* A minor example in the 2011 film ''The 5th Quarter'', an UsefulNotes/{{American football}} flick based on the true story of linebacker Jon Abbate and the 2006 Wake Forest team for which he was one of the central figures. In the film, Wake ties for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. The real Demon Deacons team won the title outright.[[note]]Since 2005, the ACC has held an annual football championship game between the winners of its two divisions. Wake beat Georgia Tech in the 2006 title game. Cool fact: One of Georgia Tech's defensive stars that season was one Joe Anoa'i, now better known to Wrestling/{{WWE}} fans as Wrestling/RomanReigns.[[/note]]
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'': The movie claims to start in 1845 Northwest Territories, Canada... Except that the Northwest Territories would not become a part of Canada until 1870 (and the borders of the vast area were gradually changed until 1905, which resulted in the creation of 4 provinces and 2 territories). Canada itself was only granted Dominion status in 1867.
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'':
*** RFK Stadium is shown with a baseball diamond, when in real life the Washington Senators baseball team had moved to Texas in 1971, two years before this film is set.
*** Hank tells Logan that most of the students and teachers were drafted for the UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, which is why Charles had shut down the school. In real life, most--if not all--of them could have stayed through a student deferment, and it's hard to believe that Xavier couldn't push such a thing through if he really wanted to.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'':
*** It is nigh-impossible that a CNN reporter would have been allowed to film in a Polish town, especially given that Poland in 1983 was under martial law.
*** When Apocalypse is addressing the world, he speaks in Russian to a large group of churchgoers at a solemn Russian Orthodox Christian service. It is also highly improbable that the church would have that much attendance (religious life in the USSR was very strictly policed).
* In ''Film/TheOutlawJoseyWales'', character Lone Watie (implied to be a relative to Confederate general Stand Watie), tells the title character that, when the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar broke out, the Cherokee chiefs declared war on the Union due to their mistreatment on the Trail of Tears and on the reservation. Actually the real Watie family was in favor of removal to Oklahoma, and settled there voluntarily before troops were sent in to force the matter. In addition, the Cherokee tribe was split on the matter; despite being slaveholders, many of them remembered that they were forced out from a Southern state by a Southern president. Principal Chief John Ross (who had always been opposed to removal) paid lip service to the Confederates at first, then emphatically threw his weight behind the Union as soon as he could without fear of reprisal.
* ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' claims to be the [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory real life story]] of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, but most of the scenes are made up for the film. There are several anachronisms with the 2003 time period: the Samsung [=SyncMaster=] 941BW was not available in 2003, Serato Scratch Live wasn't released until 2004, a can of Mountain Dew uses a newer logo introduced in 2005, the site "Cats That Look Like Hitler" wasn't there until 2006, Windows XP Service Pack 3, ''[[{{Fallout3}} Fallout 3]]'', and Dennis de Laat's "The Sound Of Violence" weren't released until 2008, Bing wasn't around until 2009, traffic to Facemash slowed down Harvard's network but did not cause a "network crash", Harvard had a "@fas.harvard.edu" e-mail address instead of "@harvard.edu", Harvard dorms at the time required swiping a keycard instead of keyless entry. The film's ending claims Facebook is available in [[WritersCannotDoMath 207 countries]]; the last count has been no greater than 196 countries. The film depicts Mark as creating Facemash and Facebook as payback and an appeal to an ex-girlfriend, when he had a girlfriend (now his wife) during most of the film's events. Mark Zuckerberg reportedly spent the time sitting, programming and eating pizza with friends during Facebook's development.
* In ''Film/UndercoverBlues'', it is said that Paulina Novacek (villain of the movie and former STB agent) "left Prague two jumps ahead of the firing squad." There were no executions in Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution (Czechoslovakia abolished the death penalty in 1990); before the revolution, executions were carried out by hanging.
* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' claims that many of the advancements in technology in the 20th century were a result of reverse-engineering [[spoiler:Megatron]], who had been hidden under the Hoover Dam by the US government. The filmmakers include cars in this list of technologies. Apparently Creator/MichaelBay hasn't heard of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Benz Karl Benz]] (as in Mercedes-Benz), who patented the first internal combustion-powered car in ''1895'', thirty years before the Hoover Dam was even thought of.
* ''Film/SevenSamurai'' played with this trope both ways. It portrayed the main samurai of the cast as all being brave and noble, but also acknowledges that the majority of them were brutal thugs who uses their power of higher social class to oppress the weak. Kurosawa said he did this because he's descended from a samurai family, and wanted in some way to apologize for his ancestor's actions. The Japanese still regard this film as a classic, but they were ''not'' happy with him deciding to speak the truth on this historical matter.
* In-universe example in ''Film/IronSky'', Renate uses a heavily edited version of ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' to teach schoolchildren that Hitler was a kind and grand man who only wanted the best for the world. Renate herself has been fooled by the same propaganda and is utterly crushed when she later sees the full version.
* ''Film/SergeantYork'', while mostly accurate, takes some liberties with the real events of Alvin York's life:
** York's friend "Pusher" Ross is killed by a captured German soldier who managed to get hold of a grenade. York then shoots the German in revenge. Pusher is fictional, and although one German ''did'' refuse to surrender, threw a grenade and was shot by York in response, the grenade didn't kill any Americans.
** The German troops are shown being commanded by a major. They were actually commanded by Paul Vollmer, who was only a lieutenant. The fictional major in the movie isn't named.
** York is seen using a Luger he takes from a captured German after losing his US Army Colt M1911. In truth, he never took a gun from a prisoner to use, and kept hold of his Army Colt for the entire battle. This was changed because the Luger the armorers provided was the only blank-adapted handgun available on the set. He is also seen using an M1903 Springfield, as opposed to the M1917 Enfield he had in real life.
** The battle occurs in a very open and frankly desert-like environment, as compared to the thickly-wooded hills of the actual ravine in France. It's possible the filmmakers wanted to give the battlefield a more harsh and desolate-looking appearance in order to add tension.
* An egregious example in ''Film/{{Seabiscuit}}'', though only to those who read Laura Hillenbrand's original book. The film depicts Seabiscuit's jockey, Red Pollard, as having been raised in an affluent family that lost its fortune in the 1929 Wall Street crash. While the real Pollard was indeed born into a wealthy family that lost its fortune, he had left home to become a jockey back in 1922, and the family had lost its fortune when a major flood of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton destroyed the family business ''in 1915''. A notable example both for readers of the book and informed horseracing fans in general, in the book's discussion of the match race, War Admiral is correctly described as being on the small side and a plain dark bay, who of similar breeding to Seabiscuit (War Admiral was sired by Man o' War out of a Ben Brush-line mare, Seabiscuit was sired by Hard Tack, a son of Man o' War, out of a Ben Brush mare, making him more or less War Admiral's "nephew" and related on the female line, too.) In the movie, War Admiral is depicted as a gigantic coal-black horse and his 'superior' breeding is played up.
* ''Film/TheHurricane'' starring Creator/DenzelWashington portrays boxer Rubin Carter as a totally innocent man who is wrongly convicted of two murders thanks largely to a racist cop who's had it out for him since his boyhood. No evidence exists that the lead detective held any grudge against Carter, and he was described as a jovial man, very different from Dan Hedaya's scowling, tight-lipped portrayal. The film whitewashes Carter's criminal history, depicting Carter as defending himself in boyhood against a pedophile, then being arrested and sent to a juvenile facility by this same racist detective. In reality, Carter was arrested for assaulting and robbing a man, a crime that is not disputed. This was only one of many offenses he committed. Moreover, while Carter's actual guilt or innocence continues to be debated, the film portrays him as having been exonerated by the efforts of three Canadian activists and a young African-American who wrote to him in prison. They did not find evidence showing he was innocent, however, but only some that had not been presented by the prosecution. He was ordered released or retried-New Jersey appealed this ruling, lost, and chose to not retry him again (he had already been retried before in 1976, with another guilty verdict resulting). Carter was thus never exonerated, or even acquitted. On a lesser note, to build up the idea of Carter being victimized by racism in the 1960s, he is shown defeating white boxer Joey Giardello, who is then declared to have won anyway. Carter himself agreed Giordello beat him, and he sued the film producers over this portrayal, settling for a hefty sum.
* ''Film/MemoirsOfAGeisha'': Though set in 1930's-40's Japan, the Geisha's traditional attention to detail given to kimonos is not present, some scenes are clearly CaliforniaDoubling, and the "Snow Dance" performed is not accurate to any Japanese traditional dance.
* In ''Film/MyWay'' during the climax D-Day scene
** D-Day at Normandy was cloudy with rough waves and almost non-ideal weather for an amphibious landing. The movie depicts D-Day with clear, sunny skies and relatively calm waves.
** [[spoiler: Tatsuo at the end]] is captured by recently landed American paratroopers; no paratroopers landed on the beach during the invasion, only at pre-dawn and evening.
* ''Film/TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'' brings up this trope InUniverse when a newspaper refuses to print the truth of the eponymous event even after Ransom told them what really happened.
-->"This is the west. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
* A minor example in the 2011 film ''The 5th Quarter'', an UsefulNotes/{{American football}} flick based on the true story of linebacker Jon Abbate and the 2006 Wake Forest team for which he was one of the central figures. In the film, Wake ties for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. The real Demon Deacons team won the title outright.[[note]]Since 2005, the ACC has held an annual football championship game between the winners of its two divisions. Wake beat Georgia Tech in the 2006 title game. Cool fact: One of Georgia Tech's defensive stars that season was one Joe Anoa'i, now better known to Wrestling/{{WWE}} fans as Wrestling/RomanReigns.[[/note]]
to:
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'': The movie claims to start in 1845 Northwest Territories, Canada... Except that''Film/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'': At one point the Northwest Territories would not become a part of Canada until 1870 (and the borders of the vast area were gradually changed until 1905, which resulted in the creation of 4 provinces and 2 territories). Canada itself was only granted Dominion status in 1867.
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'':
*** RFK Stadium is shown with a baseball diamond, when in real life the Washington Senators baseball team had moved to Texas in 1971, two years before this film is set.
*** Hank tells Logan that most of the students and teachers were drafted for the UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, which is why Charles had shut down the school. In real life, most--if not all--of them could have stayed through a student deferment, and it's hard to believe that Xavier couldn't push such a thing through if he really wanted to.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'':
*** It is nigh-impossible that a CNN reporter would have been allowed to film in a Polish town, especially given that Poland in 1983 was under martial law.
*** When Apocalypse is addressing the world, he speaks in Russian to a large group of churchgoers at a solemn Russian Orthodox Christian service. It is also highly improbable that the church would have that much attendance (religious life in the USSR was very strictly policed).
* In ''Film/TheOutlawJoseyWales'', character Lone Watie (implied to be a relative to Confederate general Stand Watie), tells the title character that, when the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar broke out, the Cherokee chiefs declared warprotagonists journey on the Union due to their mistreatment on the Trail of Tears and on the reservation. Actually the real Watie family was in favor of removal to Oklahoma, and settled there voluntarily before troops were sent in to force the matter. In addition, the Cherokee tribe was split on the matter; despite being slaveholders, many of them remembered that they were forced out from a Southern state London Underground, where Mr. Weasley is fascinated by a Southern president. Principal Chief John Ross (who had always been opposed to removal) paid lip service to the Confederates at first, then emphatically threw his weight behind the Union as soon as he could without fear of reprisal.
* ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' claims to be the [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory real life story]] of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, but most of the scenes are made up for the film. There are several anachronisms with the 2003 time period: the Samsung [=SyncMaster=] 941BW was not available in 2003, Serato Scratch Live wasn't released until 2004, a can of Mountain Dew uses a newer logo introduced in 2005, the site "Cats That Look Like Hitler" wasn't there until 2006, Windows XP Service Pack 3, ''[[{{Fallout3}} Fallout 3]]'', and Dennis de Laat's "The Sound Of Violence" weren't released until 2008, Bing wasn't around until 2009, traffic to Facemash slowed down Harvard's network but did not cause a "network crash", Harvard had a "@fas.harvard.edu" e-mail address instead of "@harvard.edu", Harvard dorms at the time required swiping a keycard instead of keyless entry. The film's ending claims Facebook is available in [[WritersCannotDoMath 207 countries]]; the last count has been no greater than 196 countries. The film depicts Mark as creating Facemash and Facebook as payback andan appeal to an ex-girlfriend, when he had a girlfriend (now his wife) during most of Oyster card reader - even though the film's events. Mark Zuckerberg reportedly spent the time sitting, programming and eating pizza with friends during Facebook's development.
* In ''Film/UndercoverBlues'', it is said that Paulina Novacek (villain of the movie and former STB agent) "left Prague two jumps ahead of the firing squad." There were no executions in Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution (Czechoslovakia abolished the death penalty in 1990); before the revolution, executions were carried out by hanging.
* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' claims that many of the advancements in technology in the 20th century were a result of reverse-engineering [[spoiler:Megatron]], who had been hidden under the Hoover Dam by the US government. The filmmakers include cars in this list of technologies. Apparently Creator/MichaelBay hasn't heard of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Benz Karl Benz]] (as in Mercedes-Benz), who patented the first internal combustion-powered car in ''1895'', thirty years before the Hoover Dam was even thought of.
* ''Film/SevenSamurai'' played with this trope both ways. It portrayed the main samurai of the cast as all being brave and noble, but also acknowledges that the majority of them were brutal thugs who uses their power of higher social class to oppress the weak. Kurosawa said he did this because he's descended from a samurai family, and wanted in some way to apologize for his ancestor's actions. The Japanese still regard this film as a classic, but they were ''not'' happy with him deciding to speak the truth on this historical matter.
* In-universe example in ''Film/IronSky'', Renate uses a heavily edited version of ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' to teach schoolchildren that Hitler was a kind and grand man who only wanted the best for the world. Renate herself has been fooled by the same propaganda and is utterly crushed when she later sees the full version.
* ''Film/SergeantYork'', while mostly accurate, takes some liberties with the real events of Alvin York's life:
** York's friend "Pusher" Ross is killed by a captured German soldier who managed to get hold of a grenade. York then shoots the German in revenge. Pusher is fictional, and although one German ''did'' refuse to surrender, threw a grenade and was shot by York in response, the grenade didn't kill any Americans.
** The German troops are shown being commanded by a major. They were actually commanded by Paul Vollmer, who was only a lieutenant. The fictional major in the movie isn't named.
** York is seen using a Luger he takes from a captured German after losing his US Army Colt M1911. In truth, he never took a gun from a prisoner to use, and kept hold of his Army Colt for the entire battle. This was changed because the Luger the armorers provided was the only blank-adapted handgun available on the set. He is also seen using an M1903 Springfield, as opposed to the M1917 Enfield he had in real life.
** The battle occurs in a very open and frankly desert-like environment, as compared to the thickly-wooded hills of the actual ravine in France. It's possible the filmmakers wanted to give the battlefield a more harsh and desolate-looking appearance in order to add tension.
* An egregious example in ''Film/{{Seabiscuit}}'', though only to those who read Laura Hillenbrand's original book. The film depicts Seabiscuit's jockey, Red Pollard, as having been raised in an affluent family that lost its fortune in the 1929 Wall Street crash. While the real Pollard was indeed born into a wealthy family that lost its fortune, he had left home to become a jockey back in 1922, and the family had lost its fortune when a major flood of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton destroyed the family business ''in 1915''. A notable example both for readers of the book and informed horseracing fans in general, in the book's discussion of the match race, War Admiral is correctly described as being on the small side and a plain dark bay, who of similar breeding to Seabiscuit (War Admiral was sired by Man o' War out of a Ben Brush-line mare, Seabiscuit was sired by Hard Tack, a son of Man o' War, out of a Ben Brush mare, making him more or less War Admiral's "nephew" and related on the female line, too.) In the movie, War Admiral is depicted as a gigantic coal-black horse and his 'superior' breeding is played up.
* ''Film/TheHurricane'' starring Creator/DenzelWashington portrays boxer Rubin Carter as a totally innocent man who is wrongly convicted of two murders thanks largely to a racist cop who's had it out for him since his boyhood. No evidence exists that the lead detective held any grudge against Carter, and he was described as a jovial man, very different from Dan Hedaya's scowling, tight-lipped portrayal. The film whitewashes Carter's criminal history, depicting Carter as defending himself in boyhood against a pedophile, then being arrested and sent to a juvenile facility by this same racist detective. In reality, Carter was arrested for assaulting and robbing a man, a crime that is not disputed. This was only one of many offenses he committed. Moreover, while Carter's actual guilt or innocence continuesmeant to be debated, the film portrays him as having been exonerated by the efforts of three Canadian activists and a young African-American who wrote to him in prison. They did not find evidence showing he was innocent, however, but only some that had not been presented by the prosecution. He was ordered released or retried-New Jersey appealed this ruling, lost, and chose to not retry him again (he had already been retried before in 1976, with another guilty verdict resulting). Carter was thus never exonerated, or even acquitted. On a lesser note, to build up the idea of Carter being victimized by racism in the 1960s, he is shown defeating white boxer Joey Giardello, who is then declared to have won anyway. Carter himself agreed Giordello beat him, and he sued the film producers over this portrayal, settling for a hefty sum.
* ''Film/MemoirsOfAGeisha'': Thoughset in 1930's-40's Japan, 1995-1996 like [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix the Geisha's traditional attention to detail given to kimonos is not present, some scenes are clearly CaliforniaDoubling, and book]], while the "Snow Dance" performed is not accurate to any Japanese traditional dance.
* In ''Film/MyWay'' during the climax D-Day scene
** D-Day at Normandy was cloudy with rough waves and almost non-ideal weather for an amphibious landing. The movie depicts D-Day with clear, sunny skies and relatively calm waves.
** [[spoiler: Tatsuo at the end]] is captured by recently landed American paratroopers; no paratroopers landed on the beach during the invasion,Oyster card only at pre-dawn and evening.
* ''Film/TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'' brings up this trope InUniverse when a newspaper refuses to print the truth of the eponymous event even after Ransom told them what really happened.
-->"This is the west. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
* A minor examplefirst appeared in the 2011 film ''The 5th Quarter'', an UsefulNotes/{{American football}} flick based on the true story of linebacker Jon Abbate and the 2006 Wake Forest team for which he was one of the central figures. In the film, Wake ties for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. The real Demon Deacons team won the title outright.[[note]]Since 2005, the ACC has held an annual football championship game between the winners of its two divisions. Wake beat Georgia Tech in the 2006 title game. Cool fact: One of Georgia Tech's defensive stars that season was one Joe Anoa'i, now better known to Wrestling/{{WWE}} fans as Wrestling/RomanReigns.[[/note]]2003.
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'': The movie claims to start in 1845 Northwest Territories, Canada... Except that
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'':
*** RFK Stadium is shown with a baseball diamond, when in real life the Washington Senators baseball team had moved to Texas in 1971, two years before this film is set.
*** Hank tells Logan that most of the students and teachers were drafted for the UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, which is why Charles had shut down the school. In real life, most--if not all--of them could have stayed through a student deferment, and it's hard to believe that Xavier couldn't push such a thing through if he really wanted to.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'':
*** It is nigh-impossible that a CNN reporter would have been allowed to film in a Polish town, especially given that Poland in 1983 was under martial law.
*** When Apocalypse is addressing the world, he speaks in Russian to a large group of churchgoers at a solemn Russian Orthodox Christian service. It is also highly improbable that the church would have that much attendance (religious life in the USSR was very strictly policed).
* In ''Film/TheOutlawJoseyWales'', character Lone Watie (implied to be a relative to Confederate general Stand Watie), tells the title character that, when the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar broke out, the Cherokee chiefs declared war
* ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' claims to be the [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory real life story]] of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, but most of the scenes are made up for the film. There are several anachronisms with the 2003 time period: the Samsung [=SyncMaster=] 941BW was not available in 2003, Serato Scratch Live wasn't released until 2004, a can of Mountain Dew uses a newer logo introduced in 2005, the site "Cats That Look Like Hitler" wasn't there until 2006, Windows XP Service Pack 3, ''[[{{Fallout3}} Fallout 3]]'', and Dennis de Laat's "The Sound Of Violence" weren't released until 2008, Bing wasn't around until 2009, traffic to Facemash slowed down Harvard's network but did not cause a "network crash", Harvard had a "@fas.harvard.edu" e-mail address instead of "@harvard.edu", Harvard dorms at the time required swiping a keycard instead of keyless entry. The film's ending claims Facebook is available in [[WritersCannotDoMath 207 countries]]; the last count has been no greater than 196 countries. The film depicts Mark as creating Facemash and Facebook as payback and
* In ''Film/UndercoverBlues'', it is said that Paulina Novacek (villain of the movie and former STB agent) "left Prague two jumps ahead of the firing squad." There were no executions in Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution (Czechoslovakia abolished the death penalty in 1990); before the revolution, executions were carried out by hanging.
* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' claims that many of the advancements in technology in the 20th century were a result of reverse-engineering [[spoiler:Megatron]], who had been hidden under the Hoover Dam by the US government. The filmmakers include cars in this list of technologies. Apparently Creator/MichaelBay hasn't heard of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Benz Karl Benz]] (as in Mercedes-Benz), who patented the first internal combustion-powered car in ''1895'', thirty years before the Hoover Dam was even thought of.
* ''Film/SevenSamurai'' played with this trope both ways. It portrayed the main samurai of the cast as all being brave and noble, but also acknowledges that the majority of them were brutal thugs who uses their power of higher social class to oppress the weak. Kurosawa said he did this because he's descended from a samurai family, and wanted in some way to apologize for his ancestor's actions. The Japanese still regard this film as a classic, but they were ''not'' happy with him deciding to speak the truth on this historical matter.
* In-universe example in ''Film/IronSky'', Renate uses a heavily edited version of ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' to teach schoolchildren that Hitler was a kind and grand man who only wanted the best for the world. Renate herself has been fooled by the same propaganda and is utterly crushed when she later sees the full version.
* ''Film/SergeantYork'', while mostly accurate, takes some liberties with the real events of Alvin York's life:
** York's friend "Pusher" Ross is killed by a captured German soldier who managed to get hold of a grenade. York then shoots the German in revenge. Pusher is fictional, and although one German ''did'' refuse to surrender, threw a grenade and was shot by York in response, the grenade didn't kill any Americans.
** The German troops are shown being commanded by a major. They were actually commanded by Paul Vollmer, who was only a lieutenant. The fictional major in the movie isn't named.
** York is seen using a Luger he takes from a captured German after losing his US Army Colt M1911. In truth, he never took a gun from a prisoner to use, and kept hold of his Army Colt for the entire battle. This was changed because the Luger the armorers provided was the only blank-adapted handgun available on the set. He is also seen using an M1903 Springfield, as opposed to the M1917 Enfield he had in real life.
** The battle occurs in a very open and frankly desert-like environment, as compared to the thickly-wooded hills of the actual ravine in France. It's possible the filmmakers wanted to give the battlefield a more harsh and desolate-looking appearance in order to add tension.
* An egregious example in ''Film/{{Seabiscuit}}'', though only to those who read Laura Hillenbrand's original book. The film depicts Seabiscuit's jockey, Red Pollard, as having been raised in an affluent family that lost its fortune in the 1929 Wall Street crash. While the real Pollard was indeed born into a wealthy family that lost its fortune, he had left home to become a jockey back in 1922, and the family had lost its fortune when a major flood of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton destroyed the family business ''in 1915''. A notable example both for readers of the book and informed horseracing fans in general, in the book's discussion of the match race, War Admiral is correctly described as being on the small side and a plain dark bay, who of similar breeding to Seabiscuit (War Admiral was sired by Man o' War out of a Ben Brush-line mare, Seabiscuit was sired by Hard Tack, a son of Man o' War, out of a Ben Brush mare, making him more or less War Admiral's "nephew" and related on the female line, too.) In the movie, War Admiral is depicted as a gigantic coal-black horse and his 'superior' breeding is played up.
* ''Film/TheHurricane'' starring Creator/DenzelWashington portrays boxer Rubin Carter as a totally innocent man who is wrongly convicted of two murders thanks largely to a racist cop who's had it out for him since his boyhood. No evidence exists that the lead detective held any grudge against Carter, and he was described as a jovial man, very different from Dan Hedaya's scowling, tight-lipped portrayal. The film whitewashes Carter's criminal history, depicting Carter as defending himself in boyhood against a pedophile, then being arrested and sent to a juvenile facility by this same racist detective. In reality, Carter was arrested for assaulting and robbing a man, a crime that is not disputed. This was only one of many offenses he committed. Moreover, while Carter's actual guilt or innocence continues
* ''Film/MemoirsOfAGeisha'': Though
* In ''Film/MyWay'' during the climax D-Day scene
** D-Day at Normandy was cloudy with rough waves and almost non-ideal weather for an amphibious landing. The movie depicts D-Day with clear, sunny skies and relatively calm waves.
** [[spoiler: Tatsuo at the end]] is captured by recently landed American paratroopers; no paratroopers landed on the beach during the invasion,
* ''Film/TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'' brings up this trope InUniverse when a newspaper refuses to print the truth of the eponymous event even after Ransom told them what really happened.
-->"This is the west. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
* A minor example
Changed line(s) 105,111 (click to see context) from:
* ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'' has many inaccuracies concerning World War II, for example, the [[FontAnachronism Fraktur type]] font used on a banner would have been banned in Nazi Germany.
* ''Film/DonovansReef'' takes place on an island in French Polynesia where there had been fighting between US and Japanese forces during World War II, only French Polynesia was some 2,200 miles away from the actual Pacific campaign and did not see any battles.
* ''Film/BridgeOfSpies'':
** When attorney James Donovan is recruited to defend accused spy Rudolf Abel, he protests that he is primarily an insurance lawyer. However, the film does not mention that he was also General Counsel for the Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner to the CIA) during World War II (between 1943 to 1945, to be exact) and so was fully experienced dealing with spies.
** Donovan was also fully experienced in dealing with big, controversial cases: he became assistant to Justice Robert H. Jackson at the Nuremberg trials. While he prepared for the trials, he was also working as an adviser for the documentary feature ''The Nazi Plan''. Donovan was the presenter of visual evidence at the trial.
** The RealLife Frederic Pryor has noted that his movie counterpart's romance with a German girl was created out of whole cloth, and that his arrest had more to do with genuine confusion than helping out dissidents. More importantly, his East German lawyer wasn't an AmoralAttorney, but did his best to represent Pryor's interests.
* ''Film/{{Witchboard}}'': Brandon claims that Ouija boards were invented in 540 BCE. The first recording of anything like an Ouija board was in 1100 CE, and modern Ouija boards were invented in the 1800s.
* ''Film/DonovansReef'' takes place on an island in French Polynesia where there had been fighting between US and Japanese forces during World War II, only French Polynesia was some 2,200 miles away from the actual Pacific campaign and did not see any battles.
* ''Film/BridgeOfSpies'':
** When attorney James Donovan is recruited to defend accused spy Rudolf Abel, he protests that he is primarily an insurance lawyer. However, the film does not mention that he was also General Counsel for the Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner to the CIA) during World War II (between 1943 to 1945, to be exact) and so was fully experienced dealing with spies.
** Donovan was also fully experienced in dealing with big, controversial cases: he became assistant to Justice Robert H. Jackson at the Nuremberg trials. While he prepared for the trials, he was also working as an adviser for the documentary feature ''The Nazi Plan''. Donovan was the presenter of visual evidence at the trial.
** The RealLife Frederic Pryor has noted that his movie counterpart's romance with a German girl was created out of whole cloth, and that his arrest had more to do with genuine confusion than helping out dissidents. More importantly, his East German lawyer wasn't an AmoralAttorney, but did his best to represent Pryor's interests.
* ''Film/{{Witchboard}}'': Brandon claims that Ouija boards were invented in 540 BCE. The first recording of anything like an Ouija board was in 1100 CE, and modern Ouija boards were invented in the 1800s.
to:
* ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'' has ''Film/TheHurricane'' starring Creator/DenzelWashington portrays boxer Rubin Carter as a totally innocent man who is wrongly convicted of two murders thanks largely to a racist cop who's had it out for him since his boyhood. No evidence exists that the lead detective held any grudge against Carter, and he was described as a jovial man, very different from Dan Hedaya's scowling, tight-lipped portrayal. The film whitewashes Carter's criminal history, depicting Carter as defending himself in boyhood against a pedophile, then being arrested and sent to a juvenile facility by this same racist detective. In reality, Carter was arrested for assaulting and robbing a man, a crime that is not disputed. This was only one of many inaccuracies concerning World War II, for example, the [[FontAnachronism Fraktur type]] font used on a banner would have been banned in Nazi Germany.
* ''Film/DonovansReef'' takes place on an island in French Polynesia where there had been fighting between US and Japanese forces during World War II, only French Polynesia was some 2,200 miles away from theoffenses he committed. Moreover, while Carter's actual Pacific campaign and did not see any battles.
* ''Film/BridgeOfSpies'':
** When attorney James Donovan is recruitedguilt or innocence continues to defend accused spy Rudolf Abel, he protests that he is primarily an insurance lawyer. However, be debated, the film does portrays him as having been exonerated by the efforts of three Canadian activists and a young African-American who wrote to him in prison. They did not mention that he was also General Counsel for the Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner to the CIA) during World War II (between 1943 to 1945, to be exact) and so was fully experienced dealing with spies.
** Donovan was also fully experienced in dealing with big, controversial cases: he became assistant to Justice Robert H. Jackson at the Nuremberg trials. While he prepared for the trials, he was also working as an adviser for the documentary feature ''The Nazi Plan''. Donovan was the presenter of visualfind evidence at the trial.
** The RealLife Frederic Pryor has notedshowing he was innocent, however, but only some that his movie counterpart's romance had not been presented by the prosecution. He was ordered released or retried-New Jersey appealed this ruling, lost, and chose to not retry him again (he had already been retried before in 1976, with a German girl another guilty verdict resulting). Carter was created out thus never exonerated, or even acquitted. On a lesser note, to build up the idea of whole cloth, and that his arrest had more to do with genuine confusion than helping out dissidents. More importantly, his East German lawyer wasn't an AmoralAttorney, but did his best to represent Pryor's interests.
* ''Film/{{Witchboard}}'': Brandon claims that Ouija boards were invented in 540 BCE. The first recording of anything like an Ouija board was in 1100 CE, and modern Ouija boards were inventedCarter being victimized by racism in the 1800s.1960s, he is shown defeating white boxer Joey Giardello, who is then declared to have won anyway. Carter himself agreed Giordello beat him, and he sued the film producers over this portrayal, settling for a hefty sum.
* ''Film/DonovansReef'' takes place on an island in French Polynesia where there had been fighting between US and Japanese forces during World War II, only French Polynesia was some 2,200 miles away from the
* ''Film/BridgeOfSpies'':
** When attorney James Donovan is recruited
** Donovan was also fully experienced in dealing with big, controversial cases: he became assistant to Justice Robert H. Jackson at the Nuremberg trials. While he prepared for the trials, he was also working as an adviser for the documentary feature ''The Nazi Plan''. Donovan was the presenter of visual
** The RealLife Frederic Pryor has noted
* ''Film/{{Witchboard}}'': Brandon claims that Ouija boards were invented in 540 BCE. The first recording of anything like an Ouija board was in 1100 CE, and modern Ouija boards were invented
Changed line(s) 113,114 (click to see context) from:
* ''Film/{{U571}}'' caused some controversy in the UK as it portrays an American submarine crew capturing a German Enigma code machine from a stranded U-Boat. In reality the British Royal Navy were the ones to board a sinking U-boat and capture the device. Also the depiction of German destroyers in the Atlantic hunting US and UK submarines is inaccurate as the German navy concentrated their resources on U-Boats, their surface fleet was unable to maintain any kind of presence in the Atlantic. The fact the British captured the Enigma code machines rather than the US is acknowledged just prior to the credits.
* ''Film/DancesWithWolves'': Although more accurate than previous films in its depiction of the West and native peoples, it still has inaccuracies. First, the whites are shown as hunting buffalo solely to take skins. This was not yet the case in 1865, and would only begin in 1871. At that point buffalo were still hunted by the whites for meat. Secondly, the Lakota are portrayed as simply defending themselves, and the Pawnee are evil allies of the US government. However, it was actually the Lakota who had been the aggressors against the Pawnee, moving into the Plains in the late 1700s from the northeast. This is ''why'' tribes such as the Pawnee, Arikara and Crow were allies of the US government against the Lakota (not that it helped them later, of course), since the Lakota had been pushing them out of their land. While the Pawnee could be brutal, they were no more so than the Lakota. Of course, this is simply to show the viewer who the good and bad guys are, without complicating matters.
* ''Film/DancesWithWolves'': Although more accurate than previous films in its depiction of the West and native peoples, it still has inaccuracies. First, the whites are shown as hunting buffalo solely to take skins. This was not yet the case in 1865, and would only begin in 1871. At that point buffalo were still hunted by the whites for meat. Secondly, the Lakota are portrayed as simply defending themselves, and the Pawnee are evil allies of the US government. However, it was actually the Lakota who had been the aggressors against the Pawnee, moving into the Plains in the late 1700s from the northeast. This is ''why'' tribes such as the Pawnee, Arikara and Crow were allies of the US government against the Lakota (not that it helped them later, of course), since the Lakota had been pushing them out of their land. While the Pawnee could be brutal, they were no more so than the Lakota. Of course, this is simply to show the viewer who the good and bad guys are, without complicating matters.
to:
* ''Film/{{U571}}'' caused some controversy PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'' (where the entire [[PlanetOfHats world]] has become [[IdiotBall less intelligent]]) a theme park of the future thought that UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and Creator/CharlieChaplin were the same person, and both sides rode dinosaurs. "And then the UN un-Nazied the world forever."
* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' plays fast and loose with facts quite often, although this was typical of the old adventure movies that [[GenreThrowback served as the franchise's inspiration]].
** Tanis, Egypt from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' is a real place. It could not have been rediscovered by the Nazis in 1936 because ''it was never lost in theUK first place''. In fact, there were numerous archaeological digs in Tanis before the Nazis even came to power. Egypt was also under British influence in 1936, when the movie is supposedly set.
** Playing loose with locations is common through the franchise. The tiny village Marion's bar is in is identified in the novelization asit portrays an American Patan, the second biggest city in Nepal. The third act of ''Raiders'' takes place in a secret Nazi submarine crew capturing base in Greece, which would have been objected to by the Greeks in real life, naturally[[note]]Or it might have been in the Dodecanese, which was Italian at the time; however, the adventure map implies the contrary, and Italy and Germany had not become allies yet at the time anyway[[/note]].
** In ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Last Crusade]]'', set in 1938, Indy and his father drive from Venice to Berlin (passing aGerman Enigma code machine road sign with these two names on and [[ArtisticLicenseGeography no other place]] in between) to retrieve a book from a stranded U-Boat. In reality Nazi book burning (based on the British Royal Navy were one from 1933) and escape Germany in a commercial Zeppelin flight (all canceled after the ones to board a sinking U-boat and capture the device. Also the depiction of German destroyers Hindenburg's disaster in the Atlantic hunting US and UK submarines is inaccurate as the German navy concentrated their resources on U-Boats, their surface fleet was unable to maintain any kind of presence in the Atlantic. 1937). The fact the British captured the Enigma code machines rather than the US is acknowledged just prior third act takes them to the credits.
* ''Film/DancesWithWolves'': Although more accurate than previous films in its depiction of the West and native peoples, it still has inaccuracies. First, the whites are shown as hunting buffalo solely to take skins. This was not yet the case in 1865, and would only begin in 1871. AtHatay, a short lived ([[AluminiumChristmasTrees but real]]) Turkish republic that point buffalo were still hunted by the whites for meat. Secondly, the Lakota are is portrayed as simply defending themselves, an Arab monarchy. Even the Hatay flag is fictional.
** ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull Crystal Skull]]'' has a [[{{Mayincatec}} Mayan-speaking civilization]] [[LatinLand in the Amazon]] and Indy claiming that he learned Quechua (Peru) from two guys in Pancho Villa's army (Mexico).
* In-universe example in ''Film/IronSky'', Renate uses a heavily edited version of ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' to teach schoolchildren that Hitler was a kind and grand man who only wanted thePawnee are evil allies of best for the US government. However, it world. Renate herself has been fooled by the same propaganda and is utterly crushed when she later sees the full version.
* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' is full of this: Renaud de Châtillon was never a [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar Templar]], nor was Guy de Lusignan. The latter was actually theLakota who had king of Jerusalem when Renaud launched his attack on the caravan, King Baldwin having been dead for several years. Sybille's marriage with Guy was not an arranged one: her family was actually opposed; and it goes on and on...
** Indeed, theaggressors Knights Templar were explicitly forbidden from marrying, as well as owning land. Crowning a Templar as a King would have been a legal impossibility at the time.
** ** The three "Templar knights" who ambush Balian shortly before Guy's coronation actually wear the black cross of UsefulNotes/{{the Teutonic Knights}}, which were founded only after the events depicted in the film (all other scenes portray the Templars uniforms accurately, so it's a mystery why these are used here). Also their attack never happened.
** The actual Balian was not born out of wedlock. He was a nobleman, and native to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Rather than an enemy, he was Guy's adviser (although they disagreed at times). Balian also broke an oath made to Salidan that he wouldn't take arms against him any further if his wife and children were allowed safe passage for Tripoli. His oath also included leaving Jerusalem-he didn't do this either. The Patriarch of Jerusalem absolved him, saying thePawnee, moving into needs of the Plains city were more important than an oath made to a Muslim. His family, and close alliance with the Patriarch, also aren't in the late 1700s from film.
** Salidan was somewhat harsher in real toward thenortheast. This is ''why'' tribes such as Christians of Jerusalem. He allowed most leave in return for a large sum, while the Pawnee, Arikara and Crow rest were allies enslaved. Some who remained were freed by him, but not all.
** Sybilla was actually one of theUS extremists who (like Guy) wanted war with the Muslims. She was genuinely devoted to him by all accounts (however, there were claims saying she did indeed have an affair with Balian). Sybilla and Balian never married either (he had a wife).
* ''Film/TheLastCommand'': The film seems to be conflating the February revolution (which toppled the Romanovs) and the [[RedOctober October Revolution]] (in which the Bolsheviks seized power). In the movie the Tsar's governmentagainst is apparently directly replaced by the Lakota (not Bolsheviks, which did not happen in RealLife.
* ''Film/TheLifeOfDavidGale'': During a drunken ramble, David says Socrates was sentenced to death for insulting the judges by, after he was convicted, suggesting as his punishment a fine of only thirty ''mina'', comparing that to thirty bucks. In reality though, ''Literature/ApologyOfSocrates'' says he suggested a fine of a hundred ''drachma'', soon raised to three thousand-a very substantial sum. Being a literature professor, David likely would be aware of this.
* ''Film/TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'' brings up this trope InUniverse when a newspaper refuses to print the truth of the eponymous event even after Ransom told them what really happened.
-->"This is the west. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
* ''Film/MemoirsOfAGeisha'': Though set in 1930's-40's Japan, the Geisha's traditional attention to detail given to kimonos is not present, some scenes are clearly CaliforniaDoubling, and the "Snow Dance" performed is not accurate to any Japanese traditional dance.
* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'': Luc Besson said he didn't really care about retelling the Joan of Arc history so we get...
** The rape and murder of Jeanne's sister is fictional. In real life her whole family fled the village before it was attacked. What's more is that ithelped them later, of course), since the Lakota had been pushing them out of their land. While the Pawnee could be brutal, was attacked by Burgundian soldiers - not English.
** Jeanne has visions as a young child. In real life she claimed theywere no more so than didn't start until she was 13.
** Jeanne finds theLakota. Of course, sword also as a young child. She didn't find it until many years later on her journey to Chinon.
** The Duke of Burgundy is portrayed as stating he doesn't believe in God or the Devil to Joan in front of witnesses. Not only is there no evidence of thisis simply to show (which would be very unlikely in that era) but no one would ever say this ''publicly'' (for he might be convicted of blasphemy).
* In ''Film/MyWay'' during theviewer who climax D-Day scene
** D-Day at Normandy was cloudy with rough waves and almost non-ideal weather for an amphibious landing. The movie depicts D-Day with clear, sunny skies and relatively calm waves.
** [[spoiler: Tatsuo at thegood end]] is captured by recently landed American paratroopers; no paratroopers landed on the beach during the invasion, only at pre-dawn and bad guys are, without complicating matters. evening.
* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' plays fast and loose with facts quite often, although this was typical of the old adventure movies that [[GenreThrowback served as the franchise's inspiration]].
** Tanis, Egypt from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' is a real place. It could not have been rediscovered by the Nazis in 1936 because ''it was never lost in the
** Playing loose with locations is common through the franchise. The tiny village Marion's bar is in is identified in the novelization as
** In ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Last Crusade]]'', set in 1938, Indy and his father drive from Venice to Berlin (passing a
* ''Film/DancesWithWolves'': Although more accurate than previous films in its depiction of the West and native peoples, it still has inaccuracies. First, the whites are shown as hunting buffalo solely to take skins. This was not yet the case in 1865, and would only begin in 1871. At
** ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull Crystal Skull]]'' has a [[{{Mayincatec}} Mayan-speaking civilization]] [[LatinLand in the Amazon]] and Indy claiming that he learned Quechua (Peru) from two guys in Pancho Villa's army (Mexico).
* In-universe example in ''Film/IronSky'', Renate uses a heavily edited version of ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' to teach schoolchildren that Hitler was a kind and grand man who only wanted the
* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' is full of this: Renaud de Châtillon was never a [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar Templar]], nor was Guy de Lusignan. The latter was actually the
** Indeed, the
** ** The three "Templar knights" who ambush Balian shortly before Guy's coronation actually wear the black cross of UsefulNotes/{{the Teutonic Knights}}, which were founded only after the events depicted in the film (all other scenes portray the Templars uniforms accurately, so it's a mystery why these are used here). Also their attack never happened.
** The actual Balian was not born out of wedlock. He was a nobleman, and native to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Rather than an enemy, he was Guy's adviser (although they disagreed at times). Balian also broke an oath made to Salidan that he wouldn't take arms against him any further if his wife and children were allowed safe passage for Tripoli. His oath also included leaving Jerusalem-he didn't do this either. The Patriarch of Jerusalem absolved him, saying the
** Salidan was somewhat harsher in real toward the
** Sybilla was actually one of the
* ''Film/TheLastCommand'': The film seems to be conflating the February revolution (which toppled the Romanovs) and the [[RedOctober October Revolution]] (in which the Bolsheviks seized power). In the movie the Tsar's government
* ''Film/TheLifeOfDavidGale'': During a drunken ramble, David says Socrates was sentenced to death for insulting the judges by, after he was convicted, suggesting as his punishment a fine of only thirty ''mina'', comparing that to thirty bucks. In reality though, ''Literature/ApologyOfSocrates'' says he suggested a fine of a hundred ''drachma'', soon raised to three thousand-a very substantial sum. Being a literature professor, David likely would be aware of this.
* ''Film/TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'' brings up this trope InUniverse when a newspaper refuses to print the truth of the eponymous event even after Ransom told them what really happened.
-->"This is the west. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
* ''Film/MemoirsOfAGeisha'': Though set in 1930's-40's Japan, the Geisha's traditional attention to detail given to kimonos is not present, some scenes are clearly CaliforniaDoubling, and the "Snow Dance" performed is not accurate to any Japanese traditional dance.
* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'': Luc Besson said he didn't really care about retelling the Joan of Arc history so we get...
** The rape and murder of Jeanne's sister is fictional. In real life her whole family fled the village before it was attacked. What's more is that it
** Jeanne has visions as a young child. In real life she claimed they
** Jeanne finds the
** The Duke of Burgundy is portrayed as stating he doesn't believe in God or the Devil to Joan in front of witnesses. Not only is there no evidence of this
* In ''Film/MyWay'' during the
** D-Day at Normandy was cloudy with rough waves and almost non-ideal weather for an amphibious landing. The movie depicts D-Day with clear, sunny skies and relatively calm waves.
** [[spoiler: Tatsuo at the
Changed line(s) 116,117 (click to see context) from:
* The opening narration for ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'' goes thusly: "In 1944, the Second World War was in its fifth year and still going Hitler's way. German troops controlled most of Europe. D-Day changed all that." By 1944, the war was quite definitely ''not'' going Hitler's way anymore. A constant barrage of defeats on the Eastern Front and Anglo-American air raids over German cities meant that, by the time D-Day happened, Hitler's defeat was only a matter of time. It was launched to help accelerate the end of the war in Europe. And at no point during the war did German troops control "most" of Europe. If you count countries that were ''allied'' with Germany (such as Italy, Hungary, and Finland), sure, but they weren't being controlled by German troops.
* ''{{Film/Timeline}}'': The film has the English treat a Frenchman as suspicious just for being French, and kill him as a spy. At the time however, most of the English nobles were themselves Norman-French, spoke French, and had French allies.
* ''{{Film/Timeline}}'': The film has the English treat a Frenchman as suspicious just for being French, and kill him as a spy. At the time however, most of the English nobles were themselves Norman-French, spoke French, and had French allies.
to:
* The opening narration for ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'' goes thusly: "In 1944, In ''Film/TheOutlawJoseyWales'', character Lone Watie (implied to be a relative to Confederate general Stand Watie), tells the Second World War title character that, when the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar broke out, the Cherokee chiefs declared war on the Union due to their mistreatment on the Trail of Tears and on the reservation. Actually the real Watie family was in favor of removal to Oklahoma, and settled there voluntarily before troops were sent in to force the matter. In addition, the Cherokee tribe was split on the matter; despite being slaveholders, many of them remembered that they were forced out from a Southern state by a Southern president. Principal Chief John Ross (who had always been opposed to removal) paid lip service to the Confederates at first, then emphatically threw his weight behind the Union as soon as he could without fear of reprisal.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
** The East India Trading Company had no authority in the West Indies. The name is a clue. The real company the EITC was based on was the East India Company (notice the lack of the word 'Trading'). "Authority" in the West Indies in the film seemed to stem more from political connections of the head of the company (Lord Becket) than any authority of the company.
* An egregious example in ''Film/{{Seabiscuit}}'', though only to those who read Laura Hillenbrand's original book. The film depicts Seabiscuit's jockey, Red Pollard, as having been raised in an affluent family that lost itsfifth year fortune in the 1929 Wall Street crash. While the real Pollard was indeed born into a wealthy family that lost its fortune, he had left home to become a jockey back in 1922, and still going Hitler's way. the family had lost its fortune when a major flood of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton destroyed the family business ''in 1915''. A notable example both for readers of the book and informed horseracing fans in general, in the book's discussion of the match race, War Admiral is correctly described as being on the small side and a plain dark bay, who of similar breeding to Seabiscuit (War Admiral was sired by Man o' War out of a Ben Brush-line mare, Seabiscuit was sired by Hard Tack, a son of Man o' War, out of a Ben Brush mare, making him more or less War Admiral's "nephew" and related on the female line, too.) In the movie, War Admiral is depicted as a gigantic coal-black horse and his 'superior' breeding is played up.
* ''Film/SergeantYork'', while mostly accurate, takes some liberties with the real events of Alvin York's life:
** York's friend "Pusher" Ross is killed by a captured German soldier who managed to get hold of a grenade. York then shoots the German in revenge. Pusher is fictional, and although one German ''did'' refuse to surrender, threw a grenade and was shot by York in response, the grenade didn't kill any Americans.
** The German troopscontrolled most are shown being commanded by a major. They were actually commanded by Paul Vollmer, who was only a lieutenant. The fictional major in the movie isn't named.
** York is seen using a Luger he takes from a captured German after losing his US Army Colt M1911. In truth, he never took a gun from a prisoner to use, and kept hold ofEurope. D-Day his Army Colt for the entire battle. This was changed because the Luger the armorers provided was the only blank-adapted handgun available on the set. He is also seen using an M1903 Springfield, as opposed to the M1917 Enfield he had in real life.
** The battle occurs in a very open and frankly desert-like environment, as compared to the thickly-wooded hills of the actual ravine in France. It's possible the filmmakers wanted to give the battlefield a more harsh and desolate-looking appearance in order to add tension.
* ''Film/SevenSamurai'' played with this trope both ways. It portrayed the main samurai of the cast as allthat." By 1944, being brave and noble, but also acknowledges that the war was quite definitely majority of them were brutal thugs who uses their power of higher social class to oppress the weak. Kurosawa said he did this because he's descended from a samurai family, and wanted in some way to apologize for his ancestor's actions. The Japanese still regard this film as a classic, but they were ''not'' going Hitler's way anymore. A constant barrage of defeats on happy with him deciding to speak the Eastern Front and Anglo-American air raids over German cities meant that, by truth on this historical matter.
* ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' claims to be thetime D-Day happened, Hitler's defeat was only a matter [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory real life story]] of time. It was launched to help accelerate the end Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, but most of the war in Europe. And at no point during scenes are made up for the war did German troops control "most" of Europe. If you count countries that were ''allied'' film. There are several anachronisms with Germany (such as Italy, Hungary, the 2003 time period: the Samsung [=SyncMaster=] 941BW was not available in 2003, Serato Scratch Live wasn't released until 2004, a can of Mountain Dew uses a newer logo introduced in 2005, the site "Cats That Look Like Hitler" wasn't there until 2006, Windows XP Service Pack 3, ''[[{{Fallout3}} Fallout 3]]'', and Finland), sure, but they Dennis de Laat's "The Sound Of Violence" weren't released until 2008, Bing wasn't around until 2009, traffic to Facemash slowed down Harvard's network but did not cause a "network crash", Harvard had a "@fas.harvard.edu" e-mail address instead of "@harvard.edu", Harvard dorms at the time required swiping a keycard instead of keyless entry. The film's ending claims Facebook is available in [[WritersCannotDoMath 207 countries]]; the last count has been no greater than 196 countries. The film depicts Mark as creating Facemash and Facebook as payback and an appeal to an ex-girlfriend, when he had a girlfriend (now his wife) during most of the film's events. Mark Zuckerberg reportedly spent the time sitting, programming and eating pizza with friends during Facebook's development.
* If you ''really'' want to get technical with ''Film/SpaceJam'', while we all know that MichaelJordan didn't rescue the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes from intergalactic aliens who run an amusement park, his retirement from basketball, his time in baseball and his return to basketball are major exaggerations or simplifications.
** Yes, Jordan retired from basketball, but it was a number of reasons behind it including burnout, which was accelerated due to participating in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics (which he considered the height of his career due to beingcontrolled part of the "Dream Team") and his father's murder.
** The movie treats Jordan as a FishOutOfWater as a baseball player and constantly mocks him for it. Granted, he wasn't the best - he batted .202 as part of the Birmingham Barons and .252 under the Scotsdale Scorpions - but he wasn't ''Space Jam'' bad.
** There was a lockdown, but it wasn't byGerman troops.
a mysterious illness and it wasn't with basketball - the 1994-1995 Major League Baseball Strike would hit around that time. This would be the reason why Jordan returned to the game, as he didn't want to be pigeonholed into being a replacement player during that time (the other reason was because the Chicago Bulls fell apart without him).
*''{{Film/Timeline}}'': ''Film/StonehearstAsylum'': "Mickey Finn" as a term for knockout drugs didn't originate until 1915, based on a real case in 1903 of a Chicago barman by that name drugging and then robbing customers. The film has it used in the English treat a Frenchman as suspicious just for being French, and kill him as a spy. At the time however, most of the English nobles were themselves Norman-French, spoke French, and had French allies. 1899 UK.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
** The East India Trading Company had no authority in the West Indies. The name is a clue. The real company the EITC was based on was the East India Company (notice the lack of the word 'Trading'). "Authority" in the West Indies in the film seemed to stem more from political connections of the head of the company (Lord Becket) than any authority of the company.
* An egregious example in ''Film/{{Seabiscuit}}'', though only to those who read Laura Hillenbrand's original book. The film depicts Seabiscuit's jockey, Red Pollard, as having been raised in an affluent family that lost its
* ''Film/SergeantYork'', while mostly accurate, takes some liberties with the real events of Alvin York's life:
** York's friend "Pusher" Ross is killed by a captured German soldier who managed to get hold of a grenade. York then shoots the German in revenge. Pusher is fictional, and although one German ''did'' refuse to surrender, threw a grenade and was shot by York in response, the grenade didn't kill any Americans.
** The German troops
** York is seen using a Luger he takes from a captured German after losing his US Army Colt M1911. In truth, he never took a gun from a prisoner to use, and kept hold of
** The battle occurs in a very open and frankly desert-like environment, as compared to the thickly-wooded hills of the actual ravine in France. It's possible the filmmakers wanted to give the battlefield a more harsh and desolate-looking appearance in order to add tension.
* ''Film/SevenSamurai'' played with this trope both ways. It portrayed the main samurai of the cast as all
* ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' claims to be the
* If you ''really'' want to get technical with ''Film/SpaceJam'', while we all know that MichaelJordan didn't rescue the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes from intergalactic aliens who run an amusement park, his retirement from basketball, his time in baseball and his return to basketball are major exaggerations or simplifications.
** Yes, Jordan retired from basketball, but it was a number of reasons behind it including burnout, which was accelerated due to participating in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics (which he considered the height of his career due to being
** The movie treats Jordan as a FishOutOfWater as a baseball player and constantly mocks him for it. Granted, he wasn't the best - he batted .202 as part of the Birmingham Barons and .252 under the Scotsdale Scorpions - but he wasn't ''Space Jam'' bad.
** There was a lockdown, but it wasn't by
*
* In ''Film/TeachingMrsTingle'', one of the main characters is a girl we're [[InformedAbility constantly told]] is a great brain, and she produces a final project for her History class that's an "authentic recreation" of the diary of a girl who was killed during the Salem Witch Trials, right down to the book being authentically aged to resemble a diary that had survived the period. The eponymous teacher opens the diary at random, and finds an entry on how the fictional girl fears she'll be burned at the stake tomorrow. ''[[BurnTheWitch No one was burned at the stake in the Salem Witch Trials]]'', and a person of that time period would have known this. They ''hanged'' those convicted, while one was ''crushed'' under weights for declining to enter a plea, and while people were burned in Europe, it was usually for heresy, not witchcraft (though, to be sure, the two were sometimes linked). The student gets a C, though not for this mistake.
* ''{{Film/Timeline}}'': The film has the English treat a Frenchman as suspicious just for being French, and kill him as a spy. At the time however, most of the English nobles were themselves Norman-French, spoke French, and had French allies.
* WebVideo/ConfusedMatthew went to great lengths to explain how ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' went beyond Artistic License and outright falsified what happened on the Titanic to make the upperclassmen on the ship as unsympathetic as possible and thus try and make the main characters more sympathetic. His two biggest beefs seem to be: Falsely portraying First Officer (third in command of the ship, Chief Officer is 2nd in command) William Murdock as a corrupt individual who took bribes and shot people to ensure certain people spots on the lifeboats, and making up the idea that the ship's crew tried to keep the lower class men down in third class to let them all die.
* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' claims that many of the advancements in technology in the 20th century were a result of reverse-engineering [[spoiler:Megatron]], who had been hidden under the Hoover Dam by the US government. The filmmakers include cars in this list of technologies. Apparently Creator/MichaelBay hasn't heard of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Benz Karl Benz]] (as in Mercedes-Benz), who patented the first internal combustion-powered car in ''1895'', thirty years before the Hoover Dam was even thought of.
* ''Film/{{U571}}'' caused some controversy in the UK as it portrays an American submarine crew capturing a German Enigma code machine from a stranded U-Boat. In reality the British Royal Navy were the ones to board a sinking U-boat and capture the device. Also the depiction of German destroyers in the Atlantic hunting US and UK submarines is inaccurate as the German navy concentrated their resources on U-Boats, their surface fleet was unable to maintain any kind of presence in the Atlantic. The fact the British captured the Enigma code machines rather than the US is acknowledged just prior to the credits.
* In ''Film/UndercoverBlues'', it is said that Paulina Novacek (villain of the movie and former STB agent) "left Prague two jumps ahead of the firing squad." There were no executions in Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution (Czechoslovakia abolished the death penalty in 1990); before the revolution, executions were carried out by hanging.
* ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'' has many inaccuracies concerning World War II, for example, the [[FontAnachronism Fraktur type]] font used on a banner would have been banned in Nazi Germany.
* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'':
** Judge Doom's ultimate goal is to build the Pasadena Freeway on the land where Toontown stands; his shutting down LA's trolleys is a Shout Out to the Great American Streetcar Scandal. However, the film is set in 1947 - the Pasadena Freeway was already built in 1940.
** In that same film Eddie and Roger watch the Goofy cartoon "Goofy Gymnastics", which was released in 1949.
** Several cartoon characters in the movie would only make their debut several years later: WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner ("Fast and Furry-ous", 1949), Tinkerbell (''Disney/PeterPan'', 1953), the penguin waiters (''Film/MaryPoppins'', 1964)... However, the makers defended themselves by saying that these characters were simply not employed yet by their studios in those years.
* ''{{Film/Timeline}}'': The film has the English treat a Frenchman as suspicious just for being French, and kill him as a spy. At the time however, most of the English nobles were themselves Norman-French, spoke French, and had French allies.
* WebVideo/ConfusedMatthew went to great lengths to explain how ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' went beyond Artistic License and outright falsified what happened on the Titanic to make the upperclassmen on the ship as unsympathetic as possible and thus try and make the main characters more sympathetic. His two biggest beefs seem to be: Falsely portraying First Officer (third in command of the ship, Chief Officer is 2nd in command) William Murdock as a corrupt individual who took bribes and shot people to ensure certain people spots on the lifeboats, and making up the idea that the ship's crew tried to keep the lower class men down in third class to let them all die.
* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' claims that many of the advancements in technology in the 20th century were a result of reverse-engineering [[spoiler:Megatron]], who had been hidden under the Hoover Dam by the US government. The filmmakers include cars in this list of technologies. Apparently Creator/MichaelBay hasn't heard of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Benz Karl Benz]] (as in Mercedes-Benz), who patented the first internal combustion-powered car in ''1895'', thirty years before the Hoover Dam was even thought of.
* ''Film/{{U571}}'' caused some controversy in the UK as it portrays an American submarine crew capturing a German Enigma code machine from a stranded U-Boat. In reality the British Royal Navy were the ones to board a sinking U-boat and capture the device. Also the depiction of German destroyers in the Atlantic hunting US and UK submarines is inaccurate as the German navy concentrated their resources on U-Boats, their surface fleet was unable to maintain any kind of presence in the Atlantic. The fact the British captured the Enigma code machines rather than the US is acknowledged just prior to the credits.
* In ''Film/UndercoverBlues'', it is said that Paulina Novacek (villain of the movie and former STB agent) "left Prague two jumps ahead of the firing squad." There were no executions in Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution (Czechoslovakia abolished the death penalty in 1990); before the revolution, executions were carried out by hanging.
* ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'' has many inaccuracies concerning World War II, for example, the [[FontAnachronism Fraktur type]] font used on a banner would have been banned in Nazi Germany.
* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'':
** Judge Doom's ultimate goal is to build the Pasadena Freeway on the land where Toontown stands; his shutting down LA's trolleys is a Shout Out to the Great American Streetcar Scandal. However, the film is set in 1947 - the Pasadena Freeway was already built in 1940.
** In that same film Eddie and Roger watch the Goofy cartoon "Goofy Gymnastics", which was released in 1949.
** Several cartoon characters in the movie would only make their debut several years later: WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner ("Fast and Furry-ous", 1949), Tinkerbell (''Disney/PeterPan'', 1953), the penguin waiters (''Film/MaryPoppins'', 1964)... However, the makers defended themselves by saying that these characters were simply not employed yet by their studios in those years.
Changed line(s) 120,166 (click to see context) from:
* ''{{Film/Defiance}}'': The real Bielski Partisans simply hid in the forest protecting Jews, and never fought the Germans openly.
* ''{{Film/Elizabeth}}'': Good God, where to begin? WordOfGod states that their original intent was to make a film about a conspiracy in Elizabeth's court, rather than an accurate biopic.
** William Cecil was not even forty by the time Elizabeth came to the throne, and she did not retire him by making him Lord Burghley: she ennobled him as a reward for his services and he remained her most loyal advisor until his death a few years before the queen's. Similarly, Francis Walsingham was only a few years older than Elizabeth. In the second film, Elizabeth visits him when he is dying. In real life she simply let him die in poverty and didn't go to see him.
** Henri of Anjou was probably not a crossdresser and he wasn't homosexual - the number of his ''female'' mistresses is almost uncountable; in addition, he and Elizabeth never met. Also, his aunt Mary of Guise died of dropsy (in June 1560, after realizing she had it the previous ''April'') rather than any foul play; this was confirmed by autopsy the day after her death. It is highly unlikely that the two of them were in a sexual relationship.
*** Nor was Mary of Guise his aunt, or related to him by blood - her daughter [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary I of Scotland]] was married to Henri's eldest brother, Francis II of France (married from 1558 until his death in 1560 - ''childless'', in fact); in fact, Henri's family, the House of Valois, were long-time rivals with Mary's House of Guise, and Henri never even ''met'' Mary of Guise in his lifetime.
*** He is also a CompositeCharacter: in RealLife, Elizabeth's French suitor was his ''younger brother'', Hercule Francis, who ''became'' Duke of Anjou - but not until 1576. Henri became King Henri III of France after their brother, Charles IX died in 1574, and the duchy of Anjou went to Francis as a result. He courted Elizabeth in 1579, when he was 24 and she 46 (and still capable of bearing children). Although this didn't pan out due to the complex politics of the time (and fear that Elizabeth would be at risk if she tried to bear children at her age), she was by all accounts genuinely fond of him despite the age gap, and the match was given far more serious consideration than the film depicts (even reaching an actual betrothal at one point).
** Mary I was actually very skinny rather than overweight in the film and Norfolk was a weak and easily-manipulated man rather than the film's powerful and scheming counterpart. Mary's tumour also killed her 3 years after the phantom pregnancy.
** Elizabeth knew that Leicester was already married ''because she had attended his wedding'' - his second, that is, the first wife died under suspicious circumstances (and Elizabeth knew of her as well). Moreover, he wasn't banished for being involved in a Catholic plot (because he was a Puritan) but instead because of a scandal over the mysterious death of his second wife.
** Bishop Stephen Gardiner died before Elizabeth came to the throne and thus could not possibly have been involved in any plots. The Earl of Arundel was not executed for his role but was instead imprisoned in the Tower of London where he died as a prisoner and the Earl of Sussex was actually a loyal supporter of Elizabeth who would not have tried to overthrow her.
** Elizabeth may not have actually had a sexual encounter with the Earl of Leicester and she did not cut her hair to show that she was a virgin. The wig is thought to have been to hide her greying hair and the white make-up to hide scars she got from smallpox.
** Throughout the film, bishops are shown wearing black mitres that they never would have worn in real life.
** Elizabeth reprimands one of her council members for divorcing twice. In reality, it was more or less impossible to obtain a divorce at this time - something that Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, knew very well.
** At the start of the film, the execution of Nicholas Ridley is shown with two other people, of which one must be Hugh Latimer. However, their companion, an unnamed woman, is made up because Ridley and Latimer weren't burnt with anyone else.
** Sir Thomas Elyot is beaten to death with a rock and drowned by Ballard for being a ReverseMole. However, the real Elyot died at his estates in Cambridgeshire ''in 1546''. He was also in his fifties.
** In the second film, Elizabeth frequently consults Dr. John Dee over various matters. However, Dee was abroad at this time and didn't return to England until more than a year after the Spanish Armada.
** In the second film, nearly everything that Walter Raleigh does was actually done by Sir Francis Drake. Raleigh was kept in England when the Armada attacked because the Queen did not want him to be killed. Defeating the Armada was Drake's moment of triumph but he is hardly in the film.
** The Earl of Nottingham states that the Spanish Armada have destroyed several English ships. In reality the English didn't lose a single ship.
** Philip II of Spain is shown as a hunched and shadowy figure with a dark beard who is an incompetent king and a religious fanatic. The real Philip was known as being highly intelligent and had several successes with his foreign policies. He was also tall, blond and handsome.
** The Infanta of Spain was not a child at the time of the Armada but was in fact twenty-one.
** Sir Walter Raleigh was not knighted to keep him in England but to reward his services. He was also knighted on his ship and not against his will. Also, although Raleigh ''was'' imprisoned by Elizabeth, it didn't happen until several years after the Armada.
** Raleigh was not a pirate, Drake was.
** Mary, Queen of Scots's gaoler, Amyas Paulet, actually treated her rather well.
** Walter Raleigh quite famously had a strong West Country accent that meant some courtiers had difficulty understanding him. Francis Drake also had the same accent. In the second film, Mary, Queen of Scots is portrayed with a Scottish accent, when she would have had a French one as a result of living in France for years since she was a child.
** Frequently men at court are shown wearing long cloaks and carrying swords in the Queen's presence. Swords weren't allowed in court and the real Elizabeth actually banned long cloaks in case an assassin was hiding a weapon under it.
** At one point a man is hanged using the 'long drop' method with a trapdoor. This method of execution was not invented until the Nineteenth Century.
** Raleigh did not have an affair with Bess Throckmorton until three years after the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
** The film ends with the captions "Elizabeth reigned for another 40 years" (her full reign was almost 45, so the movie crams almost 20 years of anachronistic history into just under 5); "Walsingham remained her most trusted and loyal advisor to the end" (VERY arguable, as the likes of Dudley and Cecil probably have better claims) and "She never married and never saw Dudley in private again" (she and Dudley remained close friends until his death, so this is an outright lie).
* If you ''really'' want to get technical with ''Film/SpaceJam'', while we all know that MichaelJordan didn't rescue the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes from intergalactic aliens who run an amusement park, his retirement from basketball, his time in baseball and his return to basketball are major exaggerations or simplifications.
** Yes, Jordan retired from basketball, but it was a number of reasons behind it including burnout, which was accelerated due to participating in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics (which he considered the height of his career due to being part of the "Dream Team") and his father's murder.
** The movie treats Jordan as a FishOutOfWater as a baseball player and constantly mocks him for it. Granted, he wasn't the best - he batted .202 as part of the Birmingham Barons and .252 under the Scotsdale Scorpions - but he wasn't ''Space Jam'' bad.
** There was a lockdown, but it wasn't by a mysterious illness and it wasn't with basketball - the 1994-1995 Major League Baseball Strike would hit around that time. This would be the reason why Jordan returned to the game, as he didn't want to be pigeonholed into being a replacement player during that time (the other reason was because the Chicago Bulls fell apart without him).
* ''Film/TheLifeOfDavidGale'': During a drunken ramble, David says Socrates was sentenced to death for insulting the judges by, after he was convicted, suggesting as his punishment a fine of only thirty ''mina'', comparing that to thirty bucks. In reality though, ''Literature/ApologyOfSocrates'' says he suggested a fine of a hundred ''drachma'', soon raised to three thousand-a very substantial sum. Being a literature professor, David likely would be aware of this.
* ''Film/StonehearstAsylum'': "Mickey Finn" as a term for knockout drugs didn't originate until 1915, based on a real case in 1903 of a Chicago barman by that name drugging and then robbing customers. The film has it used in the 1899 UK.
* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'': Luc Besson said he didn't really care about retelling the Joan of Arc history so we get...
** The rape and murder of Jeanne's sister is fictional. In real life her whole family fled the village before it was attacked. What's more is that it was attacked by Burgundian soldiers - not English.
** Jeanne has visions as a young child. In real life she claimed they didn't start until she was 13.
** Jeanne finds the sword also as a young child. She didn't find it until many years later on her journey to Chinon.
** The Duke of Burgundy is portrayed as stating he doesn't believe in God or the Devil to Joan in front of witnesses. Not only is there no evidence of this (which would be very unlikely in that era) but no one would ever say this ''publicly'' (for he might be convicted of blasphemy).
* ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave'': Mostly averted; the movie is a ''very'' accurate retelling of Northup's story (it should be noted that historical research has confirmed a great deal of the story) and a brutal and unflinching look at the realities of Southern slavery. That said, it does take a handful of liberties.
** Solomon Northup had three children when he was kidnapped, not two. The film omits his eldest daughter, Elizabeth. He was a carpenter by trade, not a musician, although he did play the violin and was indeed lured to Washington with promises of getting paid to do so, exactly like in the film. Also, it was not until after the book was published that he learned for certain that the two men he met at the start really had drugged and kidnapped him-he'd thought of it, certainly, but he always had doubts until a judge read his book and recognized them (and it was subsequently found that they had used false names and were actually a pair of known/suspected con men).
** Epps also had children; they are not shown in the movie.
** No sailor raped or tried to rape Eliza or a female slave on the barge to New Orleans-apart from anything else, that would have been considered "vandalism /destruction of property" and could see the sailor fired at the very least. The slave-to-be Robert was not stabbed either; he died of smallpox. He, Northup and Andrew really ''did'' consider fighting the crew for the ship, but as in the movie, Robert's death scuppered that plan. Northup himself caught smallpox while on the boat and [[HistoricalBeautyUpdate his face was permanently scarred afterwards.]] It should be noted this event was included in the screenplay by John Ridley, but was possibly cut and simplified for time or budget reasons.
** The film makes it appear that Northups' family had no idea what happened to him until near the end of the movie; in fact, Northup got a sympathetic sailor to deliver a letter to them explaining his abduction. They weren't able to find him because they had no idea what barge he was on or where it took him. There was also a lengthy and complicated legal process they underwent offscreen to prove that Platt was really Northup, and Bass had to post several letters, not just one.
** Northup wasn't resold by Ford after the assault and hanging by Tibeats; in fact, Tibeats was a slave owner himself and Ford sold Northup to ''him'' to repay a debt. Keeping Northup safe from Tibeats was thus not Ford protecting his property (somewhat-Tibeats had not paid Ford the full price for Northup), and Ford sent Northup to his brother-in-law to keep him safe and tried to convince Tibeats that killing Northup would gain him nothing. A second, later attack by Tibeats, who ended up chasing Northup with an axe, led to Northup running from the plantation, but couldn't survive the swamps and returned to Ford some time later. Ford didn't sell him to Epps, either-it was ''Tibeats'' who sold him.
** Epps was, if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade far, far worse]] in RealLife than he was in the movie. For a start, in addition to his "dancing moods", he also had ''whipping'' moods where he would start whipping and chasing his slaves randomly for no reason. He was much more abusive to Patsey as well, and the savage whipping he gives her (and makes Northup give her) lasted even ''longer'' than it did in the movie. In addition, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Epp's didn't slip in the mud]] when chasing Northup.
** Patsey never had tea with Mistress Shaw; she also never tried to bribe Northup to kill her. The latter is based on a misreading of the book- in fact, ''Mrs. Epps'' tried to bribe Northup to kill Patsey and dump her body in the swamp, though Northup muses that had Patsey known about this murderous request, she might have considered it. Ultimately, though, what Patsey wanted was to escape.
** Northup never had sex with another woman while in slavery (or if he did, he never mentioned it in the book); the film also downplays how devoutly Christian he was. Also, although the men who kidnapped him did indeed get away with their crime, he managed to publicly draw attention to the illegal slave trade in the North; and though Northup was forbidden to testify against Burch and co. in Washington (for the record, he was suing them), he did in fact later testify against the two con men (as did a judge who had met the three of them at the time of the abduction and personally knew both men). In the latter case, there were simply several legal complications, such as a lengthy argument about whether they should be tried in Washington or New York, i.e. a place a black man could testify against them versus a place he could not - it was decided it would be tried in New York, where he could and did (albeit at a hearing, they never got a trial), but this meant that three of the four charges against them were dropped as they took place in Washington. There were a number of arguments in their favor such as the plain and simple difficulties that come with the fact that the crime was committed over a decade before; in the event, the two men appealed which ended up going through the lower courts, to the New York Supreme Court, and finally to the New York Court of Appeals. Ultimately the case was simply dropped due to the legal difficulties and insufficient evidence. Had he been allowed to testify against Burch and co., he might have still faced these same legal problems.
* ''{{Film/Elizabeth}}'': Good God, where to begin? WordOfGod states that their original intent was to make a film about a conspiracy in Elizabeth's court, rather than an accurate biopic.
** William Cecil was not even forty by the time Elizabeth came to the throne, and she did not retire him by making him Lord Burghley: she ennobled him as a reward for his services and he remained her most loyal advisor until his death a few years before the queen's. Similarly, Francis Walsingham was only a few years older than Elizabeth. In the second film, Elizabeth visits him when he is dying. In real life she simply let him die in poverty and didn't go to see him.
** Henri of Anjou was probably not a crossdresser and he wasn't homosexual - the number of his ''female'' mistresses is almost uncountable; in addition, he and Elizabeth never met. Also, his aunt Mary of Guise died of dropsy (in June 1560, after realizing she had it the previous ''April'') rather than any foul play; this was confirmed by autopsy the day after her death. It is highly unlikely that the two of them were in a sexual relationship.
*** Nor was Mary of Guise his aunt, or related to him by blood - her daughter [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary I of Scotland]] was married to Henri's eldest brother, Francis II of France (married from 1558 until his death in 1560 - ''childless'', in fact); in fact, Henri's family, the House of Valois, were long-time rivals with Mary's House of Guise, and Henri never even ''met'' Mary of Guise in his lifetime.
*** He is also a CompositeCharacter: in RealLife, Elizabeth's French suitor was his ''younger brother'', Hercule Francis, who ''became'' Duke of Anjou - but not until 1576. Henri became King Henri III of France after their brother, Charles IX died in 1574, and the duchy of Anjou went to Francis as a result. He courted Elizabeth in 1579, when he was 24 and she 46 (and still capable of bearing children). Although this didn't pan out due to the complex politics of the time (and fear that Elizabeth would be at risk if she tried to bear children at her age), she was by all accounts genuinely fond of him despite the age gap, and the match was given far more serious consideration than the film depicts (even reaching an actual betrothal at one point).
** Mary I was actually very skinny rather than overweight in the film and Norfolk was a weak and easily-manipulated man rather than the film's powerful and scheming counterpart. Mary's tumour also killed her 3 years after the phantom pregnancy.
** Elizabeth knew that Leicester was already married ''because she had attended his wedding'' - his second, that is, the first wife died under suspicious circumstances (and Elizabeth knew of her as well). Moreover, he wasn't banished for being involved in a Catholic plot (because he was a Puritan) but instead because of a scandal over the mysterious death of his second wife.
** Bishop Stephen Gardiner died before Elizabeth came to the throne and thus could not possibly have been involved in any plots. The Earl of Arundel was not executed for his role but was instead imprisoned in the Tower of London where he died as a prisoner and the Earl of Sussex was actually a loyal supporter of Elizabeth who would not have tried to overthrow her.
** Elizabeth may not have actually had a sexual encounter with the Earl of Leicester and she did not cut her hair to show that she was a virgin. The wig is thought to have been to hide her greying hair and the white make-up to hide scars she got from smallpox.
** Throughout the film, bishops are shown wearing black mitres that they never would have worn in real life.
** Elizabeth reprimands one of her council members for divorcing twice. In reality, it was more or less impossible to obtain a divorce at this time - something that Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, knew very well.
** At the start of the film, the execution of Nicholas Ridley is shown with two other people, of which one must be Hugh Latimer. However, their companion, an unnamed woman, is made up because Ridley and Latimer weren't burnt with anyone else.
** Sir Thomas Elyot is beaten to death with a rock and drowned by Ballard for being a ReverseMole. However, the real Elyot died at his estates in Cambridgeshire ''in 1546''. He was also in his fifties.
** In the second film, Elizabeth frequently consults Dr. John Dee over various matters. However, Dee was abroad at this time and didn't return to England until more than a year after the Spanish Armada.
** In the second film, nearly everything that Walter Raleigh does was actually done by Sir Francis Drake. Raleigh was kept in England when the Armada attacked because the Queen did not want him to be killed. Defeating the Armada was Drake's moment of triumph but he is hardly in the film.
** The Earl of Nottingham states that the Spanish Armada have destroyed several English ships. In reality the English didn't lose a single ship.
** Philip II of Spain is shown as a hunched and shadowy figure with a dark beard who is an incompetent king and a religious fanatic. The real Philip was known as being highly intelligent and had several successes with his foreign policies. He was also tall, blond and handsome.
** The Infanta of Spain was not a child at the time of the Armada but was in fact twenty-one.
** Sir Walter Raleigh was not knighted to keep him in England but to reward his services. He was also knighted on his ship and not against his will. Also, although Raleigh ''was'' imprisoned by Elizabeth, it didn't happen until several years after the Armada.
** Raleigh was not a pirate, Drake was.
** Mary, Queen of Scots's gaoler, Amyas Paulet, actually treated her rather well.
** Walter Raleigh quite famously had a strong West Country accent that meant some courtiers had difficulty understanding him. Francis Drake also had the same accent. In the second film, Mary, Queen of Scots is portrayed with a Scottish accent, when she would have had a French one as a result of living in France for years since she was a child.
** Frequently men at court are shown wearing long cloaks and carrying swords in the Queen's presence. Swords weren't allowed in court and the real Elizabeth actually banned long cloaks in case an assassin was hiding a weapon under it.
** At one point a man is hanged using the 'long drop' method with a trapdoor. This method of execution was not invented until the Nineteenth Century.
** Raleigh did not have an affair with Bess Throckmorton until three years after the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
** The film ends with the captions "Elizabeth reigned for another 40 years" (her full reign was almost 45, so the movie crams almost 20 years of anachronistic history into just under 5); "Walsingham remained her most trusted and loyal advisor to the end" (VERY arguable, as the likes of Dudley and Cecil probably have better claims) and "She never married and never saw Dudley in private again" (she and Dudley remained close friends until his death, so this is an outright lie).
* If you ''really'' want to get technical with ''Film/SpaceJam'', while we all know that MichaelJordan didn't rescue the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes from intergalactic aliens who run an amusement park, his retirement from basketball, his time in baseball and his return to basketball are major exaggerations or simplifications.
** Yes, Jordan retired from basketball, but it was a number of reasons behind it including burnout, which was accelerated due to participating in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics (which he considered the height of his career due to being part of the "Dream Team") and his father's murder.
** The movie treats Jordan as a FishOutOfWater as a baseball player and constantly mocks him for it. Granted, he wasn't the best - he batted .202 as part of the Birmingham Barons and .252 under the Scotsdale Scorpions - but he wasn't ''Space Jam'' bad.
** There was a lockdown, but it wasn't by a mysterious illness and it wasn't with basketball - the 1994-1995 Major League Baseball Strike would hit around that time. This would be the reason why Jordan returned to the game, as he didn't want to be pigeonholed into being a replacement player during that time (the other reason was because the Chicago Bulls fell apart without him).
* ''Film/TheLifeOfDavidGale'': During a drunken ramble, David says Socrates was sentenced to death for insulting the judges by, after he was convicted, suggesting as his punishment a fine of only thirty ''mina'', comparing that to thirty bucks. In reality though, ''Literature/ApologyOfSocrates'' says he suggested a fine of a hundred ''drachma'', soon raised to three thousand-a very substantial sum. Being a literature professor, David likely would be aware of this.
* ''Film/StonehearstAsylum'': "Mickey Finn" as a term for knockout drugs didn't originate until 1915, based on a real case in 1903 of a Chicago barman by that name drugging and then robbing customers. The film has it used in the 1899 UK.
* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'': Luc Besson said he didn't really care about retelling the Joan of Arc history so we get...
** The rape and murder of Jeanne's sister is fictional. In real life her whole family fled the village before it was attacked. What's more is that it was attacked by Burgundian soldiers - not English.
** Jeanne has visions as a young child. In real life she claimed they didn't start until she was 13.
** Jeanne finds the sword also as a young child. She didn't find it until many years later on her journey to Chinon.
** The Duke of Burgundy is portrayed as stating he doesn't believe in God or the Devil to Joan in front of witnesses. Not only is there no evidence of this (which would be very unlikely in that era) but no one would ever say this ''publicly'' (for he might be convicted of blasphemy).
* ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave'': Mostly averted; the movie is a ''very'' accurate retelling of Northup's story (it should be noted that historical research has confirmed a great deal of the story) and a brutal and unflinching look at the realities of Southern slavery. That said, it does take a handful of liberties.
** Solomon Northup had three children when he was kidnapped, not two. The film omits his eldest daughter, Elizabeth. He was a carpenter by trade, not a musician, although he did play the violin and was indeed lured to Washington with promises of getting paid to do so, exactly like in the film. Also, it was not until after the book was published that he learned for certain that the two men he met at the start really had drugged and kidnapped him-he'd thought of it, certainly, but he always had doubts until a judge read his book and recognized them (and it was subsequently found that they had used false names and were actually a pair of known/suspected con men).
** Epps also had children; they are not shown in the movie.
** No sailor raped or tried to rape Eliza or a female slave on the barge to New Orleans-apart from anything else, that would have been considered "vandalism /destruction of property" and could see the sailor fired at the very least. The slave-to-be Robert was not stabbed either; he died of smallpox. He, Northup and Andrew really ''did'' consider fighting the crew for the ship, but as in the movie, Robert's death scuppered that plan. Northup himself caught smallpox while on the boat and [[HistoricalBeautyUpdate his face was permanently scarred afterwards.]] It should be noted this event was included in the screenplay by John Ridley, but was possibly cut and simplified for time or budget reasons.
** The film makes it appear that Northups' family had no idea what happened to him until near the end of the movie; in fact, Northup got a sympathetic sailor to deliver a letter to them explaining his abduction. They weren't able to find him because they had no idea what barge he was on or where it took him. There was also a lengthy and complicated legal process they underwent offscreen to prove that Platt was really Northup, and Bass had to post several letters, not just one.
** Northup wasn't resold by Ford after the assault and hanging by Tibeats; in fact, Tibeats was a slave owner himself and Ford sold Northup to ''him'' to repay a debt. Keeping Northup safe from Tibeats was thus not Ford protecting his property (somewhat-Tibeats had not paid Ford the full price for Northup), and Ford sent Northup to his brother-in-law to keep him safe and tried to convince Tibeats that killing Northup would gain him nothing. A second, later attack by Tibeats, who ended up chasing Northup with an axe, led to Northup running from the plantation, but couldn't survive the swamps and returned to Ford some time later. Ford didn't sell him to Epps, either-it was ''Tibeats'' who sold him.
** Epps was, if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade far, far worse]] in RealLife than he was in the movie. For a start, in addition to his "dancing moods", he also had ''whipping'' moods where he would start whipping and chasing his slaves randomly for no reason. He was much more abusive to Patsey as well, and the savage whipping he gives her (and makes Northup give her) lasted even ''longer'' than it did in the movie. In addition, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Epp's didn't slip in the mud]] when chasing Northup.
** Patsey never had tea with Mistress Shaw; she also never tried to bribe Northup to kill her. The latter is based on a misreading of the book- in fact, ''Mrs. Epps'' tried to bribe Northup to kill Patsey and dump her body in the swamp, though Northup muses that had Patsey known about this murderous request, she might have considered it. Ultimately, though, what Patsey wanted was to escape.
** Northup never had sex with another woman while in slavery (or if he did, he never mentioned it in the book); the film also downplays how devoutly Christian he was. Also, although the men who kidnapped him did indeed get away with their crime, he managed to publicly draw attention to the illegal slave trade in the North; and though Northup was forbidden to testify against Burch and co. in Washington (for the record, he was suing them), he did in fact later testify against the two con men (as did a judge who had met the three of them at the time of the abduction and personally knew both men). In the latter case, there were simply several legal complications, such as a lengthy argument about whether they should be tried in Washington or New York, i.e. a place a black man could testify against them versus a place he could not - it was decided it would be tried in New York, where he could and did (albeit at a hearing, they never got a trial), but this meant that three of the four charges against them were dropped as they took place in Washington. There were a number of arguments in their favor such as the plain and simple difficulties that come with the fact that the crime was committed over a decade before; in the event, the two men appealed which ended up going through the lower courts, to the New York Supreme Court, and finally to the New York Court of Appeals. Ultimately the case was simply dropped due to the legal difficulties and insufficient evidence. Had he been allowed to testify against Burch and co., he might have still faced these same legal problems.
to:
* ''{{Film/Defiance}}'': ''Film/{{Witchboard}}'': Brandon claims that Ouija boards were invented in 540 BCE. The real Bielski Partisans simply hid first recording of anything like an Ouija board was in 1100 CE, and modern Ouija boards were invented in the forest protecting Jews, and never fought the Germans openly.
1800s.
*''{{Film/Elizabeth}}'': Good God, where ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'': The movie claims tobegin? WordOfGod states that their original intent was to make a film about a conspiracy start in Elizabeth's court, rather than an accurate biopic.
** William Cecil was not even forty by the time Elizabeth came to the throne, and she did not retire him by making him Lord Burghley: she ennobled him as a reward for his services and he remained her most loyal advisor until his death a few years before the queen's. Similarly, Francis Walsingham was only a few years older than Elizabeth. In the second film, Elizabeth visits him when he is dying. In real life she simply let him die in poverty and didn't go to see him.
** Henri of Anjou was probably not a crossdresser and he wasn't homosexual - the number of his ''female'' mistresses is almost uncountable; in addition, he and Elizabeth never met. Also, his aunt Mary of Guise died of dropsy (in June 1560, after realizing she had it the previous ''April'') rather than any foul play; this was confirmed by autopsy the day after her death. It is highly unlikely1845 Northwest Territories, Canada... Except that the two of them were in a sexual relationship.
*** Nor was Mary of Guise his aunt, or related to him by blood - her daughter [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary I of Scotland]] was married to Henri's eldest brother, Francis II of France (married from 1558 until his death in 1560 - ''childless'', in fact); in fact, Henri's family, the House of Valois, were long-time rivals with Mary's House of Guise, and Henri never even ''met'' Mary of Guise in his lifetime.
*** He is also a CompositeCharacter: in RealLife, Elizabeth's French suitor was his ''younger brother'', Hercule Francis, who ''became'' Duke of Anjou - but not until 1576. Henri became King Henri III of France after their brother, Charles IX died in 1574, and the duchy of Anjou went to Francis as a result. He courted Elizabeth in 1579, when he was 24 and she 46 (and still capable of bearing children). Although this didn't pan out due to the complex politics of the time (and fear that Elizabeth would be at risk if she tried to bear children at her age), she was by all accounts genuinely fond of him despite the age gap, and the match was given far more serious consideration than the film depicts (even reaching an actual betrothal at one point).
** Mary I was actually very skinny rather than overweight in the film and Norfolk was a weak and easily-manipulated man rather than the film's powerful and scheming counterpart. Mary's tumour also killed her 3 years after the phantom pregnancy.
** Elizabeth knew that Leicester was already married ''because she had attended his wedding'' - his second, that is, the first wife died under suspicious circumstances (and Elizabeth knew of her as well). Moreover, he wasn't banished for being involved in a Catholic plot (because he was a Puritan) but instead because of a scandal over the mysterious death of his second wife.
** Bishop Stephen Gardiner died before Elizabeth came to the throne and thus could not possibly have been involved in any plots. The Earl of Arundel was not executed for his role but was instead imprisoned in the Tower of London where he died as a prisoner and the Earl of Sussex was actually a loyal supporter of Elizabeth whoNorthwest Territories would not have tried to overthrow her.
** Elizabeth may not have actually hadbecome a sexual encounter with part of Canada until 1870 (and the Earl of Leicester and she did not cut her hair to show that she was a virgin. The wig is thought to have been to hide her greying hair and the white make-up to hide scars she got from smallpox.
** Throughout the film, bishops are shown wearing black mitres that they never would have worn in real life.
** Elizabeth reprimands one of her council members for divorcing twice. In reality, it was more or less impossible to obtain a divorce at this time - something that Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, knew very well.
** At the startborders of the film, vast area were gradually changed until 1905, which resulted in the execution creation of Nicholas Ridley 4 provinces and 2 territories). Canada itself was only granted Dominion status in 1867.
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'':
*** RFK Stadium is shown withtwo other people, of which one must be Hugh Latimer. However, their companion, an unnamed woman, is made up because Ridley and Latimer weren't burnt with anyone else.
** Sir Thomas Elyot is beaten to death with a rock and drowned by Ballard for being a ReverseMole. However, the real Elyot died at his estates in Cambridgeshire ''in 1546''. He was also in his fifties.
** In the second film, Elizabeth frequently consults Dr. John Dee over various matters. However, Dee was abroad at this time and didn't return to England until more than a year after the Spanish Armada.
** In the second film, nearly everything that Walter Raleigh does was actually done by Sir Francis Drake. Raleigh was kept in England when the Armada attacked because the Queen did not want him to be killed. Defeating the Armada was Drake's moment of triumph but he is hardly in the film.
** The Earl of Nottingham states that the Spanish Armada have destroyed several English ships. In reality the English didn't lose a single ship.
** Philip II of Spain is shown as a hunched and shadowy figure with a dark beard who is an incompetent king and a religious fanatic. The real Philip was known as being highly intelligent and had several successes with his foreign policies. He was also tall, blond and handsome.
** The Infanta of Spain was not a child at the time of the Armada but was in fact twenty-one.
** Sir Walter Raleigh was not knighted to keep him in England but to reward his services. He was also knighted on his ship and not against his will. Also, although Raleigh ''was'' imprisoned by Elizabeth, it didn't happen until several years after the Armada.
** Raleigh was not a pirate, Drake was.
** Mary, Queen of Scots's gaoler, Amyas Paulet, actually treated her rather well.
** Walter Raleigh quite famously had a strong West Country accent that meant some courtiers had difficulty understanding him. Francis Drake also had the same accent. In the second film, Mary, Queen of Scots is portrayed with a Scottish accent, when she would have had a French one as a result of living in France for years since she was a child.
** Frequently men at court are shown wearing long cloaks and carrying swords in the Queen's presence. Swords weren't allowed in court and the real Elizabeth actually banned long cloaks in case an assassin was hiding a weapon under it.
** At one point a man is hanged using the 'long drop' method with a trapdoor. This method of execution was not invented until the Nineteenth Century.
** Raleigh did not have an affair with Bess Throckmorton until three years after the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
** The film ends with the captions "Elizabeth reigned for another 40 years" (her full reign was almost 45, so the movie crams almost 20 years of anachronistic history into just under 5); "Walsingham remained her most trusted and loyal advisor to the end" (VERY arguable, as the likes of Dudley and Cecil probably have better claims) and "She never married and never saw Dudley in private again" (she and Dudley remained close friends until his death, so this is an outright lie).
* If you ''really'' want to get technical with ''Film/SpaceJam'', while we all know that MichaelJordan didn't rescue the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes from intergalactic aliens who run an amusement park, his retirement from basketball, his time in baseball and his return to basketball are major exaggerations or simplifications.
** Yes, Jordan retired from basketball, but it was a number of reasons behind it including burnout, which was accelerated due to participating in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics (which he considered the height of his career due to being part of the "Dream Team") and his father's murder.
** The movie treats Jordan as a FishOutOfWater asa baseball player and constantly mocks him for it. Granted, he wasn't the best - he batted .202 as part of the Birmingham Barons and .252 under the Scotsdale Scorpions - but he wasn't ''Space Jam'' bad.
** There was a lockdown, but it wasn't by a mysterious illness and it wasn't with basketball - the 1994-1995 Major League Baseball Strike would hit around that time. This would be the reason why Jordan returned to the game, as he didn't want to be pigeonholed into being a replacement player during that time (the other reason was because the Chicago Bulls fell apart without him).
* ''Film/TheLifeOfDavidGale'': During a drunken ramble, David says Socrates was sentenced to death for insulting the judges by, after he was convicted, suggesting as his punishment a fine of only thirty ''mina'', comparing that to thirty bucks. In reality though, ''Literature/ApologyOfSocrates'' says he suggested a fine of a hundred ''drachma'', soon raised to three thousand-a very substantial sum. Being a literature professor, David likely would be aware of this.
* ''Film/StonehearstAsylum'': "Mickey Finn" as a term for knockout drugs didn't originate until 1915, based on a real casediamond, when in 1903 of a Chicago barman by that name drugging and then robbing customers. The film has it used in the 1899 UK.
* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'': Luc Besson said he didn't really care about retelling the Joan of Arc history so we get...
** The rape and murder of Jeanne's sister is fictional. Inreal life her whole family fled the village before it was attacked. What's more is that it was attacked by Burgundian soldiers - not English.
** Jeanne has visions as a young child. In real life she claimed they didn't start until she was 13.
** Jeanne finds the sword also as a young child. She didn't find it until many years later on her journey to Chinon.
** The Duke of Burgundy is portrayed as stating he doesn't believe in God or the Devil to Joan in front of witnesses. Not only is there no evidence of this (which would be very unlikely in that era) but no one would ever say this ''publicly'' (for he might be convicted of blasphemy).
* ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave'': Mostly averted; the movie is a ''very'' accurate retelling of Northup's story (it should be noted that historical research has confirmed a great deal of the story) and a brutal and unflinching look at the realities of Southern slavery. That said, it does take a handful of liberties.
** Solomon Northup had three children when he was kidnapped, not two. The film omits his eldest daughter, Elizabeth. He was a carpenter by trade, not a musician, although he did play the violin and was indeed lured toWashington with promises of getting paid Senators baseball team had moved to do so, exactly like Texas in the film. Also, it was not until after the book was published 1971, two years before this film is set.
*** Hank tells Logan thathe learned most of the students and teachers were drafted for certain the UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, which is why Charles had shut down the school. In real life, most--if not all--of them could have stayed through a student deferment, and it's hard to believe that the two men Xavier couldn't push such a thing through if he met at the start really had drugged and kidnapped him-he'd thought of it, certainly, but he always had doubts until a judge read his book and recognized them (and it was subsequently found wanted to.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'':
*** It is nigh-impossible thatthey had used false names and were actually a pair of known/suspected con men).
** Epps also had children; they are not shown in the movie.
** No sailor raped or tried to rape Eliza or a female slave on the barge to New Orleans-apart from anything else, thatCNN reporter would have been considered "vandalism /destruction of property" and could see the sailor fired at the very least. The slave-to-be Robert was not stabbed either; he died of smallpox. He, Northup and Andrew really ''did'' consider fighting the crew for the ship, but as allowed to film in the movie, Robert's death scuppered a Polish town, especially given that plan. Northup himself caught smallpox while on Poland in 1983 was under martial law.
*** When Apocalypse is addressing theboat and [[HistoricalBeautyUpdate his face was permanently scarred afterwards.]] It should be noted this event was included world, he speaks in the screenplay by John Ridley, but was possibly cut and simplified for time or budget reasons.
** The film makes it appear that Northups' family had no idea what happenedRussian to him until near the end a large group of the movie; in fact, Northup got churchgoers at a sympathetic sailor to deliver a letter to them explaining his abduction. They weren't able to find him because they had no idea what barge he was on or where it took him. There was also a lengthy and complicated legal process they underwent offscreen to prove that Platt was really Northup, and Bass had to post several letters, not just one.
** Northup wasn't resold by Ford after the assault and hanging by Tibeats; in fact, Tibeats was a slave owner himself and Ford sold Northup to ''him'' to repay a debt. Keeping Northup safe from Tibeats was thus not Ford protecting his property (somewhat-Tibeats had not paid Ford the full price for Northup), and Ford sent Northup to his brother-in-law to keep him safe and tried to convince Tibeats that killing Northup would gain him nothing. A second, later attack by Tibeats, who ended up chasing Northup with an axe, led to Northup running from the plantation, but couldn't survive the swamps and returned to Ford some time later. Ford didn't sell him to Epps, either-it was ''Tibeats'' who sold him.
** Epps was, if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade far, far worse]] in RealLife than he was in the movie. For a start, in addition to his "dancing moods", he also had ''whipping'' moods where he would start whipping and chasing his slaves randomly for no reason. He was much more abusive to Patsey as well, and the savage whipping he gives her (and makes Northup give her) lasted even ''longer'' than it did in the movie. In addition, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Epp's didn't slip in the mud]] when chasing Northup.
** Patsey never had tea with Mistress Shaw; she also never tried to bribe Northup to kill her. The latter is based on a misreading of the book- in fact, ''Mrs. Epps'' tried to bribe Northup to kill Patsey and dump her body in the swamp, though Northup muses that had Patsey known about this murderous request, she might have considered it. Ultimately, though, what Patsey wanted was to escape.
** Northup never had sex with another woman while in slavery (or if he did, he never mentioned it in the book); the film also downplays how devoutlysolemn Russian Orthodox Christian he was. Also, although the men who kidnapped him did indeed get away with their crime, he managed to publicly draw attention to the illegal slave trade in the North; and though Northup was forbidden to testify against Burch and co. in Washington (for the record, he was suing them), he did in fact later testify against the two con men (as did a judge who had met the three of them at the time of the abduction and personally knew both men). In the latter case, there were simply several legal complications, such as a lengthy argument about whether they should be tried in Washington or New York, i.e. a place a black man could testify against them versus a place he could not - it was decided it would be tried in New York, where he could and did (albeit at a hearing, they never got a trial), but this meant that three of the four charges against them were dropped as they took place in Washington. There were a number of arguments in their favor such as the plain and simple difficulties that come with the fact service. It is also highly improbable that the crime was committed over a decade before; church would have that much attendance (religious life in the event, the two men appealed which ended up going USSR was very strictly policed).
* ''Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture'' starts off 35,000 years ago in North Texas, and depicts a pair of Neanderthals running through thelower courts, to snow. Evidence of humans in the New York Supreme Court, World so early is thin and finally to the New York Court of Appeals. Ultimately the case was simply dropped due to the legal difficulties and insufficient evidence. Had he been allowed to testify against Burch and co., he might have still faced these same legal problems.disputed; if they were there, they were certainly not Neanderthal, who never ranged outside Eurasia.
*
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'': The movie claims to
** William Cecil was not even forty by the time Elizabeth came to the throne, and she did not retire him by making him Lord Burghley: she ennobled him as a reward for his services and he remained her most loyal advisor until his death a few years before the queen's. Similarly, Francis Walsingham was only a few years older than Elizabeth. In the second film, Elizabeth visits him when he is dying. In real life she simply let him die in poverty and didn't go to see him.
** Henri of Anjou was probably not a crossdresser and he wasn't homosexual - the number of his ''female'' mistresses is almost uncountable; in addition, he and Elizabeth never met. Also, his aunt Mary of Guise died of dropsy (in June 1560, after realizing she had it the previous ''April'') rather than any foul play; this was confirmed by autopsy the day after her death. It is highly unlikely
*** Nor was Mary of Guise his aunt, or related to him by blood - her daughter [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary I of Scotland]] was married to Henri's eldest brother, Francis II of France (married from 1558 until his death in 1560 - ''childless'', in fact); in fact, Henri's family, the House of Valois, were long-time rivals with Mary's House of Guise, and Henri never even ''met'' Mary of Guise in his lifetime.
*** He is also a CompositeCharacter: in RealLife, Elizabeth's French suitor was his ''younger brother'', Hercule Francis, who ''became'' Duke of Anjou - but not until 1576. Henri became King Henri III of France after their brother, Charles IX died in 1574, and the duchy of Anjou went to Francis as a result. He courted Elizabeth in 1579, when he was 24 and she 46 (and still capable of bearing children). Although this didn't pan out due to the complex politics of the time (and fear that Elizabeth would be at risk if she tried to bear children at her age), she was by all accounts genuinely fond of him despite the age gap, and the match was given far more serious consideration than the film depicts (even reaching an actual betrothal at one point).
** Mary I was actually very skinny rather than overweight in the film and Norfolk was a weak and easily-manipulated man rather than the film's powerful and scheming counterpart. Mary's tumour also killed her 3 years after the phantom pregnancy.
** Elizabeth knew that Leicester was already married ''because she had attended his wedding'' - his second, that is, the first wife died under suspicious circumstances (and Elizabeth knew of her as well). Moreover, he wasn't banished for being involved in a Catholic plot (because he was a Puritan) but instead because of a scandal over the mysterious death of his second wife.
** Bishop Stephen Gardiner died before Elizabeth came to the throne and thus could not possibly have been involved in any plots. The Earl of Arundel was not executed for his role but was instead imprisoned in the Tower of London where he died as a prisoner and the Earl of Sussex was actually a loyal supporter of Elizabeth who
** Elizabeth may not have actually had
** Throughout the film, bishops are shown wearing black mitres that they never would have worn in real life.
** Elizabeth reprimands one of her council members for divorcing twice. In reality, it was more or less impossible to obtain a divorce at this time - something that Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, knew very well.
** At the start
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'':
*** RFK Stadium is shown with
** Sir Thomas Elyot is beaten to death with a rock and drowned by Ballard for being a ReverseMole. However, the real Elyot died at his estates in Cambridgeshire ''in 1546''. He was also in his fifties.
** In the second film, Elizabeth frequently consults Dr. John Dee over various matters. However, Dee was abroad at this time and didn't return to England until more than a year after the Spanish Armada.
** In the second film, nearly everything that Walter Raleigh does was actually done by Sir Francis Drake. Raleigh was kept in England when the Armada attacked because the Queen did not want him to be killed. Defeating the Armada was Drake's moment of triumph but he is hardly in the film.
** The Earl of Nottingham states that the Spanish Armada have destroyed several English ships. In reality the English didn't lose a single ship.
** Philip II of Spain is shown as a hunched and shadowy figure with a dark beard who is an incompetent king and a religious fanatic. The real Philip was known as being highly intelligent and had several successes with his foreign policies. He was also tall, blond and handsome.
** The Infanta of Spain was not a child at the time of the Armada but was in fact twenty-one.
** Sir Walter Raleigh was not knighted to keep him in England but to reward his services. He was also knighted on his ship and not against his will. Also, although Raleigh ''was'' imprisoned by Elizabeth, it didn't happen until several years after the Armada.
** Raleigh was not a pirate, Drake was.
** Mary, Queen of Scots's gaoler, Amyas Paulet, actually treated her rather well.
** Walter Raleigh quite famously had a strong West Country accent that meant some courtiers had difficulty understanding him. Francis Drake also had the same accent. In the second film, Mary, Queen of Scots is portrayed with a Scottish accent, when she would have had a French one as a result of living in France for years since she was a child.
** Frequently men at court are shown wearing long cloaks and carrying swords in the Queen's presence. Swords weren't allowed in court and the real Elizabeth actually banned long cloaks in case an assassin was hiding a weapon under it.
** At one point a man is hanged using the 'long drop' method with a trapdoor. This method of execution was not invented until the Nineteenth Century.
** Raleigh did not have an affair with Bess Throckmorton until three years after the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
** The film ends with the captions "Elizabeth reigned for another 40 years" (her full reign was almost 45, so the movie crams almost 20 years of anachronistic history into just under 5); "Walsingham remained her most trusted and loyal advisor to the end" (VERY arguable, as the likes of Dudley and Cecil probably have better claims) and "She never married and never saw Dudley in private again" (she and Dudley remained close friends until his death, so this is an outright lie).
* If you ''really'' want to get technical with ''Film/SpaceJam'', while we all know that MichaelJordan didn't rescue the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes from intergalactic aliens who run an amusement park, his retirement from basketball, his time in baseball and his return to basketball are major exaggerations or simplifications.
** Yes, Jordan retired from basketball, but it was a number of reasons behind it including burnout, which was accelerated due to participating in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics (which he considered the height of his career due to being part of the "Dream Team") and his father's murder.
** The movie treats Jordan as a FishOutOfWater as
** There was a lockdown, but it wasn't by a mysterious illness and it wasn't with basketball - the 1994-1995 Major League Baseball Strike would hit around that time. This would be the reason why Jordan returned to the game, as he didn't want to be pigeonholed into being a replacement player during that time (the other reason was because the Chicago Bulls fell apart without him).
* ''Film/TheLifeOfDavidGale'': During a drunken ramble, David says Socrates was sentenced to death for insulting the judges by, after he was convicted, suggesting as his punishment a fine of only thirty ''mina'', comparing that to thirty bucks. In reality though, ''Literature/ApologyOfSocrates'' says he suggested a fine of a hundred ''drachma'', soon raised to three thousand-a very substantial sum. Being a literature professor, David likely would be aware of this.
* ''Film/StonehearstAsylum'': "Mickey Finn" as a term for knockout drugs didn't originate until 1915, based on a real case
* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'': Luc Besson said he didn't really care about retelling the Joan of Arc history so we get...
** The rape and murder of Jeanne's sister is fictional. In
** Jeanne has visions as a young child. In real life she claimed they didn't start until she was 13.
** Jeanne finds the sword also as a young child. She didn't find it until many years later on her journey to Chinon.
** The Duke of Burgundy is portrayed as stating he doesn't believe in God or the Devil to Joan in front of witnesses. Not only is there no evidence of this (which would be very unlikely in that era) but no one would ever say this ''publicly'' (for he might be convicted of blasphemy).
* ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave'': Mostly averted; the movie is a ''very'' accurate retelling of Northup's story (it should be noted that historical research has confirmed a great deal of the story) and a brutal and unflinching look at the realities of Southern slavery. That said, it does take a handful of liberties.
** Solomon Northup had three children when he was kidnapped, not two. The film omits his eldest daughter, Elizabeth. He was a carpenter by trade, not a musician, although he did play the violin and was indeed lured to
*** Hank tells Logan that
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'':
*** It is nigh-impossible that
** Epps also had children; they are not shown in the movie.
** No sailor raped or tried to rape Eliza or a female slave on the barge to New Orleans-apart from anything else, that
*** When Apocalypse is addressing the
** The film makes it appear that Northups' family had no idea what happened
** Northup wasn't resold by Ford after the assault and hanging by Tibeats; in fact, Tibeats was a slave owner himself and Ford sold Northup to ''him'' to repay a debt. Keeping Northup safe from Tibeats was thus not Ford protecting his property (somewhat-Tibeats had not paid Ford the full price for Northup), and Ford sent Northup to his brother-in-law to keep him safe and tried to convince Tibeats that killing Northup would gain him nothing. A second, later attack by Tibeats, who ended up chasing Northup with an axe, led to Northup running from the plantation, but couldn't survive the swamps and returned to Ford some time later. Ford didn't sell him to Epps, either-it was ''Tibeats'' who sold him.
** Epps was, if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade far, far worse]] in RealLife than he was in the movie. For a start, in addition to his "dancing moods", he also had ''whipping'' moods where he would start whipping and chasing his slaves randomly for no reason. He was much more abusive to Patsey as well, and the savage whipping he gives her (and makes Northup give her) lasted even ''longer'' than it did in the movie. In addition, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Epp's didn't slip in the mud]] when chasing Northup.
** Patsey never had tea with Mistress Shaw; she also never tried to bribe Northup to kill her. The latter is based on a misreading of the book- in fact, ''Mrs. Epps'' tried to bribe Northup to kill Patsey and dump her body in the swamp, though Northup muses that had Patsey known about this murderous request, she might have considered it. Ultimately, though, what Patsey wanted was to escape.
** Northup never had sex with another woman while in slavery (or if he did, he never mentioned it in the book); the film also downplays how devoutly
* ''Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture'' starts off 35,000 years ago in North Texas, and depicts a pair of Neanderthals running through the
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* ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave: Mostly averted; the movie is a ''very'' accurate retelling of Northup's story (it should be noted that historical research has confirmed a great deal of the story) and a brutal and unflinching look at the realities of Southern slavery. That said, it does take a handful of liberties.
to:
* ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave: ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave'': Mostly averted; the movie is a ''very'' accurate retelling of Northup's story (it should be noted that historical research has confirmed a great deal of the story) and a brutal and unflinching look at the realities of Southern slavery. That said, it does take a handful of liberties.
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* ''Film/ThreeHundred'' is so obviously not meant to reflect actual history. In fact, historical records of the event are already believed to be rather sensationalized and greatly embellished. ZackSnyder and Creator/FrankMiller also drew inspiration from ancient artwork, which, much like Hollywood, glamorize battles of the past. Audiences have loved muscle-bound, half-naked supermen kicking the snot out of each other for [[OlderThanTheyThink quite a while]]. It's fairer to say that ''300'' didn't ''fail'' history so much as kick it into a well and give it the finger. The embellishment is heavily implied as part of the Greek propaganda even during the film. On the other hand, Zack Snyder did state rather audaciously that the history presented in the film is "[[DanBrowned 90% accurate, although the visuals are pretty crazy]]."
to:
* ''Film/ThreeHundred'' is so obviously not meant to reflect actual history. In fact, historical records of the event are already believed to be rather sensationalized and greatly embellished. ZackSnyder Creator/ZackSnyder and Creator/FrankMiller also drew inspiration from ancient artwork, which, much like Hollywood, glamorize battles of the past. Audiences have loved muscle-bound, half-naked supermen kicking the snot out of each other for [[OlderThanTheyThink quite a while]]. It's fairer to say that ''300'' didn't ''fail'' history so much as kick it into a well and give it the finger. The embellishment is heavily implied as part of the Greek propaganda even during the film. On the other hand, Zack Snyder did state rather audaciously that the history presented in the film is "[[DanBrowned 90% accurate, although the visuals are pretty crazy]]."
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* ''Film/AlienVsPredator'' presents a near unbelievable historical scenario where a whaling station has been abandoned in 1904, the year the first whaling station was established.
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** Yes, Jordan retired from basketball, but it was a number of reasons behind it include burnout, which was accelerated due to participating in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics (which he considered the height of his career due to being part of the "Dream Team") and his father's murder.
to:
** Yes, Jordan retired from basketball, but it was a number of reasons behind it include including burnout, which was accelerated due to participating in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics (which he considered the height of his career due to being part of the "Dream Team") and his father's murder.
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* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc: Luc Besson said he didn't really care about retelling the Joan of Arc history so we get...
to:
* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc: ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'': Luc Besson said he didn't really care about retelling the Joan of Arc history so we get...
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Changed line(s) 156 (click to see context) from:
** The Duke of Burgundy is portrayed as stating he doesn't believe in God or the Devil to Joan in front of witnesses. Not only is there no evidence of this (which would be very unlikely in that era) but no one would ever say this ''publicly'' (for he might be convicted of blasphemy).
to:
** The Duke of Burgundy is portrayed as stating he doesn't believe in God or the Devil to Joan in front of witnesses. Not only is there no evidence of this (which would be very unlikely in that era) but no one would ever say this ''publicly'' (for he might be convicted of blasphemy).blasphemy).
* ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave: Mostly averted; the movie is a ''very'' accurate retelling of Northup's story (it should be noted that historical research has confirmed a great deal of the story) and a brutal and unflinching look at the realities of Southern slavery. That said, it does take a handful of liberties.
** Solomon Northup had three children when he was kidnapped, not two. The film omits his eldest daughter, Elizabeth. He was a carpenter by trade, not a musician, although he did play the violin and was indeed lured to Washington with promises of getting paid to do so, exactly like in the film. Also, it was not until after the book was published that he learned for certain that the two men he met at the start really had drugged and kidnapped him-he'd thought of it, certainly, but he always had doubts until a judge read his book and recognized them (and it was subsequently found that they had used false names and were actually a pair of known/suspected con men).
** Epps also had children; they are not shown in the movie.
** No sailor raped or tried to rape Eliza or a female slave on the barge to New Orleans-apart from anything else, that would have been considered "vandalism /destruction of property" and could see the sailor fired at the very least. The slave-to-be Robert was not stabbed either; he died of smallpox. He, Northup and Andrew really ''did'' consider fighting the crew for the ship, but as in the movie, Robert's death scuppered that plan. Northup himself caught smallpox while on the boat and [[HistoricalBeautyUpdate his face was permanently scarred afterwards.]] It should be noted this event was included in the screenplay by John Ridley, but was possibly cut and simplified for time or budget reasons.
** The film makes it appear that Northups' family had no idea what happened to him until near the end of the movie; in fact, Northup got a sympathetic sailor to deliver a letter to them explaining his abduction. They weren't able to find him because they had no idea what barge he was on or where it took him. There was also a lengthy and complicated legal process they underwent offscreen to prove that Platt was really Northup, and Bass had to post several letters, not just one.
** Northup wasn't resold by Ford after the assault and hanging by Tibeats; in fact, Tibeats was a slave owner himself and Ford sold Northup to ''him'' to repay a debt. Keeping Northup safe from Tibeats was thus not Ford protecting his property (somewhat-Tibeats had not paid Ford the full price for Northup), and Ford sent Northup to his brother-in-law to keep him safe and tried to convince Tibeats that killing Northup would gain him nothing. A second, later attack by Tibeats, who ended up chasing Northup with an axe, led to Northup running from the plantation, but couldn't survive the swamps and returned to Ford some time later. Ford didn't sell him to Epps, either-it was ''Tibeats'' who sold him.
** Epps was, if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade far, far worse]] in RealLife than he was in the movie. For a start, in addition to his "dancing moods", he also had ''whipping'' moods where he would start whipping and chasing his slaves randomly for no reason. He was much more abusive to Patsey as well, and the savage whipping he gives her (and makes Northup give her) lasted even ''longer'' than it did in the movie. In addition, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Epp's didn't slip in the mud]] when chasing Northup.
** Patsey never had tea with Mistress Shaw; she also never tried to bribe Northup to kill her. The latter is based on a misreading of the book- in fact, ''Mrs. Epps'' tried to bribe Northup to kill Patsey and dump her body in the swamp, though Northup muses that had Patsey known about this murderous request, she might have considered it. Ultimately, though, what Patsey wanted was to escape.
** Northup never had sex with another woman while in slavery (or if he did, he never mentioned it in the book); the film also downplays how devoutly Christian he was. Also, although the men who kidnapped him did indeed get away with their crime, he managed to publicly draw attention to the illegal slave trade in the North; and though Northup was forbidden to testify against Burch and co. in Washington (for the record, he was suing them), he did in fact later testify against the two con men (as did a judge who had met the three of them at the time of the abduction and personally knew both men). In the latter case, there were simply several legal complications, such as a lengthy argument about whether they should be tried in Washington or New York, i.e. a place a black man could testify against them versus a place he could not - it was decided it would be tried in New York, where he could and did (albeit at a hearing, they never got a trial), but this meant that three of the four charges against them were dropped as they took place in Washington. There were a number of arguments in their favor such as the plain and simple difficulties that come with the fact that the crime was committed over a decade before; in the event, the two men appealed which ended up going through the lower courts, to the New York Supreme Court, and finally to the New York Court of Appeals. Ultimately the case was simply dropped due to the legal difficulties and insufficient evidence. Had he been allowed to testify against Burch and co., he might have still faced these same legal problems.
* ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave: Mostly averted; the movie is a ''very'' accurate retelling of Northup's story (it should be noted that historical research has confirmed a great deal of the story) and a brutal and unflinching look at the realities of Southern slavery. That said, it does take a handful of liberties.
** Solomon Northup had three children when he was kidnapped, not two. The film omits his eldest daughter, Elizabeth. He was a carpenter by trade, not a musician, although he did play the violin and was indeed lured to Washington with promises of getting paid to do so, exactly like in the film. Also, it was not until after the book was published that he learned for certain that the two men he met at the start really had drugged and kidnapped him-he'd thought of it, certainly, but he always had doubts until a judge read his book and recognized them (and it was subsequently found that they had used false names and were actually a pair of known/suspected con men).
** Epps also had children; they are not shown in the movie.
** No sailor raped or tried to rape Eliza or a female slave on the barge to New Orleans-apart from anything else, that would have been considered "vandalism /destruction of property" and could see the sailor fired at the very least. The slave-to-be Robert was not stabbed either; he died of smallpox. He, Northup and Andrew really ''did'' consider fighting the crew for the ship, but as in the movie, Robert's death scuppered that plan. Northup himself caught smallpox while on the boat and [[HistoricalBeautyUpdate his face was permanently scarred afterwards.]] It should be noted this event was included in the screenplay by John Ridley, but was possibly cut and simplified for time or budget reasons.
** The film makes it appear that Northups' family had no idea what happened to him until near the end of the movie; in fact, Northup got a sympathetic sailor to deliver a letter to them explaining his abduction. They weren't able to find him because they had no idea what barge he was on or where it took him. There was also a lengthy and complicated legal process they underwent offscreen to prove that Platt was really Northup, and Bass had to post several letters, not just one.
** Northup wasn't resold by Ford after the assault and hanging by Tibeats; in fact, Tibeats was a slave owner himself and Ford sold Northup to ''him'' to repay a debt. Keeping Northup safe from Tibeats was thus not Ford protecting his property (somewhat-Tibeats had not paid Ford the full price for Northup), and Ford sent Northup to his brother-in-law to keep him safe and tried to convince Tibeats that killing Northup would gain him nothing. A second, later attack by Tibeats, who ended up chasing Northup with an axe, led to Northup running from the plantation, but couldn't survive the swamps and returned to Ford some time later. Ford didn't sell him to Epps, either-it was ''Tibeats'' who sold him.
** Epps was, if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade far, far worse]] in RealLife than he was in the movie. For a start, in addition to his "dancing moods", he also had ''whipping'' moods where he would start whipping and chasing his slaves randomly for no reason. He was much more abusive to Patsey as well, and the savage whipping he gives her (and makes Northup give her) lasted even ''longer'' than it did in the movie. In addition, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Epp's didn't slip in the mud]] when chasing Northup.
** Patsey never had tea with Mistress Shaw; she also never tried to bribe Northup to kill her. The latter is based on a misreading of the book- in fact, ''Mrs. Epps'' tried to bribe Northup to kill Patsey and dump her body in the swamp, though Northup muses that had Patsey known about this murderous request, she might have considered it. Ultimately, though, what Patsey wanted was to escape.
** Northup never had sex with another woman while in slavery (or if he did, he never mentioned it in the book); the film also downplays how devoutly Christian he was. Also, although the men who kidnapped him did indeed get away with their crime, he managed to publicly draw attention to the illegal slave trade in the North; and though Northup was forbidden to testify against Burch and co. in Washington (for the record, he was suing them), he did in fact later testify against the two con men (as did a judge who had met the three of them at the time of the abduction and personally knew both men). In the latter case, there were simply several legal complications, such as a lengthy argument about whether they should be tried in Washington or New York, i.e. a place a black man could testify against them versus a place he could not - it was decided it would be tried in New York, where he could and did (albeit at a hearing, they never got a trial), but this meant that three of the four charges against them were dropped as they took place in Washington. There were a number of arguments in their favor such as the plain and simple difficulties that come with the fact that the crime was committed over a decade before; in the event, the two men appealed which ended up going through the lower courts, to the New York Supreme Court, and finally to the New York Court of Appeals. Ultimately the case was simply dropped due to the legal difficulties and insufficient evidence. Had he been allowed to testify against Burch and co., he might have still faced these same legal problems.
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** Sybilla was actually one of the extremists who (like Guy) wanted war with the Muslims. She was genuinely devoted to him by all accounts (however, there were claims saying she did indeed have an affair with Balian). Sybilla and Balian never married either (he had a wife).
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** One particularly {{egregious}} example is the protagonist ''teaching the desert-dwelling people how to irrigate their land and so becoming their lord''. Yeah. The people who had been farming a desert (and digging wells) for ''thousands of years'' being taught all they know by the MightyWhitey when, if anything, during the Crusades it was sort of the other way round (medieval Europe didn't even have round towers until they got the idea from the Arabs).
** There's no suggestion in the film that he invents the irrigation system, but there's a clear implication that he's the only person with the initiative to think of digging for water, or the skill to find it.
** There's no suggestion in the film that he invents the irrigation system, but there's a clear implication that he's the only person with the initiative to think of digging for water, or the skill to find it.
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** One particularly {{egregious}} example is ** The three "Templar knights" who ambush Balian shortly before Guy's coronation actually wear the protagonist ''teaching black cross of UsefulNotes/{{the Teutonic Knights}}, which were founded only after the desert-dwelling people how to irrigate events depicted in the film (all other scenes portray the Templars uniforms accurately, so it's a mystery why these are used here). Also their land attack never happened.
** The actual Balian was not born out of wedlock. He was a nobleman, andso becoming their lord''. Yeah. The people who had been farming a desert (and digging wells) for ''thousands native to the Kingdom of years'' being taught all Jerusalem. Rather than an enemy, he was Guy's adviser (although they know by the MightyWhitey when, disagreed at times). Balian also broke an oath made to Salidan that he wouldn't take arms against him any further if anything, during the Crusades it was sort of the other way round (medieval Europe his wife and children were allowed safe passage for Tripoli. His oath also included leaving Jerusalem-he didn't even have round towers until they got do this either. The Patriarch of Jerusalem absolved him, saying the idea from needs of the Arabs).
** There's no suggestion in the film that he invents the irrigation system, but there'scity were more important than an oath made to a clear implication that he's the only person Muslim. His family, and close alliance with the initiative to think Patriarch, also aren't in the film.
** Salidan was somewhat harsher in real toward the Christians ofdigging Jerusalem. He allowed most leave in return for water, or a large sum, while the skill to find it.rest were enslaved. Some who remained were freed by him, but not all.
** The actual Balian was not born out of wedlock. He was a nobleman, and
** There's no suggestion in the film that he invents the irrigation system, but there's
** Salidan was somewhat harsher in real toward the Christians of
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* ''Film/StonehearstAsylum'': "Mickey Finn" as a term for knockout drugs didn't originate until 1915, based on a real case in 1903 of a Chicago barman by that name drugging and then robbing customers. The film has it used in the 1899 UK.
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* ''Film/StonehearstAsylum'': "Mickey Finn" as a term for knockout drugs didn't originate until 1915, based on a real case in 1903 of a Chicago barman by that name drugging and then robbing customers. The film has it used in the 1899 UK.UK.
* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc: Luc Besson said he didn't really care about retelling the Joan of Arc history so we get...
** The rape and murder of Jeanne's sister is fictional. In real life her whole family fled the village before it was attacked. What's more is that it was attacked by Burgundian soldiers - not English.
** Jeanne has visions as a young child. In real life she claimed they didn't start until she was 13.
** Jeanne finds the sword also as a young child. She didn't find it until many years later on her journey to Chinon.
** The Duke of Burgundy is portrayed as stating he doesn't believe in God or the Devil to Joan in front of witnesses. Not only is there no evidence of this (which would be very unlikely in that era) but no one would ever say this ''publicly'' (for he might be convicted of blasphemy).
* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc: Luc Besson said he didn't really care about retelling the Joan of Arc history so we get...
** The rape and murder of Jeanne's sister is fictional. In real life her whole family fled the village before it was attacked. What's more is that it was attacked by Burgundian soldiers - not English.
** Jeanne has visions as a young child. In real life she claimed they didn't start until she was 13.
** Jeanne finds the sword also as a young child. She didn't find it until many years later on her journey to Chinon.
** The Duke of Burgundy is portrayed as stating he doesn't believe in God or the Devil to Joan in front of witnesses. Not only is there no evidence of this (which would be very unlikely in that era) but no one would ever say this ''publicly'' (for he might be convicted of blasphemy).
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* ''Film/StonehearstAsylum'': "Mickey Finn" as a term for knockout drugs didn't originate until 1915, based on a real case in 1903 of a Chicago barman by that name drugging and then robbing customers. The film has it used in England of 1899.
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* ''Film/StonehearstAsylum'': "Mickey Finn" as a term for knockout drugs didn't originate until 1915, based on a real case in 1903 of a Chicago barman by that name drugging and then robbing customers. The film has it used in England of 1899.the 1899 UK.
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* ''Film/StoneheartsAsylum'': "Mickey Finn" as a term for knockout drugs didn't originate until 1915, based on a real case in 1903 of a Chicago barman by that name drugging and then robbing customers. The film has it used in England of 1899.
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* ''Film/StoneheartsAsylum'': ''Film/StonehearstAsylum'': "Mickey Finn" as a term for knockout drugs didn't originate until 1915, based on a real case in 1903 of a Chicago barman by that name drugging and then robbing customers. The film has it used in England of 1899.
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* ''Film/TheLifeOfDavidGale'': During a drunken ramble, David says Socrates was sentenced to death for insulting the judges by, after he was convicted, suggesting as his punishment a fine of only thirty ''mina'', comparing that to thirty bucks. In reality though, ''Literature/ApologyOfSocrates'' says he suggested a fine of a hundred ''drachma'', soon raised to three thousand-a very substantial sum. Being a literature professor, David likely would be aware of this.
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* ''ArtisticLicenseHistory/IShotJesseJames''
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* If you ''really'' want to get technical with ''Film/SpaceJam'', while we all know that MichaelJordan didn't rescue the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes from intergalactic aliens who run an amusement park, his retirement from basketball, his time in baseball and his return to basketball are major exaggerations or simplifications.
** Yes, Jordan retired from basketball, but it was a number of reasons behind it include burnout, which was accelerated due to participating in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics (which he considered the height of his career due to being part of the "Dream Team") and his father's murder.
** The movie treats Jordan as a FishOutOfWater as a baseball player and constantly mocks him for it. Granted, he wasn't the best - he batted .202 as part of the Birmingham Barons and .252 under the Scotsdale Scorpions - but he wasn't ''Space Jam'' bad.
** There was a lockdown, but it wasn't by a mysterious illness and it wasn't with basketball - the 1994-1995 Major League Baseball Strike would hit around that time. This would be the reason why Jordan returned to the game, as he didn't want to be pigeonholed into being a replacement player during that time (the other reason was because the Chicago Bulls fell apart without him).
** Yes, Jordan retired from basketball, but it was a number of reasons behind it include burnout, which was accelerated due to participating in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics (which he considered the height of his career due to being part of the "Dream Team") and his father's murder.
** The movie treats Jordan as a FishOutOfWater as a baseball player and constantly mocks him for it. Granted, he wasn't the best - he batted .202 as part of the Birmingham Barons and .252 under the Scotsdale Scorpions - but he wasn't ''Space Jam'' bad.
** There was a lockdown, but it wasn't by a mysterious illness and it wasn't with basketball - the 1994-1995 Major League Baseball Strike would hit around that time. This would be the reason why Jordan returned to the game, as he didn't want to be pigeonholed into being a replacement player during that time (the other reason was because the Chicago Bulls fell apart without him).
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* ''{{Film/Elizabeth}}'': Good God, where to begin? WordOfGod states that their original intent was to make a film about a conspiracy in Elizabeth's court, rather than an accurate biopic.
** William Cecil was not even forty by the time Elizabeth came to the throne, and she did not retire him by making him Lord Burghley: she ennobled him as a reward for his services and he remained her most loyal advisor until his death a few years before the queen's. Similarly, Francis Walsingham was only a few years older than Elizabeth. In the second film, Elizabeth visits him when he is dying. In real life she simply let him die in poverty and didn't go to see him.
** Henri of Anjou was probably not a crossdresser and he wasn't homosexual - the number of his ''female'' mistresses is almost uncountable; in addition, he and Elizabeth never met. Also, his aunt Mary of Guise died of dropsy (in June 1560, after realizing she had it the previous ''April'') rather than any foul play; this was confirmed by autopsy the day after her death. It is highly unlikely that the two of them were in a sexual relationship.
*** Nor was Mary of Guise his aunt, or related to him by blood - her daughter [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary I of Scotland]] was married to Henri's eldest brother, Francis II of France (married from 1558 until his death in 1560 - ''childless'', in fact); in fact, Henri's family, the House of Valois, were long-time rivals with Mary's House of Guise, and Henri never even ''met'' Mary of Guise in his lifetime.
*** He is also a CompositeCharacter: in RealLife, Elizabeth's French suitor was his ''younger brother'', Hercule Francis, who ''became'' Duke of Anjou - but not until 1576. Henri became King Henri III of France after their brother, Charles IX died in 1574, and the duchy of Anjou went to Francis as a result. He courted Elizabeth in 1579, when he was 24 and she 46 (and still capable of bearing children). Although this didn't pan out due to the complex politics of the time (and fear that Elizabeth would be at risk if she tried to bear children at her age), she was by all accounts genuinely fond of him despite the age gap, and the match was given far more serious consideration than the film depicts (even reaching an actual betrothal at one point).
** Mary I was actually very skinny rather than overweight in the film and Norfolk was a weak and easily-manipulated man rather than the film's powerful and scheming counterpart. Mary's tumour also killed her 3 years after the phantom pregnancy.
** Elizabeth knew that Leicester was already married ''because she had attended his wedding'' - his second, that is, the first wife died under suspicious circumstances (and Elizabeth knew of her as well). Moreover, he wasn't banished for being involved in a Catholic plot (because he was a Puritan) but instead because of a scandal over the mysterious death of his second wife.
** Bishop Stephen Gardiner died before Elizabeth came to the throne and thus could not possibly have been involved in any plots. The Earl of Arundel was not executed for his role but was instead imprisoned in the Tower of London where he died as a prisoner and the Earl of Sussex was actually a loyal supporter of Elizabeth who would not have tried to overthrow her.
** Elizabeth may not have actually had a sexual encounter with the Earl of Leicester and she did not cut her hair to show that she was a virgin. The wig is thought to have been to hide her greying hair and the white make-up to hide scars she got from smallpox.
** Throughout the film, bishops are shown wearing black mitres that they never would have worn in real life.
** Elizabeth reprimands one of her council members for divorcing twice. In reality, it was more or less impossible to obtain a divorce at this time - something that Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, knew very well.
** At the start of the film, the execution of Nicholas Ridley is shown with two other people, of which one must be Hugh Latimer. However, their companion, an unnamed woman, is made up because Ridley and Latimer weren't burnt with anyone else.
** Sir Thomas Elyot is beaten to death with a rock and drowned by Ballard for being a ReverseMole. However, the real Elyot died at his estates in Cambridgeshire ''in 1546''. He was also in his fifties.
** In the second film, Elizabeth frequently consults Dr. John Dee over various matters. However, Dee was abroad at this time and didn't return to England until more than a year after the Spanish Armada.
** In the second film, nearly everything that Walter Raleigh does was actually done by Sir Francis Drake. Raleigh was kept in England when the Armada attacked because the Queen did not want him to be killed. Defeating the Armada was Drake's moment of triumph but he is hardly in the film.
** The Earl of Nottingham states that the Spanish Armada have destroyed several English ships. In reality the English didn't lose a single ship.
** Philip II of Spain is shown as a hunched and shadowy figure with a dark beard who is an incompetent king and a religious fanatic. The real Philip was known as being highly intelligent and had several successes with his foreign policies. He was also tall, blond and handsome.
** The Infanta of Spain was not a child at the time of the Armada but was in fact twenty-one.
** Sir Walter Raleigh was not knighted to keep him in England but to reward his services. He was also knighted on his ship and not against his will. Also, although Raleigh ''was'' imprisoned by Elizabeth, it didn't happen until several years after the Armada.
** Raleigh was not a pirate, Drake was.
** Mary, Queen of Scots's gaoler, Amyas Paulet, actually treated her rather well.
** Walter Raleigh quite famously had a strong West Country accent that meant some courtiers had difficulty understanding him. Francis Drake also had the same accent. In the second film, Mary, Queen of Scots is portrayed with a Scottish accent, when she would have had a French one as a result of living in France for years since she was a child.
** Frequently men at court are shown wearing long cloaks and carrying swords in the Queen's presence. Swords weren't allowed in court and the real Elizabeth actually banned long cloaks in case an assassin was hiding a weapon under it.
** At one point a man is hanged using the 'long drop' method with a trapdoor. This method of execution was not invented until the Nineteenth Century.
** Raleigh did not have an affair with Bess Throckmorton until three years after the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
** The film ends with the captions "Elizabeth reigned for another 40 years" (her full reign was almost 45, so the movie crams almost 20 years of anachronistic history into just under 5); "Walsingham remained her most trusted and loyal advisor to the end" (VERY arguable, as the likes of Dudley and Cecil probably have better claims) and "She never married and never saw Dudley in private again" (she and Dudley remained close friends until his death, so this is an outright lie).
** William Cecil was not even forty by the time Elizabeth came to the throne, and she did not retire him by making him Lord Burghley: she ennobled him as a reward for his services and he remained her most loyal advisor until his death a few years before the queen's. Similarly, Francis Walsingham was only a few years older than Elizabeth. In the second film, Elizabeth visits him when he is dying. In real life she simply let him die in poverty and didn't go to see him.
** Henri of Anjou was probably not a crossdresser and he wasn't homosexual - the number of his ''female'' mistresses is almost uncountable; in addition, he and Elizabeth never met. Also, his aunt Mary of Guise died of dropsy (in June 1560, after realizing she had it the previous ''April'') rather than any foul play; this was confirmed by autopsy the day after her death. It is highly unlikely that the two of them were in a sexual relationship.
*** Nor was Mary of Guise his aunt, or related to him by blood - her daughter [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary I of Scotland]] was married to Henri's eldest brother, Francis II of France (married from 1558 until his death in 1560 - ''childless'', in fact); in fact, Henri's family, the House of Valois, were long-time rivals with Mary's House of Guise, and Henri never even ''met'' Mary of Guise in his lifetime.
*** He is also a CompositeCharacter: in RealLife, Elizabeth's French suitor was his ''younger brother'', Hercule Francis, who ''became'' Duke of Anjou - but not until 1576. Henri became King Henri III of France after their brother, Charles IX died in 1574, and the duchy of Anjou went to Francis as a result. He courted Elizabeth in 1579, when he was 24 and she 46 (and still capable of bearing children). Although this didn't pan out due to the complex politics of the time (and fear that Elizabeth would be at risk if she tried to bear children at her age), she was by all accounts genuinely fond of him despite the age gap, and the match was given far more serious consideration than the film depicts (even reaching an actual betrothal at one point).
** Mary I was actually very skinny rather than overweight in the film and Norfolk was a weak and easily-manipulated man rather than the film's powerful and scheming counterpart. Mary's tumour also killed her 3 years after the phantom pregnancy.
** Elizabeth knew that Leicester was already married ''because she had attended his wedding'' - his second, that is, the first wife died under suspicious circumstances (and Elizabeth knew of her as well). Moreover, he wasn't banished for being involved in a Catholic plot (because he was a Puritan) but instead because of a scandal over the mysterious death of his second wife.
** Bishop Stephen Gardiner died before Elizabeth came to the throne and thus could not possibly have been involved in any plots. The Earl of Arundel was not executed for his role but was instead imprisoned in the Tower of London where he died as a prisoner and the Earl of Sussex was actually a loyal supporter of Elizabeth who would not have tried to overthrow her.
** Elizabeth may not have actually had a sexual encounter with the Earl of Leicester and she did not cut her hair to show that she was a virgin. The wig is thought to have been to hide her greying hair and the white make-up to hide scars she got from smallpox.
** Throughout the film, bishops are shown wearing black mitres that they never would have worn in real life.
** Elizabeth reprimands one of her council members for divorcing twice. In reality, it was more or less impossible to obtain a divorce at this time - something that Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, knew very well.
** At the start of the film, the execution of Nicholas Ridley is shown with two other people, of which one must be Hugh Latimer. However, their companion, an unnamed woman, is made up because Ridley and Latimer weren't burnt with anyone else.
** Sir Thomas Elyot is beaten to death with a rock and drowned by Ballard for being a ReverseMole. However, the real Elyot died at his estates in Cambridgeshire ''in 1546''. He was also in his fifties.
** In the second film, Elizabeth frequently consults Dr. John Dee over various matters. However, Dee was abroad at this time and didn't return to England until more than a year after the Spanish Armada.
** In the second film, nearly everything that Walter Raleigh does was actually done by Sir Francis Drake. Raleigh was kept in England when the Armada attacked because the Queen did not want him to be killed. Defeating the Armada was Drake's moment of triumph but he is hardly in the film.
** The Earl of Nottingham states that the Spanish Armada have destroyed several English ships. In reality the English didn't lose a single ship.
** Philip II of Spain is shown as a hunched and shadowy figure with a dark beard who is an incompetent king and a religious fanatic. The real Philip was known as being highly intelligent and had several successes with his foreign policies. He was also tall, blond and handsome.
** The Infanta of Spain was not a child at the time of the Armada but was in fact twenty-one.
** Sir Walter Raleigh was not knighted to keep him in England but to reward his services. He was also knighted on his ship and not against his will. Also, although Raleigh ''was'' imprisoned by Elizabeth, it didn't happen until several years after the Armada.
** Raleigh was not a pirate, Drake was.
** Mary, Queen of Scots's gaoler, Amyas Paulet, actually treated her rather well.
** Walter Raleigh quite famously had a strong West Country accent that meant some courtiers had difficulty understanding him. Francis Drake also had the same accent. In the second film, Mary, Queen of Scots is portrayed with a Scottish accent, when she would have had a French one as a result of living in France for years since she was a child.
** Frequently men at court are shown wearing long cloaks and carrying swords in the Queen's presence. Swords weren't allowed in court and the real Elizabeth actually banned long cloaks in case an assassin was hiding a weapon under it.
** At one point a man is hanged using the 'long drop' method with a trapdoor. This method of execution was not invented until the Nineteenth Century.
** Raleigh did not have an affair with Bess Throckmorton until three years after the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
** The film ends with the captions "Elizabeth reigned for another 40 years" (her full reign was almost 45, so the movie crams almost 20 years of anachronistic history into just under 5); "Walsingham remained her most trusted and loyal advisor to the end" (VERY arguable, as the likes of Dudley and Cecil probably have better claims) and "She never married and never saw Dudley in private again" (she and Dudley remained close friends until his death, so this is an outright lie).
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I don't think that counts when it's her opinion.
Deleted line(s) 72 (click to see context) :
*** In the middle of the movie, there is a discussion about which Franchise/StarWars film is the best, which results in Jean Grey saying the [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi third]] is usually the worst. While that is TruthInTelevision today and has been since the Special Edition release of the trilogy in 1997, in the '80s, it was the [[VindicatedByHistory now universally praised]] ''Empire Strikes Back'' that was viewed as the lowest performing of the series while ''Return of the Jedi'' was seen as a return to form.
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Changed line(s) 113 (click to see context) from:
* The opening narration for ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'' goes thusly: "In 1944, the Second World War was in its fifth year and still going Hitler's way. German troops controlled most of Europe. D-Day changed all that." By 1944, the war was quite definitely ''not'' going Hitler's way anymore. A constant barrage of defeats on the Eastern Front and Anglo-American air raids over German cities meant that, by 1944, Hitler's defeat was only a matter of time. And at no point during the war did German troops control "most" of Europe. If you count countries that were ''allied'' with Germany (such as Italy, Hungary, and Finland), sure, but they weren't being controlled by German troops.
to:
* The opening narration for ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'' goes thusly: "In 1944, the Second World War was in its fifth year and still going Hitler's way. German troops controlled most of Europe. D-Day changed all that." By 1944, the war was quite definitely ''not'' going Hitler's way anymore. A constant barrage of defeats on the Eastern Front and Anglo-American air raids over German cities meant that, by 1944, the time D-Day happened, Hitler's defeat was only a matter of time.time. It was launched to help accelerate the end of the war in Europe. And at no point during the war did German troops control "most" of Europe. If you count countries that were ''allied'' with Germany (such as Italy, Hungary, and Finland), sure, but they weren't being controlled by German troops.
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Changed line(s) 16 (click to see context) from:
* 1930 biopic ''Film/AbrahamLincoln'' is just full of this. It has Lincoln ''give a speech'' from his box at Ford's Theatre, right before he gets shot.
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* 1930 biopic ''Film/AbrahamLincoln'' ''Film/{{Abraham Lincoln|1930}}'' is just full of this. It has includes Lincoln ''give dramatically collapsing on Ann Rutledge's grave during a thunderstorm, while historians still aren't sure just how serious Lincoln's thing with Rutledge was; and Lincoln ''giving a speech'' from his box at Ford's Theatre, right before he gets shot.shot, and the speech itself is a mashup of the Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address.
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* ''ArtisticLicenseHistory/DraculaUntold''
Deleted line(s) 89,101 (click to see context) :
* A given in ''Film/DraculaUntold'', since the premise is equating the historical Dracula with the fictional one. Although the film gets ''some'' things right, such as the complicated tribute/enemy situation with the Ottoman Turkish empire, and that Dracula's (first) wife died because of an Ottoman attack.
** Vlad's kingdom is repeatedly called Transylvania rather than the historically accurate Wallachia, a different region.
** Vlad's family was not known as the House of Dracul and associated with dragons since time immemorial, as implied - the Dracul name and motif only began with his father.
** Vlad's wife and son have their names changed. In the course of his life he had two wives and three sons, none of whom share their names with the movie characters. The name of his first wife who died because of an Ottoman attack is unknown.
** Vlad indeed spent years among the Ottomans, but as a noble hostage, not an enslaved soldier for them.
** In the film Vlad gets his Impaler nickname for his deeds in the Turkish army. In real life he gained this reputation by doing that to the Turks ([[HistoricalHeroUpgrade and his own people]]), not ''for'' them.
** [[AdaptedOut There's no mention whatsoever]] of Vlad Dracula's brother, [[CainAndAbel Radu the Handsome.]] As boys they were taken hostage together by the Turks. But unlike Vlad, Radu came to support them, converted to Islam, and led the invading army in the campaign roughly corresponding to the Sultan's invasion in the film. He seems to have been [[CompositeCharacter combined with the Sultan]], who claims to be a former friend.
** Mehmet II [[spoiler:dies in this film FAR earlier]] compared to his historical counterpart, and it was in a completely different way. Also, the details of the real Dracula's end are varied, convoluted and rather iffy, but however he died, the Turks removed his head and sent it to Istanbul as proof he was most definitely ''dead.''
** The Ottoman Janissary Corps is portrayed far worse than it actually was. In the Christian parts of the Ottoman Empire at least, parents would have reacted to their children becoming Janissaries the same way parents today react when their kids get an offer from a good university. Yes, Janissaries were slave soldiers. But they were also extremely high-ranking ones, received the best training, highest education and much better living conditions than would have ever been attainable in Christian Europe. Hell, they could even rise to become Viziers and end up running the Empire.
** The fact that Vlad initially attained the Wallachian throne chiefly through ''Ottoman'' assistance is sadly glossed over in the film.
** Mehmet is portrayed as wanting to forcibly convert all of Christian Europe to Islam. Not only are compelled conversions invalid according to the Qur'an (''“Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth has been made clear from error. Whoever rejects false worship and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that never breaks. And Allah hears and knows all things.”'' ''[Sûrah al-Baqarah: 256]''), but Mehmet II is in fact remembered for instituting the Ottoman Millet, under which various minority groups could conduct themselves according to their own legal codes, for example Jews and the Halakha, or, more to the point, ''Christians under Canon Law''. He's also remembered for allowing the Byzantine Church to continue functioning even after his conquest of Constantinople and even ''ordered'' the Byzantine Patriarch Gennadius to translate Christian doctrines into Turkish.
** Historically, the envoys Mehmet II sent to Wallachia only demanded a tithe of 500 boys, rather than 1000 as seen here.
** The knights seen fleeing from Vlad in the opening narration are wearing 12th century armor, while Vlad lived in the 15th century.
** Vlad's kingdom is repeatedly called Transylvania rather than the historically accurate Wallachia, a different region.
** Vlad's family was not known as the House of Dracul and associated with dragons since time immemorial, as implied - the Dracul name and motif only began with his father.
** Vlad's wife and son have their names changed. In the course of his life he had two wives and three sons, none of whom share their names with the movie characters. The name of his first wife who died because of an Ottoman attack is unknown.
** Vlad indeed spent years among the Ottomans, but as a noble hostage, not an enslaved soldier for them.
** In the film Vlad gets his Impaler nickname for his deeds in the Turkish army. In real life he gained this reputation by doing that to the Turks ([[HistoricalHeroUpgrade and his own people]]), not ''for'' them.
** [[AdaptedOut There's no mention whatsoever]] of Vlad Dracula's brother, [[CainAndAbel Radu the Handsome.]] As boys they were taken hostage together by the Turks. But unlike Vlad, Radu came to support them, converted to Islam, and led the invading army in the campaign roughly corresponding to the Sultan's invasion in the film. He seems to have been [[CompositeCharacter combined with the Sultan]], who claims to be a former friend.
** Mehmet II [[spoiler:dies in this film FAR earlier]] compared to his historical counterpart, and it was in a completely different way. Also, the details of the real Dracula's end are varied, convoluted and rather iffy, but however he died, the Turks removed his head and sent it to Istanbul as proof he was most definitely ''dead.''
** The Ottoman Janissary Corps is portrayed far worse than it actually was. In the Christian parts of the Ottoman Empire at least, parents would have reacted to their children becoming Janissaries the same way parents today react when their kids get an offer from a good university. Yes, Janissaries were slave soldiers. But they were also extremely high-ranking ones, received the best training, highest education and much better living conditions than would have ever been attainable in Christian Europe. Hell, they could even rise to become Viziers and end up running the Empire.
** The fact that Vlad initially attained the Wallachian throne chiefly through ''Ottoman'' assistance is sadly glossed over in the film.
** Mehmet is portrayed as wanting to forcibly convert all of Christian Europe to Islam. Not only are compelled conversions invalid according to the Qur'an (''“Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth has been made clear from error. Whoever rejects false worship and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that never breaks. And Allah hears and knows all things.”'' ''[Sûrah al-Baqarah: 256]''), but Mehmet II is in fact remembered for instituting the Ottoman Millet, under which various minority groups could conduct themselves according to their own legal codes, for example Jews and the Halakha, or, more to the point, ''Christians under Canon Law''. He's also remembered for allowing the Byzantine Church to continue functioning even after his conquest of Constantinople and even ''ordered'' the Byzantine Patriarch Gennadius to translate Christian doctrines into Turkish.
** Historically, the envoys Mehmet II sent to Wallachia only demanded a tithe of 500 boys, rather than 1000 as seen here.
** The knights seen fleeing from Vlad in the opening narration are wearing 12th century armor, while Vlad lived in the 15th century.
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* ''ArtisticLicenseHistory/BlackHawkDown''
* ''ArtisticLicenseHistory/{{Braveheart}}''
* ''ArtisticLicenseHistory/{{Braveheart}}''
Deleted line(s) 39,48 (click to see context) :
* ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' is particularly well known for its lack of historical accuracy, to the point that Scottish historians are still complaining about it 20 years later. No mercy is granted for the film essentially admitting its HollywoodHistory nature in the opening narration.
** Queen Isabella was three years old at the time when the film is set, so there's no possibility she could have had an affair with Wallace.
** Scots did not actually wear kilts at the time, as they do incorrectly throughout the film. The crushed velvet that members of royalty sport in that film wouldn't be invented until centuries later. Also their style of clothing is more suited to the 15th century, not the 13th.
** Stirling Bridge is nowhere to be found in the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Its inclusion was planned but in the end it proved too expensive to build one. Also, Andrew Moray, a Scottish resistance leader, was vital to the planning and execution of the battle. Absent from the film. As is any hint of the discipline and tactical sense that won the battle for the Scots--the posturing and linear charge depicted in the film would doubtless have gotten them killed.
** The Scots had stopped using the blue woad worn by Wallace and his men around the time of the Romans, though it's presented as something of a throwback within the film.
** William Wallace always staunchly supported Robert the Bruce's claim to the throne. Bruce never directly betrayed William Wallace either. His victory over the English at Bannockburn also took many years of more struggle before it was achieved.
** Wallace was hardly the simple highlander he is portrayed to be, but a minor aristocrat probably from the South of Scotland. For that matter almost everyone in his army should be lowlanders as well; the actual highlanders were essentially a separate culture (with their own language) at the time.
** Moreover, one of the few things preserved about his character was his strictness as a disciplinarian...entirely at odds with the "summer camp" atmosphere portrayed in his camp.
** King Edward I gets a HistoricalVillainUpgrade. The film portrays him almost as a CardCarryingVillain, whilst in reality his record was pretty mixed -- whilst a brutal conqueror abroad and an anti-Semite, he did not oppress his ''English'' subjects, and was in fact considered fairly radical in European circles. His laws established Parliament as a permanent institution, set up a working taxation system and ushered in an overall more progressive system for England (one of his nicknames was "the English Justinian"). Edward I did not kill his son's lover by throwing him out of a window. Nor did English barons invoke ''[[JusPrimaeNoctis primae noctis]]'' (the supposed right of lords to take the virginity of their female subjects on their wedding nights). In fact, ''primae noctis'' likely did not exist (certainly it would not have been legal). It's a throwaway line but Edward is mentioned as being "a cruel pagan" -- no evidence that he was any less (or more) devout Christian than your average English king of his time.
** Edward II is transformed into a SissyVillain. The historical Edward almost certainly was gay or bi, but he was big and strong and more loutish than effeminate. Otherwise-exasperated contemporaries noted that at least he ''looked'' impressive. His (likely) lover Piers Gaveston, an avid jouster, is similarly transformed--and though the elder Edward disapproved of the closeness of their relationship, he didn't seem to hold that much animosity for Gaveston himself, sending him off to France with plenty of notice and a generous income.
** Queen Isabella was three years old at the time when the film is set, so there's no possibility she could have had an affair with Wallace.
** Scots did not actually wear kilts at the time, as they do incorrectly throughout the film. The crushed velvet that members of royalty sport in that film wouldn't be invented until centuries later. Also their style of clothing is more suited to the 15th century, not the 13th.
** Stirling Bridge is nowhere to be found in the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Its inclusion was planned but in the end it proved too expensive to build one. Also, Andrew Moray, a Scottish resistance leader, was vital to the planning and execution of the battle. Absent from the film. As is any hint of the discipline and tactical sense that won the battle for the Scots--the posturing and linear charge depicted in the film would doubtless have gotten them killed.
** The Scots had stopped using the blue woad worn by Wallace and his men around the time of the Romans, though it's presented as something of a throwback within the film.
** William Wallace always staunchly supported Robert the Bruce's claim to the throne. Bruce never directly betrayed William Wallace either. His victory over the English at Bannockburn also took many years of more struggle before it was achieved.
** Wallace was hardly the simple highlander he is portrayed to be, but a minor aristocrat probably from the South of Scotland. For that matter almost everyone in his army should be lowlanders as well; the actual highlanders were essentially a separate culture (with their own language) at the time.
** Moreover, one of the few things preserved about his character was his strictness as a disciplinarian...entirely at odds with the "summer camp" atmosphere portrayed in his camp.
** King Edward I gets a HistoricalVillainUpgrade. The film portrays him almost as a CardCarryingVillain, whilst in reality his record was pretty mixed -- whilst a brutal conqueror abroad and an anti-Semite, he did not oppress his ''English'' subjects, and was in fact considered fairly radical in European circles. His laws established Parliament as a permanent institution, set up a working taxation system and ushered in an overall more progressive system for England (one of his nicknames was "the English Justinian"). Edward I did not kill his son's lover by throwing him out of a window. Nor did English barons invoke ''[[JusPrimaeNoctis primae noctis]]'' (the supposed right of lords to take the virginity of their female subjects on their wedding nights). In fact, ''primae noctis'' likely did not exist (certainly it would not have been legal). It's a throwaway line but Edward is mentioned as being "a cruel pagan" -- no evidence that he was any less (or more) devout Christian than your average English king of his time.
** Edward II is transformed into a SissyVillain. The historical Edward almost certainly was gay or bi, but he was big and strong and more loutish than effeminate. Otherwise-exasperated contemporaries noted that at least he ''looked'' impressive. His (likely) lover Piers Gaveston, an avid jouster, is similarly transformed--and though the elder Edward disapproved of the closeness of their relationship, he didn't seem to hold that much animosity for Gaveston himself, sending him off to France with plenty of notice and a generous income.
Deleted line(s) 113,120 (click to see context) :
* ''Film/BlackHawkDown'' is an extreme example which took advantage of the environment of fear and anger in America and the West in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. This is especially apparent if one has read the book that it is [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory supposedly]] based on. This movie is often considered a prime example of a modern propaganda movie, for these reasons. To wit:
** The famine depicted in the introduction had actually ended a year prior to the events of the battle. By 1993 90% of aid shipments were getting where they were going, and Aideed's militia never fired on civilians getting food from aid stations, nor did they have any particular reason to want to do so either. The UN also never impeded American efforts to protect aid convoys.
** None of the back story is explained at all. The civil war and aforementioned famine had actually been caused by the policies of Siad Barre, the dictator who, with American aid given due to Cold War geopolitics, held control of Somalia from 1969 to 1991. The "international aid mission" was essentially just a convenient cover story for America to attempt to go back in with a force of 30,000 ground troops, and reassert control after Barre was driven into exile.
** The actual reason the Somalis hated the Americans so much, which is not even mentioned in the movie, was due to the conduct of that "humanitarian aid" force prior to the events of the battle. In general, the task force harassed and terrified the population. They often fired mortars into populated areas, and in one particularly notorious incident bombed a meeting of clan elders who were discussing plans for making a peace to end the civil war. Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed.
** Local Somalians, in particular, hated the Black Hawks because pilots would often fly over the streets and use the rotor wash to harass the population. The updraft from a Black Hawk was strong enough to destroy weak buildings, throw market places into chaos, and tear off women's robes and babies from their mother's arms. Many of the interviewed Rangers compared doing this to riding a roller coaster.
** In general, the depiction of the Rangers as an elite force of experienced, consummate professionals is incorrect. The [[TeensAreMonsters average age of the Rangers in Mogadishu was 19]] and the majority had never been under fire before. Discipline broke down when the bullets actually started flying, which is part of the reason that there were so many causalities to begin with.
** The grim realities of war and many of the morally reprehensible things the Rangers did during the actual battle are also glossed over or not depicted at all. One of the crashed helicopters crushed a building with a child inside, and an incident where a group of Rangers took a family hostage is not in the movie. General Garrison himself and many of the Rangers interviewed also admitted to firing into crowds, and anything that moved by towards the end of the battle.
** Finally, the Rangers and Delta members stranded in the city were ultimately rescued by a Pakistani armored brigade, which the Americans had almost nothing to do with. This is barely mentioned once in passing.
** The famine depicted in the introduction had actually ended a year prior to the events of the battle. By 1993 90% of aid shipments were getting where they were going, and Aideed's militia never fired on civilians getting food from aid stations, nor did they have any particular reason to want to do so either. The UN also never impeded American efforts to protect aid convoys.
** None of the back story is explained at all. The civil war and aforementioned famine had actually been caused by the policies of Siad Barre, the dictator who, with American aid given due to Cold War geopolitics, held control of Somalia from 1969 to 1991. The "international aid mission" was essentially just a convenient cover story for America to attempt to go back in with a force of 30,000 ground troops, and reassert control after Barre was driven into exile.
** The actual reason the Somalis hated the Americans so much, which is not even mentioned in the movie, was due to the conduct of that "humanitarian aid" force prior to the events of the battle. In general, the task force harassed and terrified the population. They often fired mortars into populated areas, and in one particularly notorious incident bombed a meeting of clan elders who were discussing plans for making a peace to end the civil war. Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed.
** Local Somalians, in particular, hated the Black Hawks because pilots would often fly over the streets and use the rotor wash to harass the population. The updraft from a Black Hawk was strong enough to destroy weak buildings, throw market places into chaos, and tear off women's robes and babies from their mother's arms. Many of the interviewed Rangers compared doing this to riding a roller coaster.
** In general, the depiction of the Rangers as an elite force of experienced, consummate professionals is incorrect. The [[TeensAreMonsters average age of the Rangers in Mogadishu was 19]] and the majority had never been under fire before. Discipline broke down when the bullets actually started flying, which is part of the reason that there were so many causalities to begin with.
** The grim realities of war and many of the morally reprehensible things the Rangers did during the actual battle are also glossed over or not depicted at all. One of the crashed helicopters crushed a building with a child inside, and an incident where a group of Rangers took a family hostage is not in the movie. General Garrison himself and many of the Rangers interviewed also admitted to firing into crowds, and anything that moved by towards the end of the battle.
** Finally, the Rangers and Delta members stranded in the city were ultimately rescued by a Pakistani armored brigade, which the Americans had almost nothing to do with. This is barely mentioned once in passing.
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Added DiffLines:
!!Films with their own pages
[[index]]
* ''ArtisticLicenseHistory/TheImitationGame''
* ''ArtisticLicenseHistory/PearlHarbor''
[[/index]]
----
* ''Film/AmericanGangster'', presented as a [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory biographical film]] about Harlem drug dealer Frank Lucas, is inaccurate concerning real events from Frank Lucas' life. Denzel Washington admitted much of the film was fabricated for dramatic effect. Lucas did not have a child and was not involved with the Drug Enforcement Administration to the extent portrayed in the film.
* ''Film/TheLastCommand'': The film seems to be conflating the February revolution (which toppled the Romanovs) and the [[RedOctober October Revolution]] (in which the Bolsheviks seized power). In the movie the Tsar's government is apparently directly replaced by the Bolsheviks, which did not happen in RealLife.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
** The East India Trading Company had no authority in the West Indies. The name is a clue. The real company the EITC was based on was the East India Company (notice the lack of the word 'Trading'). "Authority" in the West Indies in the film seemed to stem more from political connections of the head of the company (Lord Becket) than any authority of the company.
* In ''Film/TeachingMrsTingle'', one of the main characters is a girl we're [[InformedAbility constantly told]] is a great brain, and she produces a final project for her History class that's an "authentic recreation" of the diary of a girl who was killed during the Salem Witch Trials, right down to the book being authentically aged to resemble a diary that had survived the period. The eponymous teacher opens the diary at random, and finds an entry on how the fictional girl fears she'll be burned at the stake tomorrow. ''[[BurnTheWitch No one was burned at the stake in the Salem Witch Trials]]'', and a person of that time period would have known this. They ''hanged'' those convicted, while one was ''crushed'' under weights for declining to enter a plea, and while people were burned in Europe, it was usually for heresy, not witchcraft (though, to be sure, the two were sometimes linked). The student gets a C, though not for this mistake.
* ''Fist of Fear, Touch of Death'', possibly the most awful of all awful Brucesploitation films, states during a biographical sequence that Bruce Lee's grandfather was 19th Century China's greatest ''samurai''.
* 1930 biopic ''Film/AbrahamLincoln'' is just full of this. It has Lincoln ''give a speech'' from his box at Ford's Theatre, right before he gets shot.
* Numerous movies have inaccurately portrayed [[RememberTheAlamo The Alamo]] with the curved roof at the time of the eponymous battle--in truth, the roof had crumbled due to neglect, and it was ''1912'' before the familiar facade was restored.
* ''Film/AnimalHouse'' has an in-universe example:
-->'''Bluto:''' Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
* ''Film/{{Dreamgirls}}'' has a scene with the Dreams recording "Heavy" while there's a riot going on. This riot is actually the Detroit race riot of 1967. This, at first, is important for the sake of the era and to show how life was in Black America during the 60's. However, the next scene states that the year is actually 1966, making the riot scenes irrelevant.
* ''Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture'' starts off 35,000 years ago in North Texas, and depicts a pair of Neanderthals running through the snow. Evidence of humans in the New World so early is thin and disputed; if they were there, they were certainly not Neanderthal, who never ranged outside Eurasia.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'' (where the entire [[PlanetOfHats world]] has become [[IdiotBall less intelligent]]) a theme park of the future thought that UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and Creator/CharlieChaplin were the same person, and both sides rode dinosaurs. "And then the UN un-Nazied the world forever."
* ''Film/AFistfulOfDynamite'' -- John Mallory, being an Irish nationalist in 1913, owns an IRA flag. Problem is the IRA did not exist until 1919. He would have most likely been an Irish volunteer for the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood) if part of any official organisation whatever.
* ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore'' is set during the American Civil War, as shown by a safe full of Confederate money. One character comments that the bank's vault "weighs three tons and can't be opened with dynamite." Indeed it couldn't -- dynamite wasn't invented, patented, or named until after the Civil War was over. But the line is delivered so effectively it's hard to picture it working as well with any other word.
* ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'': The US Navy fires cannons at the US.
* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' is full of this: Renaud de Châtillon was never a [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar Templar]], nor was Guy de Lusignan. The latter was actually the king of Jerusalem when Renaud launched his attack on the caravan, King Baldwin having been dead for several years. Sybille's marriage with Guy was not an arranged one: her family was actually opposed; and it goes on and on...
** Indeed, the Knights Templar were explicitly forbidden from marrying, as well as owning land. Crowning a Templar as a King would have been a legal impossibility at the time.
** One particularly {{egregious}} example is the protagonist ''teaching the desert-dwelling people how to irrigate their land and so becoming their lord''. Yeah. The people who had been farming a desert (and digging wells) for ''thousands of years'' being taught all they know by the MightyWhitey when, if anything, during the Crusades it was sort of the other way round (medieval Europe didn't even have round towers until they got the idea from the Arabs).
** There's no suggestion in the film that he invents the irrigation system, but there's a clear implication that he's the only person with the initiative to think of digging for water, or the skill to find it.
* ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' has a number:
** Subversion: A Roman senator claims, "Rome was founded as a republic!" It was founded as a kingdom. Although the Romans didn't want to think of Rome ever having been a kingdom. As far as the Romans were concerned, the ''real'' Rome was founded when they kicked the asses of the Etruscan kings and established the republic. Furthermore, the character is a politician trying to push his political agenda. WordOfGod claims this was meant to be inaccurate in-universe.
** Power passes automatically to Commodus on Marcus Aurelius' death in the film. In reality, there was no official line of succession, since the state was not officially monarchist. In fact, before Marcus Aurelius there had been a longstanding tradition of emperors hand-picking their successors from outside their biological families. The historical Commodus was in fact the first emperor "born to the purple", i.e. born during his father's reign, and did indeed break the usual tradition by succeeding his father. He also became sole emperor after Marcus Aurelius' death because he had ruled jointly with him for four years. Even in the film, Marcus Aurelius tries to make someone other than his son emperor; the only oddity is the assumption that Commodus would otherwise naturally be the successor to the throne. There is no evidence he killed his father to get the position.
** Commodus actually did fight in the arena, though he was almost certainly in no danger. The person who killed him, Narcissus, might have been a former gladiator, but he didn't slay him in the arena--he strangled him while he was bathing. However, Commodus was never noted for any incestuous or patricidal behavior. There is a reason Marcus Aurelius was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", but it's just that the character flaws given in the film are not quite the same as those he had in real life; rather, the ''real'' Commodus was considered bad for things like believing himself to be Hercules and [[{{Egopolis}} renaming everything in the Empire--including Rome itself--after himself]], a whole other kind of crazy.
** Asking the Senate to bring power back to the old Republican Offices would be somewhat akin to asking the French today to restart the Bourbon Monarchy in its absolutist ''Ancien Régime'' glory.
** In a similar vein, even in the heyday of the Republic, the Senate was not an elected body; members were appointed to it by a censor (later Emperor) or the Senate itself by vote, or won a major public office at election (excepting the Plebeian Tribuneship, although quite a few Tribunes were Senators). It wasn't hereditary, however; a Senator's son who failed the property qualification test would lose his appointment.
** Significant legislative and executive power also rested in the Citizens' Assembly, from which Senators were excluded. The Citizens' Assembly was very much like an Athenian or Swiss Canton direct democracy -- any citizen could cast a vote on a matter at hand that day. This is almost universally wrong in any movie depicting Ancient Rome. In Hollywood's mind, only the Senate existed.
** Neither Marcus Aurelius, nor anyone else in the government, had any interest in democracy. The system of city-state democracy of the Roman Republic had proven itself to make the empire ungovernable once it expanded too far. They needed a concentration of power to establish order and keep the peace after the Civil Wars, which came about partially due to ambitious Generals filling the power void in the far away provinces and fighting the bogged-down Senate for authority by invading Rome.
* ''Film/ThreeHundred'' is so obviously not meant to reflect actual history. In fact, historical records of the event are already believed to be rather sensationalized and greatly embellished. ZackSnyder and Creator/FrankMiller also drew inspiration from ancient artwork, which, much like Hollywood, glamorize battles of the past. Audiences have loved muscle-bound, half-naked supermen kicking the snot out of each other for [[OlderThanTheyThink quite a while]]. It's fairer to say that ''300'' didn't ''fail'' history so much as kick it into a well and give it the finger. The embellishment is heavily implied as part of the Greek propaganda even during the film. On the other hand, Zack Snyder did state rather audaciously that the history presented in the film is "[[DanBrowned 90% accurate, although the visuals are pretty crazy]]."
** Particularly egregious was how the film ignores the fact that Sparta, far from being an ancient bastion of democracy, had the most brutal caste system in Greece with the helots. Also there's a line contemptuously referring to the ''boy-lovers'' in Athens, when records suggest that Sparta was well-known for its own traditions of pederasty.
** The army that fought against the Persians was actually at least five or six thousand strong, with units from all over Greece. The 300 refers to the number of Spartan hoplites in the pan-Greek army.
** ''300'' propagated the image of an army of bare-chested soldiers, further copied by others attempting be "authentic", when the soldiers would have been wearing leather armor at the time.
* ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' is particularly well known for its lack of historical accuracy, to the point that Scottish historians are still complaining about it 20 years later. No mercy is granted for the film essentially admitting its HollywoodHistory nature in the opening narration.
** Queen Isabella was three years old at the time when the film is set, so there's no possibility she could have had an affair with Wallace.
** Scots did not actually wear kilts at the time, as they do incorrectly throughout the film. The crushed velvet that members of royalty sport in that film wouldn't be invented until centuries later. Also their style of clothing is more suited to the 15th century, not the 13th.
** Stirling Bridge is nowhere to be found in the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Its inclusion was planned but in the end it proved too expensive to build one. Also, Andrew Moray, a Scottish resistance leader, was vital to the planning and execution of the battle. Absent from the film. As is any hint of the discipline and tactical sense that won the battle for the Scots--the posturing and linear charge depicted in the film would doubtless have gotten them killed.
** The Scots had stopped using the blue woad worn by Wallace and his men around the time of the Romans, though it's presented as something of a throwback within the film.
** William Wallace always staunchly supported Robert the Bruce's claim to the throne. Bruce never directly betrayed William Wallace either. His victory over the English at Bannockburn also took many years of more struggle before it was achieved.
** Wallace was hardly the simple highlander he is portrayed to be, but a minor aristocrat probably from the South of Scotland. For that matter almost everyone in his army should be lowlanders as well; the actual highlanders were essentially a separate culture (with their own language) at the time.
** Moreover, one of the few things preserved about his character was his strictness as a disciplinarian...entirely at odds with the "summer camp" atmosphere portrayed in his camp.
** King Edward I gets a HistoricalVillainUpgrade. The film portrays him almost as a CardCarryingVillain, whilst in reality his record was pretty mixed -- whilst a brutal conqueror abroad and an anti-Semite, he did not oppress his ''English'' subjects, and was in fact considered fairly radical in European circles. His laws established Parliament as a permanent institution, set up a working taxation system and ushered in an overall more progressive system for England (one of his nicknames was "the English Justinian"). Edward I did not kill his son's lover by throwing him out of a window. Nor did English barons invoke ''[[JusPrimaeNoctis primae noctis]]'' (the supposed right of lords to take the virginity of their female subjects on their wedding nights). In fact, ''primae noctis'' likely did not exist (certainly it would not have been legal). It's a throwaway line but Edward is mentioned as being "a cruel pagan" -- no evidence that he was any less (or more) devout Christian than your average English king of his time.
** Edward II is transformed into a SissyVillain. The historical Edward almost certainly was gay or bi, but he was big and strong and more loutish than effeminate. Otherwise-exasperated contemporaries noted that at least he ''looked'' impressive. His (likely) lover Piers Gaveston, an avid jouster, is similarly transformed--and though the elder Edward disapproved of the closeness of their relationship, he didn't seem to hold that much animosity for Gaveston himself, sending him off to France with plenty of notice and a generous income.
* ''Film/{{Agora}}'' repeats [[http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2009/05/agora-and-hypatia-hollywood-strikes.html popular]] [[http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2010/05/hypatia-and-agora-redux.html myths]] about Hypatia and the Library of Alexandria to preach about atheism and rationalism vs. religious fanaticism. To what degree the movie does so is, however, somewhat [[http://richardcarrier.blogspot.com/2010/08/agora-review.html open to debate]]. In RealLife, as you might expect, Hypatia was not atheist but a pagan. She was also a pure philosopher more than a scientist.
* ''Film/{{Batman}}'': When looking at a collection of armor suits:
-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' It's Japanese.\\
'''Knox:''' How do you know?\\
'''Bruce Wayne:''' Because I bought it in Japan.
* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'':
** Judge Doom's ultimate goal is to build the Pasadena Freeway on the land where Toontown stands; his shutting down LA's trolleys is a Shout Out to the Great American Streetcar Scandal. However, the film is set in 1947 - the Pasadena Freeway was already built in 1940.
** In that same film Eddie and Roger watch the Goofy cartoon "Goofy Gymnastics", which was released in 1949.
** Several cartoon characters in the movie would only make their debut several years later: WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner ("Fast and Furry-ous", 1949), Tinkerbell (''Disney/PeterPan'', 1953), the penguin waiters (''Film/MaryPoppins'', 1964)... However, the makers defended themselves by saying that these characters were simply not employed yet by their studios in those years.
* ''The Experiment'': Depicting a fictionalized account of the StanfordPrisonExperiment, the organization responsible for conducting the experiment is the "Monad Corporation"; the word Stanford is never used.
* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' plays fast and loose with facts quite often, although this was typical of the old adventure movies that [[GenreThrowback served as the franchise's inspiration]].
** Tanis, Egypt from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' is a real place. It could not have been rediscovered by the Nazis in 1936 because ''it was never lost in the first place''. In fact, there were numerous archaeological digs in Tanis before the Nazis even came to power. Egypt was also under British influence in 1936, when the movie is supposedly set.
** Playing loose with locations is common through the franchise. The tiny village Marion's bar is in is identified in the novelization as Patan, the second biggest city in Nepal. The third act of ''Raiders'' takes place in a secret Nazi submarine base in Greece, which would have been objected to by the Greeks in real life, naturally[[note]]Or it might have been in the Dodecanese, which was Italian at the time; however, the adventure map implies the contrary, and Italy and Germany had not become allies yet at the time anyway[[/note]].
** In ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Last Crusade]]'', set in 1938, Indy and his father drive from Venice to Berlin (passing a road sign with these two names on and [[ArtisticLicenseGeography no other place]] in between) to retrieve a book from a Nazi book burning (based on the one from 1933) and escape Germany in a commercial Zeppelin flight (all canceled after the Hindenburg's disaster in 1937). The third act takes them to Hatay, a short lived ([[AluminiumChristmasTrees but real]]) Turkish republic that is portrayed as an Arab monarchy. Even the Hatay flag is fictional.
** ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull Crystal Skull]]'' has a [[{{Mayincatec}} Mayan-speaking civilization]] [[LatinLand in the Amazon]] and Indy claiming that he learned Quechua (Peru) from two guys in Pancho Villa's army (Mexico).
* WebVideo/ConfusedMatthew went to great lengths to explain how ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' went beyond Artistic License and outright falsified what happened on the Titanic to make the upperclassmen on the ship as unsympathetic as possible and thus try and make the main characters more sympathetic. His two biggest beefs seem to be: Falsely portraying First Officer (third in command of the ship, Chief Officer is 2nd in command) William Murdock as a corrupt individual who took bribes and shot people to ensure certain people spots on the lifeboats, and making up the idea that the ship's crew tried to keep the lower class men down in third class to let them all die.
* ''Film/{{Australia}}''. In reality, the Japanese never set foot on the Australian mainland. (The famous battles along the Kokoda Track were what is now Papua New Guinea, which at the time was two separate territories administered by Australia.) They bombed Darwin, then left. The bombing also actually occurred in 1942, not 1941.
** Japanese Sub Crews did occasionally go ashore in remote locations along the coast to gather fresh water, and float planes landed on the northern islands after the raid in an unsuccessful attempt to find and rescue downed Japanese aircrew. The large landing party shown exploring the beach for no logically explained reason in the movie was pure fiction.
** Darwin was never ordered to be evacutated. After the end of the first raid (the Japanese carriers), the RAAF base commander ordered his command to muster outside of the base in order to prevent further unnecessary casualities. It was while exiting the base that some troops encounted civilians leaving Darwin and, from lack of clear orders, 'hitched lifts'. It was while this troop movement was happening that the second raid (54 Japanese land based Nell and Betty twin engined bombers - also not shown in the movie) arrived and carpet bombed the RAAF base with some 530 60kg bombs, causing a massive morale effect but little to no extra damage or casualities.
** Zero fighters carried drop tanks, not the bombs that were shown attacking the mission station.
** Bathust Island was straffed by Zeros, not bombed. Their target was the American transport aircraft that had previously forced landed on the RAAF Advanced Operational Base (read 'basic airstrip') there.
* ''Film/TheGodfatherPartIII'' features the death of Popes Paul VI and John Paul I in the year 1979, while all these events actually took place in 1978!
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'': The movie claims to start in 1845 Northwest Territories, Canada... Except that the Northwest Territories would not become a part of Canada until 1870 (and the borders of the vast area were gradually changed until 1905, which resulted in the creation of 4 provinces and 2 territories). Canada itself was only granted Dominion status in 1867.
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'':
*** RFK Stadium is shown with a baseball diamond, when in real life the Washington Senators baseball team had moved to Texas in 1971, two years before this film is set.
*** Hank tells Logan that most of the students and teachers were drafted for the UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, which is why Charles had shut down the school. In real life, most--if not all--of them could have stayed through a student deferment, and it's hard to believe that Xavier couldn't push such a thing through if he really wanted to.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'':
*** It is nigh-impossible that a CNN reporter would have been allowed to film in a Polish town, especially given that Poland in 1983 was under martial law.
*** When Apocalypse is addressing the world, he speaks in Russian to a large group of churchgoers at a solemn Russian Orthodox Christian service. It is also highly improbable that the church would have that much attendance (religious life in the USSR was very strictly policed).
*** In the middle of the movie, there is a discussion about which Franchise/StarWars film is the best, which results in Jean Grey saying the [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi third]] is usually the worst. While that is TruthInTelevision today and has been since the Special Edition release of the trilogy in 1997, in the '80s, it was the [[VindicatedByHistory now universally praised]] ''Empire Strikes Back'' that was viewed as the lowest performing of the series while ''Return of the Jedi'' was seen as a return to form.
* In ''Film/TheOutlawJoseyWales'', character Lone Watie (implied to be a relative to Confederate general Stand Watie), tells the title character that, when the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar broke out, the Cherokee chiefs declared war on the Union due to their mistreatment on the Trail of Tears and on the reservation. Actually the real Watie family was in favor of removal to Oklahoma, and settled there voluntarily before troops were sent in to force the matter. In addition, the Cherokee tribe was split on the matter; despite being slaveholders, many of them remembered that they were forced out from a Southern state by a Southern president. Principal Chief John Ross (who had always been opposed to removal) paid lip service to the Confederates at first, then emphatically threw his weight behind the Union as soon as he could without fear of reprisal.
* ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' claims to be the [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory real life story]] of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, but most of the scenes are made up for the film. There are several anachronisms with the 2003 time period: the Samsung [=SyncMaster=] 941BW was not available in 2003, Serato Scratch Live wasn't released until 2004, a can of Mountain Dew uses a newer logo introduced in 2005, the site "Cats That Look Like Hitler" wasn't there until 2006, Windows XP Service Pack 3, ''[[{{Fallout3}} Fallout 3]]'', and Dennis de Laat's "The Sound Of Violence" weren't released until 2008, Bing wasn't around until 2009, traffic to Facemash slowed down Harvard's network but did not cause a "network crash", Harvard had a "@fas.harvard.edu" e-mail address instead of "@harvard.edu", Harvard dorms at the time required swiping a keycard instead of keyless entry. The film's ending claims Facebook is available in [[WritersCannotDoMath 207 countries]]; the last count has been no greater than 196 countries. The film depicts Mark as creating Facemash and Facebook as payback and an appeal to an ex-girlfriend, when he had a girlfriend (now his wife) during most of the film's events. Mark Zuckerberg reportedly spent the time sitting, programming and eating pizza with friends during Facebook's development.
* In ''Film/UndercoverBlues'', it is said that Paulina Novacek (villain of the movie and former STB agent) "left Prague two jumps ahead of the firing squad." There were no executions in Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution (Czechoslovakia abolished the death penalty in 1990); before the revolution, executions were carried out by hanging.
* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' claims that many of the advancements in technology in the 20th century were a result of reverse-engineering [[spoiler:Megatron]], who had been hidden under the Hoover Dam by the US government. The filmmakers include cars in this list of technologies. Apparently Creator/MichaelBay hasn't heard of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Benz Karl Benz]] (as in Mercedes-Benz), who patented the first internal combustion-powered car in ''1895'', thirty years before the Hoover Dam was even thought of.
* ''Film/SevenSamurai'' played with this trope both ways. It portrayed the main samurai of the cast as all being brave and noble, but also acknowledges that the majority of them were brutal thugs who uses their power of higher social class to oppress the weak. Kurosawa said he did this because he's descended from a samurai family, and wanted in some way to apologize for his ancestor's actions. The Japanese still regard this film as a classic, but they were ''not'' happy with him deciding to speak the truth on this historical matter.
* In-universe example in ''Film/IronSky'', Renate uses a heavily edited version of ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' to teach schoolchildren that Hitler was a kind and grand man who only wanted the best for the world. Renate herself has been fooled by the same propaganda and is utterly crushed when she later sees the full version.
* ''Film/SergeantYork'', while mostly accurate, takes some liberties with the real events of Alvin York's life:
** York's friend "Pusher" Ross is killed by a captured German soldier who managed to get hold of a grenade. York then shoots the German in revenge. Pusher is fictional, and although one German ''did'' refuse to surrender, threw a grenade and was shot by York in response, the grenade didn't kill any Americans.
** The German troops are shown being commanded by a major. They were actually commanded by Paul Vollmer, who was only a lieutenant. The fictional major in the movie isn't named.
** York is seen using a Luger he takes from a captured German after losing his US Army Colt M1911. In truth, he never took a gun from a prisoner to use, and kept hold of his Army Colt for the entire battle. This was changed because the Luger the armorers provided was the only blank-adapted handgun available on the set. He is also seen using an M1903 Springfield, as opposed to the M1917 Enfield he had in real life.
** The battle occurs in a very open and frankly desert-like environment, as compared to the thickly-wooded hills of the actual ravine in France. It's possible the filmmakers wanted to give the battlefield a more harsh and desolate-looking appearance in order to add tension.
* An egregious example in ''Film/{{Seabiscuit}}'', though only to those who read Laura Hillenbrand's original book. The film depicts Seabiscuit's jockey, Red Pollard, as having been raised in an affluent family that lost its fortune in the 1929 Wall Street crash. While the real Pollard was indeed born into a wealthy family that lost its fortune, he had left home to become a jockey back in 1922, and the family had lost its fortune when a major flood of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton destroyed the family business ''in 1915''. A notable example both for readers of the book and informed horseracing fans in general, in the book's discussion of the match race, War Admiral is correctly described as being on the small side and a plain dark bay, who of similar breeding to Seabiscuit (War Admiral was sired by Man o' War out of a Ben Brush-line mare, Seabiscuit was sired by Hard Tack, a son of Man o' War, out of a Ben Brush mare, making him more or less War Admiral's "nephew" and related on the female line, too.) In the movie, War Admiral is depicted as a gigantic coal-black horse and his 'superior' breeding is played up.
* ''Film/TheHurricane'' starring Creator/DenzelWashington portrays boxer Rubin Carter as a totally innocent man who is wrongly convicted of two murders thanks largely to a racist cop who's had it out for him since his boyhood. No evidence exists that the lead detective held any grudge against Carter, and he was described as a jovial man, very different from Dan Hedaya's scowling, tight-lipped portrayal. The film whitewashes Carter's criminal history, depicting Carter as defending himself in boyhood against a pedophile, then being arrested and sent to a juvenile facility by this same racist detective. In reality, Carter was arrested for assaulting and robbing a man, a crime that is not disputed. This was only one of many offenses he committed. Moreover, while Carter's actual guilt or innocence continues to be debated, the film portrays him as having been exonerated by the efforts of three Canadian activists and a young African-American who wrote to him in prison. They did not find evidence showing he was innocent, however, but only some that had not been presented by the prosecution. He was ordered released or retried-New Jersey appealed this ruling, lost, and chose to not retry him again (he had already been retried before in 1976, with another guilty verdict resulting). Carter was thus never exonerated, or even acquitted. On a lesser note, to build up the idea of Carter being victimized by racism in the 1960s, he is shown defeating white boxer Joey Giardello, who is then declared to have won anyway. Carter himself agreed Giordello beat him, and he sued the film producers over this portrayal, settling for a hefty sum.
* ''Film/MemoirsOfAGeisha'': Though set in 1930's-40's Japan, the Geisha's traditional attention to detail given to kimonos is not present, some scenes are clearly CaliforniaDoubling, and the "Snow Dance" performed is not accurate to any Japanese traditional dance.
* In ''Film/MyWay'' during the climax D-Day scene
** D-Day at Normandy was cloudy with rough waves and almost non-ideal weather for an amphibious landing. The movie depicts D-Day with clear, sunny skies and relatively calm waves.
** [[spoiler: Tatsuo at the end]] is captured by recently landed American paratroopers; no paratroopers landed on the beach during the invasion, only at pre-dawn and evening.
* A given in ''Film/DraculaUntold'', since the premise is equating the historical Dracula with the fictional one. Although the film gets ''some'' things right, such as the complicated tribute/enemy situation with the Ottoman Turkish empire, and that Dracula's (first) wife died because of an Ottoman attack.
** Vlad's kingdom is repeatedly called Transylvania rather than the historically accurate Wallachia, a different region.
** Vlad's family was not known as the House of Dracul and associated with dragons since time immemorial, as implied - the Dracul name and motif only began with his father.
** Vlad's wife and son have their names changed. In the course of his life he had two wives and three sons, none of whom share their names with the movie characters. The name of his first wife who died because of an Ottoman attack is unknown.
** Vlad indeed spent years among the Ottomans, but as a noble hostage, not an enslaved soldier for them.
** In the film Vlad gets his Impaler nickname for his deeds in the Turkish army. In real life he gained this reputation by doing that to the Turks ([[HistoricalHeroUpgrade and his own people]]), not ''for'' them.
** [[AdaptedOut There's no mention whatsoever]] of Vlad Dracula's brother, [[CainAndAbel Radu the Handsome.]] As boys they were taken hostage together by the Turks. But unlike Vlad, Radu came to support them, converted to Islam, and led the invading army in the campaign roughly corresponding to the Sultan's invasion in the film. He seems to have been [[CompositeCharacter combined with the Sultan]], who claims to be a former friend.
** Mehmet II [[spoiler:dies in this film FAR earlier]] compared to his historical counterpart, and it was in a completely different way. Also, the details of the real Dracula's end are varied, convoluted and rather iffy, but however he died, the Turks removed his head and sent it to Istanbul as proof he was most definitely ''dead.''
** The Ottoman Janissary Corps is portrayed far worse than it actually was. In the Christian parts of the Ottoman Empire at least, parents would have reacted to their children becoming Janissaries the same way parents today react when their kids get an offer from a good university. Yes, Janissaries were slave soldiers. But they were also extremely high-ranking ones, received the best training, highest education and much better living conditions than would have ever been attainable in Christian Europe. Hell, they could even rise to become Viziers and end up running the Empire.
** The fact that Vlad initially attained the Wallachian throne chiefly through ''Ottoman'' assistance is sadly glossed over in the film.
** Mehmet is portrayed as wanting to forcibly convert all of Christian Europe to Islam. Not only are compelled conversions invalid according to the Qur'an (''“Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth has been made clear from error. Whoever rejects false worship and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that never breaks. And Allah hears and knows all things.”'' ''[Sûrah al-Baqarah: 256]''), but Mehmet II is in fact remembered for instituting the Ottoman Millet, under which various minority groups could conduct themselves according to their own legal codes, for example Jews and the Halakha, or, more to the point, ''Christians under Canon Law''. He's also remembered for allowing the Byzantine Church to continue functioning even after his conquest of Constantinople and even ''ordered'' the Byzantine Patriarch Gennadius to translate Christian doctrines into Turkish.
** Historically, the envoys Mehmet II sent to Wallachia only demanded a tithe of 500 boys, rather than 1000 as seen here.
** The knights seen fleeing from Vlad in the opening narration are wearing 12th century armor, while Vlad lived in the 15th century.
* ''Film/TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'' brings up this trope InUniverse when a newspaper refuses to print the truth of the eponymous event even after Ransom told them what really happened.
-->"This is the west. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
* A minor example in the 2011 film ''The 5th Quarter'', an UsefulNotes/{{American football}} flick based on the true story of linebacker Jon Abbate and the 2006 Wake Forest team for which he was one of the central figures. In the film, Wake ties for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. The real Demon Deacons team won the title outright.[[note]]Since 2005, the ACC has held an annual football championship game between the winners of its two divisions. Wake beat Georgia Tech in the 2006 title game. Cool fact: One of Georgia Tech's defensive stars that season was one Joe Anoa'i, now better known to Wrestling/{{WWE}} fans as Wrestling/RomanReigns.[[/note]]
* ''Film/BlackHawkDown'' is an extreme example which took advantage of the environment of fear and anger in America and the West in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. This is especially apparent if one has read the book that it is [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory supposedly]] based on. This movie is often considered a prime example of a modern propaganda movie, for these reasons. To wit:
** The famine depicted in the introduction had actually ended a year prior to the events of the battle. By 1993 90% of aid shipments were getting where they were going, and Aideed's militia never fired on civilians getting food from aid stations, nor did they have any particular reason to want to do so either. The UN also never impeded American efforts to protect aid convoys.
** None of the back story is explained at all. The civil war and aforementioned famine had actually been caused by the policies of Siad Barre, the dictator who, with American aid given due to Cold War geopolitics, held control of Somalia from 1969 to 1991. The "international aid mission" was essentially just a convenient cover story for America to attempt to go back in with a force of 30,000 ground troops, and reassert control after Barre was driven into exile.
** The actual reason the Somalis hated the Americans so much, which is not even mentioned in the movie, was due to the conduct of that "humanitarian aid" force prior to the events of the battle. In general, the task force harassed and terrified the population. They often fired mortars into populated areas, and in one particularly notorious incident bombed a meeting of clan elders who were discussing plans for making a peace to end the civil war. Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed.
** Local Somalians, in particular, hated the Black Hawks because pilots would often fly over the streets and use the rotor wash to harass the population. The updraft from a Black Hawk was strong enough to destroy weak buildings, throw market places into chaos, and tear off women's robes and babies from their mother's arms. Many of the interviewed Rangers compared doing this to riding a roller coaster.
** In general, the depiction of the Rangers as an elite force of experienced, consummate professionals is incorrect. The [[TeensAreMonsters average age of the Rangers in Mogadishu was 19]] and the majority had never been under fire before. Discipline broke down when the bullets actually started flying, which is part of the reason that there were so many causalities to begin with.
** The grim realities of war and many of the morally reprehensible things the Rangers did during the actual battle are also glossed over or not depicted at all. One of the crashed helicopters crushed a building with a child inside, and an incident where a group of Rangers took a family hostage is not in the movie. General Garrison himself and many of the Rangers interviewed also admitted to firing into crowds, and anything that moved by towards the end of the battle.
** Finally, the Rangers and Delta members stranded in the city were ultimately rescued by a Pakistani armored brigade, which the Americans had almost nothing to do with. This is barely mentioned once in passing.
* ''Film/TheHoax'' [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory tells the story]] of Clifford Irving's hoax involving publishing a made up biography of Howard Hughes, but author Clifford Irving claims the movie is a very distorted version of events, missing large coverage of what really happened while adding entirely fictional scenes, such as Irving receiving a mysterious package of files.
* ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine'':
** Music/MotleyCrue's "Home Sweet Home" was already released in 1985; a year before it would have been possible for Lou to create the song.
** A poster for ''Film/RamboIII'' is seen on Blane's bedroom wall, despite the film being set over two years before ''Rambo III'' was released in May of 1988.
** Music/{{Poison}} performing at Kodiak Valley is seen as a big deal and April is covering the band for Spin Magazine, but in 1986 Poison had not yet achieved mainstream fame (that wouldn't happen until 1987).
** Blaine references ''Series/TwentyOneJumpStreet'' when he's arguing that the mains are Commie spies, but that didn't debut until 1987.
** The first time Blaine and Chaz see Jacob, they act as though they've never seen a snowboard before and don't know what it is. Snowboarding has existed as a sport as far back as the 1970s, although in 1986 it was still a niche sport and most ski areas did not allow snowboarders. Still, the ski patrol personnel at Kodiak Valley would definitely know what a snowboard was.
** The Denver Broncos' game winning drive in the AFC Championship game is lampooned despite it taking place in 1987.
** Adam references Sweet Child O' Mine. Appetite For Destruction didn't come out until 1987, and the song itself wasn't released as a single until 1988.
* ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'' has many inaccuracies concerning World War II, for example, the [[FontAnachronism Fraktur type]] font used on a banner would have been banned in Nazi Germany.
* ''Film/DonovansReef'' takes place on an island in French Polynesia where there had been fighting between US and Japanese forces during World War II, only French Polynesia was some 2,200 miles away from the actual Pacific campaign and did not see any battles.
* ''Film/BridgeOfSpies'':
** When attorney James Donovan is recruited to defend accused spy Rudolf Abel, he protests that he is primarily an insurance lawyer. However, the film does not mention that he was also General Counsel for the Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner to the CIA) during World War II (between 1943 to 1945, to be exact) and so was fully experienced dealing with spies.
** Donovan was also fully experienced in dealing with big, controversial cases: he became assistant to Justice Robert H. Jackson at the Nuremberg trials. While he prepared for the trials, he was also working as an adviser for the documentary feature ''The Nazi Plan''. Donovan was the presenter of visual evidence at the trial.
** The RealLife Frederic Pryor has noted that his movie counterpart's romance with a German girl was created out of whole cloth, and that his arrest had more to do with genuine confusion than helping out dissidents. More importantly, his East German lawyer wasn't an AmoralAttorney, but did his best to represent Pryor's interests.
* ''Film/{{Witchboard}}'': Brandon claims that Ouija boards were invented in 540 BCE. The first recording of anything like an Ouija board was in 1100 CE, and modern Ouija boards were invented in the 1800s.
* ''Film/HussarBallad'': When Shura meets the wounded messenger in the beginning of her army career, he tells her that the message he carries is sent by Field Marshal. At this time, there were no Field Marshals in Russian army; both army leaders in this war, Kutuzov and de Tolly, would be promoted to this rank later.
* ''Film/{{U571}}'' caused some controversy in the UK as it portrays an American submarine crew capturing a German Enigma code machine from a stranded U-Boat. In reality the British Royal Navy were the ones to board a sinking U-boat and capture the device. Also the depiction of German destroyers in the Atlantic hunting US and UK submarines is inaccurate as the German navy concentrated their resources on U-Boats, their surface fleet was unable to maintain any kind of presence in the Atlantic. The fact the British captured the Enigma code machines rather than the US is acknowledged just prior to the credits.
* ''Film/DancesWithWolves'': Although more accurate than previous films in its depiction of the West and native peoples, it still has inaccuracies. First, the whites are shown as hunting buffalo solely to take skins. This was not yet the case in 1865, and would only begin in 1871. At that point buffalo were still hunted by the whites for meat. Secondly, the Lakota are portrayed as simply defending themselves, and the Pawnee are evil allies of the US government. However, it was actually the Lakota who had been the aggressors against the Pawnee, moving into the Plains in the late 1700s from the northeast. This is ''why'' tribes such as the Pawnee, Arikara and Crow were allies of the US government against the Lakota (not that it helped them later, of course), since the Lakota had been pushing them out of their land. While the Pawnee could be brutal, they were no more so than the Lakota. Of course, this is simply to show the viewer who the good and bad guys are, without complicating matters.
* 1978's ''The Norseman'' mangles history on a level few others could touch. Even ignoring the HornyVikings outfits and [[Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan Lee Majors]] as a Leif Erikson {{Expy}} with a Kentucky drawl, the film's depiction of the failed settlement of Vinland is way, way off. Given that the one confirmed Viking site in America was in Newfoundland, the Florida location for the film seems way too sunny and tropical. Also, the film's promo material says the Vikings fought against "the savage warriors of the Iroquois Nation." The actual Skraelings were ancestors of the modern Inuit people. Also, there's no such thing as "the Iroquois Nation"; the Iroquois is a confederacy of several different nations, located in modern-day New York state, that formed long after the Vikings left Vinland. And those are just scratching the surface of the film.
* The opening narration for ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'' goes thusly: "In 1944, the Second World War was in its fifth year and still going Hitler's way. German troops controlled most of Europe. D-Day changed all that." By 1944, the war was quite definitely ''not'' going Hitler's way anymore. A constant barrage of defeats on the Eastern Front and Anglo-American air raids over German cities meant that, by 1944, Hitler's defeat was only a matter of time. And at no point during the war did German troops control "most" of Europe. If you count countries that were ''allied'' with Germany (such as Italy, Hungary, and Finland), sure, but they weren't being controlled by German troops.
* ''{{Film/Timeline}}'': The film has the English treat a Frenchman as suspicious just for being French, and kill him as a spy. At the time however, most of the English nobles were themselves Norman-French, spoke French, and had French allies.
* One of the biggest criticisms towards the movie ''Film/{{Sully}}'' was the portrayal of the NTSB throughout the investigation into the incident that forced the titular airplane pilot to land in the Hudson River. In the film, the NTSB treat pilots Sully and Skiles with disdain and disrespect, acting antagonistic towards the two and trying to ruin them by proving that Sully acted poorly with the idea of gliding the plane into the Hudson. In reality, the pilots and the NTSB were cooperative to each other and the NTSB were more than certain that Sully had made the right call almost from the word go.
* ''Film/WildWildWest'' shows President Grant attending the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. (He didn't.) It also has him creating the Secret Service with the purpose of protecting the president. In reality, it was created in 1865 to investigate counterfeiting. The first president to be placed under their protection was Theodore Roosevelt in 1902.
* ''{{Film/Defiance}}'': The real Bielski Partisans simply hid in the forest protecting Jews, and never fought the Germans openly.
----
[[index]]
* ''ArtisticLicenseHistory/TheImitationGame''
* ''ArtisticLicenseHistory/PearlHarbor''
[[/index]]
----
* ''Film/AmericanGangster'', presented as a [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory biographical film]] about Harlem drug dealer Frank Lucas, is inaccurate concerning real events from Frank Lucas' life. Denzel Washington admitted much of the film was fabricated for dramatic effect. Lucas did not have a child and was not involved with the Drug Enforcement Administration to the extent portrayed in the film.
* ''Film/TheLastCommand'': The film seems to be conflating the February revolution (which toppled the Romanovs) and the [[RedOctober October Revolution]] (in which the Bolsheviks seized power). In the movie the Tsar's government is apparently directly replaced by the Bolsheviks, which did not happen in RealLife.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
** The East India Trading Company had no authority in the West Indies. The name is a clue. The real company the EITC was based on was the East India Company (notice the lack of the word 'Trading'). "Authority" in the West Indies in the film seemed to stem more from political connections of the head of the company (Lord Becket) than any authority of the company.
* In ''Film/TeachingMrsTingle'', one of the main characters is a girl we're [[InformedAbility constantly told]] is a great brain, and she produces a final project for her History class that's an "authentic recreation" of the diary of a girl who was killed during the Salem Witch Trials, right down to the book being authentically aged to resemble a diary that had survived the period. The eponymous teacher opens the diary at random, and finds an entry on how the fictional girl fears she'll be burned at the stake tomorrow. ''[[BurnTheWitch No one was burned at the stake in the Salem Witch Trials]]'', and a person of that time period would have known this. They ''hanged'' those convicted, while one was ''crushed'' under weights for declining to enter a plea, and while people were burned in Europe, it was usually for heresy, not witchcraft (though, to be sure, the two were sometimes linked). The student gets a C, though not for this mistake.
* ''Fist of Fear, Touch of Death'', possibly the most awful of all awful Brucesploitation films, states during a biographical sequence that Bruce Lee's grandfather was 19th Century China's greatest ''samurai''.
* 1930 biopic ''Film/AbrahamLincoln'' is just full of this. It has Lincoln ''give a speech'' from his box at Ford's Theatre, right before he gets shot.
* Numerous movies have inaccurately portrayed [[RememberTheAlamo The Alamo]] with the curved roof at the time of the eponymous battle--in truth, the roof had crumbled due to neglect, and it was ''1912'' before the familiar facade was restored.
* ''Film/AnimalHouse'' has an in-universe example:
-->'''Bluto:''' Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
* ''Film/{{Dreamgirls}}'' has a scene with the Dreams recording "Heavy" while there's a riot going on. This riot is actually the Detroit race riot of 1967. This, at first, is important for the sake of the era and to show how life was in Black America during the 60's. However, the next scene states that the year is actually 1966, making the riot scenes irrelevant.
* ''Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture'' starts off 35,000 years ago in North Texas, and depicts a pair of Neanderthals running through the snow. Evidence of humans in the New World so early is thin and disputed; if they were there, they were certainly not Neanderthal, who never ranged outside Eurasia.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'' (where the entire [[PlanetOfHats world]] has become [[IdiotBall less intelligent]]) a theme park of the future thought that UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and Creator/CharlieChaplin were the same person, and both sides rode dinosaurs. "And then the UN un-Nazied the world forever."
* ''Film/AFistfulOfDynamite'' -- John Mallory, being an Irish nationalist in 1913, owns an IRA flag. Problem is the IRA did not exist until 1919. He would have most likely been an Irish volunteer for the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood) if part of any official organisation whatever.
* ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore'' is set during the American Civil War, as shown by a safe full of Confederate money. One character comments that the bank's vault "weighs three tons and can't be opened with dynamite." Indeed it couldn't -- dynamite wasn't invented, patented, or named until after the Civil War was over. But the line is delivered so effectively it's hard to picture it working as well with any other word.
* ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'': The US Navy fires cannons at the US.
* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' is full of this: Renaud de Châtillon was never a [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar Templar]], nor was Guy de Lusignan. The latter was actually the king of Jerusalem when Renaud launched his attack on the caravan, King Baldwin having been dead for several years. Sybille's marriage with Guy was not an arranged one: her family was actually opposed; and it goes on and on...
** Indeed, the Knights Templar were explicitly forbidden from marrying, as well as owning land. Crowning a Templar as a King would have been a legal impossibility at the time.
** One particularly {{egregious}} example is the protagonist ''teaching the desert-dwelling people how to irrigate their land and so becoming their lord''. Yeah. The people who had been farming a desert (and digging wells) for ''thousands of years'' being taught all they know by the MightyWhitey when, if anything, during the Crusades it was sort of the other way round (medieval Europe didn't even have round towers until they got the idea from the Arabs).
** There's no suggestion in the film that he invents the irrigation system, but there's a clear implication that he's the only person with the initiative to think of digging for water, or the skill to find it.
* ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' has a number:
** Subversion: A Roman senator claims, "Rome was founded as a republic!" It was founded as a kingdom. Although the Romans didn't want to think of Rome ever having been a kingdom. As far as the Romans were concerned, the ''real'' Rome was founded when they kicked the asses of the Etruscan kings and established the republic. Furthermore, the character is a politician trying to push his political agenda. WordOfGod claims this was meant to be inaccurate in-universe.
** Power passes automatically to Commodus on Marcus Aurelius' death in the film. In reality, there was no official line of succession, since the state was not officially monarchist. In fact, before Marcus Aurelius there had been a longstanding tradition of emperors hand-picking their successors from outside their biological families. The historical Commodus was in fact the first emperor "born to the purple", i.e. born during his father's reign, and did indeed break the usual tradition by succeeding his father. He also became sole emperor after Marcus Aurelius' death because he had ruled jointly with him for four years. Even in the film, Marcus Aurelius tries to make someone other than his son emperor; the only oddity is the assumption that Commodus would otherwise naturally be the successor to the throne. There is no evidence he killed his father to get the position.
** Commodus actually did fight in the arena, though he was almost certainly in no danger. The person who killed him, Narcissus, might have been a former gladiator, but he didn't slay him in the arena--he strangled him while he was bathing. However, Commodus was never noted for any incestuous or patricidal behavior. There is a reason Marcus Aurelius was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", but it's just that the character flaws given in the film are not quite the same as those he had in real life; rather, the ''real'' Commodus was considered bad for things like believing himself to be Hercules and [[{{Egopolis}} renaming everything in the Empire--including Rome itself--after himself]], a whole other kind of crazy.
** Asking the Senate to bring power back to the old Republican Offices would be somewhat akin to asking the French today to restart the Bourbon Monarchy in its absolutist ''Ancien Régime'' glory.
** In a similar vein, even in the heyday of the Republic, the Senate was not an elected body; members were appointed to it by a censor (later Emperor) or the Senate itself by vote, or won a major public office at election (excepting the Plebeian Tribuneship, although quite a few Tribunes were Senators). It wasn't hereditary, however; a Senator's son who failed the property qualification test would lose his appointment.
** Significant legislative and executive power also rested in the Citizens' Assembly, from which Senators were excluded. The Citizens' Assembly was very much like an Athenian or Swiss Canton direct democracy -- any citizen could cast a vote on a matter at hand that day. This is almost universally wrong in any movie depicting Ancient Rome. In Hollywood's mind, only the Senate existed.
** Neither Marcus Aurelius, nor anyone else in the government, had any interest in democracy. The system of city-state democracy of the Roman Republic had proven itself to make the empire ungovernable once it expanded too far. They needed a concentration of power to establish order and keep the peace after the Civil Wars, which came about partially due to ambitious Generals filling the power void in the far away provinces and fighting the bogged-down Senate for authority by invading Rome.
* ''Film/ThreeHundred'' is so obviously not meant to reflect actual history. In fact, historical records of the event are already believed to be rather sensationalized and greatly embellished. ZackSnyder and Creator/FrankMiller also drew inspiration from ancient artwork, which, much like Hollywood, glamorize battles of the past. Audiences have loved muscle-bound, half-naked supermen kicking the snot out of each other for [[OlderThanTheyThink quite a while]]. It's fairer to say that ''300'' didn't ''fail'' history so much as kick it into a well and give it the finger. The embellishment is heavily implied as part of the Greek propaganda even during the film. On the other hand, Zack Snyder did state rather audaciously that the history presented in the film is "[[DanBrowned 90% accurate, although the visuals are pretty crazy]]."
** Particularly egregious was how the film ignores the fact that Sparta, far from being an ancient bastion of democracy, had the most brutal caste system in Greece with the helots. Also there's a line contemptuously referring to the ''boy-lovers'' in Athens, when records suggest that Sparta was well-known for its own traditions of pederasty.
** The army that fought against the Persians was actually at least five or six thousand strong, with units from all over Greece. The 300 refers to the number of Spartan hoplites in the pan-Greek army.
** ''300'' propagated the image of an army of bare-chested soldiers, further copied by others attempting be "authentic", when the soldiers would have been wearing leather armor at the time.
* ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' is particularly well known for its lack of historical accuracy, to the point that Scottish historians are still complaining about it 20 years later. No mercy is granted for the film essentially admitting its HollywoodHistory nature in the opening narration.
** Queen Isabella was three years old at the time when the film is set, so there's no possibility she could have had an affair with Wallace.
** Scots did not actually wear kilts at the time, as they do incorrectly throughout the film. The crushed velvet that members of royalty sport in that film wouldn't be invented until centuries later. Also their style of clothing is more suited to the 15th century, not the 13th.
** Stirling Bridge is nowhere to be found in the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Its inclusion was planned but in the end it proved too expensive to build one. Also, Andrew Moray, a Scottish resistance leader, was vital to the planning and execution of the battle. Absent from the film. As is any hint of the discipline and tactical sense that won the battle for the Scots--the posturing and linear charge depicted in the film would doubtless have gotten them killed.
** The Scots had stopped using the blue woad worn by Wallace and his men around the time of the Romans, though it's presented as something of a throwback within the film.
** William Wallace always staunchly supported Robert the Bruce's claim to the throne. Bruce never directly betrayed William Wallace either. His victory over the English at Bannockburn also took many years of more struggle before it was achieved.
** Wallace was hardly the simple highlander he is portrayed to be, but a minor aristocrat probably from the South of Scotland. For that matter almost everyone in his army should be lowlanders as well; the actual highlanders were essentially a separate culture (with their own language) at the time.
** Moreover, one of the few things preserved about his character was his strictness as a disciplinarian...entirely at odds with the "summer camp" atmosphere portrayed in his camp.
** King Edward I gets a HistoricalVillainUpgrade. The film portrays him almost as a CardCarryingVillain, whilst in reality his record was pretty mixed -- whilst a brutal conqueror abroad and an anti-Semite, he did not oppress his ''English'' subjects, and was in fact considered fairly radical in European circles. His laws established Parliament as a permanent institution, set up a working taxation system and ushered in an overall more progressive system for England (one of his nicknames was "the English Justinian"). Edward I did not kill his son's lover by throwing him out of a window. Nor did English barons invoke ''[[JusPrimaeNoctis primae noctis]]'' (the supposed right of lords to take the virginity of their female subjects on their wedding nights). In fact, ''primae noctis'' likely did not exist (certainly it would not have been legal). It's a throwaway line but Edward is mentioned as being "a cruel pagan" -- no evidence that he was any less (or more) devout Christian than your average English king of his time.
** Edward II is transformed into a SissyVillain. The historical Edward almost certainly was gay or bi, but he was big and strong and more loutish than effeminate. Otherwise-exasperated contemporaries noted that at least he ''looked'' impressive. His (likely) lover Piers Gaveston, an avid jouster, is similarly transformed--and though the elder Edward disapproved of the closeness of their relationship, he didn't seem to hold that much animosity for Gaveston himself, sending him off to France with plenty of notice and a generous income.
* ''Film/{{Agora}}'' repeats [[http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2009/05/agora-and-hypatia-hollywood-strikes.html popular]] [[http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2010/05/hypatia-and-agora-redux.html myths]] about Hypatia and the Library of Alexandria to preach about atheism and rationalism vs. religious fanaticism. To what degree the movie does so is, however, somewhat [[http://richardcarrier.blogspot.com/2010/08/agora-review.html open to debate]]. In RealLife, as you might expect, Hypatia was not atheist but a pagan. She was also a pure philosopher more than a scientist.
* ''Film/{{Batman}}'': When looking at a collection of armor suits:
-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' It's Japanese.\\
'''Knox:''' How do you know?\\
'''Bruce Wayne:''' Because I bought it in Japan.
* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'':
** Judge Doom's ultimate goal is to build the Pasadena Freeway on the land where Toontown stands; his shutting down LA's trolleys is a Shout Out to the Great American Streetcar Scandal. However, the film is set in 1947 - the Pasadena Freeway was already built in 1940.
** In that same film Eddie and Roger watch the Goofy cartoon "Goofy Gymnastics", which was released in 1949.
** Several cartoon characters in the movie would only make their debut several years later: WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner ("Fast and Furry-ous", 1949), Tinkerbell (''Disney/PeterPan'', 1953), the penguin waiters (''Film/MaryPoppins'', 1964)... However, the makers defended themselves by saying that these characters were simply not employed yet by their studios in those years.
* ''The Experiment'': Depicting a fictionalized account of the StanfordPrisonExperiment, the organization responsible for conducting the experiment is the "Monad Corporation"; the word Stanford is never used.
* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' plays fast and loose with facts quite often, although this was typical of the old adventure movies that [[GenreThrowback served as the franchise's inspiration]].
** Tanis, Egypt from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' is a real place. It could not have been rediscovered by the Nazis in 1936 because ''it was never lost in the first place''. In fact, there were numerous archaeological digs in Tanis before the Nazis even came to power. Egypt was also under British influence in 1936, when the movie is supposedly set.
** Playing loose with locations is common through the franchise. The tiny village Marion's bar is in is identified in the novelization as Patan, the second biggest city in Nepal. The third act of ''Raiders'' takes place in a secret Nazi submarine base in Greece, which would have been objected to by the Greeks in real life, naturally[[note]]Or it might have been in the Dodecanese, which was Italian at the time; however, the adventure map implies the contrary, and Italy and Germany had not become allies yet at the time anyway[[/note]].
** In ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Last Crusade]]'', set in 1938, Indy and his father drive from Venice to Berlin (passing a road sign with these two names on and [[ArtisticLicenseGeography no other place]] in between) to retrieve a book from a Nazi book burning (based on the one from 1933) and escape Germany in a commercial Zeppelin flight (all canceled after the Hindenburg's disaster in 1937). The third act takes them to Hatay, a short lived ([[AluminiumChristmasTrees but real]]) Turkish republic that is portrayed as an Arab monarchy. Even the Hatay flag is fictional.
** ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull Crystal Skull]]'' has a [[{{Mayincatec}} Mayan-speaking civilization]] [[LatinLand in the Amazon]] and Indy claiming that he learned Quechua (Peru) from two guys in Pancho Villa's army (Mexico).
* WebVideo/ConfusedMatthew went to great lengths to explain how ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' went beyond Artistic License and outright falsified what happened on the Titanic to make the upperclassmen on the ship as unsympathetic as possible and thus try and make the main characters more sympathetic. His two biggest beefs seem to be: Falsely portraying First Officer (third in command of the ship, Chief Officer is 2nd in command) William Murdock as a corrupt individual who took bribes and shot people to ensure certain people spots on the lifeboats, and making up the idea that the ship's crew tried to keep the lower class men down in third class to let them all die.
* ''Film/{{Australia}}''. In reality, the Japanese never set foot on the Australian mainland. (The famous battles along the Kokoda Track were what is now Papua New Guinea, which at the time was two separate territories administered by Australia.) They bombed Darwin, then left. The bombing also actually occurred in 1942, not 1941.
** Japanese Sub Crews did occasionally go ashore in remote locations along the coast to gather fresh water, and float planes landed on the northern islands after the raid in an unsuccessful attempt to find and rescue downed Japanese aircrew. The large landing party shown exploring the beach for no logically explained reason in the movie was pure fiction.
** Darwin was never ordered to be evacutated. After the end of the first raid (the Japanese carriers), the RAAF base commander ordered his command to muster outside of the base in order to prevent further unnecessary casualities. It was while exiting the base that some troops encounted civilians leaving Darwin and, from lack of clear orders, 'hitched lifts'. It was while this troop movement was happening that the second raid (54 Japanese land based Nell and Betty twin engined bombers - also not shown in the movie) arrived and carpet bombed the RAAF base with some 530 60kg bombs, causing a massive morale effect but little to no extra damage or casualities.
** Zero fighters carried drop tanks, not the bombs that were shown attacking the mission station.
** Bathust Island was straffed by Zeros, not bombed. Their target was the American transport aircraft that had previously forced landed on the RAAF Advanced Operational Base (read 'basic airstrip') there.
* ''Film/TheGodfatherPartIII'' features the death of Popes Paul VI and John Paul I in the year 1979, while all these events actually took place in 1978!
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'': The movie claims to start in 1845 Northwest Territories, Canada... Except that the Northwest Territories would not become a part of Canada until 1870 (and the borders of the vast area were gradually changed until 1905, which resulted in the creation of 4 provinces and 2 territories). Canada itself was only granted Dominion status in 1867.
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'':
*** RFK Stadium is shown with a baseball diamond, when in real life the Washington Senators baseball team had moved to Texas in 1971, two years before this film is set.
*** Hank tells Logan that most of the students and teachers were drafted for the UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, which is why Charles had shut down the school. In real life, most--if not all--of them could have stayed through a student deferment, and it's hard to believe that Xavier couldn't push such a thing through if he really wanted to.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'':
*** It is nigh-impossible that a CNN reporter would have been allowed to film in a Polish town, especially given that Poland in 1983 was under martial law.
*** When Apocalypse is addressing the world, he speaks in Russian to a large group of churchgoers at a solemn Russian Orthodox Christian service. It is also highly improbable that the church would have that much attendance (religious life in the USSR was very strictly policed).
*** In the middle of the movie, there is a discussion about which Franchise/StarWars film is the best, which results in Jean Grey saying the [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi third]] is usually the worst. While that is TruthInTelevision today and has been since the Special Edition release of the trilogy in 1997, in the '80s, it was the [[VindicatedByHistory now universally praised]] ''Empire Strikes Back'' that was viewed as the lowest performing of the series while ''Return of the Jedi'' was seen as a return to form.
* In ''Film/TheOutlawJoseyWales'', character Lone Watie (implied to be a relative to Confederate general Stand Watie), tells the title character that, when the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar broke out, the Cherokee chiefs declared war on the Union due to their mistreatment on the Trail of Tears and on the reservation. Actually the real Watie family was in favor of removal to Oklahoma, and settled there voluntarily before troops were sent in to force the matter. In addition, the Cherokee tribe was split on the matter; despite being slaveholders, many of them remembered that they were forced out from a Southern state by a Southern president. Principal Chief John Ross (who had always been opposed to removal) paid lip service to the Confederates at first, then emphatically threw his weight behind the Union as soon as he could without fear of reprisal.
* ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' claims to be the [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory real life story]] of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, but most of the scenes are made up for the film. There are several anachronisms with the 2003 time period: the Samsung [=SyncMaster=] 941BW was not available in 2003, Serato Scratch Live wasn't released until 2004, a can of Mountain Dew uses a newer logo introduced in 2005, the site "Cats That Look Like Hitler" wasn't there until 2006, Windows XP Service Pack 3, ''[[{{Fallout3}} Fallout 3]]'', and Dennis de Laat's "The Sound Of Violence" weren't released until 2008, Bing wasn't around until 2009, traffic to Facemash slowed down Harvard's network but did not cause a "network crash", Harvard had a "@fas.harvard.edu" e-mail address instead of "@harvard.edu", Harvard dorms at the time required swiping a keycard instead of keyless entry. The film's ending claims Facebook is available in [[WritersCannotDoMath 207 countries]]; the last count has been no greater than 196 countries. The film depicts Mark as creating Facemash and Facebook as payback and an appeal to an ex-girlfriend, when he had a girlfriend (now his wife) during most of the film's events. Mark Zuckerberg reportedly spent the time sitting, programming and eating pizza with friends during Facebook's development.
* In ''Film/UndercoverBlues'', it is said that Paulina Novacek (villain of the movie and former STB agent) "left Prague two jumps ahead of the firing squad." There were no executions in Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution (Czechoslovakia abolished the death penalty in 1990); before the revolution, executions were carried out by hanging.
* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' claims that many of the advancements in technology in the 20th century were a result of reverse-engineering [[spoiler:Megatron]], who had been hidden under the Hoover Dam by the US government. The filmmakers include cars in this list of technologies. Apparently Creator/MichaelBay hasn't heard of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Benz Karl Benz]] (as in Mercedes-Benz), who patented the first internal combustion-powered car in ''1895'', thirty years before the Hoover Dam was even thought of.
* ''Film/SevenSamurai'' played with this trope both ways. It portrayed the main samurai of the cast as all being brave and noble, but also acknowledges that the majority of them were brutal thugs who uses their power of higher social class to oppress the weak. Kurosawa said he did this because he's descended from a samurai family, and wanted in some way to apologize for his ancestor's actions. The Japanese still regard this film as a classic, but they were ''not'' happy with him deciding to speak the truth on this historical matter.
* In-universe example in ''Film/IronSky'', Renate uses a heavily edited version of ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' to teach schoolchildren that Hitler was a kind and grand man who only wanted the best for the world. Renate herself has been fooled by the same propaganda and is utterly crushed when she later sees the full version.
* ''Film/SergeantYork'', while mostly accurate, takes some liberties with the real events of Alvin York's life:
** York's friend "Pusher" Ross is killed by a captured German soldier who managed to get hold of a grenade. York then shoots the German in revenge. Pusher is fictional, and although one German ''did'' refuse to surrender, threw a grenade and was shot by York in response, the grenade didn't kill any Americans.
** The German troops are shown being commanded by a major. They were actually commanded by Paul Vollmer, who was only a lieutenant. The fictional major in the movie isn't named.
** York is seen using a Luger he takes from a captured German after losing his US Army Colt M1911. In truth, he never took a gun from a prisoner to use, and kept hold of his Army Colt for the entire battle. This was changed because the Luger the armorers provided was the only blank-adapted handgun available on the set. He is also seen using an M1903 Springfield, as opposed to the M1917 Enfield he had in real life.
** The battle occurs in a very open and frankly desert-like environment, as compared to the thickly-wooded hills of the actual ravine in France. It's possible the filmmakers wanted to give the battlefield a more harsh and desolate-looking appearance in order to add tension.
* An egregious example in ''Film/{{Seabiscuit}}'', though only to those who read Laura Hillenbrand's original book. The film depicts Seabiscuit's jockey, Red Pollard, as having been raised in an affluent family that lost its fortune in the 1929 Wall Street crash. While the real Pollard was indeed born into a wealthy family that lost its fortune, he had left home to become a jockey back in 1922, and the family had lost its fortune when a major flood of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton destroyed the family business ''in 1915''. A notable example both for readers of the book and informed horseracing fans in general, in the book's discussion of the match race, War Admiral is correctly described as being on the small side and a plain dark bay, who of similar breeding to Seabiscuit (War Admiral was sired by Man o' War out of a Ben Brush-line mare, Seabiscuit was sired by Hard Tack, a son of Man o' War, out of a Ben Brush mare, making him more or less War Admiral's "nephew" and related on the female line, too.) In the movie, War Admiral is depicted as a gigantic coal-black horse and his 'superior' breeding is played up.
* ''Film/TheHurricane'' starring Creator/DenzelWashington portrays boxer Rubin Carter as a totally innocent man who is wrongly convicted of two murders thanks largely to a racist cop who's had it out for him since his boyhood. No evidence exists that the lead detective held any grudge against Carter, and he was described as a jovial man, very different from Dan Hedaya's scowling, tight-lipped portrayal. The film whitewashes Carter's criminal history, depicting Carter as defending himself in boyhood against a pedophile, then being arrested and sent to a juvenile facility by this same racist detective. In reality, Carter was arrested for assaulting and robbing a man, a crime that is not disputed. This was only one of many offenses he committed. Moreover, while Carter's actual guilt or innocence continues to be debated, the film portrays him as having been exonerated by the efforts of three Canadian activists and a young African-American who wrote to him in prison. They did not find evidence showing he was innocent, however, but only some that had not been presented by the prosecution. He was ordered released or retried-New Jersey appealed this ruling, lost, and chose to not retry him again (he had already been retried before in 1976, with another guilty verdict resulting). Carter was thus never exonerated, or even acquitted. On a lesser note, to build up the idea of Carter being victimized by racism in the 1960s, he is shown defeating white boxer Joey Giardello, who is then declared to have won anyway. Carter himself agreed Giordello beat him, and he sued the film producers over this portrayal, settling for a hefty sum.
* ''Film/MemoirsOfAGeisha'': Though set in 1930's-40's Japan, the Geisha's traditional attention to detail given to kimonos is not present, some scenes are clearly CaliforniaDoubling, and the "Snow Dance" performed is not accurate to any Japanese traditional dance.
* In ''Film/MyWay'' during the climax D-Day scene
** D-Day at Normandy was cloudy with rough waves and almost non-ideal weather for an amphibious landing. The movie depicts D-Day with clear, sunny skies and relatively calm waves.
** [[spoiler: Tatsuo at the end]] is captured by recently landed American paratroopers; no paratroopers landed on the beach during the invasion, only at pre-dawn and evening.
* A given in ''Film/DraculaUntold'', since the premise is equating the historical Dracula with the fictional one. Although the film gets ''some'' things right, such as the complicated tribute/enemy situation with the Ottoman Turkish empire, and that Dracula's (first) wife died because of an Ottoman attack.
** Vlad's kingdom is repeatedly called Transylvania rather than the historically accurate Wallachia, a different region.
** Vlad's family was not known as the House of Dracul and associated with dragons since time immemorial, as implied - the Dracul name and motif only began with his father.
** Vlad's wife and son have their names changed. In the course of his life he had two wives and three sons, none of whom share their names with the movie characters. The name of his first wife who died because of an Ottoman attack is unknown.
** Vlad indeed spent years among the Ottomans, but as a noble hostage, not an enslaved soldier for them.
** In the film Vlad gets his Impaler nickname for his deeds in the Turkish army. In real life he gained this reputation by doing that to the Turks ([[HistoricalHeroUpgrade and his own people]]), not ''for'' them.
** [[AdaptedOut There's no mention whatsoever]] of Vlad Dracula's brother, [[CainAndAbel Radu the Handsome.]] As boys they were taken hostage together by the Turks. But unlike Vlad, Radu came to support them, converted to Islam, and led the invading army in the campaign roughly corresponding to the Sultan's invasion in the film. He seems to have been [[CompositeCharacter combined with the Sultan]], who claims to be a former friend.
** Mehmet II [[spoiler:dies in this film FAR earlier]] compared to his historical counterpart, and it was in a completely different way. Also, the details of the real Dracula's end are varied, convoluted and rather iffy, but however he died, the Turks removed his head and sent it to Istanbul as proof he was most definitely ''dead.''
** The Ottoman Janissary Corps is portrayed far worse than it actually was. In the Christian parts of the Ottoman Empire at least, parents would have reacted to their children becoming Janissaries the same way parents today react when their kids get an offer from a good university. Yes, Janissaries were slave soldiers. But they were also extremely high-ranking ones, received the best training, highest education and much better living conditions than would have ever been attainable in Christian Europe. Hell, they could even rise to become Viziers and end up running the Empire.
** The fact that Vlad initially attained the Wallachian throne chiefly through ''Ottoman'' assistance is sadly glossed over in the film.
** Mehmet is portrayed as wanting to forcibly convert all of Christian Europe to Islam. Not only are compelled conversions invalid according to the Qur'an (''“Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth has been made clear from error. Whoever rejects false worship and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that never breaks. And Allah hears and knows all things.”'' ''[Sûrah al-Baqarah: 256]''), but Mehmet II is in fact remembered for instituting the Ottoman Millet, under which various minority groups could conduct themselves according to their own legal codes, for example Jews and the Halakha, or, more to the point, ''Christians under Canon Law''. He's also remembered for allowing the Byzantine Church to continue functioning even after his conquest of Constantinople and even ''ordered'' the Byzantine Patriarch Gennadius to translate Christian doctrines into Turkish.
** Historically, the envoys Mehmet II sent to Wallachia only demanded a tithe of 500 boys, rather than 1000 as seen here.
** The knights seen fleeing from Vlad in the opening narration are wearing 12th century armor, while Vlad lived in the 15th century.
* ''Film/TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'' brings up this trope InUniverse when a newspaper refuses to print the truth of the eponymous event even after Ransom told them what really happened.
-->"This is the west. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
* A minor example in the 2011 film ''The 5th Quarter'', an UsefulNotes/{{American football}} flick based on the true story of linebacker Jon Abbate and the 2006 Wake Forest team for which he was one of the central figures. In the film, Wake ties for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. The real Demon Deacons team won the title outright.[[note]]Since 2005, the ACC has held an annual football championship game between the winners of its two divisions. Wake beat Georgia Tech in the 2006 title game. Cool fact: One of Georgia Tech's defensive stars that season was one Joe Anoa'i, now better known to Wrestling/{{WWE}} fans as Wrestling/RomanReigns.[[/note]]
* ''Film/BlackHawkDown'' is an extreme example which took advantage of the environment of fear and anger in America and the West in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. This is especially apparent if one has read the book that it is [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory supposedly]] based on. This movie is often considered a prime example of a modern propaganda movie, for these reasons. To wit:
** The famine depicted in the introduction had actually ended a year prior to the events of the battle. By 1993 90% of aid shipments were getting where they were going, and Aideed's militia never fired on civilians getting food from aid stations, nor did they have any particular reason to want to do so either. The UN also never impeded American efforts to protect aid convoys.
** None of the back story is explained at all. The civil war and aforementioned famine had actually been caused by the policies of Siad Barre, the dictator who, with American aid given due to Cold War geopolitics, held control of Somalia from 1969 to 1991. The "international aid mission" was essentially just a convenient cover story for America to attempt to go back in with a force of 30,000 ground troops, and reassert control after Barre was driven into exile.
** The actual reason the Somalis hated the Americans so much, which is not even mentioned in the movie, was due to the conduct of that "humanitarian aid" force prior to the events of the battle. In general, the task force harassed and terrified the population. They often fired mortars into populated areas, and in one particularly notorious incident bombed a meeting of clan elders who were discussing plans for making a peace to end the civil war. Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed.
** Local Somalians, in particular, hated the Black Hawks because pilots would often fly over the streets and use the rotor wash to harass the population. The updraft from a Black Hawk was strong enough to destroy weak buildings, throw market places into chaos, and tear off women's robes and babies from their mother's arms. Many of the interviewed Rangers compared doing this to riding a roller coaster.
** In general, the depiction of the Rangers as an elite force of experienced, consummate professionals is incorrect. The [[TeensAreMonsters average age of the Rangers in Mogadishu was 19]] and the majority had never been under fire before. Discipline broke down when the bullets actually started flying, which is part of the reason that there were so many causalities to begin with.
** The grim realities of war and many of the morally reprehensible things the Rangers did during the actual battle are also glossed over or not depicted at all. One of the crashed helicopters crushed a building with a child inside, and an incident where a group of Rangers took a family hostage is not in the movie. General Garrison himself and many of the Rangers interviewed also admitted to firing into crowds, and anything that moved by towards the end of the battle.
** Finally, the Rangers and Delta members stranded in the city were ultimately rescued by a Pakistani armored brigade, which the Americans had almost nothing to do with. This is barely mentioned once in passing.
* ''Film/TheHoax'' [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory tells the story]] of Clifford Irving's hoax involving publishing a made up biography of Howard Hughes, but author Clifford Irving claims the movie is a very distorted version of events, missing large coverage of what really happened while adding entirely fictional scenes, such as Irving receiving a mysterious package of files.
* ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine'':
** Music/MotleyCrue's "Home Sweet Home" was already released in 1985; a year before it would have been possible for Lou to create the song.
** A poster for ''Film/RamboIII'' is seen on Blane's bedroom wall, despite the film being set over two years before ''Rambo III'' was released in May of 1988.
** Music/{{Poison}} performing at Kodiak Valley is seen as a big deal and April is covering the band for Spin Magazine, but in 1986 Poison had not yet achieved mainstream fame (that wouldn't happen until 1987).
** Blaine references ''Series/TwentyOneJumpStreet'' when he's arguing that the mains are Commie spies, but that didn't debut until 1987.
** The first time Blaine and Chaz see Jacob, they act as though they've never seen a snowboard before and don't know what it is. Snowboarding has existed as a sport as far back as the 1970s, although in 1986 it was still a niche sport and most ski areas did not allow snowboarders. Still, the ski patrol personnel at Kodiak Valley would definitely know what a snowboard was.
** The Denver Broncos' game winning drive in the AFC Championship game is lampooned despite it taking place in 1987.
** Adam references Sweet Child O' Mine. Appetite For Destruction didn't come out until 1987, and the song itself wasn't released as a single until 1988.
* ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'' has many inaccuracies concerning World War II, for example, the [[FontAnachronism Fraktur type]] font used on a banner would have been banned in Nazi Germany.
* ''Film/DonovansReef'' takes place on an island in French Polynesia where there had been fighting between US and Japanese forces during World War II, only French Polynesia was some 2,200 miles away from the actual Pacific campaign and did not see any battles.
* ''Film/BridgeOfSpies'':
** When attorney James Donovan is recruited to defend accused spy Rudolf Abel, he protests that he is primarily an insurance lawyer. However, the film does not mention that he was also General Counsel for the Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner to the CIA) during World War II (between 1943 to 1945, to be exact) and so was fully experienced dealing with spies.
** Donovan was also fully experienced in dealing with big, controversial cases: he became assistant to Justice Robert H. Jackson at the Nuremberg trials. While he prepared for the trials, he was also working as an adviser for the documentary feature ''The Nazi Plan''. Donovan was the presenter of visual evidence at the trial.
** The RealLife Frederic Pryor has noted that his movie counterpart's romance with a German girl was created out of whole cloth, and that his arrest had more to do with genuine confusion than helping out dissidents. More importantly, his East German lawyer wasn't an AmoralAttorney, but did his best to represent Pryor's interests.
* ''Film/{{Witchboard}}'': Brandon claims that Ouija boards were invented in 540 BCE. The first recording of anything like an Ouija board was in 1100 CE, and modern Ouija boards were invented in the 1800s.
* ''Film/HussarBallad'': When Shura meets the wounded messenger in the beginning of her army career, he tells her that the message he carries is sent by Field Marshal. At this time, there were no Field Marshals in Russian army; both army leaders in this war, Kutuzov and de Tolly, would be promoted to this rank later.
* ''Film/{{U571}}'' caused some controversy in the UK as it portrays an American submarine crew capturing a German Enigma code machine from a stranded U-Boat. In reality the British Royal Navy were the ones to board a sinking U-boat and capture the device. Also the depiction of German destroyers in the Atlantic hunting US and UK submarines is inaccurate as the German navy concentrated their resources on U-Boats, their surface fleet was unable to maintain any kind of presence in the Atlantic. The fact the British captured the Enigma code machines rather than the US is acknowledged just prior to the credits.
* ''Film/DancesWithWolves'': Although more accurate than previous films in its depiction of the West and native peoples, it still has inaccuracies. First, the whites are shown as hunting buffalo solely to take skins. This was not yet the case in 1865, and would only begin in 1871. At that point buffalo were still hunted by the whites for meat. Secondly, the Lakota are portrayed as simply defending themselves, and the Pawnee are evil allies of the US government. However, it was actually the Lakota who had been the aggressors against the Pawnee, moving into the Plains in the late 1700s from the northeast. This is ''why'' tribes such as the Pawnee, Arikara and Crow were allies of the US government against the Lakota (not that it helped them later, of course), since the Lakota had been pushing them out of their land. While the Pawnee could be brutal, they were no more so than the Lakota. Of course, this is simply to show the viewer who the good and bad guys are, without complicating matters.
* 1978's ''The Norseman'' mangles history on a level few others could touch. Even ignoring the HornyVikings outfits and [[Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan Lee Majors]] as a Leif Erikson {{Expy}} with a Kentucky drawl, the film's depiction of the failed settlement of Vinland is way, way off. Given that the one confirmed Viking site in America was in Newfoundland, the Florida location for the film seems way too sunny and tropical. Also, the film's promo material says the Vikings fought against "the savage warriors of the Iroquois Nation." The actual Skraelings were ancestors of the modern Inuit people. Also, there's no such thing as "the Iroquois Nation"; the Iroquois is a confederacy of several different nations, located in modern-day New York state, that formed long after the Vikings left Vinland. And those are just scratching the surface of the film.
* The opening narration for ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'' goes thusly: "In 1944, the Second World War was in its fifth year and still going Hitler's way. German troops controlled most of Europe. D-Day changed all that." By 1944, the war was quite definitely ''not'' going Hitler's way anymore. A constant barrage of defeats on the Eastern Front and Anglo-American air raids over German cities meant that, by 1944, Hitler's defeat was only a matter of time. And at no point during the war did German troops control "most" of Europe. If you count countries that were ''allied'' with Germany (such as Italy, Hungary, and Finland), sure, but they weren't being controlled by German troops.
* ''{{Film/Timeline}}'': The film has the English treat a Frenchman as suspicious just for being French, and kill him as a spy. At the time however, most of the English nobles were themselves Norman-French, spoke French, and had French allies.
* One of the biggest criticisms towards the movie ''Film/{{Sully}}'' was the portrayal of the NTSB throughout the investigation into the incident that forced the titular airplane pilot to land in the Hudson River. In the film, the NTSB treat pilots Sully and Skiles with disdain and disrespect, acting antagonistic towards the two and trying to ruin them by proving that Sully acted poorly with the idea of gliding the plane into the Hudson. In reality, the pilots and the NTSB were cooperative to each other and the NTSB were more than certain that Sully had made the right call almost from the word go.
* ''Film/WildWildWest'' shows President Grant attending the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. (He didn't.) It also has him creating the Secret Service with the purpose of protecting the president. In reality, it was created in 1865 to investigate counterfeiting. The first president to be placed under their protection was Theodore Roosevelt in 1902.
* ''{{Film/Defiance}}'': The real Bielski Partisans simply hid in the forest protecting Jews, and never fought the Germans openly.
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