When a damaged Allied cargo plane "crashes" behind some trees near Maj. Gen.
Urquhart and his troops, the plane can be seen pulling up and flying away just
behind the fireball marking its supposed impact point.
The subtitles when Field Marshall Runstedt is speculating between General Patton
and Field Marshall Montgomery near the beginning of the film once misspell "Patton"
as "Patten". Later usages correctly spell "Patton".
At the beginning of the film when the American and British officers are talking, the
general's epaulets are on top of his coat collar. A minute later, as the general walks
around the table, the epaulets are under his coat collar.
When Lt. Col. J.O.E Vandeleur is riding in the car talking to the officer who is driving
you can see in one far away view that their lips are not moving, but you still hear
them talking.
When the boats finally arrive to cross the river at Nijmegen bridge, there is water
in them, even though they've been transported for days in trucks in rain-free weather.
(Probably a result of previous takes.)
During the arrival of Allied troops in Eindhoven, some members of the cheering
crowd can be seen waving miniature 50-star American flags.
When Von Runstedt is deciding where to send his armoured reserves in order to
rest them before meeting the expected attack by Patton rather than Montgomery
he decides to send them to Arnhem. The map counter which is moved clearly shows
"II SS Panzer Div (division)" when the correct name of the unit at Arnhem was the II
SS Panzer Corps (consisting of the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions). The 2nd SS
Panzer Division at that time was fighting on the eastern front.
When the English soldiers are are standing and yelling to the supply drop aeroplanes
a damaged plane flies past with an engine out and crashes soon after, but the plane
can be seen flying away from the left side of the explosion.
Col. Robert Stout responds at some point to Col. J.O.E Vandeleur regarding a
comment on American ingenuity, Stout says something to the effect of being born
in Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia didn't exist under that name until 6 January, 1929, which
would have made him a rather young colonel at 15. Prior to 1929, Yugoslavia was
known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, a name adopted in 1918.
Even so, someone born prior to 1929 in those territories would most likely have
identified an individual republic as a place of birth.
As the first British paratroopers are assembling, there are wide angle shots of
activity. Most of the paratroopers are carrying the correct rifles, machine pistols
or other weapons, but a few can be spotted carrying American M1 Garand rifles
that were rarely used by British or Commonwealth forces. Later in the movie, as
the tide turns and the British paratroopers have surrendered, German soldiers
crossing a small foot bridge to the British command post can be briefly seen
carrying M1s as well.
When Ludwig is speaking to a subordinate about blowing the bridge about to
be assaulted by the 82nd, the subordinate refers to a "hauptmann", the German
word for captain. In the SS, the rank would be "Hauptsturmführer." Likewise, when
he answers Ludwig, he calls him "General". Ludwig is listed in the cast as a major
general, but the equivalent SS rank would have been Brigadefuhrer.
The 82d Airborne Division's Command Post during the operation was never located
in an estate mansion as portrayed in the movie. The CP was in the woods outside
Nijmegen near the drop zones.
Brigadier General James Gavin's (Ryan O'Neal) insignia of rank is incorrectly displayed
on his "Ike" jacket. Brigadier Generals wear the star positioned at the middle of the
epaulets rather than at the outer edge as do officers in the grade of Lieutenants
through Colonel.
The parachutes used by the troopers are equipped with anti-inversion nets. They are
around the skirt of the canopy to prevent partial malfunctions. The nets were not developed
until the mid 1970s, shortly before the movie was filmed.
In the scene where SSgt. Eddie Dohun is waiting on the results of the operation to
save Captain Glass, Eddie pulls out the last cigarette in his pack, wads up the pack
and throws it down. Then he proceeds to light the cigarette... with a disposable butane
lighter, which was not available until the end of the decade. A soldier would have carried
a wick-type lighter, most likely manufactured by Zippo, who, during World War II, ceased
production of lighters for consumer markets and dedicated all manufacturing to the
U.S. military.
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