When Rosie and Ben meet on the train, the train passes the same water tower and countryside twice.
When Marco spots Shaw's Congressional Medal of Honor among the papers and debris on the floor. He reaches down and retrieves the medal from within the pile with his right hand but when the camera comes in for a close-up, the medal has suddenly switched to Marco's left hand.
Rosie lights a cigarette and gives it to Marco on the train. He smokes it, then stamps it out, then is seen smoking it again, then finishes grinding it out. The long shots don't match the closeups.
As already noted (as an anachronism) the club in the opening scene (set in 1952) wrongfully has a 50-star American flag. Yet, when Shaw returns home after the war (in 1953), the airport color guard has the correct 48-star flag.
The Madison Square Garden is hosting the national political convention, but the side marquee advertises basketball games.
As Shaw arrives at the airport at the beginning of the film, several discrepancies on his uniform coat can be seen: he has two overseas bars at the bottoms of both sleeves (should be only on the left sleeve); he wears no three-year service stripes, even though he has obviously been in the service longer than three years; and he wears no ribbons for the National Defense Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, or for World War II service (his age and rank indicate he would also have served during that war).
As in just about every other movie ever filmed, the Medal of Honor is incorrectly referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor. There is no such thing as the Congressional Medal of Honor. Even though the Medal of Honor is awarded by an act of congress, referring to it as the Congressional Medal of Honor is entirely incorrect. This mistake has become so prevalent that there is even a Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
The narration states that only 77 men were awarded the Medal of Honor in the Korean war while in fact there were 145 recipients.
When told to" lend Raymond his pistol", Marco reaches into his holster and produces a Walther P38. The standard pistol for the US Army in Korea was the Colt Model 1911 A1.
At the start, the narrator uses the phrase "Medal of Honor winner", which is also said by Raymond Shaw. The correct reference is "Medal of Honor recipient".
In Shaw's flashback of the summer with Josie Jordan, he is seen eating a meal with Josie and Senator Jordan. Halfway through the shot, it is simply reversed. You then see Shaw removing a piece of meat from his mouth with a fork and attaching it back to the meat on his plate with a knife.
The marquee over Madison Square Garden shows that the hockey and basketball seasons have begun. These do not take place until October, far too late for any party's convention.
Long shots of the convention floor use stock footage from different conventions, with delegates' placards sometimes white, sometimes black.
After the parade that greets Shaw coming back from Korea, and as Shaw takes off for Washington, the narrator says Shaw saved 9 of his fellow soldiers and Captain Marco. That would mean there were a total of 11 men in the combat patrol.
However, there were only 10 men in the patrol shown in Yen Lo's briefing to the Communist Party members, including Marco and Shaw themselves. Of those 10, Shaw killed two during the briefing, Ed Mavole and Bobby Lembeck, reducing the number from 10 to 8. Therefore the most that Shaw could have saved would have been 6 plus Marco and himself, not the 9 claimed for Shaw's Medal of Honor.
However, there were only 10 men in the patrol shown in Yen Lo's briefing to the Communist Party members, including Marco and Shaw themselves. Of those 10, Shaw killed two during the briefing, Ed Mavole and Bobby Lembeck, reducing the number from 10 to 8. Therefore the most that Shaw could have saved would have been 6 plus Marco and himself, not the 9 claimed for Shaw's Medal of Honor.
When Captain Marco is shown a photo of the Communist official Gomel at the birthday party, the first two views of the photo shows the little boy to Gomel's left and the girl to his right. As they cut away and come back for our third view, the boy is to the right and the little girl is on the left. The image has been reversed.
When Raymond kills Senator Jordan and Jocelyn, there is no blood visible, even though the second bullet hole in Senator Jordan is clearly seen as Raymond walks away and Jocelyn is wearing a negligee that blood would easily flow through.
In the opening sequence, set in 1952, the bar in Korea has a US flag with 50 stars. In 1952, the US included only 48 states, and the flag had only 48 stars. In 1959, Alaska became the 49th state on January 3rd, so the flag was redesigned with 49 stars, effective July 4th, 1959. When Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21st, the 50-star flag was authorized, effective July 4th, 1960.
Raymond Shaw is referred to as a "Staff Sergeant," but that rank was abolished for the US Army during the Korean war. During the Korean War, the traditional three-chevron insignia for Sergeant was also abolished, with the rank of Sergeant represented by what used to be the Staff Sergeant insignia: three chevrons and one rocker. The rank of Staff Sergeant didn't reappear for the Army until 1959, when it re-took the traditional insignia of three chevrons and one rocker previously given over to Sergeants during the Korean War. Even more curious is the fact that the Raymond Shaw character wears three chevrons and TWO rockers: the rank of Sergeant First Class.
The live TV cameras in the senate hearing and press conference carry the NBC logo used at the time the film was made, not the logo used at the time the story takes place.
When Dr. Yen Lo makes his little "yak dung" joke he parodies the famous Winston cigarettes advertising jingle that it "tastes good like a cigarette should". This product and slogan weren't introduced until 1954, a year after the war ended. The novel had the same error.
After the fight between Marco and Chunjin in 1954, one title on the movie marquee shows Pirates of Tortuga (1961), which was not released until 1961.
When Marco and Rosie are talking on the train, there is no train noise to be heard. Obviously, this scene was not shot on a moving train.
When Raymond Shaw shoots Private Bobby Lembeck in the forehead, the sound is not of a 9mm automatic pistol, but of a rifle.
When Rosie picks up Ben at the police station, you can clearly see an actor in the background with no pants on trying to sneak out of the scene.
As Raymond Shaw descends the stairs to enter Jilly's Bar, the camera and crew can be seen reflected in the plate glass door.
Shaw's and Marco's journeys through Central Park do not accurately reflect the real layout of the famous park.
Marco shows a newspaper to Shaw with a headline story "Hurricane Rips Through Midwest, Twenty
Dead". It should have said "Tornado".
When Marco visits Raymond Shaw in the hotel room and brings the forced deck of cards, he says to Shaw 'How about passing the time by playing a little solitaire?'. However Marco had never heard this line being used before and therefore had no way of knowing that it triggers Shaw's programming.
While speaking on the Senate floor, Iselin addresses the chair as "Mr. Speaker"; the presiding officer of the US Senate is the "President" (a post officially held by the Vice President), not the "speaker", thus the form of address is "Mr. President".
Senator Jordan tells Mrs. Iselin that he will begin "impeachment proceedings on the floor of the Senate" against Johnny Iselin if he tries for the vice-presidential nomination. Iselin similarly threatens to have Jordan impeached. First, impeachment proceedings begin in the House of Representatives. Second, Senators can be expelled, but not impeached.
The "sniper rifle" used by Raymond is not Russian, but a WWII Japanese paratrooper rifle, an Arisaka Type 99/Type 02 "takedown" version, caliber 7.7mm.
Rosie tells Marco, "I live on 54th Street, a few doors from The Modern Museum of Art". She should have said, "The Museum of Modern Art".
Raymond's mother explains to her son that when he has assassinated the presidential nominee, Senator Iselin will pick up the dead body and begin to speak. However, Secret Service agents would descend upon the stage immediately thereby preventing the speech from happening.