Movie train not right - among other things...

[Tracklayer]

I went to see Fly Boys last night. It was a good movie as far as the action and all went, but the train that one of the guys gets on when he's leaving his small mid western US community is the same train he gets off of in France... Also, the tri-wing planes that the Germans were supposedly using didn't come out until late in 1917, not 1916... I wish Hollywood would get their **** together!.

Tracklayer

[canazar]

I will spot your points, and yeah, should have checked alittle farther on their facts.   But considering that everyone who worked on the movie project was born WAY (most likely several generations) after the War, I am just glad to see a movie about it.   If it has been a little Hollywooded....I suppose so be it.   Its still a story that needs to be told the generations of our time.

[reklein]

I noticed the train thing too, plus about a jillion other things. Oh !,They did leave out shots with contrails in the background, HOWEVER, it was great entertainment nonetheless. Plenty enough action for me to suspend my disbelief for a couple hours.

[conagher]

Unless the film is an original documentary, some historical inaccuracy can sneak through undetected despite efforts to the contrary. I think Director Tony Bill's goal was entertainment with historical inspiration.

[Budliner]

I hate when movies do that

its like oh well looks good its a wrap

just looks so dumb

 

K

[Tracklayer]

I hate when movies do that

its like oh well looks good its a wrap

just looks so dumb

 

K

Come on Budliner. Let's hook up and go to Hollywood and show them how to make movies!...

Tracklayer

[cspmo]

but the train that one of the guys gets on when he's leaving his small mid western US community is the same train he gets off of in France...

It must been one hell of a tunnel.  All the German  RED  tri-planes  ruin  the movie for me.

[Ibflattop]

Hummmmmmmm, its a Hollywood Movie for Entertainment. You can go and see any movie and nitpick the Hell out of it................. Just my thought     Kevin

[tatans]

It's a movie ! that should tell you enough, since when did Hollywood get in the information business? It's sole process is to make wads of money by producing schlock the public thinks they want, occaisionally, and very mysteriously the odd movie makes it to the public which does not question our intelligence. Take for instance a movie called 'Saskatchewan" a very flat bald-headed prairie Province in Canada, this movie was supposed to have taken place in the U.S. but was filmed in Banff-in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, and starred Marylin Monroe in a pair of sprayed on blue jeans, How's that for authenticity. I think if you are looking for accuracy, the very last place to look would be a Hollywood movie.  Try a book.

[gn goat]

Might be a good idea to go to IMDB.com and post the errors under trivia and goofs.

 

the goat

[cspmo]

Hollywood should try a little harder to make their movies more accurate. I'm not entertain when I'm shaking my head with big mistake like this movie had made. I bet the German movie about the Red Baron ( Rote Baron,Der) will be a lot better than Fly Boys.

[csmith9474]

Many times folks go to the movies to escape reality. As stated above, it is just a Hollywood movie, not a documentary. I will occasionaly catch myself "nit picking" movies, and quickly remind myself that it is just a Hollywood feature and nothing more. They produce what sells, not reality.

[rrebell]

but the train that one of the guys gets on when he's leaving his small mid western US community is the same train he gets off of in France...

It must been one hell of a tunnel.  All the German  RED  tri-planes  ruin  the movie for me.

A lot of triplanes were red on the german side, it was done to put fear into the allies as the Von Rictovins plane was red and since you could only tell a pilot by their plane color, you get the picture

[rrebell]

Another note, the first sopwith triplanes hit combat nov. 1916 and these things don't apear overnite, the first german jet was in 1939 if I am not mistaken, but appeared in ww2 much later in combat.

[BRAKIE]

I still laugh when ever I watch "Rambo" shoot up the place with a M60 with a short ammo belt that last forever..Or how one man can kill off lots of bad guys while he's getting shot at by the same guys..

C'mon now guys  a movie is suppose to be fantasy entertainment.

 

Even the great award winning "Titanic" movie had several oops if one knows anything about RMSTitanic.

[dave9999]

I was watching "That 70's Show" the other day and noticed that when Red Forman opened his
beer, the pop top was one of those that stays attached to the can.... they didn't start using those
until the early 90's. These things happen all of the time in movies and on television. Sometimes
you just have to overlook them. Good luck, Dave

[orsonroy]

I was watching "That 70's Show" the other day and noticed that when Red Forman opened his
beer, the pop top was one of those that stays attached to the can.... they didn't start using those
until the early 90's.

Mid-1980s, actually. The old pull tops were all long gone by 1990.

My problem with Hollywood is that in most cases, the producers/directors KNOW that what they're doing is inaccurate. They might not know exactly what's right, but they know that what they're doing is not it. And guess what? They don't care. In most cases (like Flyboys, but I haven't yet seen it), the director will spew off something like, "I know it's not right, but it looks better on film my way."

And so what? Most paintings aren't historically accurate either. Neither are most art photographts, which are composed in such a way to provide the viewer with only the impression that the photographer really wants (you think the scenery that Ansel Adams shot in was really that picturesque?).

Actually, I'll tell you why "so what". The problem is that the vast bulk of the American public is stupid. They have neither the means, intelligence, or inclination to care about "trivial" things like history (or science, literature, art, or any other "unimportant" subject). Make a movie of Superbowl XXIII, and they'll howl if you get it wrong, but have Napoleon say "Dude!" or use a M-60A3 in place of a Tiger I, and no one will give a rat's butt. Most of the general public takes what Hollywood feeds them as gospel truth. Show a secret plot by the Illuminati to kill Kennedy (pick one), or show ALL the Germans flying red triplanes, and they'll think that what they're seeing IS a documentary, and store away those small inaccuracies away as "truth". Eventually, they've got so many "truths" rattling away in their brains that they end up with a completely screwed up sense of the past. And it's that WRONG interpretation of the past that gets us into trouble at the polls.

Will Hollywood change? No, not really. They've been screwing up history since movies were invented. They got things wrong in Casablanca, for pete's sake, and that was a CONTEMPORARY movie. Will the public get any smarter? No; we just have to keep hammering away at them with reality and hope that some of it gets through to a handful of people (which is usually unlikely). To think that it's these people who run America...

 

(Moron people with a screwed up sense of history isn't new. In 1982 or 1983, when I was starting out in American Civil War reenacting, I heard this great conversation between a father and son, as they were walking towards the Confederate displays: "Daddy, daddy, look! It's the Dukes of Hazzard flag!!!" "That's right son; let's see if Boss Hogg is here."  Sigh...) 

[Tracklayer]

Sorry guys, but I can't deal with movies that aren't right... The only time I can kick back and relax with a movie is when I know ahead of time that it's total fiction. This particular movie burned me because I'm not only a model railroader but also a World War One fighter plane buff!... I'm really looking forward to the German version of the Red Baron. I've read some good reviews about it. I don't care how boring a movie is as long as is historically correct.

Tracklayer

[csmith9474]

Sorry guys, but I can't deal with movies that aren't right... The only time I can kick back and relax with a movie is when I know ahead of time that it's total fiction. This particular movie burned me because I'm not only a model railroader but also a World War One fighter plane buff!... I'm really looking forward to the German version of the Red Baron. I've read some good reviews about it. I don't care how boring a movie is as long as is historically correct.

Tracklayer

I understand what you are saying. I have known folks in the past that have complained about certain things not being realistic in movies such as The Matrix.

[Railphotog]

To me what's aggravating about such obvious mistakes is I've read that many of the movie maker go to very extreme measures to have some of the details "just right" at any cost.  These are often things that most people wouldn't even notice.  But major gaffes like the train thing are ignored.

A while ago I watched a Stephen King video "The Silver Bullet", which was supposed to have been set in the 1950's or so.  Again a train mistake - they showed a modern container train passing by with a FRED on the rear!  Way out of time on this one.  BTW the movie wasn't very good either, a surprise as I usually like King's movies.  I think this one went direct to video because I hadn't heard of it before.   I wonder why?

 

 

 

[Tracklayer]

Sorry guys, but I can't deal with movies that aren't right... The only time I can kick back and relax with a movie is when I know ahead of time that it's total fiction. This particular movie burned me because I'm not only a model railroader but also a World War One fighter plane buff!... I'm really looking forward to the German version of the Red Baron. I've read some good reviews about it. I don't care how boring a movie is as long as is historically correct.

Tracklayer

I understand what you are saying. I have known folks in the past that have complained about certain things not being realistic in movies such as The Matrix.

Wait a minute now!. What is it that could not be possible in The Matrix ?... (ha ha). Cool movie!.

Tracklayer 

 

[Anonymous]

I find little things like trains from the improper era funny, etc., but come on guys, it doesn't matter.

I've been playing the drums since I was a kid.  In movies and TV shows, I often see drums that I know didn't exist until, say, 1990, in a movie based in the 70's, 50's, etc.  This happens all the time.

So what should a movie producer / director do?  Should they shoot every film on location, with 100% equipment from the proper era?

Lyp syncing / voice overs, etc. are so common, it's nuts.  If I gut upset about that every time I saw it, I wouldn't be able to watch a single movie.


I had a film class in college (being an engineer, this was a just-for-fun elective).  I learned a lot of interesting stuff about how clips are cut together, etc.  We watched some very classic movies that had tons of editing blunders.  Guess what, they don't matter!  (But they are fun to spot).

It's like if you were presenting something in a conversation in the workplace, etc., and someone pointed out all of your bad grammar.  Perfect grammar is nice, but it was likely beside the point, and had little to nothing to do with the overall outcome of your presentation.

[tomikawaTT]

Reality check time:

1.  Hollywood doesn't spend any money on research.  They may even cut script items that would assure accuracy if using them would involve delay or cash expenditure.  The excuse - "Who's going to notice, anyway?"

2.  When they need a train scene, they send a script girl down to the morgue to get some clips, then choose the one with the best dramatic effect.  That's why you'll see European steam in a documentary about American railroad history or a NYC Hudson pulling into Pittsburgh.

3.  By far and away, the vast majority of the mundanes are so caught up in the story line (or their dreams about the actors) that they wouldn't notice if the WWI hero had arrived in France aboard the Shinkansen.  Or climbed into the cockpit of a Mustang to give battle to the Hun.  Only folks with a proper historo-geographic-technical background find it impossible to maintain the necessary suspension of disbelief.

Now you know why I haven't gone to the movies in years.

Chuck

[Anonymous]

Some people are saying movies aren't "what they used to be...".

For whatever reason, many people consider Citizen Kane the "greatest movie ever" (I do happen to like the movie myself).

How could people think this when in a large dancing scene, the actors were almost bumping their heads on the ceiling because the ceiling was so low?  (This was done in order to get microphones as close to the actors as possible - hidden up in the fake ceiling).

If you're this nitpicky, you probably shouldn't watch a single movie that was ever made.  They're all "fake"

[conagher]

Contrary to what some folks may think, directors doing a project such as Fly Boys do strive for historical accuracy...to a point. The historical research has to stop at a place where the attention to detail becomes overwhelming. And since it's not a documentary, somewhere along the way, historical accuracy may be compromised due to other areas with a higher budget priority. This is a business structured to make a profit...not a School Board production for a classroom broadcast.

Yeh, everyone wants accuracy. George Cosmatos who directed Tombstone (the one with Kurt Russell & Sam Elliott) hired several noted Tombstone-specific historians to ensure accuracy. But guess what....even they slipped up on a few things.

History is nothing more than someone's interpretation of past events. Even eyewitnesses viewing the same thing can come up with totally different stories as evidenced by numerous versions of the events of the Tombstone shootout between the Earps & Clantons. It happens today in courtrooms all over America, too.

Even the History Channel has a disclaimer relative to the accuracy of it's content....and they're supposed to be the Numero Uno guys in the field.

As an actor in various disciplines, I can assure you no director wants blatant historical errors. That's why you'll see, as the credits roll down the screen...something like Joe Blough-Technical Advisor. He's hired to provide a professional element for a particular purpose. If the "expert" makes a mistake, who has the knowledge to challenge him??? No one knows everything...including the experts.

Lastly, be thankful someone took the time to make Fly Boys. When's the last time we had the pleasure of a WWI flying flick and especially with such excellent graphics.

Perhaps if we allow ourselves to be more entertained by a movie, we'll be less inclined to be critical of it's shortcomings.

[vsmith]

Hehehe I loved it, especially the UP logo on the tender, wonder if Uncle Pete will sue them over that????  My wife was getting POd at me for pointing out all the errors in the film...

 

Simple reason WHY they did what they did......$$$$

 

The entire movie was filmed in England, all the French towns..were English, so were the Estates and the RRs, If you look carefully ..You can CLEARLY see the nameplate on the side of the loco, I wrote it down but lost it, its an English excursion engine, a 4-6-0, its the same engine as Hogswart I believe...and its the same train in both the USA and Paris scenes, like they couldnt have afforded to send a small crew to a small excursion line here in the US to shoot one scene???

 

Anyone also notice that the Zeppelin was flying WAY too low and in daylight? They would NEVER do that, not even with 100 escorts, a half-blind monkey at an AA battery could knock it out at that altitude. When they flew, they flew at night at at their service ceiling which was near 13,000 feet which was higher than the biplanes could fly,  plus in early 1916 they didnt HAVE incendiary bullets....The pilots would struggle to get their planes up the Zeppelins rarified altitudes and either drop small handheld bombs onto them or fire flareguns at them. All bullets would do was puncture the gasbags which the crews were trained at sealing fast. Incendiaries were introduced at the end of 1916.

 

But yeah, it was a fun "turn off your brain" movie...

[Darth Santa Fe]

I notice unrealistic train things in movies and TV shows, too, but I don't really mind, cause HEY! There's a train in there!

I like making short movies on my computer or with my Legos in my free time, and I had one where an Athearn DASH 9 and Bachmann 4-4-0 came running through a Lego cowboy scene with a spaceman. That pretty much tells you how much I care about realism in movies.

For whatever reason, many people consider Citizen Kane the "greatest movie ever" (I do happen to like the movie myself).

I've never seen it, or even heard of it. Is it new?

I consider "Galaxy Quest" to be one of the greatest movies ever, even if there aren't any trains.

[Darth Santa Fe]

I notice unrealistic train things in movies and TV shows, too, but I don't really mind, cause HEY! There's a train in there!

I like making short movies on my computer or with my Legos in my free time, and I had one where an Athearn DASH 9 and Bachmann 4-4-0 came running through a Lego cowboy scene with a spaceman. That pretty much tells you how much I care about realism in movies.

For whatever reason, many people consider Citizen Kane the "greatest movie ever" (I do happen to like the movie myself).

I've never seen it, or even heard of it. Is it new?

I consider "Galaxy Quest" to be one of the greatest movies ever, even if there aren't any trains.

[Darth Santa Fe]

It double posted. What in the world?

[pbjwilson]

Saw the movie and thought it was well done. Who cares that in a shot that lasts a few seconds that the train is english? Oh ya, train geeks.