* HarsherInHindsight:
** [[spoiler: The plot of the movie is Atwood ordering the hit on Turner's office to cover up a plot to seize Middle Eastern oil fields. Higgins later tells Turner the plot wasn't a bad idea, and defends the 'war game' by pointing out the growing Energy Crisis of the 1970s.]] Cut to 2003, [[spoiler: with the Invasion of Iraq and the whole debate over who gets control of all those Iraqi oil fields...]]
** The book's original plot had [[spoiler: the CIA involved in drug trafficking]], which was changed because they came up with a "more plausible" idea. But given the real CIA's history with [[spoiler: Manuel Noriega, the Contras, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in the 1980s]], it's not so far-fetched after all.
** There are scenes shot on location inside the then-recently completed World Trade Center, as the film gives this as where Higgins' CIA front office is located. [[spoiler:There are theories that one of the various reasons Bin Laden choose to target the Towers was his incorrect belief that important U.S. government offices were located there.]]
* HilariousInHindsight: Darkly so, but a character played by Creator/RobertRedford falling prey to a CIA conspiracy is pretty funny in light of his role in 2014's ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' [[spoiler: as the ''architect'' of a similar conspiracy.]] Doubly hilarious because not only did the directors of that film cite this one as one of their inspirations, but Redford himself took the role so that for once ''he'' could be [[spoiler:the villain in a political/spy thriller.]]
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Natural for a film set in the 1970s about espionage.
** A potential war in the Middle East over oil is just a theory at this point. The ensuing Gulf War and the Iraqi War are both thought to be significantly motivated by oil.
** The opening sequence highlights what were pretty advanced computers in the 1970s.
** One sequence focuses on Turner dialing on a rotary public phone. The CIA must have pulled a lot of strings to get their emergency line fitted with so many low numbers!
** Turner pulls into a gas station with a sign warning "No Lead." Leaded gasoline was banned throughout the USA in 1996.
** Eastern Airlines receives some ProductPlacement, but was dissolved in 1991.
** And, of course, the scenes shot inside the World Trade Center.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Sort of. The book was published in 1974, based on James Grady's research into the CIA, but the movie came out the following year, in the midst of various [[https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now/2015/05/06/40-years-ago-church-committee-investigated-americans-spying-on-americans/ congressional investigations into CIA abuses]] and was [[RippedFromTheHeadlines widely assumed to be capitalizing on current events]]. In fact, Creator/SydneyPollack commented that the movie went into production within a few months of the book's publication and that there was no overt political message intended.