Goofs for
The Thin Red Line (1998) More at IMDbPro »

• Revealing mistakes: Right after the battle at the machine-gun bunker, an American soldier shoots one of the Japanese prisoners with a shotgun. The smoke from the barrel indicates that he missed.
  
  
• Continuity: The length of Welsh's hair on the boat as the alarm sounds and then later the next day.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: The wake from the camera boat can be seen cutting across the path of the first wave of landing craft as it makes a sweeping turn in front of them.
  
  

• Anachronisms: In the village at the beginning, a naval vessel that was clearly built after 1980 is seen in the background.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: During one flash back to the AWOL island home, there are dolly tracks in the sand.
  
  
• Anachronisms: A soldier uses a toothbrush with "wear" stripes in the bristles, which were invented in the 1990s.
  
  
• Anachronisms: There is a modern, fiberglass and foam surfboard on the beach.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When Welsh is talking to the scared young soldier in the shaving quarters at the beginning of the film, the soldier says, "Only two things that are permanent is dying and the Lord," and the camera and the operator's hand are reflected in the far left mirror (visible only in the widescreen release).
  
  
• Anachronisms: In one of the flashback scenes where the soldier and his girlfriend are holding hands, modern cars can be seen out the window in the background.
  
  
• Continuity: When the men are preparing to climb down into the assault craft, there is a shot of Captain Staros thinking to himself. Over his shoulder he carries an M1 carbine which has a mounted bayonet lug (post war feature). When he arrives on the island, suddenly his weapon doesn't have a bayonet lug anymore.
  
  
• Continuity: When the frightened soldier shoots the Japanese soldiers (who are going on the hill with stretchers), the first shots he fires we see his face. His rifle recoils significantly, but when it shows the scene behind his back, his rifle does not recoil at all.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Towards the end, when they are marching in front of the freshly dug graveyard, there is a modern sprinkler system operating behind the crosses.
  
  
• Anachronisms: When we first see the American patrol boat, a surfboard is lying in the foreground. It's a shortboard, which was introduced in the late 60's.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: During the earlier stages of the battle to reach the Japanese stronghold (at about 1:00 into the film), an entire camera crew of about 4 or 5 people, along with their microphones and camera, are fully visible along the left side of the shot.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Despite the suggestion that the reference to an "Air Force Captain" was not a goof because the "US Army Air Forces" had been renamed (formerly "Air Corps") in 1941, the term "Air Force" was never used in WWII. The character's wife would have said "Air Corps Captain," because that term was used in everyday speech throughout the war.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: Before the flanking assault on the Japanese bunker, a wire is visible, and apparently attached to a US soldier/ stuntman, as he is engulfed in a mortar round explosion (apparently to simulate the jerking force of the impact).
  
  
• Factual errors: Brig. Gen. Quintard says to (Lt.) Colonel Tall: "We've got good sergeants and good lieutenant colonels. But once a man gets those eagles he can't wait to get that star." Since he says that in respect to Talls own behavior and since the eagle is the Insignia of colonels, Tall must be one (unlike how it is written in the credits and also in the book.)
  
  
• Continuity: During his argument on the phone, Capt. Staros states, "The time, Sir, is 13:21 hours, 25 seconds" when his wrist watch clearly shows a time of 14:32. The watch also shows other times during the conversation.
  
  

Related Links