The same few stuntmen keep getting knocked down over and over during the Chinatown chase.
When Austin visits Donna Caldwell for the first time, it is clearly visible that Meg Ryan's character is not wearing a bra when opening the door. After entering into the house, she is wearing a bra.
Meg Ryan's character goes out on a date wearing a very short black mini-dress. At the end of the date as she leaves to go home, her dress reaches almost to her knees.
In the title sequence you see a Nimitz classes aircraft carrier putting to sea going under the Golden Gate Bridge, this shot being taken from the north side of the bridge. In the next cut you see a Nimitz classes aircraft carrier putting into San Fransisco, this can be deduced as the shot has the Presidio in the foreground, which is at the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the ship is moving left to right
After the chase Jay Austin has with a suspect, he handcuffs the suspect. In an immediate shot after he still has his handcuffs on him and not the suspect.
A water delivery truck driving past taxiing airplanes would not be possible on any U.S. Air Force base. Commercial deliveries are not permitted to be made on the flight-line side of buildings.
The diamonds are smuggled in bottles of water supposedly because they are invisible when immersed in water. Not true. The diamond index of refraction is very different from that of water. They would easily be seen. If the liquid had been mineral oil, which has a much closer index of refraction to diamonds, then the gems would have been hidden somewhat.
When Col Caldwell is shooting the guy with the shotgun in the water warehouse, he shoots several times and then a "click" is heard indicating he is out of bullets. When the Colt Model M1911A1 .45 pistol fires the last round in the magazine, the slide locks back (open), so there is no empty click - the .45 Caldwell is holding does not have the slide locked back, so he hadn't fired the last round in the pistol.
On duty Military Policemen would never keep their sidearms in a filing cabinet at the MP Station. Once their weapon is signed out to them from an Arms Room prior to their shift, those weapons are kept on their gun belt until their shift is completed. They then return to the Arms Room and turn the weapon back in until their next scheduled shift.
The interaction between SFPD Inspector Jay Austin and the Presidio military police suggests that he was a member of the military police in the recent past. He worked with the murdered MP specialist and all the other MPs know him by name. In order for Austin to be a SFPD Inspector (the SFPD equivalent of a detective), he would have to have worked there at least several years. Even if he had gone directly to the SFPD after being stationed at the Presidio, most of the MPs he worked with at the Presidio would have completed their tours and transferred to other posts by the time Austin made inspector. Hollywood likes to suggest that police agencies hire detectives off the street, but in fact detectives are hired as police officers, then work their way up to detective over several years.
When outside, Lt. Col. Caldwell does not render salute to the Medal of Honor recipient. It is customary in any instances to render salute and very disrespectful not to render, no matter how much you know the person. Even so, it is a custom, not a regulation, so he didn't actually do anything wrong.
The medals on Sean Connery's two different dress uniforms are completely different. The highest medal on his "Class A" uniform is a Bronze Star. The highest medal on his "Mess Dress" uniform is a Legion of Merit.
In the first chase scene, when the MP's are chasing the civilian car, the desk sergeant tells the MP's several times not to leave the 'base'. Army installations are referred to as a 'post', not a base.
In the opening car chase/police pursuit, roll cages can be clearly seen in both the Lincoln being pursued and the police car.
While Colonel Caldwell could have been awarded two CIB badges for service in Vietnam and Grenada, the more interesting possible goof is whether he could have been awarded the badges as an MP officer. Only infantry personnel can receive the CIB award. So Caldwell would have to have been an infantry officer in Vietnam and Grenada to receive the CIB and transferred to the Military Police later in his career, possible but unlikely.
On several occasions, Inspector Austin introduces LTC Caldwell as the "Provost Marshal," pronouncing the last two letters in "provost." It's the Army post equivalent to a chief of police. Traditionally, Army personnel pronounce this as "provo," as if the last two letters weren't there.
When Austin is chasing Lawrence through China Town, a saw-horse road barrier falls across his path - pulled over by a length of fishing wire clearly visible being pulled by crew to the right out of shot.
When Austin is given the address of Colonel Lawerence in Chinatown he is told its in Chinatown at 1412 Washington which is in the Nob Hill District of San Francisco.
When Jay Austin (Mark Harmon) chases Col. Lawrence through the alleys in Chinatown, they arrive at the street where Lawrence is struck and killed at the same time as the vehicle which did does this. The vehicle is shown driving at a high rate of speed down the street when it hits Lawrence and flees the scene.
This would only be possible if the car was tracking Lawrence down the alleyways, and exactly timed when it was going to hit him. However, Lawrence is shown struggling while running and was actually moving very slowly when he exited the alley into the street. There's no way that the car would have been in position to Lawrence.
This would only be possible if the car was tracking Lawrence down the alleyways, and exactly timed when it was going to hit him. However, Lawrence is shown struggling while running and was actually moving very slowly when he exited the alley into the street. There's no way that the car would have been in position to Lawrence.
Lt. Col. Caldwell, addressing a young visitor at the museum, points to a picture of a soldier and says "you to see that man there?, He won the Medal of Honor".
Military personnel don't "win" medals, they earn them.
Military personnel don't "win" medals, they earn them.
Austin and the Colonel approach a Sgt and Captain of a C130 just in from the Philippines and the crew answers questions in a normal, relaxed tone and relaxed posture.